They are the links to their team's glorious past and living legends in their respective fields. Chick Hearn, the Los Angeles Lakers broadcaster and Harvey Pollack, the Philadelphia 76ers director of statistical information, have a combined 95 years of NBA experience. Hearn began broadcasting Lakers games in 1961 and holds the record for most consecutive games broadcast with 3,316 (and counting). Pollack has been with the NBA since Day 1, serving as both PR extraordinaire and statistician for the Philadelphia Warriors in 1946. Both men are walking encyclopedias of NBA information, having witnessed an endless stream of great players, great moments as well as their share of heartbreakers.

With the Lakers and Sixers meeting for the fourth time in NBA Finals history, we asked Hearn and Pollack to reminisce about covering their first Finals, the Lakers-Sixers rivalry and other great moments.

Q: Chick, what was the first NBA Finals you covered?

Hearn: It would be Boston-L.A. in 1962. The coverage now is so big and so large and so overpowering. In those days maybe one newspaper would come from each city and cover it. TV was in its infancy in covering the NBA. The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers had two pretty darn good teams and the Celtics always dominated through five of the Finals they met in the '60s. But you still had players like Elgin Baylor and Jerry West on the Lakers team and then of course you had Bill Russell and [Bob] Cousy and that gang in Boston. The attraction was there but basketball did not reach the fever pitch as we know it today.

Pollack: The first Finals I saw was the first year in the NBA when the Philadelphia Warriors played the Chicago Stags in 1947. They had what I considered a very stupid system in the playoffs, the team with the best record in the West would play the team in the East with the best record in the very first round. So, the Washington Capitols, coached by Red Auerbach, were beaten by the Chicago Stags that year. The Warriors were a lesser team but we wound up getting to the Finals and we beat the Stags in the Finals. That was the first of my many Finals. I was in four championship finals -- '57 when Tom Gola and Paul Arizin and that group. And then of course the Sixers in '67 with Wilt, and '83 with Moses. We played the Lakers in a few of them and we lost.

Hearn: Harvey, how many teams were in the league when you saw a championship in '47?

Pollack: When the league was formed it was formed by cities that had buildings with hockey. I think the first year there was about 13 teams.

Q: Talk about the last time the Lakers and the 76ers met in the Finals in 1983.

Pollack: I couldn't believe what I was seeing, sweeping the Lakers. Moses Malone set the tone for that playoff when he predicted 'Fo, 'Fo, 'Fo, 'Fo. But he missed out on one when Milwaukee beat us one game in the middle round, so it was actually four, five, four. On the championship ring, it has 'four, five, four' on there.

Hearn: The Lakers got beat by a better team. You know when you get swept 4-0 in a series, you know the other team is dominating and they're much better than you are. You just go home and prepare for the future and hope you can play the same game again and maybe even up the score.

Pollack: I didn't realize this but the Lakers led at half time in every game of that series.

Hearn: That's true, but it doesn't count at halftime.

Pollack: That's true unless there is a fire and they clear the building. (Laughing)

Q: Where does Magic's Game 6 performance against the Sixers in the 1980 Finals rank among the all-time great NBA moments?

Hearn: It was one of the greatest achievements by any individual in the history of sports. Plus, don't forget, Magic was a rookie. The game was played in Philadelphia and Kareem sprained an ankle in Game 5, so when the Lakers went back to Philadelphia, it looked to be a tied series, three to three. But on the airplane trip out to Philadelphia, Magic asked the coach Paul Westhead if he could start at center. After Magic left and had been told, 'No, no way. You're going to play guard.' The coach said to me, 'Do you think he meant that?' And I said, 'I know he meant it.' And he said that it wasn't going to happen. Anyway, it did happen. Magic talked his way into starting at center and he played all five positions in the ballgame as the game progressed. He ended up with 42 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists, he did it all. His teammates rode his shirttail and they won the game and the series.

Pollack: It was so unexpected. We thought and so did the Lakers that we were going to go back to L.A. since Kareem stayed back home for Game 6. We might have been a little over confident since Abdul-Jabbar wasn't there but to our surprise Magic was the center and put on a performance that nobody who was at the Spectrum could ever forget. We didn't know how to play him I guess? And we thought, how could he do that to us? That's what you would call a tragic night in Philly basketball history.

Q: Harvey, talk about your lucky pink shoes.

Pollack: Well, I purchased them from Friedman's in Atlanta in 1970 and I only wear them for crucial games. I only wore them twice this year, the seventh game against Toronto and the seventh game against Milwaukee. So I'm 2-0 this year. The first time I lost a game was in 1984 when he had won the championship the year before. We were playing New Jersey in the first round and the series was 2-2 with the fifth game being back in Philly. I didn't think I had to wear the shoes then because we were the home team and the defending champions. The Sixers were the No. 1 seed, playing the No. six seed so I didn't think I needed them. I was the PR director of the team back then and I walked into the locker room and Moses said to me, 'Hey, Harv, We're the shoes.' I said, 'Hey, Moses, You don't need my shoes. There's only so many wins in these shoes, I'm not going to wear them today, I'm going to leave you on your own. And Moses took his forefinger and pointed it right at me and said, 'Hey, Harv, If we lose this game, we're going to blame you.� So, what was I to do? I went out to the car, changed my shoes, put the orchid shoes on, went back in and what happened? We lost. So I charged that defeat to Moses, not to me. So, my real record with my pink shoes is around 11-1. And I'll be wearing them for Game 5. Of course if this series goes to a sixth game out in L.A., you'll see more sporting those pink shoes out there.

Hearn: They'll be whistling at you out here if you wear those pink shoes, Harv. (Laughing)

Pollack: I would fit in with the scene! What do you mean? (Laughing)

Q: Chick, Talk about when Wilt played against the Lakers before he eventually joined them?

Hearn: When Wilt was playing against the Lakers, he was a dominating force, he was in the prime of his career. One year he averaged 50 points a game. I'll tell you a story that I don't think Harv knows. The Lakers played the Sixers at Convention Hall in Philadelphia and they got behind 15-0 to start the game. And finally the game goes into overtime and the Lakers end up winning it. I went upstairs after the game to the locker room, Elgin Baylor was taking a puff on a cigarette and I showed him the box score and I said, 'Take a look at this: You had 78 points and that breaks your all-time record for the best score in the NBA,' which was 71 held by Baylor. And Baylor said to me quietly, 'Hey, Chick, One day the Big Fella will make 100.' Two months later, he did make 100.

Pollack: I was there.

Q: Harvey, you wore many hats that night Wilt scored 100 points in Hershey, Pa.

Pollack: I sure did. I was the publicity director of the team and I was in charge of all of the press seating before the game. I was also the official statistician and in those days there was only one official statistician, no computers or anything. Also, I had been assigned by the Philadelphia Inquirer to cover the game because the game was late in the season, which meant absolutely nothing as far as the standings were concerned since both the Sixers and the Knicks had already clinched their [playoff] spots for the rest of the season. So, the normal turnout of heavy New York writers was not there, there were only a few of them there. And the Philadelphia Inquirer decided not to send any of their writers and asked me to cover it for them. In Philadelphia, I was also the stringer for UP and they didn't have anybody in the Harrisburg area and they asked me to cover the game. Whoever was the stringer for AP couldn't cover the game, so they asked me. So, I had three writing assignments that night.

Q: Can anyone approach Wilt's record of scoring 100 points a game?

Hearn: No, it will never happen again. Do you think so, Harv?

Pollack: No.

Hearn: The game has changed.

Pollack: The opposition will make sure that player won't score against them.

Hearn: When Wilt scored 100 points in a game and averaged 50 points a game for that season (1961-62), the lane -- the three-second area -- probably was eight-feet wide, now it's 16-feet wide, that makes a big difference in getting a guy out, away from the basket. Wilt used to go out, 15 to 17 feet to left of the goal and make a fallaway bank shot. Remember that, Harv?

Pollack: Yes, I do.

Q: How does Shaq compare with Wilt?

Hearn: Wilt came to the Lakers at the end of his career and played with us for five years and he produced the first Laker victory in 1971-72. He was not himself, he couldn't do the things he once did but he was good enough to be an outstanding competitor and player. God rest his soul. And now you ask me to compare to Wilt and Shaq. Shaq is getting close to the prime of his career and if he keeps improving, if he improves as much as he did this year, he might go down, might go down one day at least as good as any center who has ever played. Think about Russell and all of those guys.

Pollack: Wilt was not the same player after he stopped being an offensive force. He started that in the 1967-68 season when he decided to lead the league in assists, which he did. He was the only center to ever do that. But he was more of a defensive player than an offensive player throughout the rest of his career. And one year Jack Kaiser of the Philadelphia Daily News said, 'Hey, Wilt, you can't score any more.' So Wilt went out and played Chicago and scored 70-something points.

As far as I'm concerned, Wilt was the greatest player to ever play the game because he could do whatever he wanted to do. He was strong, just like Shaq, he can overpower an opponent. It's a shame that when he played that the league didn't keep blocked shots. Neither Russell or Wilt ever received credit for a blocked shot in NBA statistics. They put the rule to accept blocked shots the year after Wilt retired in 1973. We'll never know. It's a joke that Elmore Smith holds the league record of 17 blocked shots in a game when unofficially I used to keep Wilt's blocked shots here. He had 25 in one game he had against Boston. So I don't what the most he ever did in his career.

Hearn: Center for center, against each other, Russell and Chamberlain were the greatest.

Pollack: I don't think there has been a greater rivalry in the history of the league than Russell against Wilt.

Hearn: Harvey, you talked about the league not keeping stats and rebounds, which is true, they did not. They didn't keep it on assists either and that's why we know now, checking back on the numbers, that Oscar averaged a triple-double every game during the 1961-62 season.

Pollack: The same year of Wilt's 100-point game.

The league widened the lane because of Wilt, eight to 12 feet, now its out to 16.

Q: Out of all of the great Laker teams, was the 1971-72 team your favorite?

Hearn: Of course it was. It was the first time the Lakers ever got over the hump, so to speak and won a championship. They had been denied by the New York Knicks and they had been denied by the Boston Celtics and so they were afraid Jerry West would never be on a championship team or Elgin Baylor. Well, Baylor had to leave that team after nine games at the beginning of the season, so he wasn't on it. A little kid from Columbia, Jimmy McMillian, a 6-5 forward, came out and filled Elgin Baylor's shoes rather well.

Baylor, in my opinion, was one of the greatest players to ever, ever live. He was doing things 30 years before Dr. J ever got credit for them, hanging in the air, spinning the ball and so forth.

The Lakers acquired Wilt to help win the title. The first year he played for the Lakers, they didn't get it done. The second year, '71-72 they did and won a league record 33 consecutive games.

Q: What's your favorite team, Harvey: The '67 Sixers?

Pollack: That's my favorite team. They had Hal Greer, Luke Jackson, Billy Cunningham was the sixth man on that team. That was my favorite team of all time. I wear that ring more than I wear any of the other ones. I have four rings. I'm the only one in Philadelphia that has four rings. I have the ring from the first year of the league, when the Warriors won the title in '46-47. That ring had a little gold ring with a diamond that you would need a magnifying glass to see. That was when the clubs bought the ring, now the league is involved with it.

When we won in '55-56, the ring was still a little gold ring but the diamond was a little larger but not by much. When we won in 67, that's when [Irv] Kosloff owned the team. We got these rings with rubies and inscriptions on the side and a lot of gold and the diamond, it was really worth something. And the same way with the '82-83 one, it's very similar to that. When I go out to speak, I wear the four rings and I say, you can see how the league has progressed by these rings.

Hearn: The rings we have now are too gaudy. I'm ashamed to wear it. I'm proud of it, but it's so gaudy.

If I may, I would like to share this story: Philadelphia came out to Los Angeles to play and whoever was the Lakers PR guy put their broadcast team in a very disadvantaged position, not a good spot to broadcast from. I apologized to their broadcasters for it even though it wasn't my fault since I had nothing to do with the location. Anyway, we go back to Philly about a month later and I'm put back into a corner and I can't even see one of the baskets and I said, 'Who put me there?' And they said, 'Harv Pollack.'

(Laughter)

Harv, you got even with me even although I wasn't responsible and you and I have become good friends.

Pollack: Right.