Champions: The NBA’s Greatest Game and the End of a Dynasty

THE NBA’S GREATEST GAME AND THE END OF A DYNASTY

While the first Celtic champion team that I remember was the 1974 team that defeated Kareem Abdul-Jabar and the Milwaukee Bucks, I am more familiar with the 1976 team that won the franchise’s 13th NBA Title in a finals that included a triple overtime thriller deemed by many to be the greatest game ever.

It would be the last title for Hall of Famers John Havlicek (his 8th) and Dave Cowens. In fact, the Celtics would not even make the playoffs during Havlicek’s final year two years later. It was also the last year before the merger with the ABA and Celtic rival Philadelphia would rise to dominance with the addition of Julius Erving.

The front row of the picture to the left featured the key Celtics – Charlie Scott (G), Paul Silas (F), Dave Cowens (C), John Havlicek (F), Jo Jo White (G) and Don Nelson (F). The team would finish with a conference best 54 wins – second only to the defending champion Golden State Warriors.

By conference

#	Eastern Conference
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z–Boston Celtics	54	28	.659	–
2	y–Cleveland Cavaliers	49	33	.598	5
3	x–Washington Bullets	48	34	.585	6
4	x–Buffalo Braves	46	36	.561	8
4	x–Philadelphia 76ers	46	36	.561	8

6	Houston Rockets	40	42	.488	14
7	New York Knicks	38	44	.463	16
7	New Orleans Jazz	38	44	.463	16
9	Atlanta Hawks	29	53	.354	25

#	Western Conference
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z–Golden State Warriors	59	23	.720	–
2	x–Seattle SuperSonics	43	39	.524	16
3	x–Phoenix Suns	42	40	.512	17
4	y–Milwaukee Bucks	38	44	.463	21
5	x–Detroit Pistons	36	46	.439	23

6	Los Angeles Lakers	40	42	.488	19
7	Portland Trail Blazers	37	45	.451	22
8	Kansas City Kings	31	51	.378	28
9	Chicago Bulls	24	58	.293	35

PLAYOFF RUN

To return to the NBA Finals, the Celtics had to get two upstart teams – the Buffalo Braves and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Once they got to the finals, they faced a Phoenix Sun team led by former Celtic Paul Westphal. The decisive moment in the series was Game 5, which occurred the night of my brother’s high school graduation. I recall shutting the game off once the Celtics went ahead by 20 plus in the first, only to come back to watch the fourth and all that followed. Celtic Coach Heinsohn collapsed in the locker room after the triple-overtime thriller, while those of us watched sat in amazement knowing we had just seen something remarkable.

It is hard to believe now in the post Bird-Magic-Jordan era, but the Finals had three straight off days between Sunday afternoon opener and Thursday night second game due to CBS-TV’s concern with low ratings for professional basketball. The 1975-76 network television season (as well as May sweeps) ended after Wednesday, May 26 (with weekend afternoon games not factored into the prime-time ratings). Accordingly, CBS-TV allowed Game One to be played on Sunday afternoon, since the ratings would not count, but would not permit Game Two to be played live in prime time unless the NBA waited until Thursday evening.

Three Celtics (Don Nelson, Paul Silas and Dave Cowens) and Five Suns (Paul Westphal, Gar Heard, Dick Van Arsdale, John Wetzel and some guy named Pat Riley) went on to become head coaches.

G	Date			Opponent		Tm	Opp	W	L	Streak
1	Wed, Apr 21, 1976	Box Score		Buffalo Braves	W	107	98	1	0	W 1
2	Fri, Apr 23, 1976	Box Score		Buffalo Braves	W	101	96	2	0	W 2
3	Sun, Apr 25, 1976	Box Score	@	Buffalo Braves	L	93	98	2	1	L 1
4	Wed, Apr 28, 1976	Box Score	@	Buffalo Braves	L	122	124	2	2	L 2
5	Fri, Apr 30, 1976	Box Score		Buffalo Braves	W	99	88	3	2	W 1
6	Sun, May 2, 1976	Box Score	@	Buffalo Braves	W	104	100	4	2	W 2

G	Date			Opponent		Tm	Opp	W	L	Streak
7	Thu, May 6, 1976	Box Score		Cleveland Cavaliers	W	111	99	5	2	W 3
8	Sun, May 9, 1976	Box Score		Cleveland Cavaliers	W	94	89	6	2	W 4
9	Tue, May 11, 1976	Box Score	@	Cleveland Cavaliers	L	78	83	6	3	L 1
10	Fri, May 14, 1976	Box Score	@	Cleveland Cavaliers	L	87	106	6	4	L 2
11	Sun, May 16, 1976	Box Score		Cleveland Cavaliers	W	99	94	7	4	W 1
12	Tue, May 18, 1976	Box Score	@	Cleveland Cavaliers	W	94	87	8	4	W 2

G	Date			Opponent		Tm	Opp	W	L	Streak
13	Sun, May 23, 1976	Box Score		Phoenix Suns	W	98	87	9	4	W 3
14	Thu, May 27, 1976	Box Score		Phoenix Suns	W	105	90	10	4	W 4
15	Sun, May 30, 1976	Box Score	@	Phoenix Suns	L	98	105	10	5	L 1
16	Wed, Jun 2, 1976	Box Score	@	Phoenix Suns	L	107	109	10	6	L 2
17	Fri, Jun 4, 1976	Box Score		Phoenix Suns	W	128	126	11	6	W 1
18	Sun, Jun 6, 1976	Box Score	@	Phoenix Suns	W	87	80	12	6	W 2

Rk	Player	Age	G	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	PF	PTS
1	Jo Jo White	29	82	3257	670	1492	.449	212	253	.838	61	252	313	445	107	20	183	1552
2	Dave Cowens	27	78	3101	611	1305	.468	257	340	.756	335	911	1246	325	94	71	314	1479
3	Charlie Scott	27	82	2913	588	1309	.449	267	335	.797	106	252	358	341	103	24	356	1443
4	John Havlicek	35	76	2598	504	1121	.450	281	333	.844	116	198	314	278	97	29	204	1289
5	Paul Silas	32	81	2662	315	740	.426	236	333	.709	365	660	1025	203	56	33	227	866
6	Don Nelson	35	75	943	175	379	.462	127	161	.789	56	126	182	77	14	7	115	477
7	Glenn McDonald	23	75	1019	191	456	.419	40	56	.714	56	79	135	68	39	20	123	422
8	Kevin Stacom	24	77	1114	170	387	.439	68	91	.747	62	99	161	128	23	5	117	408
9	Steve Kuberski	28	60	882	128	274	.467	68	76	.895	86	148	234	44	11	11	123	324
10	Jim Ard	27	81	853	107	294	.364	71	100	.710	96	193	289	48	12	36	141	285
11	Tom Boswell	22	35	275	41	93	.441	14	24	.583	26	45	71	16	2	1	70	96
12	Jerome Anderson	22	22	126	25	45	.556	11	16	.688	4	9	13	6	3	3	25	61
13	Ed Searcy	23	4	12	2	6	.333	2	2	1.000	0	0	0	1	0	0	4	6