Jun

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From 50 Wins To 50 Wins What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been (Reprinted From March 13, 2008)

Posted by Jeff Sack under NBA PLAYOFFS, SDC COMMENTARY 

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Editor’s note: The following is a reprint of a column originally published on March 13, when the Boston Celtics eclipsed the 50 win mark. On the eve of the NBA Finals I thought this was an appropriate time to re-run it. If you read it the first time, hope you enjoy it again, if it’s the first time the same sentiment goes.

The Boston Celtics of 1985-1986 were in this observers opinion the greatest team assembled in the history of the NBA. Now you can make your arguments for 1966-1967 Philadelphia 76ers (great team) the 1986-1987 Los Angeles Lakers(great team) the Jordan era Bulls (no legitimate competition) but you won’t change my mind. The team that beat the Houston Rockets to win the NBA Finals was eight men deep, and could destroy you in a myriad of ways. Not only that did that team feature Bird, Parish, McHale, Johnson, and Ainge, it had the NBA Sixth Man Award Winner in Bill Walton. Add on forward Scott Wedman, and guard Jerry Sichting and this team was a steamroller. It was not only the apex, the peak of the Boston Celtics Dynasty, it was also the beginning of the end.

If you are not a Boston Celtics fan, then you probably hate Boston Celtics fans! Celtics fans are the ultimate schizophrenics, they are haughty about the franchise storied past. But they cry the blues that they have not won a championship since 1986. Outsiders have no sympathy for them, just ask someone from Cleveland, who have not won a Championship outside of the MISL since 1964. But when you have gone from living in the Penthouse for 30 years, it’s tough to take the outhouse for the next 20.

There are three distinct eras of Celtics greatness. The “Original Dynasty” of Russell, Cousy, Heinsohn, and the Jones duo, that won 11 championships in 13 years from 1957-1969 was the first era. The second era was the 1974, 1976 championship teams, that were the Havelicek, Cowens, Silas, JoJo White, era. If you are under forty (as is most of the world it seems) the era that you are most familiar with is the era of the “Big Three” which was 1980-1992. That was the era that along with the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Philadelphia 76ers saved the NBA in the 1980’s.

The NBA was a dying league in 1980, a fringe sport at best. They were relegated to having the NBA Finals broadcast on tape delay at 11:30 p.m. on CBS! And they did the same thing on the West Coast. So if you wanted to not know what the outcome of the game was until you watched it, you had to wait until six hours after the game started back East, for the broadcast to begin!? The Association had been racked by drug scandals in the late seventies and early eighties (not steroids, recreational drugs.) The league was starting to get some notice after the merger of the NBA and the ABA, and a young phenom by the name of Julius Erving AKA Dr. J started opening some eyes. Unfortunately because of the era that he played in, and the fact that he split his time between the two leagues, I don’t know that the Doctor gets the recognition and respect he deserves. But if you saw the young Dr. J play it was usually with your mouth wide open in shock,?at the amazing things he could do on the court. He “flew” long before M.J. ever did!

But the beginning of the true Renaissance of the NBA began in the 1979-1980 season when Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Larry Joe Bird came into the league. The pair became instant celebrities, when Johnson’s team beat Bird’s team in the NCAA Finals. And the talk of a rivalry began then, one that would eventually revive the league, and take it to new heights they had never imagined.

The 1980’s may have been the true “Golden Age Of The NBA.” For the entire decade you had only two teams from the Western Conference that went to the NBA Finals. The Los Angeles Lakers, and the Houston Rockets. This in an era when you had the Doug Moe Denver Nuggets, George Gervin and the San Antonio Spurs, that were both superb teams, but they never could get out of the West. Being a Milwaukee Bucks fan must have been pure torture, your team won 50 games almost every season, and they never made it out of the East. From 1980-1987 only two teams represented the East, the Sixers, and the Celtics. From 1984-1987 the Celtics were in the Finals every year! But the 1986 team was the last team that won the title.

Things went sour pretty quickly for the Celtics, starting with the NBA Draft of 1986. The Celtics picking second, picked a young phenom who was being compared to Michael Jordan, Len Bias out of the University of Maryland. Less than 48 hours later Bias would be dead, victim of a fatal cocaine overdose. The good luck Leprechaun who watched over the Celtics, must have went away, because that was just the start.

?Soon after the 1986-1987 season started Scott Wedman broke his leg, ending his career. Not long after Walton started suffering foot problems, a malady that had plagued him throughout his career. He would never be the same. During the Post Season McHale suffered a stress fracture, the same injury that just ended Yao Ming’s season. Yao was smart, he had the surgery and ended his season to prolong his career. McHale was gutsy he played through it, his foot got far worse, and the surgery was far more severe. McHale would never be the same player again. The Legend, was the next one to get bit by the injury bug, Bird first tore his Achilles tendon, but it was his back that would end his career before? it should have concluded.

The last time the Boston Celtics won 50 or more games was back in the 1991-1992 season, when they went 51-31. That season was not only the last season that the ?Big Three? (Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale) played together, it was the season that a budding young star emerged in Boston, Number 35 the Late Great Reggie Lewis. Unfortunately a bad heart would claim Lewis a short time later, but he was looked at at that point, as the bridge to the next generation of Celtics greatness.

Things went from bad to worse over the next 15 years, as Boston tried a series of regimes. The Dave Gavitt regime, The M.L. Carr regime, The Rick Pitino regime, all abject failures. Pitino came in just before the 1997 NBA Draft expecting he would end up with the number one pick, and Tim Duncan. Instead he got the number three pick, and he chose Chauncey Billups, who inexplicably he traded away in the middle of the season! Pitino resigned as Team President and head coach on January 8, 2001, leaving 27 million dollars on the table. His assistant Jim O’Brien took over as coach, and had the Celtics in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals in 2002, which they lost to New?Jersey. Danny?Ainge came in that Summer as Director Of Basketball Operations, and proceeded to trade the team away. O’Brien quit, and then last season the Boston Celtics went 24-58, 12-29 at home, 12-29 on the road.

Ainge resurrected his reputation and the team this off-season as he acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett.?Along with existing All-Star Paul Pierce the team is 51-12 as we go to print. Boston has gone from a moribund Basketball city to Hoopsville, USA this season. Who knows what lies ahead as the season concludes, but Boston is a Basketball Town again for the first time since 1992.

? Copyright 2008 thesackattack.net?



Comments

One Response to “From 50 Wins To 50 Wins What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been (Reprinted From March 13, 2008)”

  1. Russ Loede on June 5th, 2008 3:30 pm

    Learned some things from reading this great NBA article. It’s always good to learn more about Hoops. Good to look back… and just a couple days ago I found about from my uncle where the “Beat L.A.” chant originated from (’82(?) Finals after Boston lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 of the Conf. Finals at the Garden).

    It’s crazy to look back @ both the 80s & 90s and to see only a few teams good enough to win it all (LA, Boston, PHILLY, Houston, Detroit, and Chicago - don’t care about ‘99 season). I’ve long pondered and thought about it. Nonetheless, I don’t know what the conclusion or answer is to why - though I know I most certainly I enjoy/love dynasties.

    I love NBA history and it’s crazy to even comprehend or even think about the NBA Finals not being live on TV! The NBA’s history is very interesting - though I love the NFL’s history a bit more because of NFL Films… I am surprised the NBA wasn’t as popular back in the 70s… You had PISTOL Pete Maravich and Julius Erving - Doctor J! Probably the two most exciting players to ever play the game and two of the best of all-time! It would’ve been nice to see ‘em play together or just end up on more championship winning teams. Pistol is the true definition of a legitimate combo guard. A great point and shooting guard in 1. Could do it All!

    The Lakers-Celtics Rivalry meant so much for Basketball and I enjoy watching the re-runs. I wonder where the NBA would be without that rivalry. I also often wonder if my Houston Rockets and my favorite player - Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon would’ve won more titles if they had a little better supporting cast of role players around The Dream. Imagine what the C’s would’ve done in ‘86 if they had a third scorer to go along w/ the “Twin Towers”! I wonder how that series would’ve turned out… I mean, when you watched Dream in the Finals that year vs. Boston he was unstoppable at times and was triple-teamed a lot! Whether it was the thunderous, powerful throwdown dunk, the “Dream Shake” fadeaway in the post, or just a crazy shot or hook over three opposing defenders - he was just simply amazing. Anyways, it’s good to look back at the NBA and all those great teams, players, and coaches that make it the game it is today. I just wish Olajuwon & the Rockets would’ve made it to more NBA Finals and won more championships.

    It’s crazy just looking back at how many hall of famers ended up on either Boston or LA! The frontlines of those 80s were for better use/or lack of terms - just flat-out “sick” or plain ridiculous. It seemed like the Lakers whole squad was filled with tremendous athletes who were at least 6′7” for the most part and could run and score from anywhere on the court. The whole Len Bias story gives me “chills” and it’s sad. I would’ve loved to see him play and see how good he would’ve been. The Celtics with Bias would’ve been a great match for the Lakers in ‘87. Boston never had a player with the skills Bias would’ve displayed. I can’t believe what happened still to this day - very unfortunate and shocking…

    Iceman, Doctor J, Dream, Magic, Larry Legend, Human Highlight Film (Personal Favorite), PISTOL, His Airness, the list goes on - so many great nicknames for so many great NBA players - where have the creative nicknames gone for today’s generation of players?

    Final Thoughts - Pick or Choose Debates: Russell/Wilt - Russell.

    80s Celtics/Lakers:
    Extremely tough - At 1st thought, Celtics - My Choice is: Showtime Lakers by the slimmest of margins. (Just love the rivalry because of the sharp contrast/differences between the two teams)

    Bird/Magic: Bird - 1st thought - Magic - I’ll go Larry Legend - in another close one.

    McHale/Worthy: “Big Game James” Worthy - though McHale had a lethal post-game - Worthy more versatile.

    Role Players - Dennis Johnson/Byron Scott: Dennis Johnson - one of the best role players I’ve ever seen and was so tough, clutch, and smart.

    Best Team of All-Time: 69-13 1971 LA Lakers squad with Jerry West, Wilt, and Goodrich! Now that’s a Big 3 tandem!

    Team who went through the most adversity to win it all: 1995 Houston Rockets - defeated 57, 59, 60, and 62-win teams all without homecourt to win the title! Came back from 3-1 down in semifinals to win twice on road against Phoenix! Mighty Impressive as a 47-win, 6-Seed!

    ‘08 NBA FINALS: Boston CELTICS Over L.A. Lakers In 6 Games. Finals MVP: Ray Allen

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