NBA laid key foundation during 1960s amid off-court chaos

By KYLE HIGHTOWER
AP Sports Writer

BOSTON (AP) — It was the decade Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points, the Celtics-Lakers rivalry took flight and the NBA’s second dynasty reigned on the Boston Garden’s parquet court. It was also a time of ongoing struggle and crisis across America, when the country was forever altered on a “Bloody Sunday,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of his dream and Black athletes raised their fists and voices in hopes of finally holding America to its creed. The NBA took its first meaningful strides in the 1960s, growing from the little league that could barely get attention, to laying the framework it still stands on.