4.14.2013

Irv Levin Tempted Red to End Retirement and Take Over for Heinsohn

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December 1977

Red Auerbach refuses Irv Levin's offer to resume coaching Boston Celtics for remainder of current season, claiming he will remain in retirement from coaching. Current Celtics coach, Tom Heinsohn, claims he was not aware of Levin's offer.Levin comments on Celtics upcoming 8-game road trip and Heinsohn's efforts to improve team which has 9-16 won-lost record, one of worst in 31-yr history of NBA franchise.

Tommy Heinsohn reportedly has a must-win edict from owner Irv Levin to fulfill on the Boston Celtics' current West Coast road trip or he will be fired. Boston has to pull out three triumphs in the first five games of the journey, which started with a loss Sunday in Los Angeles. To make things harder for the volatile Heinsohn, both Levin and general manager Red Auerbach are making the trip with the team, Heinsohn signed a two-year contract after last season.

4.11.2013

Mitch Kupchak Leads Bullets Over Celtics

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December 1977

The streaking Washington Bullets, full of confidence and Mitch Kupchak's boundless vigor, beat the desperate and almost pitifully confused Boston Celtics, 103-93, at Capital Centre last night.

For the season's largest crowd (18-424) this was both a delightful and a slightly sorrowful sight.

Kupchak, Larry Wright and Bobby Dandridge - all new, reloaded Bullets in the last two seasons - were the delight. Kupchak, held scoreless for the first 34 minutes, erupted for 13 points in the last 14 minutes as the Bullets overcame a four-point deficit for their eight victory in nine games.

4.10.2013

Celtics Deal Charlie Scott for Don Chaney

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December 1977

The Los Angeles Lakers traded suspended forward Kermit Washington and guard Don Chaney to the Boston Celtics for guard Charlie Scott yesterday in a deal that both clubs feel will help straighten out so-far-disappointing seasons.

4.03.2013

Will Success be a Choice for Son of Pitino?

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Minnesota has reached an agreement with Florida International's Richard Pitino to be the Gophers' new coach, multiple sources told ESPN.com.

The two sides met Tuesday in Fort Myers, Fla., according to another source.
A source with knowledge of the situation said Pitino and Minnesota were working on a contract. Arizona State assistant coach Eric Musselman was supposed to interview for the job, but was told Tuesday not to fly to Fort Myers because the Gophers had their coach.

The son of NCAA coaching legend Rick Pitino, Richard Pitino was with his father's team, the Louisville Cardinals, Sunday in Indianapolis and then went to see Kevin Ware with his father Monday in an Indianapolis hospital. Richard Pitino was a former Louisville assistant who also has served as an assistant at Florida and Providence.

Pitino replaced Isiah Thomas at FIU and coached the Golden Panthers to a surprising 11-9 record in the Sun Belt, 18-14 overall. They shocked league favorite Middle Tennessee State in the conference tournament semifinals before losing the automatic NCAA berth to Western Kentucky.

Minnesota athletic director Norwood Teague fired Tubby Smith last week after Smith led the Gophers to a round of 64 win over UCLA and a round of 32 loss to Florida. Smith was hired this week by Texas Tech.
Teague, the former VCU AD, has long looked for up-and-coming hires and tabbed Anthony Grant (Alabama) and Shaka Smart (VCU) as head coaches with the Rams. Minnesota looked at Smart and made a play for Gophers alumnus, former NBA coach and now ESPN NBA analyst Flip Saunders as well as Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin, but all decided against going to Minnesota.

3.30.2013

Who Was More Intense: Cowens or KG?

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fe·ro·cious
adj.
1. Extremely savage; fierce. See Synonyms at cruel.
2. Marked by unrelenting intensity; extreme: ferocious heat.

ma·ni·a·cal also ma·ni·ac
adj.
1. Suggestive of or afflicted with insanity: a maniacal frenzy.
2. Characterized by excessive enthusiasm or excitement

There was no ordinary, garden-variety rebound for Dave Cowens. Every time he came down with a missed shot, the elbows were out, the legs were spread, and the nostrils flared. Think Bill Russell in this famous picture. Cowens took no prisoners. That sounds like a cliche. But if you even looked at him funny, the bumping started, and, if you didn't like that, the shoving and elbowing followed.

You would not get the upper hand on Dave Cowens. Pure and simple. Example: Cowens faced off against Wilt Chamberlain four times during the season after the Lakers went 69-13 on their way to the championship. The Celtics won all four games, with Cowens averaging 31 points and 19 rebounds a game in those four contests. The Lakers' run was one-and-done, if Cowens had anything to say about it.

Bob Ryan once wrote:

Dave Cowens stands 6 feet 8 1/2 inches, and even 20 years ago that was considered a bit runty for a center. Indeed, it was a raging local talk show controversy in the fall of 1970. This kid Cowens is OK, but he's not really a center. But Cowens was a center, all right, because he believed he was a center with every pore of his body. "Being a center was everything to me," he admits. "It's the best position. Simple mathematics. There are two guards and two forwards, but only one center. You're in the middle of everything."

He relished the play-within-a-play concept of dueling with the rival center as part of the grand spectacle. "That's where it starts," he explains, "with the one-on-one confrontation. It doesn't matter if it's Kareem, Wilt, Tom Boerwinkle or Dennis Awtrey. Start with you and him, and then factor in the team strategy. You live off the competition."

Nobody in the history of the NBA ever competed more ferociously, recklessly and honorably than Dave Cowens -- nobody. Anybody can expend energy with a championship in sight, so when Cowens belly-flopped after that loose ball he had knocked away from Oscar Robertson to create a crucial turnover in Game 6 of the 1974 Finals, he was better than anyone else only in that he was able to execute.

But there were few present in Asheville, N.C., on an October night in 1974, and there was absolutely nothing at stake when he spotted Fatty Taylor half the length of the court after the latter's steal in the waning first-half seconds of the first exhibition game and caught up in time to block the shot. Cowens tumbled into the basket's superstructure and broke his foot, causing him to miss the first 17 games of the season. It was at once an unmakeable and irrational play. It was, therefore, pure Dave Cowens.

If you have a chance, buy this set of Celtics' DVDs. They include a bunch of old Celtics' games, plus tons of footage from all of the eras. The game footage of Dave Cowens is captivating. You are left with the impression that KG's intensity pales in comparison.

My attitude was, "Let's see what these players are all about. I knew a Wilt Chamberlain could overwhelm me on offense", but I said, "Let's just see how hard these guys want to work." I think they got pissed at me because I wanted to work hard. They weren't used to somebody who played the way I did. I'd be running them, and after a while they'd think, "The hell with this." That's intimidation, when you're in condition and you can run somebody all the time. That, to me, is true intimidation. If every time you're down court you're right in a guy's face, if every time you're boxing him him out - I mean every time - it gets to a lot of people.
--#18

3.26.2013

Hondo was a Steal

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He is the centerpiece of one of the most famous calls in sports history. When John Havlicek "stole the ball" that was only one of the many highlights he performed during his stellar Boston Celtics career that spanned 16 seasons (1962-78) and featured eight NBA titles.

3.25.2013

McHale's Former Gopher and Celtic Teammate Passes

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Ray Williams could seemingly do it all on a basketball court. He had an outstanding shooting touch, he possessed superb body control, and he could make a timely pass. He teamed with Micheal Ray Richardson in the Knicks’ backcourt to dazzle the crowds at Madison Square Garden in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
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