michaeljohn

I am going to debunk the myth of the so-called Celtic mystique. They have had some great teams since the Russell era, but far from the tradition set that preceded them. Mystique is only in the minds eye. Evidence shows they were second fiddle to many better teams over the years that they later had great squads.

Ok, 1957-1969. 11 titles in 13 seasons. No arguments about their dominance. They were the greatest collection of players ever seen during their run. However, this is an older era. Everyone who played in the NBA then is at least 60+ years old now. Kareem was a rookie the next season, and he's been retired since 1989.

After missing the playoffs for 2 years, Celtics drafted smartly, picking up superstars Dave Cowens and Jojo White to add to the firepower that former 6th man John Havlicek offered. However, their run wasn't all that impressive, considering their regular season results.

1971-72 Best record in the east, Lost to New York Knicks in ECF
1972-73 Best record in the NBA, 68-14, Lost to New York Knicks in ECF
1973-74 Best record in the east, won NBA championship over Milwaukee and Kareem Abdul Jabbar without HCA in 7 games. That was a great series, 5 games were won on the road, including the final 3.
1974-75 Best record in the east, won on tiebreak. Lost to Washington in ECF.
1975-76 Best record in the east. Golden State, the defending NBA champs and the team with the best regular season record, lost WCF to Phoenix (42-40). Beat Phoenix 4-2. Meh, no one was winning back-to-back in this era, so yeah, Boston would have won against GS. This was too easy though. Forget that double overtime game 5 and Gar Heard. Celtics won that game anyway.
1976-77 Fell to 4th in east, lost in eastern semi's.

1977-1979 Havlicek retired in this period, but even with White and Cowens, Celtics fell to about 30 wins a year.

Ok, now the 13 year Larry Bird era, 1979-80 to 1991-92 Let's break it down into 4ths, or as close as we can.

1979-80 to 1982-83. Best record in the NBA first 3 years. Result? Philadelphia played in 3 finals, Boston 1. At least the Celtics won the year they made it. It was an odd year as in 1976. All the best teams in the west kept losing early, and the Celtics played Houston in the finals who went 40-42.

1983-84 to 1987-88. Best record in the NBA first 3 years, and best in east last 2. Four finals appearances, splitting them 2-2 with a 1-2 record against the Lakers. Never had a back-to-back for Bird. Their best successes in the Bird era but only 2 titles in 5 years.

1987-89 to 1991-92. First season fell to 42-40 with 8th seed and out to Pistons in 3 in first round. second year, 4th best record in the east, out in first round to 5th place Knicks in 5. Third year had the second best record in the east to Chicago and MJ, but lost to Detroit in second round. Last year for Bird, tied for 3rd-4th best record in east, but out in round 2 to Cleveland. Quite a fall from grace these last four to five years! Pistons, and then the Bulls were the beasts of the east.

Since Len Bias died in 1986 from a cocaine overdose (Their top draft pick who they expected to help win more titles along with Bird), Celtics haven't done much since. I have referred to it as "The Curse of Len Bias", destined to outlast baseball's "Curse of the Bambino" against the Red Sox. Boston did make it to the ECF in 2002 before losing to NJ. I forgot all about that as the Celtics until this year are really old news. Think about it, most players in the NBA are too young to have seen them win it all! 1986 is 22 years ago, so anyone under 30 wouldn't remember much if they saw it happen.

I'll post more about why the Lakers are the most storied franchise in the NBA later. Yeah, Celtics are ahead of LA 8-2 in series victories, but look at how many times they were favored to get to the finals but ducked us by losing in the ECF:

1972
1980
1982
1988
2002 LOL Celtic mystique indeed!

Now we have them in 2008 right where we want them! Payback is a bitch!

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