On this day in 1966, Boston Celtics legendary coach and GM Red Auerbach announced big man Bill Russell would replace him as head coach.
Earlier in the season, Auerbach revealed the 1965-66 NBA season would be his last as head coach, and after losing Game 1 of the 1966 Finals, the Celtics luminary revealed Russell would succeed him.
The Louisiana native would become the first African American head coach of any major professional sports team in North America — never mind basketball — and Boston would go on to win the 1966 NBA championship.
Auerbach would stay on as the team’s general manager until late in the 1980s.
It is also the date that the Celtics would draft shooting guard legend Sam Jones in the 1957 NBA Draft, eighth overall. Jones had played his college ball at North Carolina Central, and would have a storied career with Boston.
The North Carolinian would win ten titles with the Celtics, trailing only Bill Russell in total number of rings, and would be elected to five All-Star Games between 1962 and 1968.
It is the birthday of early Boston big man Andy Duncan, who played 14 games for the Celtics in the 1950-51 NBA season.
Born in 1922, the William and Mary product averaged 2.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.6 in his short stint with Boston.
It is also the birthday of former Celtics center Theo Ratliff, who was born on this day in 1973 in Demopolis, Alabama.
Ratliff was traded to Boston in the summer of 2006 by the Portland Trail Blazers with Sebastian Telfair and draft assets for Dan Dickau, Randy Foye and Raef LaFrentz.
Ratliff would play just two games for the Celtics due to back problems before being dealt with Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Telfair, and draft considerations to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Garnett.
He averaged 2.5 points, 3.5 boards and 1.5 blocks per contest over that very brief run with Boston.
It is the birthday of small forward Ed Searcy, another Celtics short-timer who played four games for Boston in 1975.
Searcy, who was born in 1952 in New York City, averaged 1.5 points and 0.3 assists in that stint and in the most technical sense possible, won a championship with the team — though he was long gone by the time the playoffs began.
It is the anniversary of four wins since the season of the Celtics’ last NBA championship in 2007-08, the first of which being a 2010 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the first round of that season’s East Playoffs.
Boston won 85-76 despite Kevin Garnett getting hit with a double-technical for a late altercation and subsequently being ejected.
“I am smarter than that. I have to keep my composure in a situation like that,” offered KG via the Associated Press.
In Game 1 of the 2011 first round East Playoffs, the Celtics defeated the New York Knicks 87-85 with a late Ray Allen trey. The UConn product made the go-ahead bucket with just 12 seconds remaining, and Boston would go up one game to zero in the series.
“Down the stretch we found a way to win,” Paul Pierce said courtesy of the A.P., “and that was because of our experience.”
Seven years later, Boston would take a 2-0 series lead over the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the 2018 East Playoffs with a 30-point performance from wing Jaylen Brown.
“People have been writing us off all year. And we just keep proving people wrong. So that’s what we’re gonna do,” offered the Cal-Berkeley product via the A.P.
Teammate Terry Rozier contributed 23 points in the absence of point guard Kyrie Irving (out for the season with a knee injury), and Marcus Morris Sr. added 18 points and 5 boards off the bench.
A year ago today, the Celtics would defeat the Indiana Pacers 99-91 in Game 2 of the first round of the 2019 East Playoffs with a 37-point explosion from Írving.
Jayson Tatum would add 26 points, and veteran forward Gordon Hayward 13 points and 5 rebounds off the bench to take a two-game lead over the Pacers in the series.
