On this day, Boston Celtics forward Ed Pinckney was born in 1963.
Pinckney played his collegiate basketball at Villanova, where he won a national title in 1985, and was drafted 10th overall in the NBA Draft of the same year by the Phoenix Suns.
He would later be traded to the Sacramento Kings, who would in turn trade Pinckney and Joe Kleine to Boston for now-team president Danny Ainge and Brad Lohaus.
The Bronx native would play six seasons with the Celtics, averaging 6.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while with the team. He would later be traded with Andrei Fetisov to the Milwaukee Bucks for Blue Edwards and Derek Strong.
Ene Kanter grabbed 19 rebounds last night, the most by a @celtics player in a game coming off the bench since Ed Pinckney had 22 boards on Apr. 19, 1994.
— Justin Kubatko (@jkubatko) January 12, 2020
It is also the birthday of former Celtic big man Danny Fortson. Fortson — a native of Altoona, Pennsylvania — played for Cincinnati before being drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks 10th overall in the 1997 NBA Draft.
He was traded that same day to the Denver Nuggets, and would later be traded again by that team to Boston with Eric Washington and Eric Williams for Popeye Jones, Ron Mercer and Dwayne Schintzius.
Fortson played just one season with the Celtics in the 1999-00 NBA season, in which he averaged 7.6 points and 6.7 boards.
Enes Kanter has seven double-doubles as a reserve this season.
The most by a #Celtics reserve since Danny Fortson’s eight during the 1999-‘00 season.
— Clevis Murray (@ClevisMurray) January 21, 2020
He would later be dealt in a massive four-team deal along with Dana Barros that netted Boston Robert Pack, Hot Rod Williams, cash and draft considerations.
Today is also the anniversary of four wins since the season of the Celtics’ last banner. The first of them is a 99-93 win over the Atlanta Hawks in 2009 with a big game from “Big Baby” Glen Davis.
With Kevin Garnett out resting for the postseason, Davis stepped up and scored 19 points and 12 rebounds to help power Boston to the victory. He was helped by 22 points and 5 boards from Ray Allen and 21 points and 5 assists from Paul Pierce.
The Celtics snuck by the Minnesota Timberwolves on this date in 2011, nearly wasting a 25-point lead. Late heroics from Pierce (23 points, 7 rebunds) and Kevin Garnett (13 points and as many boards) secured the win.
“You’ve got to work to win them all,” Garnett said courtesy of the Associated Press. “Tonight was no different.”
Boston had another close call two years to the day later, eking out a 93-92 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers with a Jeff Green buzzer-beater saving the day.
With KG out injured, the Celtics saw big games from center Brandon Bass (22 points and 5 rebounds), Pierce (19 points, 10 boards, 8 assists) and of course Green (21 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists).
“”It was a huge win,” said Pierce via the Associated Press. “We didn’t play well from the second quarter on, but we found a way.”
Finally, Boston defeated the New York Knicks 96-92 at Madison Square Garden in 2015 as the Celtics resisted a late surge by New York.
Point guard Isaiah Thomas logged 18 points and 6 assists off the bench while forward Jae Crowder chipped in another 17 points and 9 boards, also off the bench.
Of the starters, Bass had 15 points and 10 boards, and shooting guard Evan Turner added 15 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
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