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Sustained Excellence: 82 Games, an NBA “Tradition”

“Sustained Excellence” is a periodic series looking back at the 50th anniversary of Bill Russell’s coaching debut season, and at the Celtic dynasty in general.

According to Tevye, there’s only one reason a Fiddler on the Roof doesn’t lose his balance while trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune … Tradition!

Though it’s gone largely unnoticed, the National Basketball Association this season is “celebrating” the Golden Anniversary of one of its most hallowed and identifying traditions – the 82-game regular-season schedule.

For the 1966-67 season, the 10-team league created a perfectly balanced 81-game offering in which everyone played everyone else exactly nine times.