On this day, the Boston Celtics drafted Hall of Fame point guard Jo Jo White in the 1969 NBA Draft out of Kansas.
White would play 10 seasons with Boston, winning two NBA championships with the Celtics (1974, 1976) including a Finals MVP in 1976, and was elected to seven All-Star Games and two All-NBA Teams among other honors.
The St. Louis native would play in 488 consecutive games finally derailed by injury in the 1977-78 season, setting a franchise record in the process.
He never recovered to be a high-level player afterwards, and was traded to the Golden State Warriors for a 1979 first round draft pick.
It is also the anniversary of Celtics legend Bob Cousy doling out 19 assists in a 123-110 win over the then-Minneapolis Lakers in 1959, who Boston would defeat in a four-game sweep to win the 1959 NBA Championship.
The feat was an NBA record at the time, and a career-high for the Holy Cross product.
It is also the date of three wins since the season of the Celtics’ last championship in 2007-08. The first was in 2010 — a 115-104 road victory over the Toronto Raptors.
The win was buoyed with three 3-pointers from 37-year-old veteran Michael Finley, who nearly didn’t play after straining his back…picking up his luggage.
“That’s when you know you’re old,” joked head coach Doc Rivers (via the Associated Press).
Point guard Rajon Rondo led the team with 21 points and 7 rebounds, Paul Pierce added 20 points and 5 assists, and Kevin Garnett chipped in 19 points.
The next win for Boston was an 86-72 victory over the Indiana Pacers in 2012 with 24 points from Pierce and 15 points and 7 boards from Garnett.
Ray Allen added 19 points and 6 rebounds off the bench, but it was the team’s defense that secured the win, according to Rivers.
“I thought defensively, we were sensational tonight,” he said courtesy of the AP. “In a game where shots are not going in and you can still win the game, that means you can trust your defense on nights that [our offense] doesn’t work.”
Finally, the most recent Celtics victory on this date was a 107-96 win over the Washington Wizards in 2013 that saw Pierce and KG both return from injury to carry the team past the Wiz with help from forward Brandon Bass.
“He seems to always be in the right spots, available,” Pierce opined after the Baton Rouge native scored 20 points for the team in the win. “That’s going to be huge for us if he continues to play well going into the playoffs, and the great thing about it is he’s doing it all off of the hustle plays.”
Pierce added 15 points and 5 assists, and center Chris Wilcox put up 13 points and 5 boards off the bench to secure the victory.
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