The NBA's opening sling against Chris Paul

Chapter 120 The Glory of North Shore Garden Arena
The players came to the North Shore Garden Arena early after a short break. It is still early, and there are still nearly two hours before the start of the game.

McConley's ankle report was sent out just four hours ago, and the result was negative, except for some swelling. The problem was not serious. It was a false alarm. He did not go out with the team today. The doctor's suggestion was to rest for a week.

In the absence of Conley, Bayless will be put on the starting lineup this time, and he will be standing shirtless in the middle of the court for three-point practice.

"One, two, three..." With the help of the sparring partner, I finished casting from one corner to another.

"Hey, buddy, save some strength, don't use up all at once." Guy seemed to have recovered quite well.

"Damn it, it's a single-celled animal!" Li Ming sneered at the side.

The 17 flags on the scene were particularly dazzling, like 17 shining golden plaques hanging high in the air, and Li Ming stared at them for a long time, unable to regain his senses.

From the summer of 1959 to the end of the summer of 1966, Bostonians enjoyed the sweetness of "I am the only one" and wrote a magnificent poem that no one has ever seen before, and there is no one who comes now. It has won 8 consecutive championships and has been in the sky above the Boston Arena for 8 consecutive years. The championship flag was hoisted.

In the 1966-67 season, as many veterans of the Celtics retired, Cousy and Heinsohn left the team one after another. Cardinal Auerbach also resigned as the head coach and assumed the administrative management position of the team. Bill Russell succeeded him. He became the head coach of the team and became the first black coach in NBA history.

With many changes and inexperience, Russell needs to fight on two fronts.In the conference finals, the Celtics met the Philadelphia 76ers led by Wilt Chamberlain and lost 1-4, ending their winning streak.The ancient beast played an astonishing average of 39 points and 22 rebounds in that series.

In the 1967-68 season, the Celtics started the new season with an aging starting lineup.Still, Russell led the team along the way.The regular season achieved 54 wins and 28 losses, and successfully entered the playoffs.After defeating the 76ers, the Celtics once again entered the finals and defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4:2 to win the championship again.

In the 1968-69 season, the Los Angeles Lakers in the seventh game of the finals that shocked the ancient and modern, the final score was locked at 108 to 106, the Celtics won the championship again, and won the championship for the first time in 11 years. It was also in that season that the Lord of the Rings Russell officially retired.

It was precisely because of Russell's retirement that the Celtics failed to make it to the playoffs in the next two seasons, and the upstart in the Eastern Conference, the Skyhook Kareem Abdul-Jabbar team began to rise officially and completed the handover from the old to the new , In those two seasons, the Bucks became the brightest star in the league.

However, the Kings did not sink there. It only took them two years to become an experienced team with a balanced offense and defense. The team's starting lineup did not change in the 1973-74 season. It was still composed of Havlicek, Silas and Dave Cowens in the frontcourt trident, and Don Chaney and White partnered in the backcourt.Don Nelson and Paul Westphal were on the bench.

After topping the Atlantic Division with a record of 56 wins and 26 losses, the Celtics first eliminated the young Buffalo Warriors and then defeated the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. The 1974 Finals was between the Celtics and the Bucks.

This series is one of the greatest Finals matchups in NBA history.Dave Cowens scored 28 points to help the team win the championship in one fell swoop. This is also the first time the Celtics have won the championship in five years.

In the following season, the Celtics continued to use the previous routine to win another Atlantic Division championship title.The team's internal and external offense and defense are balanced, and it can still maintain its victory without an inside superstar.In the middle of the season, Cowens was injured with a broken foot, and the team's bench depth advantage was reflected.After his return, he won an excellent record of 60 wins and 22 losses with the team.In the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics were intercepted by the Washington Bullets, and the Bullets officially rose.

With Don Chaney's departure, the team traded for Charlie Scott, who averaged 3+ points per game in the previous three seasons.Despite the team's limited bench depth, the team still had a record of 20 wins and 54 losses, ranking first in the Atlantic Division and second in the league that year.

In the playoffs, the Celtics eliminated the Buffalo Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers successively, and once again reached the finals and had a chance to win the championship.The Celtics' opponent in the Finals was the Phoenix Suns, who had a record of 42 wins and 40 losses in the regular season.Celtics have a clear advantage.

The two sides completed a soul-stirring game. In the end, the Celtics finally defeated their opponents in the third overtime, 3-128, ending the longest finals game in history.Winning the championship this time is the 126th championship trophy in the history of the Celtics.

The streets and alleys of the year were reporting on this epic matchup, an epic matchup that even overshadowed the edge of the college league and the football league for a time.

In the following years, as the internal main force gradually aged, this king sank again, and even once fell to the bottom of the Atlantic region.

But all this changed with the addition of another divine bird. In 1979, two young men named Larry Bird and Johnson changed the pattern of the league for the next decade.

In the first season of the two, Johnson won the championship title and Bird won the Rookie of the Year award. At the same time, the Celtics began to build a team around Bird as the core.

Partnering with Bird in the frontcourt is third-year player Cedric Maxwell, Cowens continues to sit on the inside, and the guards are Chris Ford, who played for the Pistons last season, and Nate Archibald.With the upgrade of the lineup, the team won only 3 times last season, which increased to 29 wins and 1979 losses in the 80-61 season.

The improvement effect of 32 wins was also the highest in the league at that time (broken by the Spurs in the 1989-90 season). After failing to make the playoffs for 2 consecutive years, the Houston Rockets were eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals this year. , but they lost to the 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

With the addition of Robert Parrish and McHale er, Larry Bird, Cedric Maxwell and Parish formed the team's frontcourt, while Chris Ford and Nate Archibald played the team's backcourt.

麦克海尔则在替补席上发挥力量，绿衫军的替补阵容里还有杰拉尔德亨德森、里克罗比。东部决赛，凯尔特人和76人遭遇。76人在前四场比赛中取得3-1的领先，但在接下来的第五战和第六战中凯尔特人均以2分优势获胜。第七场凯尔特人以91-90击败76人进入总决赛。完成了超级大逆转。

The Celtics' opponent in the Finals was the Houston Rockets.The Rockets had a record of 40 wins and 42 losses in the regular season.Under the leadership of Moses Malone, the Rockets played well, but in the end the Celtics defeated the Rockets 4-2 to win the championship.

After the ups and downs of the Celtics, until the summer of 2007, the Celtics traded the league's top marksman Ray Allen and top power forward Kevin Garnett during the draft. The star all-round small forward Paul Pierce formed a luxurious "Big Three" lineup.In the 2007-08 season, he rose from the worst in the league to the best in the league, achieving a record of 66 wins and 16 losses.In the end, they defeated the Lakers 4-2 and won the 17th NBA championship in team history.

(End of this chapter)