On this day in Boston Celtics history, one of the legendary — some would say infamous — postgame speeches was given by Celtic team president and head coach Rick Pitino.
Pitino, whose impatience with Boston’s roster was matched only by the fan base’s disdain for the moves he made to try to improve it, had something of a rough tenure as the head of the Celtics organization as well as Boston’s head coach after being hired out of the University of Kentucky for both positions. After making a number of ill-advised trades in hopes of jump-starting the Celtics’ roster with little to show in the way of results, the situation came to a head after a loss to the Toronto Raptors on this date in 2000.
Despite 27 points from Antoine Walker and 22 from Paul Pierce, the team lost 96-94, falling to 23-34 on the season.