Tag: Bill Walton

Barack Obama in NBA Finals audience with several former Celtics

Several Boston Celtics alumni could be seen along with former President Barack Obama as virtual and in-the-flesh members of the NBA Finals audience.

While the Boston Celtics didn’t make it to the 2020 NBA Finals, a number of notable Celtics alumni could be seen in the audience of Game 1 — both in-person and especially virtually.

As the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat squared off in pursuit of an NBA championship in the most unusual season in league history, several former Celtics graced the contest’s sidelines, even stealing the show at several points.

In one moment, former U.S. President and well-known basketball aficionado Barack Obama could be seen sitting next to former Celtic center Shaquille O’Neal, and in front of Boston icons Paul Pierce and Ray Allen as virtual fans.

Nearby, NBA legends James Worthy, Dwyane Wade, Pau Gasol and Robert Horry could also be seen virtually, and word was that ex-Celtics Robert Parish and Chauncey Billups were also “present”.

Former Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers was also reportedly in attendance as a guest of the Philadelphia 76ers per KRON 4 News’ Jason Dumas — with a job offer waiting in the wings.

While it’s no fun to be on the outside looking in, at least the team is well-represented in the audience, whether they are there in the flesh or digitally.

And hopefully when we’re talking about the 2021 NBA Finals, it won’t be focused on which Celtics are in the audience because of what they’re up to on the hardwood.

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LeBron James throwback: When St. Vincent-St. Mary’s beat Oak Hill on ESPN

In a look back to 2002, we watch highlights from LeBron James’ first ESPN2 appearance against famed Oak Hill academy.

With the sports world on a pause and everyone encouraged to continue social distancing to stay home and flatten the curve of the spread of coronavirus, there have been some unprecedented giveaways of content from various leagues and channels. ESPN is one of those, moving up the release date of their “The Last Dance” documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. But even before that, they have been sharing more and more classic footage from their archives on their YouTube channel.

Among the classic footage that ESPN has released on YouTube is LeBron’s first appearance on ESPN, when his St. Vincent-St. Mary’s squad upset the previously No. 1 ranked Oak Hill Academy, who had just seen Carmelo Anthony go to Syracuse. You can see the type of environment that surrounded LeBron’s games, being played at Cleveland State because their high school gym couldn’t contain the demand.

I’ve got to shout out my colleague and fellow hoops junkie David Lieberman for alerting me to the ESPN archive of LeBron footage, which we will certainly be revisiting during the NBA hiatus.

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Ranking the top five centers in Boston Celtics history

Who are the five greatest centers in Boston Celtics history? Join the Celtics Wire as we dive in and make our case.

While the center position isn’t what it once was in the classic era of the NBA, the Boston Celtics have had some true giants at the five in every sense of the word.

But who are the best to play for the storied franchise as they collected an NBA-best 17 banners over the last seven decades?

The Celtics Wire have assembled the best of the best from Boston’s past to see how they stack up against each other.

We went all the way back to the 1950s before the Celtics won their first banner right up to last season, and while there’s lots of faces to choose from, the man at the top stands alone.

We’re only counting what players did in their time with the team, so don’t be surprised to see great players like Shaquille O’Neal absent from this list.

We’ll begin in reverse order just to have a bit of drama, though astute fans of Boston’s history likely already know how this list will end.

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46 athletes who have won both NCAA and NBA championships

The group of players who were fortunate to win championships on the college and NBA level. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images UCLA center Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) won three titles at UCLA – 1967, 1968 and …

The group of players who were fortunate to win championships on the college and NBA level.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images

UCLA center Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) won three titles at UCLA — 1967, 1968 and 1969 — before leading the Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks to NBA championships.

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9 of the best NCAA Tournament performances ever

March Madness makes memories. Shining team moments, sure, but also incredible individual performances. Here are nine of the finest.

March Madness makes memories. Shining team moments, sure, but also incredible individual performances. Here are nine of the finest.

9. Bo Kimble, Loyola Marymount, 1990

Hank Gathers. Bo Kimble. Who can forget that Lions team that overcame Gathers’s shocking, tragic death on the court in a WCC tournament game?
Kimble led No. 11 seeded LMU to the Elite Eight after beating New Mexico State, Michigan and Alabama, before being bounced by UNLV.
Kimble’s first left-handed free throw to honor Gathers remains an iconic moment in NCAA basketball history.

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Zion Time: The most anticipated debuts in NBA history and how each NBA legend fared

The NBA debut of Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson is so anticipated that ESPN is bumping its marquee game of Nuggets-Rockets to showcase the 19-year-old phenom play his first game against the Spurs in New Orleans on Wednesday, Jan. 22. With that in …

The NBA debut of Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson is so anticipated that ESPN is bumping its marquee game of Nuggets-Rockets to showcase the 19-year-old phenom play his first game against the Spurs in New Orleans on Wednesday, Jan. 22.

With that in mind, let’s take a look back at how NBA legends did in their regular-season debuts.

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Notre Dame Basketball: Irish Never Let Up vs. UCLA

When one thinks about Notre Dame and UCLA coming together, only one memory comes to mind: Two figures involved in that historic game, Digger Phelps and Bill Walton, were part of the ABC broadcast when these teams met again Saturday. If viewers …

When one thinks about Notre Dame and UCLA coming together, only one memory comes to mind:

Two figures involved in that historic game, Digger Phelps and Bill Walton, were part of the ABC broadcast when these teams met again Saturday. If viewers tuning in were more focused on the shenanigans between those two, it probably was because the Irish had what became a 75-61 win well in hand.

The Irish (7-3) continued the 3-point barrage they had against Detroit Mercy. After John Mooney’s opening two-point basket, Notre Dame’s next six field goals came from beyond the arc.  In fact, 24 of their 31 first-half points were scored there. Any second-half run by the Bruins (7-3) was answered (a total of 15 3-pointers helped), and that was the game.

Prentiss Hubb scored 15 of his game-high 20 points from 3-point range. Dane Goodwin made 3 treys off the bench while contributing 16 points. TJ Gibbs had four 3-pointers as part of his 15 points, and John Mooney joined the double-double club again with 14 points and 15 rebounds.