Tag: celtics history

Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 5

This is every player in Boston’s history who wore the Celtics’ No. 5 jersey for at least one game.

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 21 players who wore No. 5 over the years.

WATCH: Boston legend Bill Russell hits series-winning shot over Wilt Chamberlain (1964)

A late save by the Boston legend kept Chamberlain and his Warriors at bay for the title.

The rivalry between Hall of Fame big men Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell transcended franchises. The two friends battled for titles over the years with Chamberlain moving from the Philadelphia and San Francisco Warriors to the 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers while Russell racked up rings with the Boston Celtics.

The 1964 title is as emblematic of their on-court rivalry as any: Russell and Chamberlain went mano-a-mano until the final possession, which Boston’s iconic center managed to save after a miss from legendary teammate Tommy Heinsohn, cutting off a push from Chamberlain and the Warriors to steal the game and the series.

To see the critical stretch of historic play for yourself be sure to watch the video below, courtesy of our friends at CLNS Media’s “NBA History & Legends on CLNS” YouTube channel.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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USA TODAY predicts 3 Boston Celtics among its list of NBA’s 25 greatest players

In the final installment of their projections for the NBA’s new 75 greatest player list, USA TODAY sees three Celtics making the cut.

This past Thursday, our parent site USA TODAY Sports released their final installment of three on their projections for the NBA’s 75 greatest players list ahead of the league’s celebrations for making it to the three-quarters century mark, expanding on (and cutting some of) the 50 greatest player list released for the Association’s half-century anniversary celebration.

This part of USA TODAY’s list (SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED) is decidedly less dominated by the boys in green and white, but still has a respectable peppering of Boston Celtics in the upper echelon of their assessment of the game’s greatest players to grace NBA hardwood.

And while we think they are being a little hard on Boston in some cases, we don’t have much to argue about over the names near the top.

Let’s take a look at the trio of Celtics included here.

WATCH: Boston Celtics icon Larry Bird’s 1st-ever All-Star game in 1980

Watch footage from Larry Legend’s first-ever All-Star appearance in this clip.

It is not very often that a rookie player makes the NBA All-Star game. In fact, it has only happened 45 times in the history of the game, and not since Blake Griffin made the All-Star team in 2011. But then, not very many rookies enter the league as dangerous of a player as Boston Celtics legendary small forward Larry Bird did in 1979.

Bird would have an outstanding rookie season, making both the 1980 All-Rookie Team and Rookie of the Year that same season, earning an All-Star big in the midst of a debut season that saw the Hick From French Lick (as Bird was sometimes called) average 21.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.7 steals per game.

And while he may have only logged 7 points and as many assists in the annual midseason exhibition game, he would have 11 more All-Star nods in his career to improve upon his debut performance in basketball’s most important friendly.

Watch the clip embedded above to see his highlights from that historic moment in NBA history, courtesy of CLNS Media.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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HoopsHype lists 16 Boston Celtics on their projected 75 greatest players list

16 Celtics alumni make the cut for HoopsHype’s projected 75 greatest players list for the NBA’s 3/4 century celebratory accounting.

Not to be left out of the NBA’s 75th anniversary list creation extravaganza gripping the league’s wider media sphere, our sister site HoopsHype assembled a list of their own 75 greatest players of all time building off of (and cutting a few of) the NBA 50 greatest players list released for the Association’s 50th anniversary.

Given that the initial official list was, shall we say, a little generous to some and not as much as others perhaps warranted, we expected some players — including Boston Celtics alumni — to not make the cut of a list that was heavily dominated by the team in green and white.

They include Bill Walton, Sam Jones, Dave Bing, and Bill Sharman.

WATCH: NBA 75th anniversary commemoration video ‘Welcome to NBA Lane’

The clip, created to honor the league hitting the three-quarters century mark, is full of iconic figures from the NBA’s past and present.

With the NBA about to embark on its 75th regular season, a number of celebratory touches are in the works and bubbling up day by day, with the league releasing a commemorative video directed (and acted in) by Michael B. Jordan (not the player, note the middle initial) celebrating the Association hitting the three-quarters century mark.

Titled “Welcome to NBA Lane,” it takes us on a trip through a fictional neighborhood populated by the greatest stars of the game still with us, with plenty of homages to those who are not. Boston Celtics greats like Larry Bird, Bill Walton, and Bill Russell make appearances, as do their Laker rivals Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and a host of other superstars from every era spanning those seven and a half decades.

Take a few minutes to check it out for yourself — it’s chock full of NBA goodness from start to finish.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 9

This is every player in Boston’s history who wore the Celtics’ No. 9 jersey for at least one game.

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 13 players who wore No. 9 over the years.

On this day: Former Boston forward Willie Naulls born; Jimmy Oliver signed

On this day, former Boston Celtic forward Willie Naulls was born, and ex-Boston shooting guard Jimmy Oliver signed with the team.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, champion small forward Willie Naulls was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1934. A graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, where he played for Hall of Fame coaching legend John Wooden, Naulls was selected with the ninth pick of the 1956 NBA draft by the (then) St. Louis (now, Atlanta) Hawks.

He played 19 games with that organization before being traded to the New York Knicks early in his rookie year. He spent the bulk of his career with the Knicks, who named him the first Black team captain in league history.

It wasn’t the last trade of his career of course, or you would not be reading about him on this site.

WATCH: Footage from Larry Bird’s very first preseason game with the Boston Celtics

Get a glimpse of Larry Legend in his first moments on the court for the Celtics.

The Boston Celtics 2021-22 NBA preseason officially got started with the team’s 98 – 97 win over the Orlando Magic on Monday, but it was a week not unlike this one that a certain Hick From French Lick (as Celtics legend Larry Bird is sometimes called) got in his first preseason game with Boston as well.

Larry Legend of course went on to have quite the career, but on a brisk September day in 1979, the Indiana State product got on the hardwood with the team he would forge a Hall of Fame career with, and while it isn’t much in the way of footage, a snippet of that game remains for our viewing enjoyment.

The clip, dragged out of the vault of CLNS Media’s “NBA History & Legends on CLNS” YouTube channel, is a portion of the newsreel covering that event, pitting Bird against Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Watch the clip embedded above to see those very first (and brief and grainy) images of one of the all-time greats making his debut in the NBA.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 10

This is every player in Boston’s history who wore the Celtics’ No. 10 jersey for at least one game.

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 nine players who wore No. 10 over the years.