Wilt Chamberlain had been the star of the Warriors since joining the team in 1959 (which included an MVP Award) but was traded to the 76ers in the middle of the 1965 season.
Under first-year head coach Alex Hannum (who had been fired by the Warriors the previous season) and an approach to have Chamberlain focus more on defense rather than scoring (which resulted in a shooting percentage of 68.3%), Philadelphia dominated the regular season with a 68–13 record, the most regular season wins in NBA history at the time as Chamberlain won his third MVP award.
[1][2] With the win, Alex Hannum (who had led the St. Louis Hawks to the NBA title in 1958) became the first coach to win a championship with two different franchises, a mark that has since been matched by just two other head coaches in NBA history.
[5] The 76ers were trailing 106-102 early in the fourth quarter before Matt Guokas, a bench player for a majority of the season, took a quick pass off a rebound to throw in a 20-foot shot and quickly getting the ball again on a break and taking on Nate Thurmond when driving to the rim for a layup that tied the game along with knocking him out of the game when he crashed into the basket support.
An attempted pick and roll by Barry and Thurmond against Chamberlain saw a defensive struggle as Barry could not get a clean shot off when Chamberlain shifted his focus to Thurmond on an attempted pass, and a jump ball was forced on the rebound.