Over and Back: Stories About NBA History

We continue our #RussellMania series, a deep dive into the life and career of Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics dynasty, with a discussion of the Celtics’ playoff battles with the New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons in the late 1960s. Jason Mann and Rich Kraetsch talk about the Celtics adjusted to old age, how the Knicks rebuilt after nearly a decade of struggles, how the overlooked Pistons foun...

We continue our #RussellMania series, a deep dive into the life and career of Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics dynasty, with a discussion of the Celtics’ playoff battles with Wilt Chamberlain and the Philadelphia 76ers in the second half of the 1960s. Jason Mann and Rich Kraetsch talk about Philly fans adjusting to cheering a hated former Syracuse Nationals rival, the trade to bring Chamberlain...

We continue our #RussellMania series, a deep dive into the life and career of Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics dynasty, with a discussion of the Celtics’ playoff battles with Oscar Robertson and the Cincinnati Royals (now Sacramento Kings) in the mid-1960s. Jason Mann and Rich Kraetsch talk about Robertson’s brilliance beyond simply his legendary triple-double season, how he smashed the record...

#RussellMania: The Over and Back Classic NBA podcast is devoting the next few weeks to Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell. We continue our deep dive into the life and career of Bill Russell by discussing the 1950s and 1960s playoff battles between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors. We discuss the 1956 champion Warriors led by Paul Arizin and Neil Johnston (the last NBA cha...

#RussellMania: The Over and Back Classic NBA podcast is devoting the next few weeks to Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell. We continue in our deep dive into the life and career of Bill Russell by discussing the 1950s and 1960s playoff battles between the Boston Celtics and Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers). We talk about how Dolph Schayes was a bridge between the old game and the new...

Amid the recent news of injuries to Steph Curry, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, the Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast takes a deep dive into the history of major NBA playoff injuries affecting NBA title runs. Players and teams include Derrick Rose's ACL tear in 2012 closing the Chicago Bulls' title window, Oklahoma City's run to back-to-back Finals being handed a blow when Russell Westb...

We discuss Bill Russell's childhood, college career, life off the court, post-playing career and his extensive civil rights activism with Dr. Aram Goudsouzian, author of “King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution.” We discuss the events of Russell's childhood that shaped his life including his mother's death when he was 12, the unique way he developed his game on de...

We discuss the Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers NBA Finals rivalry between 1959 and 1969 with Bijan C. Bayne, author of “Elgin Baylor: The Man Who Changed Basketball,” in our continuing #RussellMania series dedicated to the life and legacy of Bill Russell. We break down each of their seven NBA Finals battles (1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969), talk about Elgin Baylor's rise to...

We are joined once again by Adam Criblez to discuss the rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the St. Louis Hawks in the late 1950s and early 1960s, continuing our #RussellMania series dedicated to Bill Russell. We go through the Celtics vs. Hawks NBA Finals battles from 1957, 1958, 1960 and 1961, and talk about some of the great performances and players on both sides of the rivalry, one of the g...

We are joined by Shawn Fury, author of Rise and Fire, to talk about how Bill Russell reshaped the NBA with his defense in the 1950s and 1960s, how the Celtics led a rise in fast-break offense and pace throughout the NBA, how Russell cleared the way for other black superstars such as Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain, and about some the jump shooting pioneers in basketball history including Joe Ful...

We are joined again by Curtis Harris of Pro Hoops History to discuss the Boston Celtics dynasty from 1957 through 1969 that won 11 championships in 13 seasons. Topics discussed are Russell’s impressive record in Games 7, the Celtics coming through again and again in clutch moments, how much better were the Celtics defensively compared to the rest of the NBA, how the Celtics compared to other NBA d...

Jason and Rich are joined by Yago Colas (author of the upcoming book Ball Don't Lie) to discuss one of the famous rivalries in sports: Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain. Discussions include the designation of the word rivalry, the myth of the rivalry, why people felt they had to choose between the two, racial ramifications, the much-hyped first game between the two, Wilt's playoff failures...

The Over and Back Classic NBA podcast is devoting the next several weeks to Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell. This episode will act as an intro to the series we're calling RussellMania as Jason and Rich discuss goals for the project, what they are most looking forward to covering as well as a brief overview of Russell's career, his unparalleled success on the court as well as his statist...

In celebration of Hardwood Paroxysm's 1990s Week, Jason and Rich discuss listener suggestions for favorite 1990s NBA memories and moments. Topics include Reggie Miller's famous duels with Patrick Ewing, John Starks and the New York Knicks, Manute Bol, Magic Johnson's HIV diagnosis, heroic All-Star Game performance (and of course The Magic Show), Shaquille O'Neal's onslaught on...

The Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast returns with a special #90sWeek-edition taking a look at the 1994-95 NBA season with Sporting News' Adi Joseph (@AdiJoseph). Primary topics include the Houston Rockets improbable run for back-to-back NBA championships, their midseason acquisition of Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler and their insane run through the Western Conference elite en route to a series s...

The Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast returns with a look at how the Cleveland Cavaliers built around superstar LeBron James during his first tenure with the club. Joined by Cleveland native and contributor to Bearded Gentlemen Music & IGoHardNow Mike Scherf, Jason and Rich discuss both LeBron's and the Cavaliers' development, improvement and evolution from 2004 to 2010. We discuss maj...

The Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast returns with reaction to ESPN's recently-released #NBARank — a listing of the 100 greatest players in the NBA history. Jason and Rich discuss the #NBARank list, its criteria, notable placements for players and how their Top 100 compared with the 50 Greatest Players list we complied over the summer. Side topics included the potential underrating of many pla...

With ESPN’s ongoing all-time #NBArank of players by position, the Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast decided to put our own tongue-in-cheek spin on it by looking at the most average players of all-time, as rated by Basketball Reference’s Box Score Plus-Minus statistic. This exercise will look at the 15 players with exactly 0.0 BPM. We are being very precise, but not scientific! Jason and Rich talk...

ProHoopsHistory.com's Curtis Harris joins Jason and Rich to discuss the Basketball Hall of Fame, how it can be improved, our initial classes should we reform the Hall, whether the NBA should have their own Hall of Fame, biggest snubs in the current Hall of Fame and much more! Original airdate: 1/27/16 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/...

We decided to create mythical U.S. Olympic Dream Teams from 1968, 1980, 2004 and 2016 and compare them to the vaunted original Dream Team of 1992 led by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen and Patrick Ewing. Jason Mann and Rich Kraetsch are joined by Adam Johnson of Basketball Pantheon on this episode of the Over and Back Classic NBA podcast. Each of us tried...

The longest playoff droughts in NBA history are discussed on this episode of the Over and Back Classic NBA podcast. Jason Mann and guest host Adam Criblez talk about the 1977-1991 Los Angeles Clippers, 1995-2006 Golden State Warriors, 2005-2015 Minnesota Timberwolves, 1987-1996 Sacramento Kings, 1991-2000 Dallas Mavericks, 1975-1983 Utah Jazz, and more. Topics discussed include bad drafting histor...

The Over and Back Classic NBA podcast looks back at players who made only one appearance on an all-NBA or ABA first team, then never made another all-NBA appearance for the rest of their careers. It's a pretty rare occurrence, with some interesting names including Wes Unseld, Earl Monroe, Gail Goodrich, Warren Jabali, Kevin McHale, Latrell Sprewell, Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. Jason Mann and...

So we all know that Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and the Chicago Bulls were the top team in the 1990s. They won six championships in eight years, had greatest single season of all-time and were led by the best player of his generation, if not all-time, and so on. But who was the second-best team in the decade? Who would've dominated the '90s if not for Jordan and the Bulls? Who is a team...

Dec 21Jason Mann and Rich Kraetsch celebrate Christmas and the career of Kobe Bryant with a very special episode of the Over and Back Classic NBA podcast called “A VERY KOBE CHRISTMAS.” Jason and Rich provide commentary while watching Kobe’s 61-point performance vs. the Knicks on Feb. 2, 2009, in Madison Square Garden. They also make it a drinking game, taking a gulp of beer every time Kobe takes...

With Kobe Bryant's retirement tour now in full swing, the Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast takes a look at the final years for some of the NBA's all-time greats. Rich and Jason discuss how the player was perceived at the time, how successful their final year was (both individually and team-wise) and, of course, the pageantry surrounding their goodbyes. Some of the players looked at includ...