Tag: paul silas

On this day: Silas gets 10,000th board; Boston hold Heat to 17 baskets

On this day in Celtics history, Paul Silas pulled down his 10,000th rebound, in 2008, and the team held the Heat to just 17 field goals.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, power forward Paul Silas became the third player in NBA history to pull down 10,000 rebounds (fellow Celtic big man Bill Russell as well as Bill Bridges had accomplished the feat as well) before he had hit the 10,000 point plateau.

Silas is a native of Prescott, Arkansas who played his college ball with the Creighton Bluejays and would be drafted by the (then) St. Louis (now, Atlanta) Hawks tenth overall. He would also play a stint with the Phoenix Suns before coming to the Celtics, with whom he won championships in 1974 and 1976.

The 10,000-rebound milestone came in a 93-83 loss to the Buffalo Braves, with Silas logging 10 points and 15 rebounds in the defeat.

ESPN’s Tim Bontemps picks his all-time Boston Celtics starting five

When it comes to all-time great players, the Boston Celtics have had no shortage of them over their seven-plus decades of storied history.

When it comes to all-time great players, the Boston Celtics have had no shortage over their seven-plus decades of storied history.

From Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn and KC Jones to Paul Silas and Jo Jo White all the way up to Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, there has been an embarrassment of riches for Celtics fans to enjoy over the decades. And that’s not even considering more recent Hall of Famers such as Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett! So, the mental exercise of coming up with an all-time starting five for Boston is no easy task.

But ESPN reporter Tim Bontemps tackled the project, coming up with his own five greatest Celtics for posterity’s sake.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what they are, and see if they line up with the five greats you would pick yourself.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

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

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

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

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On this day: Boston first team to 61 wins; Scott dealt for Silas

On this day, the Celtics became the first team to a 61-win season, and Boston traded Charlie Scott to the Suns for Paul Silas.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, the franchise became the first team in NBA history to win 61 games in a single season in 1965, besting their own record from the 1961-62 campaign.

The big win came in a 106-98 victory over the (then) San Francisco (now, Golden State) Warriors at the old Boston Garden that saw iconic Celtics center Bill Russell lead Boston with 20 points, 41 rebounds, and 4 assists to secure the home win. Veteran guard Sam Jones added 24 points and 5 boards, and forward John Havlicek chipped in another 22 points and 6 rebounds.

The Celtics would close the season with one more win to push the record to 62 wins with a victory over the (then) Cincinnati Royals on March 21.

Stephen Silas hands over coaching duties versus Pistons to attend late father’s memorial

“It’s gonna be emotional,” Stephen Silas says of his father’s memorial, which will cause him to miss Saturday’s #Rockets game. “There’s not a playbook for grieving.”

One month ago, Houston Rockets head coach Stephen Silas received news that no child ever wants to hear. His father and best friend, NBA player and coach Paul Silas, 79, had passed away from cardiac arrest at his home in North Carolina.

Coach Silas stepped away briefly to help his family process the loss and returned after missing one game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

On Saturday, he will be absent from the bench against the Detroit Pistons to attend his father’s memorial service. Assistant coach John Lucas II will coach the team in Silas’ absence.

“It’s going to be emotional,” Silas told reporters earlier in the week in Houston. “I’ve been in this whirlwind that we’ve had, as far as the season is concerned, and I haven’t had to kind of deal with it recently. It is going to be great to see a bunch of people I haven’t seen in a long time. A bunch of people who played for my dad, or my dad played with.

“There’s not a playbook for grieving. So, you just do the best you can and take the moments that you need. And this is a job for me, and I spend a lot of time doing my best at this job, whether it’s preparing, practicing or games, but there are times outside of this game that I think about it a lot. I miss him.”

The elder Silas was selected in the second round of the 1964 NBA draft by the St. Louis Hawks. Ten years later, he won his first of three NBA championships as a member of the Boston Celtics and Seattle Supersonics. During his 16-year career, he made the All-Defensive team five times.

After he retired from the NBA in 1980, Paul began his coaching career with the San Diego Clippers, serving as head coach until 1983. He took a five-year hiatus before coming back to coaching as an assistant and ultimately working his way back into a head coaching position in 2013 to finish his career.

Stephen Silas began his journey in the NBA as an advance scout before working his way up to being an assistant coach in 2000 under his father, who was head coach of the Charlotte Hornets at the time.

“This (coaching) is something that he really wanted to do, and I wanted him to do it,” Paul Silas had said regarding his son during an interview in Charlotte during the 2000-01 season. “He understands that I am still dad, but in a working relationship, I am coach.”

In 2021, the Houston Rockets produced the documentary “Ready to Lead,” which was based on the journey Stephen took to becoming a head coach in the NBA. Silas recalled his first job with the Hornets, which involved working for his father.

“My dad, obviously, he was my No. 1 mentor, someone whom I could lean on, ask questions, and he asked questions of me,” Silas said. “He really valued my opinion, which was kind of weird to me, me being so young and not having much experience, but he would lean on me.”

Silas will be back in time for his team to prepare for its next game versus Oklahoma City on Wednesday, Feb. 1, at Toyota Center.

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Who are the top 10 Boston Celtics players of all time?

From Ed Macauley and Bill Russell to Dave Cowens, Larry Bird, and Paul Pierce, the list of names to choose from is extensive.

Who are the top 10 Boston Celtics players of all time? Back in the early years, there was Ed Macauley and Bill Sharman, then in the dynasty years a plethora of options ranging from Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Tom Heinsohn, Satch Sanders, KC Jones, and John Havlicek.

Later, you could pick from Dave Cowens, Paul Silas, and JoJo White in the 1970s, and Cedric Maxwell, Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale in the 1980s. The 1990s had Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce, the latter of whom stuck around to win a title in the aughts with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

Even with all that star power under the history of one franchise, you could still more names the list is so long, making the job done by ESPN’s Andrew Lopez, Tim Bontemps, and Ros Gold-Onwude on a recent episode of the “NBA Crosscourt” show all the more impressive.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what names made their lists — and which ones did not.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

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

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

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

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From DeFremery Park to the Garden: The Oakland roots of Boston Celtics greatness

A school, a park, and a home in Oakland California helped create a hotbed for Black excellence central to the Celtics’ success.

Under the light of an incandescent lightbulb illuminating the inky sky of Oakland, Califonia, a young Paul Silas played basketball with fellow future Celtics great Bill Russell, his brother Charlie, and his cousins Fritz and Aaron Pointer in the sweet heat of a late summer evening. On the sidelines, the Pointer sisters — still a decade away from being The Pointer Sisters — were enjoying the show.

Basketball played at 18th and Adeline’s DeFremery Park in the early 1960s was the axis their world revolved around. It was a quiet but poignant testimony of what the families who had migrated to Oakland in the 1940s built for themselves as they fled the brutal, institutionalized repression of Jim Crow in the southern United States.

From the bitter legacy of Jim Crow, the Silas, Russell, and Pointer families (and many others) created a community where greatness was more than a dream, and a space to simply enjoy the heat of a sultry summer evening with friends became possible.

Celtics champion Paul Silas was a key part of Boston’s 1976 title … by being ignored

Silas was instrumental in overtime of Game 5 to the 1976 title, but an easy mistake at the end of regulation could have been devastating.

The Boston Celtics and NBA community lost Paul Silas this month, a key part of two Celtics’ titles in the 1970s. The Creighton alumnus was famously part of the triple-overtime Game 5 win over the Phoenix Suns during that tenure and played a key role in the victory.

With the game tied at 101 with 3 seconds left in regulation, Silas mistakenly called a timeout Boston didn’t have, but the referee did not hear him or ignored him, saving the Celtics from a technical foul that could have very well have changed the course of the series that was tied at 2.

“Silas called a timeout, and they ignored it,” shared Boston backup forward Glenn McDonald to Sportscasting’s Mike Thomas. And while the Oakland native nearly cost the team the game, his play in the subsequent overtime was also key in winning it.

“That’s all right with me,” explained Silas to The Arizona Republic’s Bob Young. “I did. I tried to call one and Richie Powers didn’t see me or didn’t want to see me.”

“He didn’t acknowledge it. I know they feel if he had, it would have been a different ending. Bottom line is that he didn’t and we got another ring.”

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

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

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

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

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Dennis Johnson credited two Boston Celtics legends for helping his game as a Seattle Supersonic

While still in the Pacific Division, the future Boston champion point guard would learn from two Celtics alumni.

Hall of Fame Boston Celtics point guard Dennis Johnson made a name for himself as a defensive menace long before he got to the Celtics, earning nine berths on an All-Defensive team over the course of his 14 seasons in the NBA.

Though he won the bulk of his three titles in Boston, it was a Celtics connection that the San Pedro, California, native credited as providing the foundation for that championship-caliber defense: Hall of Fame Boston big man legend Bill Russell, who was his head coach with the (then) Seattle SuperSonics (now, Oklahoma City Thunder), his first team in the league.

“Having Bill Russell as my coach was intimidating, but he did a good job of pulling me aside and pointing things out,” Johnson said to Michael D. McClellan of Celtic Nation.

On this day: Celtics Scott born; Battie traded; Gamble debuted

On this day, former Celtic champion Charlie Scott was born, Tony Battie was traded, and Kevin Gamble debuted for the team.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, champion point and shooting guard Charles Thomas Scott was born in New York City in 1948.

Better known as “Charlie” to many Celtics fans, the New Yorker broke the color barrier at the University of North Carolina as that famed school’s first Black scholarship athlete. He was drafted by Boston with the 106th pick of the 1970 NBA draft (there were many more rounds in that era).

Before he finished his NCAA playing days, he won a gold medal in the 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City, Mexico, along with future teammate Jo Jo White.

Though drafted by Boston, Scott instead signed with the American Basketball Association’s (ABA — a competing league that later merged with the NBA) Virginia Squires for most of two seasons.

Rockets coach Stephen Silas balances basketball with grieving

“I kind of didn’t want the game to end,” a grieving Stephen Silas said with a slight smile after watching his #Rockets defeat Phoenix. “Now, it is like real life starts up again.”

HOUSTON — As the news made its way around the media workroom that Houston Rockets head coach Stephen Silas would return to the bench on Tuesday night, no one knew how to react.

He had been away from the team for two days since it was announced his father, NBA legend Paul Silas, had passed away. It is hard to tell how an individual grieves, especially one as close to his father as Silas was. He made his mark in the NBA coaching ranks by working alongside his father for three organizations during the elder Silas’ time as a head coach.

“It’s hard; it’s really hard. It took a lot to come for this (media availability), this part,” Silas said during his pregame press conference. The basketball part is like riding a bike. This part is tough.”

After his media session, Silas took a long sigh but walked out with his signature smile he has flashed since being introduced as the Rockets’ head coach in 2020. It may have been his way of coping and dealing with losing one of his closest friends.

Once Tuesday’s game began against the Phoenix Suns, it was back to business as usual for Silas. He helped orchestrate a plan for his young team to keep point guard Chris Paul from taking control of the game in the absence of Devin Booker. Houston beat Phoenix, 111-97, to secure its fifth straight home win.

As the game concluded, Silas was met by Suns head coach Monty Williams at midcourt. Most coaches shake hands, share a couple of words with each other and move on.

Williams knew this situation, however, would require more, and he did the same thing for Silas that other coaches and players did for him. Williams had taken a break in 2016 after his wife died in a tragic car accident.

The two coaches embraced one another, and it was clear Williams could feel the pain and hurt that ran through Silas’ body.

Silas made his way off the court as the customary streamers came down from the Toyota Center rafters after the Rockets won the game, and he knew it was time to face reality. He started his postgame press conference in the same fashion as he had earlier, with a long sigh.

“I kind of didn’t want the game to end,” Silas said with a slight smile. “Now it is like real life starts up again.”

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