The Celtics (Part 3)

Here's the final part of the Boston Celtics franchise...

(21) 1972 Boston Celtics (56-26) vs. (40) 2005 Boston Celtics (45-37)

Another spectacular season of the 70s Big 3. This is the second viewing of them, and it is remarkable. Havlicek is amazing with his 28-8-8 averages, while Jo Jo White shows shades of Cousy with his cool 23-6-5 season. Cowens shows obvious shades of Russell with his 19-15-3 season (great passer….like Russell). Don Nelson is still hanging on for his large (heh…) 14-6 season. Don Chaney gave a needed 12-5 year, but they only got to the ECF…

Paul Pierce is showing his greatness, leading some decent parts to 45 wins with his 22-7-4 season. Antoine Walker came back home to Boston, where he got in 24 games to close the season, all while giving Boston 16-8-3. Ricky Davis played 82 games, with a good 16-3-3 average. Gary Payton showed his age at a small 11-3-6 season. Raef LaFrentz and Mark Blount gave double figures, or close to double figures.

The Celtics (Part 2)

Here's part two of the Boston Celtics....

(11) 1962 Boston Celtics (60-20) vs. (50) 1995 Boston Celtics (35-47)

Here is a wonderful Russell era team. It has Russell going full steam ahead with jaw dropping averages of 19-24-5, and has Tommy Heinsohn putting up 22-10-2. Cousy is one of the top points in the league, even at 33, and he shows it with 16-4-8 numbers. Sam Jones is showing his true skills, as he adds the pivotal 18-6-3 to Boston, helped out by a 15 point bench explosion by Frank Ramsey. Loaded, loaded team.

Hey! This is a playoff team!!! You know your franchise is good when your 50th team can make the postseason…though the league wasn’t great without Jordan, and a team led by a 35 year old Dominique Wilkins could thrive (that’s right, 35, and he’s putting up 18-5 a night), though not much, as he’s matched by Dino Radja (17-9). Dee Brown was a helper, he added 16-3-4 to the mix, along with 15 from Sherman Douglas.

(12) 1980 Boston Celtics (61-21) vs. (49) 2004 Boston Celtics (36-46)

How can all these non-champs be so high!?! The ’80 Celtics lost to Philadelphia in the ECF. This is a loaded (maybe too much so) team. Just look at this! 21-10-5 from (ROOKIE) Larry Bird, Cedric Maxwell had 17-9, 14-8 from Dave Cowens (in his last Celtic year), 14-3-8 from Tiny Archibald, Rick Robey, ML Carr, and Chris Ford all had 11 points. Like I said, loaded.

The Celtics (Part 1)

Ahh….the Celtics. Considered by many to be the best franchise of all time. They had Cousy, Russell, Havlicek, Bird, McHale, Parish, Pierce and more great names. When you see the Celtics, you see a winning tradition (well, unless you missed Bird, then you see a crappy team). There are also 60 series here (aughh!). So keep reading to see them, along with (an attempt at minimal) Celtics bias. (Trying something new here...splitting up the teams into parts...here is part 1).

(1) 1973 Boston Celtics (68-14) vs. (60) 1997 Boston Celtics (15-67)

What?!? I thought maybe a Russell or Bird team would be the best of all-time for Boston?? Who are they?!?!?!? Yes. The ’73 Celtics. And no, they did not win a title. Havlicek got injured. There are many people that could be considered “the leader”, but we’ll say it’s the ’73 MVP, Dave Cowens, who had a 21-16-4 year. John Havlicek was also dominant; he put up 24-7-7 in a promising year. Jo Jo White had a 20-5-6, along with a great 13-13 year from defender Paul Silas. Don Nelson and Don Chaney also helped, adding double digit scoring to the mix.

And with every best team, there is a worst. The Celtics were led by Rick Pitino as coach, as they gunned for the hyped Tim Duncan. A 20-year old Antoine Walker led them with 18-9, with David Wesley having 17-4-7 year. Rick Fox, Todd Day, and Eric Williams all added 15 points.

(2) 1986 Boston Celtics (67-15) vs. (59) 2007 Boston Celtics (24-58)

Here is the famous ’86 title team, featuring many players close to or at their peak. You must love the camaraderie of the best of the best, with Larry Bird (26-10-7) leading the way. World class “these-guys-are-supporters?” feature Kevin McHale (21-8-3) and the Panda Express, and the boring-yet-key Robert Parish (16-10-2). This is one of the greatest passing teams of all-time, with bigman Bill Walton leading the bench, at an underrated 8-7-2. Who can forget DJ (16-3-6) and Danny Ainge (11-3-5)? My bet for best C’s team…