 In the 1969 NBA Playoffs , the Lakers dispatched Chamberlain 's old club , the San Francisco Warriors 4 – 2 after losing the first two games , and then defeated the Atlanta Hawks and met Chamberlain 's familiar rivals , Bill Russell 's Boston Celtics . Going into the series as 3 @-@ to @-@ 1 favorites , the Lakers won the first two games , but dropped the next two . Chamberlain was criticized as a non @-@ factor in the series , getting neutralized by Bill Russell with little effort . But in Game 5 , the Lakers center scored 13 points and grabbed 31 rebounds , leading Los Angeles to a 117 – 104 win . In Game 6 , the Celtics won 99 – 90 , and Chamberlain only scored eight points ; Cherry accuses him of choking , because if " Chamberlain had come up big and put up a normal 30 point scoring night " , L.A. would have probably won its first championship . 
