Red and Dotie share a laugh on Inside Sports
While the spirit of Red Auerbach lurked in the new TD Banknorth Garden the new “Big Three” dismantled and embarrassed the Los Angeles Lakers franchise in the NBA finals 131-92. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen reminded Celtic fans of dynasties past. There was Bill Russell, Sam Jones and K. C. Jones or Larry Byrd, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish dynasties.
The 2008 Boston Celtics went from worst to first in a hurry. The new "Big Three" solidified their places in Boston Celtic lore. Paul Pierce scored a double-double in points and assist and was named the MVP of the series. Kevin Garnett scored 26 points and had 14 rebounds and Ray Allen tied an NBA finals record with seven 3 point shots while scoring 26 points. The "Big Three" whether they like it or not had lived up to their name.
The NBA’s Boston Celtics and Red Auerbach are the most successful team and coach in NBA history. The franchise has won 17 World Championships; Red won 9 of those as the head coach. Number 17 came on Tuesday night June 18, 2008 in TD Northbank Garden. The man in charge was a man we call Doc and not Red.
While America was seeing Black for the first time (Presidential nominee Barack Obama) the City of Boston was also seeing a familiar Red as in Auerbach. It had been twenty-one years (1987) since these two teams last met in an NBA final. The last thing the city, the team and the fans wanted to see was a Lakers’ win to move Jackson ahead of Auerbach. The last time the Boston Celtics won an NBA Championship was 1987. Red Auerbach was still the Godfather of the NBA and President of the franchise.
Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson came into the series tied with Red and needed a win to move ahead of him in the championship finals win column. The Lakers blew a 24 point lead to the Celtics in game four at home to go down 3-1 and a 39 point lost in the finals didn’t help his case. He returned to Los Angeles hopefully never again to hear being compared to Red Auerbach.
It is not by accident or coincident that Doc Rivers is the head coach of the Boston Celtics or Danny Ainge is the team’s General Manager. Thanks to Red the Celtics were the first equal opportunity and keeping it in the family employer in the NBA.
When Doc Rivers became the coach of the Celtics, Red’s advice to Doc, “Keep it simple.” Red won 9 NBA Championships by keeping it simple and playing tough in your face defense, thanks to a man named Bill-- as in Bill Russell.
Make no mistake Doc Rivers is no Red Auerbach, DC's fearless talk show host Coach Butch McAdams said it best on a recent talk show. He said, "Doc Rivers as a basketball coach makes a great television/basketball commentator."
In defense of Rivers I have always thought that coaching a pro sports team was overrated. If you got the "horses" and the respect of grown men anything is possible--meet Doc Rivers.
This year’s team didn’t have a Bill Russell but their team defense was the best in the league. In 2007 the Celtics had the worst team in the league and the media and fans were calling for Doc Rivers' dismissal. In 2008 GM Danny Ainge pulled off an NBA heist that would have made Red Auerbach proud. Kevin Garnett is one of the most gifted big men in the league. He had been the face of the Minnesota Tmberwolves' franchise since leaving high school 12 years ago, but basketball success had not followed him to the NBA. Garnett had become an unhappy camper and wanted out.
The acquisition of Kevin Garnett and NBA sharp shooter Ray Allen was a stroke of genius. You add holdover Paul Pierce and it brought back memories of Celtic pride with Auerbach, Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, K. C. Jones, etc leading the charge against Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and the incomparable Wilt Chamberlain. I am still trying to figure out how the Celtics pulled that one off. The answer could easily be---Red Auerbach.
How and why did Minnesota trade Garnett to Boston? It is rumored that the spirit of Red Auerbach contacted Minnesota GM Kevin McHale while he was in a deep sleep one night and said “Kevin you owe me one, trade Garnett to Boston and we are even.” The rest is team sports history.
This final match up brought together one of the NBA’s most heated and hated basketball rivals. The match-up lacked the marquee value of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain or Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, but it did not lack the mental and physical intensity that this rivalry has known for decades. The only other major sports franchises that come close to this rivalry in intensity is the match-up of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
The World of sports lost a true giant when Red died on October 28, 2006. He was born in Brooklyn, NY but he loved his adopted hometown of Washington, DC. The finals championship left no doubt that Red Auerbach is the greatest coach in the history of the NBA.
His won-lost record in Human and in Civil Rights was nothing to sneeze at----he was in a class by himself.
In 1950 Chuck Cooper of Duquesne University and a second team All-American was drafted by coach Red Auerbach and owner Walter Brown. Cooper would become the first black player drafted and signed by an NBA team. The NBA is now the most integrated pro sports organization in America. The NBA plantation mentality is no longer implemented by whites it is now implemented by black men. Red was not a big fan of NBA Commissioner David Stern or Wizard’s owner Abe Pollin, it had something to do with trust and integrity.
Red was the first coach to play five black players at the same time. He was first to hire the first black coach when he hired Bill Russell and the first to hire a black General Manager his name was also--Bill Russell.
During the tenure of owner Walter Brown and Red Auerbach the Boston Garden was a “Racial Free Zone.” The stifling racial strife in the city of Boston for the past several decades was not allowed in Boston Garden the home of the Boston Celtics. When games were played in the garden the Redneck riff-raff had to check their KKK robes and hoods at the gate and replace them with shirt and tie, blue jeans and T-shirts.
When the basketball hall of fame had forgotten the contributions of Earl Lloyd the first player to ever play in an NBA game in 1950, Red reminded them. Earl was finally inducted into the Naismith Basketball of Fame in 2001 fifty years later. Thanks to Red Auerbach, better late than never.
The Boston Celtics were the underdogs in this year’s series and were picked to lose to the Lakers in six games by the so-called experts. The experts can be found sitting at NBA press tables around the league during the regular season. Many would not know the difference from a left hook and a hook shot, but they are the experts never the less. The Celtics won in six games---so much for the experts!
This was the eleventh championship final between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. The Celtics now lead the series 9-3. The most important statistic was the one owned by the coaches, the late Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson. Each had won nine NBA Championships. A win by the Lakers would make Phil Jackson the outright leader. Please don’t think this was lost on the city of Boston, the Celtic organization, the players or the coaches. The city of Los Angeles, the Lakers organization, the players and their coach were also caught up in this historical footnote in NBA history, more than bragging rights were at stake.
Did you see Bill Russell and Magic Johnson lurking in the stands, behind closed doors, in locker rooms and in bath rooms? They were there to remind the players not to let them down and what was really at stake.
Phil Jackson had not forgotten that when his record was compared to Red Auerbach’s, Red made it perfectly clear that Phil was an NBA opportunist. Red built his incredible record with just one team—the Boston Celtics and Phil was an NBA vagabond. Red said, “Phil Jackson is the television version of Bob Barker, if you got the players, Lets Make A Deal.” In other words, 'I have sneakers and I will travel.'
Red Auerbach was a genius and one of a kind. If you are looking for the definition of coach in Webster’s Dictionary it is spelled, A-U-E-R-B-A-C-H. Red could X and O you to death (chalk and black board). He was a psychiatrist, motivator, P. R. man and an intimidator. The league’s referees, coaches and players were often the target of his wit and sharp tongue. He stood 5’7 inches tall and I still remember watching a game on television and Red challenging the 7 foot Wilt Chamberlain to a fist fight. Red would later tell me on my talk show Inside Sports, “I should have gotten an Academy Award for that performance.” Talking about getting under an opponent’s skin, when he was sure that victory was in hand he would light up his famous cigar on the bench. There were several occasions when he would light the cigar up too soon and the opposition would make a comeback and got the last laugh. Those laughs were far few and in-between.
There were times when Red could be too smart for his own good. Boston Celtic great and Hall of Fame player Sam Jones once told me the story about Red having a curfew, something he very seldom did. Red requested the team in a hotel during a long winning streak. It was the night before they would be playing the worst team in the league. Red wanted to make sure everyone stayed focused and not take the losers for granted. He ordered room service (sandwiches, chips, pretzels, sodas and beer) for everyone in a suite. The players then retired to their rooms together. The next day they lost to the worst team in the league by 20 points. Red said, "That was my first curfew and my last curfew." He learned, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Bill Russell took a page out of one of Red Auerbach’s chalk talks and promised Kevin Garnett one of his championship rings if he did not win a championship during his stay in Boston. Bill was depending on the pride of Kevin being man enough to go out and earn his own ring. Bill was right and Kevin finally took up residency under the basket in game six and it was no contest. Today I can vision Red smiling and reaching for his cigar, the heavenly no-smoking sign off for a day. Doc Rivers is no Red Auerbach but in 2008 he was running a close second in Boston.
The 2008 Boston Celtics went from worst to first in a hurry. The new "Big Three" solidified their places in Boston Celtic lore. Paul Pierce scored a double-double in points and assist and was named the MVP of the series. Kevin Garnett scored 26 points and had 14 rebounds and Ray Allen tied an NBA finals record with seven 3 point shots while scoring 26 points. The "Big Three" whether they like it or not had lived up to their name.
The NBA’s Boston Celtics and Red Auerbach are the most successful team and coach in NBA history. The franchise has won 17 World Championships; Red won 9 of those as the head coach. Number 17 came on Tuesday night June 18, 2008 in TD Northbank Garden. The man in charge was a man we call Doc and not Red.
While America was seeing Black for the first time (Presidential nominee Barack Obama) the City of Boston was also seeing a familiar Red as in Auerbach. It had been twenty-one years (1987) since these two teams last met in an NBA final. The last thing the city, the team and the fans wanted to see was a Lakers’ win to move Jackson ahead of Auerbach. The last time the Boston Celtics won an NBA Championship was 1987. Red Auerbach was still the Godfather of the NBA and President of the franchise.
Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson came into the series tied with Red and needed a win to move ahead of him in the championship finals win column. The Lakers blew a 24 point lead to the Celtics in game four at home to go down 3-1 and a 39 point lost in the finals didn’t help his case. He returned to Los Angeles hopefully never again to hear being compared to Red Auerbach.
It is not by accident or coincident that Doc Rivers is the head coach of the Boston Celtics or Danny Ainge is the team’s General Manager. Thanks to Red the Celtics were the first equal opportunity and keeping it in the family employer in the NBA.
When Doc Rivers became the coach of the Celtics, Red’s advice to Doc, “Keep it simple.” Red won 9 NBA Championships by keeping it simple and playing tough in your face defense, thanks to a man named Bill-- as in Bill Russell.
Make no mistake Doc Rivers is no Red Auerbach, DC's fearless talk show host Coach Butch McAdams said it best on a recent talk show. He said, "Doc Rivers as a basketball coach makes a great television/basketball commentator."
In defense of Rivers I have always thought that coaching a pro sports team was overrated. If you got the "horses" and the respect of grown men anything is possible--meet Doc Rivers.
This year’s team didn’t have a Bill Russell but their team defense was the best in the league. In 2007 the Celtics had the worst team in the league and the media and fans were calling for Doc Rivers' dismissal. In 2008 GM Danny Ainge pulled off an NBA heist that would have made Red Auerbach proud. Kevin Garnett is one of the most gifted big men in the league. He had been the face of the Minnesota Tmberwolves' franchise since leaving high school 12 years ago, but basketball success had not followed him to the NBA. Garnett had become an unhappy camper and wanted out.
The acquisition of Kevin Garnett and NBA sharp shooter Ray Allen was a stroke of genius. You add holdover Paul Pierce and it brought back memories of Celtic pride with Auerbach, Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, K. C. Jones, etc leading the charge against Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and the incomparable Wilt Chamberlain. I am still trying to figure out how the Celtics pulled that one off. The answer could easily be---Red Auerbach.
How and why did Minnesota trade Garnett to Boston? It is rumored that the spirit of Red Auerbach contacted Minnesota GM Kevin McHale while he was in a deep sleep one night and said “Kevin you owe me one, trade Garnett to Boston and we are even.” The rest is team sports history.
This final match up brought together one of the NBA’s most heated and hated basketball rivals. The match-up lacked the marquee value of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain or Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, but it did not lack the mental and physical intensity that this rivalry has known for decades. The only other major sports franchises that come close to this rivalry in intensity is the match-up of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
The World of sports lost a true giant when Red died on October 28, 2006. He was born in Brooklyn, NY but he loved his adopted hometown of Washington, DC. The finals championship left no doubt that Red Auerbach is the greatest coach in the history of the NBA.
His won-lost record in Human and in Civil Rights was nothing to sneeze at----he was in a class by himself.
In 1950 Chuck Cooper of Duquesne University and a second team All-American was drafted by coach Red Auerbach and owner Walter Brown. Cooper would become the first black player drafted and signed by an NBA team. The NBA is now the most integrated pro sports organization in America. The NBA plantation mentality is no longer implemented by whites it is now implemented by black men. Red was not a big fan of NBA Commissioner David Stern or Wizard’s owner Abe Pollin, it had something to do with trust and integrity.
Red was the first coach to play five black players at the same time. He was first to hire the first black coach when he hired Bill Russell and the first to hire a black General Manager his name was also--Bill Russell.
During the tenure of owner Walter Brown and Red Auerbach the Boston Garden was a “Racial Free Zone.” The stifling racial strife in the city of Boston for the past several decades was not allowed in Boston Garden the home of the Boston Celtics. When games were played in the garden the Redneck riff-raff had to check their KKK robes and hoods at the gate and replace them with shirt and tie, blue jeans and T-shirts.
When the basketball hall of fame had forgotten the contributions of Earl Lloyd the first player to ever play in an NBA game in 1950, Red reminded them. Earl was finally inducted into the Naismith Basketball of Fame in 2001 fifty years later. Thanks to Red Auerbach, better late than never.
The Boston Celtics were the underdogs in this year’s series and were picked to lose to the Lakers in six games by the so-called experts. The experts can be found sitting at NBA press tables around the league during the regular season. Many would not know the difference from a left hook and a hook shot, but they are the experts never the less. The Celtics won in six games---so much for the experts!
This was the eleventh championship final between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. The Celtics now lead the series 9-3. The most important statistic was the one owned by the coaches, the late Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson. Each had won nine NBA Championships. A win by the Lakers would make Phil Jackson the outright leader. Please don’t think this was lost on the city of Boston, the Celtic organization, the players or the coaches. The city of Los Angeles, the Lakers organization, the players and their coach were also caught up in this historical footnote in NBA history, more than bragging rights were at stake.
Did you see Bill Russell and Magic Johnson lurking in the stands, behind closed doors, in locker rooms and in bath rooms? They were there to remind the players not to let them down and what was really at stake.
Phil Jackson had not forgotten that when his record was compared to Red Auerbach’s, Red made it perfectly clear that Phil was an NBA opportunist. Red built his incredible record with just one team—the Boston Celtics and Phil was an NBA vagabond. Red said, “Phil Jackson is the television version of Bob Barker, if you got the players, Lets Make A Deal.” In other words, 'I have sneakers and I will travel.'
Red Auerbach was a genius and one of a kind. If you are looking for the definition of coach in Webster’s Dictionary it is spelled, A-U-E-R-B-A-C-H. Red could X and O you to death (chalk and black board). He was a psychiatrist, motivator, P. R. man and an intimidator. The league’s referees, coaches and players were often the target of his wit and sharp tongue. He stood 5’7 inches tall and I still remember watching a game on television and Red challenging the 7 foot Wilt Chamberlain to a fist fight. Red would later tell me on my talk show Inside Sports, “I should have gotten an Academy Award for that performance.” Talking about getting under an opponent’s skin, when he was sure that victory was in hand he would light up his famous cigar on the bench. There were several occasions when he would light the cigar up too soon and the opposition would make a comeback and got the last laugh. Those laughs were far few and in-between.
There were times when Red could be too smart for his own good. Boston Celtic great and Hall of Fame player Sam Jones once told me the story about Red having a curfew, something he very seldom did. Red requested the team in a hotel during a long winning streak. It was the night before they would be playing the worst team in the league. Red wanted to make sure everyone stayed focused and not take the losers for granted. He ordered room service (sandwiches, chips, pretzels, sodas and beer) for everyone in a suite. The players then retired to their rooms together. The next day they lost to the worst team in the league by 20 points. Red said, "That was my first curfew and my last curfew." He learned, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Bill Russell took a page out of one of Red Auerbach’s chalk talks and promised Kevin Garnett one of his championship rings if he did not win a championship during his stay in Boston. Bill was depending on the pride of Kevin being man enough to go out and earn his own ring. Bill was right and Kevin finally took up residency under the basket in game six and it was no contest. Today I can vision Red smiling and reaching for his cigar, the heavenly no-smoking sign off for a day. Doc Rivers is no Red Auerbach but in 2008 he was running a close second in Boston.
