“Red was a mathematician as well as a basketball man, and he drew on that as a coach. … Even in the final minutes of games, the abacus in Red’s mind was clicking away: ‘Okay, we’ve got three minutes, we’re up by ten, that means if we play good defense and don’t throw the ball away, we need three more baskets.’”

AP
Bill Russell is congratulated by coach Red Auerbach after scoring his 10,000th NBA point in a game against the Baltimore Bullets in Boston Garden on Dec. 12, 1964.