On this day in 1990, former Boston Celtics point guard Dave Bing was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame along with Elvin Hayes, Neil Johnston and Earl “The Pearl” Monroe.
After spending the bulk of his career with the Detroit Piston — a city he would one day become the mayor of — the Washington, D.C. native would play two seasons with his hometown Washington Bullets before signing with the Celtics in the final season of his storied career.
He joined Boston for its 1977-78 campaign, and scored 13.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game before retiring from the NBA at the end of the season.
It is also the birthday of former Celtic big man Virgil Vaughn, who stood just 6-foot-4. Vaughn was a member of Boston’s inaugural season as a Basketball Association of America team, in the days before that organization became the NBA.
The Western Kentucky product played just 17 games for the team that season, averaging 2.6 points and 0.6 assists — rebounds, blocks and many other stats had yet to be recorded.
Today is also the birthday of former Boston forward Don Nelson, perhaps better known today for his niche agriculture than time in green and white.
But, Nelson was a key part of the latter end of the Celtics juggernaut of the 1960s, winning three banners in that halcyon era and two more in the 1970s.
After 11 seasons with Boston, Nelson retired as aplayer to become head coach of the rival Milwaukee Bucks and several other NBA teams in later years.
He logged 11.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game in his tenure with the Celtics.
It is also the anniversary of two playoff victories since the season of Boston’s last title in 2007-08. The first was a 115-105 Game 7 closeout win over the Washington Wizards in the 2017 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals despite 38 points from Wiz guard Bradley Beal.
The win was secured by a huge game from reserve big Kelly Olynyk, who scored 26 points off the bench.
Point guard Isaiah Thomas led Boston with 29 points and 12 assists, and big man Al Horford added 15 points, 6 boards and 5 assists. “I knew it would be a big time game tonight. I knew it wouldn’t be easy at all,” Thomas said via the Associated Press. “And we came out on top.”
Boston also defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-94 in Game 2 of the 2018 NBA Eastern Conference Finals two years ago today even with 42 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists from LeBron James.
Shooting guard Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 23 points and 6 rebounds, point guard Terry Rozier added 18 points and 6 rebounds while Horford chipped in 15 points and 10 rebounds.
“We’re going to fight,” Rozier said via the A.P. “At this point we don’t care if we win by half a point. If we win, that’s all that matters.”
