TODAY IN SPORTS
April 24
1963 — Bob Cousy ends his 13-year career by scoring 18 points as the Boston Celtics win their fifth consecutive NBA championship, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 112109 in Game 6.
1964 — Wilt Chamberlain of the San Francisco Warriors grabbed 38 rebounds against the Boston Celtics and arch-rival Bill Russell, in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, a 9895 Boston win. During the regular season, however, Russell led the league in rebounding with a 24.7 rpg mark to Chamberlain’s 22.3 rpg.
1988 — Milwaukee’s Jack Sikma became the tallest player (7-0) in NBA history to win the NBA free throw title by shooting 92 percent from the line.
1993 — The Milwaukee Bucks retired No. 33 worn by Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar for six seasons. Abdul-Jabbar led the Bucks to the 1971 NBA championship with a sweep of the Baltimore Bullets in the Finals. He had previously had his jersey retired by the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom he won five NBA titles.
1994 — David Robinson scores 71 points to win the NBA scoring title as the San Antonio Spurs end the regular season with a 112-97 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Robinson, the fourth NBA player to score more than 70 points in a game, edges Orlando’s Shaquille O’Neal for the scoring title.
1994 — Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf of Denver finished the 1993-94 season by hitting 219-of-229 free throw attempts for a 95.6 percent free throw percentage, the secondhighest in NBA history behind Calvin Murphy’s mark of 95.8 percent in 1980-81.
1995 — Atlanta coach Lenny Wilkens, the NBA’s all-time leader in victories with 968, was named coach of the 1996 United States Olympic Men’s Basketball team.