Northeastern University - Cauldron Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Jo Jo White, a pereninial NBA All- Star, from Kansas. But the following year Auerbach chose the player who has made the Celtics what they are today, the best team in basketball. Dave Cow- ens joined the Celtics from Florida State for the 1970-71 season and immediately his impact was felt. The big redhead was the missing link the Celtics needed to become a champion. It took him a year to learn the NBA, as the Celts finished with a 44-38 record, an improve- ment from the previous season, but still out of the playoffs. Cowens, thought by almost everyone to be too small to play center in the NBA at 6-9, finished seventh among league rebounders with 1216 rebounds for a 15 per-game aver- age. He pitched in 17 points a game and was a landslide choice for Rookie of the Year honors. The Celtics, led by Capt. John Havlicek, finished second in team offense during that season, aver- aging 117. 2 points per game. Only Milwaukee, the world champions that season, scored more than Bos- ton, averaging 115.1 points per contest, finishing 13th among 17 teams. Havlicek finished second among, league scorers, averaging 28.9 points in 81 games. The following year, 1971-72, the Celtics raced to a 52-26 regular season record, the best in the East and the fourth best in the NBA. Back in the playoffs after a two- year absence, the Celtics elimi- nated Atlanta, four games to two, but then ran into a red hot New York Knickerbocker team and were eliminated in five games. The team offense slipped as the club finished third in scoring with a 115.6 per-game average while Hav- licek also fell a notch, finishing third with a 27.5 average. Cowens climbed to fifth among NBA centers in the rebound department, picking off 15.2 a game. His scoring also increased, as the redhead aver- aged 18.8 points per-game. White, in his third year with the team, averaged 23.1 points and joined Havlicek and Cowens on the Eastern All-Star team. It was White ' s second straight All-Star ap- pearance as he was beginning to gain the reputation as one of the game ' s top guards. Who will ever forget the 1972-73 season? The Celtics completely tore up the league and finished with the second best record in NBA history. Their 68-14 record that season was just one game off the Los Angeles Lakers 1971-72 record of 68 wins and 13 losses. One month before that season began, Auerbach made a move to strengthen the team that was raved about in NBA circles, but was just another typical Auerbach move. He obtained Paul Silas from Phoenix for the rights to Charlie Scott, who had signed with the rival American Basketball Association and then jumped to the Phoenix team. Auer- bach owned the NBA rights to Scott and demanded remuneration in the form of Silas when Scott signed to play with the Suns. All Silas did was fit perfectly into the Celtics style of play, just as if he had been a Celtic all his life. He made Cowen ' s job a lot simpler as the tandem immediately became the most feated rebounding duo in the NBA. Cowens finished third among NBA rebounders with 16.2 a game, while Silas backed him up with a 13 per-game and was the ninth best rebounder in the league. Led by Havlicek (23.8), Cowens (20.5), White (19.7), Silas (13.3), Chaney (13.1), and the always steady Don Nelson (10.8), the Cel- tics finished second in NBA scoring with 112.7 points a game, just one- tenth of a point behind Houston. The Green Machine was sixth in points allowed, giving 104.6 up on a game. The Celtics entered the playoffs as heavy favorites and whipped At- lanta four games to two. This was Boston Celtic center Dave Cowens catches an elbow in the head while going up for the basket in a game with the Washington Bullets. 14

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The Boston Celtics - pride and tradition The Boston Celtics were presented with a trophy by Mayor Kevin White at City Hall ceremonies early in 1974 following their successful bid to recapture the NBA championship, their 12th such crown. From left of photographer are General Manager Red Auberback, Celtics captain John Havlicek, forward Paul Silas, a pained broadcaster Johnny Most and assistant trainer Frank Challant. When you think of a National Basketball Association Champion- ship, there is no need to look any further than the city of Boston and its pride and joy, the Celtics. Twelve times in the last 18 years the Celtics have been the best in basketball, and it all culminated on May 12, 1974 when the Celts cap- ped a five-year rebuilding program with a seventh game victory over the Milwaukee Bucks that gave them that 12th title. The man totally responsible for rebuilding the team that lives on pride is Red Auerbach, the super- lative general manager of the world champions who also coached the first nine championship teams. Auerbach took a team that won its last championship in 1969, then finished with the fourth worst record among 14 teams in the 69- 70 season and built it back into a champion in five years. The start of Auerbach ' s rebuild- ing actually began in 1968, when the Celtics drafting last as the world champions, plucked defen- sive genius Don Chaney from Houston out of the college draft. The following year Auerbach came up with yet another blue chipper in 13

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the year the Celtics were going to wipe out the memory of last sea- son ' s drubbing by New York and go on to the NBA championship. But the Knicks were equal to the task and took advantage of a wea- kened Celtic team to win a bitter, hard-fought seven-game series that ranks among the best in NBA his- tory. The Celtics were hurt when Havlicek injured a shoulder in the sixth game of the series and had to watch from the bench as the Cel- tics were outclassed on their own floor in the seventh and final game. Without their leader the Celtics were helpless and dropped a 94-78 decision to the Knicks, who easily went on to the NBA championship that year. The long-awaited championship came the following year, 1973-74, as the Celts put it all together to bring the title back to Boston, where it seemed it had always been. The team finished the regular season at the 56-26, the second best record behind the Milwaukee Bucks. In the playoffs, the Celtics elimi- nated Buffalo in a hard fought six games, got their long awaited re- venge over New York, knocking off the Knicks in five games, and won the title in a memorable seven- game series with Milwaukee. Havlicek was named the MVP in the playoffs but was the first to admit that it was the pride of the Celtics and the way the performed as a team that was the reason for the title. At mid-season in the 1974-75 campaign, the Celtics were well on their way to defending their title. The team had the best record in the league and had four represent- atives on the East All-Star team in Havlicek, Cowens, White, and Silas. Cowens was in the midst of a streak and required serious consid- eration as the league ' s most valu- able player. Celtics pride, the unexplainable phenomenon, and Red Auerbach, the man that built and rebuilt a champion were once again the fac- tors that combined to make Boston the best team in the National Bas- ketball Association. And there is just no end in sight. — Kenneth G. Hughes Red Sox not good enough Things just haven ' t been the same around Fenway Park since 1967. The Red Sox have been stumbling, bumbling, and, for the most part, providing very little ex- citement over the summer and early fall months for the past five years. Despite league-leading totals of 125 runs scored and 335 total bases from Carl Yastrzemski, the Red Sox finished a distant third in the American League East stand- ings in 1970. The Sox compiled an 87-75 record and finished 21 games behind the Baltimore Ori- oles, who won the world champion- ship that season. The Red Sox also belted 203 home runs to lead the American League in ' 70. Yastrzemski had a banner sea- son, leading the club in nearly every statistical category. Yaz bat- ted .329, belted 40 homers, banged out 186 hits, drew 128 walks, and stole 23 bases. Ray Culp was the workhorse of the Sox pitching staff, working 251 innings and compiling a 17-14 record and a 3.04 earned run average. Tony Conigliaro led the team in runs batted in with 116 while Reggie Smith hit 32 doubles and seven triples to pace the team in extra base hits. Things didn ' t get any better the following season as the team slipped to 85-77 to finish 18 games behind Baltimore. Reggie Smith led the American League with 33 doubles and 302 total bases. He was also the Sox triple crown win- ner with figures of .283, 30 home runs, and 96 RBI ' s. The club provided plenty of ex- citement in the strike year, 1972, but came up a half-game short of a divisional championship. Led by Rookie of the Year Carlton Fisk, the Sox battled eventual winner Detroit and the Orioles through as exciting a summer as Boston had ever seen. It wasn ' t until the final day of the season that Detroit was able to take the title, one half- game ahead of Boston ' s 85-70 mark. Luis Tiant returned to the form that made him a 21 -game winner in 1968 for the Cleveland Indians Doug Griffin, Red Sox second baseman, fires the ball to first base to complete a double play against the Oakland A ' s. 15