Tag: Bill Russell

Who are the Boston Celtics’ top-10 all-time leaders in postseason free throws?

Can you name which 10 Boston Celtics have sunk the most postseason free throws in the history of the franchise? Better yet, can you do it in order?

In his historic, 50-point masterpiece against the Brooklyn Nets in Game 3 of the 2021 Eastern Conference first-round series, All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics likely would not have won the game had the budding superstar not gotten to the line 15 times, converting 13.

But the St. Louis native has a long way to go to crack the franchise’s top ten in free throws made in the postseason given the long and storied history of the Celtics in the playoffs; you sink a lot of shots at the charity stripe when you win 17 banners, after all.

Who are the 10 most accomplished sinkers of free throws in the playoffs for Boston, then? Make your guesses, then scroll down to see how you did.

Who are the Boston Celtics’ top-10 all-time leaders in postseason rebounds?

Can you name all of the top ten rebounders for the Celtics in playoff history? Better yet, can you do it in order?

With the greatest rebounder of all time bookended by the best frontcourt ever assembled in the history of the league, there’s no reason to be surprised that the Boston Celtics have dominated the boards in the postseason across much of their seven decades of existence and the 17 titles they’ve won in it.

In fact, two of the top ten postseason rebounders for the Celtics are small forwards, demonstrating the historic importance of boards for winning titles to the storied franchise over the years. Cleaning the glass has long been a Boston fundamental, but even ardent Celtics fans may struggle to name the most proficient playoff rebounders after the first three or four.

How many of Boston’s 10 most accomplished postseason rebound leaders can you name? Scroll down, and find out.

Who are the Boston Celtics’ top-10 all-time leaders in postseason assists?

Can you name the best postseason distributors in Boston Celtics history? Better yet, can you do it in order?

Few things separate a contender from a pretender more than their ability to move the ball, with the requisite trust to be selfless with the ball creating opportunities for all to eat on their way to a playoff win.

And that selfless ball movement has been the hallmark of the very best Boston Celtics playoff squads throughout the history of their storied franchise. No team has yet surpassed their 17 total titles and their historic dominance of the NBA postseason is quite literally the stuff of legends. Behind it all has been the humblest of all basketball statistics, the assist.

But who are the Celtics players who have dished out the most in the team’s long history of postseason appearances? Let’s scroll down to find out.

Complete list of Boston Celtics in the Basketball Hall of Fame

Celtics Wire celebrates the 48 members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame with ties to the Boston Celtics franchise.

The Boston Celtics are one of the bedrock franchises in professional sports. Legends such as Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn, Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett dazzled fans with their athletic exploits and won the NBA championship in Boston.

A couple of hours down the Mass Pike in Springfield, no fewer than four dozen players, coaches, and contributors with ties to the Celtics franchise have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame over the years, spanning the decades from the first years of the storied ball club’s existence up to the team’s last era of contention.

Below, Celtics Wire celebrates the 49 members of the Hall of Fame with Celtics connections in a photo gallery.

Who are the Boston Celtics’ top-10 all-time leaders in playoff games played?

Can you name the top 10 players in franchise history in terms of games played in the postseason? Better yet, can you name their order?

With 17 titles to their name and over seven decades of history, it is inevitable that the Boston Celtics are among the most heavily represented teams in games played in the history of the NBA playoffs.

But who are the players who have played the most games for this storied franchise? Those 17 titles were won with the blood and sweat of an elite cadre of Celtics who spent more time than any others on the court to make those banners more than just a goal. The answers might surprise you, even if you consider yourself a keen follower of Celtics history — and how close some are to each other is another revelation.

Can you name the top 10 players in franchise history in terms of games played in the postseason? Scroll down, and see how you did.

The Boston Celtics have retired 24 jersey numbers – these are the players so honored

It’s no coincidence this team has the most retired jersey numbers with 17 banners hanging alongside them as of Oct. 2023.

There are no teams in the history of the NBA to have more titles than the Boston Celtics — at least not yet — so it makes sense there are no other franchises with more retired numbers to honor the players over the decades who earned and hung those banners.

In fact, there are no teams in any sport with more retired jersey numbers at 24 overall, a reflection of the excellence behind the Celtics mystique built by franchise architect Red Auerbach. From his signing with the team as coach and general manager onward, Boston became one of the premier teams of the greatest basketball league on the planet.

But who were the players for which those jerseys were retired? Let’s take a look at them all as of Oct. 2022.

Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 6

Today’s installment focuses on the five players who wore No. 6 over the years as of September 2022, a number which will never be worn again in the future of any team in the league in honor of the last Celtic to wear it.

The Boston Celtics have more retired jerseys than any other team in the NBA, but that doesn’t mean the rest of their jerseys have little history of interest tied to them.

In fact, with 17 titles to their name and decades of competitive basketball played in them, their unretired jersey numbers pack in some of the most history not hanging from the rafters of any team in the league. To that end, we have launched our accounting of that history, with every player in every jersey worn by more than one Celtics player in the storied franchise’s history accounted for.

Today’s installment focuses on the five players who wore No. 6 over the years as of September 2022, a number which will never be worn again in the future of any team in the league in honor of the last Celtic to wear it.

On this day: Cs best Raptors in Disney bubble; A.J. Wynder born; Kendrick Perkins extended

Boston advanced to the 2020 East Finals, AJ Wynder was born and Kendrick Perkins extended on this date.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, point guard A.J. Wynder was born in 1964 in the Bronx, New York. Wynder played his college ball at the University of Massachusetts and Fairfield University, earning MAAC second-team status at the latter. The New Yorker helped carry the Fairfield Stags to back-to-back MAAC championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances in 1986 and 1987 before going undrafted in the 1987 NBA draft.

After several seasons playing in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA — that era’s equivalent of the NBA G League), Wynder landed a 10-day contract with the Celtics in March of 1991. He turned it into a rest-of-season deal.

Appearing in just six games for Boston, he averaged 2 points and 1.3 assists per game as a Celtic.

Legendary Boston Celtic makes five most influential NBA player list for ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith

Who are the most influential players in the history of the NBA? Per one a ccount, a Celtics legend is among them.

Who are the most influential players in the history of the NBA? One recent assessment put at least one Boston Celtics legend on a list of the top five most influential players in league history put together by senior ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith, though exactly what qualifies as “influence” and over what this influence supposedly has sway are never clearly defined.

Even still, Smith makes a solid case for where each of his five selected luminaries are in his account of the history of influence in the Association that he recently expounded on an episode of his employer’s popular “First Take” show.

If you would like to see which Celtics alumni ended up making Smith’s top-five NBA influencer assessment for yourself, take a look at the clip embedded below.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 category=590969556]

On this day: Thompson passes; Russell signs; Tsioropoulos, Gotham born

On this date in Celtics history, John Thompson left us, Bil Russell signed his second contract with the Celtics and Lou Tsioropolous and Rich Gotham were born.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, small forward Lou Tsioropoulos was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1930. Tsioropoulos played his college basketball with the University of Kentucky. The school became entangled in a point-shaving scandal while Tsioropoulos was playing for the team with future Celtics teammate Frank Ramsey and fellow NBAer Cliff Hagan.

After Tsioropoulos, Ramsey, and Hagan completed their fourth season with Kentucky, they were drafted by Boston (Hagan never played for the Celtics, his rights part of the package dealt for Bill Russell), but returned to play one more season at UK with a season of eligibility created by the penalty of their teammates involved in the point-shaving scandal.

After an Air Force tour, Tsioropoulos joined the Celtics in 1956, playing three seasons for them, winning a championship in two (1957 and 1959). He averaged 5.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game in that stretch (Editor’s note — this article has been updated to clarify that Tsioropoulos was not involved in the point-shaving scandal).