In those times was normal to see : "one franchise man "....today mpst of the players moved from kne team to another, ask to be traded...no loyalty anymore
This was a very good Boston Celtics team. They got off to a 29-5 start and as late as mid-March, had the best record in the East. Down the stretch, McHale and Bird just broke down and couldn't give consistent efforts night in and night out. The Celtics had a nice compliment of young players (the underrated Kevin Gamble, Brian Shaw, Dee Brown, Easy Ed Pinkney) and a budding superstar in Reggie Lewis. Reggie's personality hurt him a bit, though. While the C's needed him to step up and take over the team, he deferred to Larry Bird as long as Bird was in the lineup. This was really evident in the Detroit Pistons playoff series. The Celtics were the better team (the Pistons were in the process of imploding), but Reggie Lewis was way too hesitant down the stretch of games for Boston to close out Detroit. I would have loved to have seen what the Celtics would have done starting in '88 with Chris Ford as head coach. Jimmie Rodgers was a complete failure and never had the opportunity to be a head coach again. His reputation was always that of a very smart X's and O's guy, but not a strong enough personality to lead. Even when K.C. Jones was coach, you'd often see Rodgers diagramming plays in the huddle during timeouts. Great clip, thanks for the upload!
Can you imagine if KC had given Reggie significant minutes in '87-'88? The East final would have looked quite a bit different. It's too bad about this '91 team, especially losing game 6 in OT against Detroit without Parish and the bad call against McHale in regulation.
I liked KC Jones, but he cost this group a couple of championships. They were the best team in the league in '85 and had the best starting five in '87, but both years KC mismanaged the team. I agree with you about the '87/'88 team. KC never liked to play bench players.
+Huffnutz17 No one ever talks about '85, much like '82. I suppose it shows how Teflon Bird was after shooting horribly since the bar fight during the Philly series. If KC would have considered giving Ray Williams, Kite, Buckner, and Max in games 5 and 6 I think things may have turned out differently. He played right into Riley's hands.
I heard somewhere, and I'm not sure it was for this season but, there was a worry about Reggie's heart. He was going to various "second opinions" but that part of the interim solution was that he have limited playing time. He was only allowed to play just so many minutes at one time without rest.
What a garbage game for the Celtics ! They seem to just be playing to the competition. !?? They didnt have solid PG play yet, and when they got it they were unstoppable !!!!!!!!!!!!!
