On this day in 1950, Arnold “Red” Auerbach, former head coach of the Washington Capitols and Tri-Cities Blackhawks, was hired as head coach of the Boston Celtics.
Auerbach would go on to coach the Celtics for 16 seasons. He amassed nine championships over that run with a 795-397 record in the regular season and a 90-58 postseason record, good for .667 and .608 respective winning percentages — the winningest coach in NBA history.
Red would step down as head coach in 1966 in favor of player-coach Bill Russell, but would remain general manager of the team well into the 1980s.
He would be awarded the Coach of the Year award for the 1964-65 NBA season, was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 1969, and was named a top-10 coach in league history in the 1996-97 season.
It is also the anniversary of a 96-86 closeout playoff win against the Miami Heat in 2010.
Boston won the series four games to one, and the Celtics secured the win with a 24-point performance from Ray Allen, with Paul Pierce adding 21 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.
Kevin Garnett chipped in 14 points and 7 rebounds, and Boston put themselves in position to face the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round.
“I think it’s a great matchup. It’s great for basketball — such a classic series,” said Pierce via the Associated Press. “They’re the team to beat right now. They showed it through the course of the season the way they played. We know this is going to be a tough series, another really, really tough series.”
