The MVP award was very satisfying in terms of personal accomplishments, but the championship was the most important thing of all.

I had endured six years of frustration so I think winning it all meant more to me than most of the others on the team.

These days I smile benignly at the fights that I see in NBA games. There aren't any broken noses or black eyes, which happened quite often when I played.

I once heard that Paul Seymour said as much as winning an NBA Championship, he'd like to see the Celtics lose a game after Auerbach brought out the cigar so he could go up to Arnold and stuff the cigar in his face.

We played every night. Sometimes we'd stay overnight after a game, but we'd usually drive on to our next destination.

Race wasn't an issue. My family was French, but Yorkville was a melting pot of races and cultures.

I dribbled by the hour with my left hand when I was young. I didn't have full control, but I got so I could move the ball back and forth from one hand to the other without breaking the cadence of my dribble. I wasn't dribbling behind my back or setting up any trick stuff, but I was laying the groundwork for it.