This 2007-2008 Celtics were like the Lakers of 1968-1969 except some things, all three Celtics were healthy and the bench stepped up as well the assistant coaches. The head coach made the right decision but didn't try to be the star. In short, it was a team effort which included the stars, role-players, and practice players working in unison with the coaches from day one.
The 2008 Celtics: Garnett, Allen, and Pierce. The 1969 Lakers: Chamberlain, Baylor, and West. The role players for the Celtics: Rondo, Posey, Perkins, Powe, T.Allen, Davis, House, Cassell, and P.J. Brown. P.J. Brown didn't play much during the regular season but played significant minutes in the championship series as well as the Detroit series. The role players for the Lakers: Counts, Erickson, Egan, Hawkins, Hewitt, and Crawford. In those days, you went 7 deep but all contributed but the loss of Gail Goodrich to the expansion draft really affected because the guys in the Lakers were slower and very vulnerable to a fast-break game of the Celtics. The Celtics guys were old but the Lakers though taller were generally slow particularly the guard position of Johnny Egan and Tommy Hawkins. Most of them were injury prone like West, Baylor, and Keith Erickson. So, player-coach, Bill Russell decided to run the Lakers to death. The strategy worked for 3 quarters but age caught up with the Celtics as well but they held on.
Elgin Baylor should have been at fault in this game 7 but nobody ever seems to mention that. Elgin was Butch Van Breda Kolff's favorite player but he took him out during that game 7 because he was ineffective against the running game of the Celtics for the 3 quarters. The injury from 1965 affected his consistency. Look at Youtube when they show the last quarter, you don't see Elgin much.
Butch was the first designer of the motion offense that NBA teams used throughout the 70's as well as college teams. However, he couldn't handle pressure moments or criticisms(he quit after 10 games in Detroit because of the fan heckling from Leon "The Barber"). Yet, he wanted to be the star and kept Wilt out in the last minute when Wilt was ready to come back. People forget that knee injury sidelined him for almost the whole 1969-1970 season.
Butch didn't like the signing of Wilt Chamberlain and got into a fight with him during that season in Seattle. Wilt didn't respect Van Breda Kolff as a man. Though a tireless worker and courageous, Butch was a bit of a bully towards players he didn't like (Wilt) and sissy with outsiders in that he didn't command a strong presence. On the other hand, Frank McGuire was strong, handsome and classy on and off the court. He handled losses but wasn't going to get pushed around by nobody like refs or coaches like Red Auerbach. Wilt played hard for Frank, Alex Hannum, and Bill Sharman because they were tough on him and outsiders.
Nobody wanted individual glory but team glory including the coaches. I don't like Red Auerbach because he was a hog that is why he is turn off for today's game but Phil Jackson used his assistants well in the past but in this 2008 series, he tried to be a star and looked what happened (defend the pick n roll, please). Doc Rivers maybe the first coach to win a championship without getting into the Hall of Fame but showed great leadership concerning his coaches and players.
No comments:
Post a Comment