"People say 'Bill Russell can't score,'" Russell tells Kobe by phone
that August. "Well, I could score plenty, but we had other guys who were
better at it, so I let them do it. Sometimes you have to step back to
allow others to step forward."
Then Russell drops a gem about Wilt Chamberlain, his rival and
longtime friend. There were times, Russell says, when he'd let Wilt
score. "Bill didn't want to activate Wilt," Kobe says. "He felt if he
defended Wilt too well, then Wilt would take that as a challenge. And if
he did, Wilt was going to demolish Bill because he was so physically
big and strong. So Bill felt if he could appease Wilt, let him score
once in a while, then Wilt would remain satisfied and Bill could keep
him at bay."
Bryant tucks it into his memory bank. "I'm thinking, 'That's Art of War s---. I'm going to try that.'"
(ESPN.com)
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