The Boston Celtics have had St. Patrick’s Day off more often than not over the last decade or so, which is probably fitting given the roots of the team in Boston’s Irish-American community.
But they’ve also had three impressive wins on that day since the start of the “Big Three” era of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, two of which belong to the iterations of the Celtics with that trio on the roster.
The most recent such win, in 2017 against the Brooklyn Nets, saw a young Celtics roster emerging from a rebuild secure a tight game with a huge game from forward Jae Crowder.
The Marquette product scored 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go with 12 rebounds to lead all scorers 9 of his total coming in the final frame alone.
Crowder leading Boston to a 98-95 win came despite point guard Isaiah Thomas resting for knee soreness, the Georgian stepping up in his absence.
Boston also beat the New York Knicks on that day seven years earlier, winning 109-97 with an excellent effort from Paul Pierce (29 points) and help from KG (22 points).
It was the most points the duo had combined for that season, both having missed considerable time in the second half of the season to injury.
“There were a lot of toos out there,” Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni said at the time (via the Associated Press). “They were too big, too quick, too good, and the road trip a little too long”.
And finally, in the season the Celtics hung Banner 17 — 2007-08 for you reent fans — Boston defeated the might San Antonio Spurs 93-91, with a balanced outing from Pierce (22 points and 8 boards), KG (21 points and 8 rebounds) and point guard Rajon Rondo (20 points and 6 assists).
Reserve guard Sam Cassell added 17 points and 5 boards off the bench in the come-from-behind win against the then-defending champions.
“The Spurs, they’re a well-oiled machine. We knew they were going to come in fired up. They lost some games as of late and any champion is going to come out with its haymakers,” said Garnett at the time (via ESPN).
It is the 57th anniversary of the retirement of Celtic great Bob Cousy, who left the game at 34 in a ceremony held at Boston Garden famous for a fan breaking Cousy’s awkward silence in his emotion-choked retirement speech by shouting, “We love ya Cooz!”.
The legendary Boston point guard even received a message from then-president John. F. Kennedy stating, “The game bears an indelible stamp of your rare skills and competitive daring” (via author Gary M. Pomerantz in The Last Pass).
Cousy would win seven titles with Boston, be elected the league’s Most Valuable Player and would get 13 invitations to the NBA All-Star games, one of the greatest to play the game and a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Today is also the 61st birthday of team president and former Celtics two-time champion Danny Ainge., and former Boston and current Charlotte Hornets guard Terry Rozier, who is 26 today.
[lawrence-related id=30982,30969,30933]