Boston

We are an hour away from Game 1 of the Knicks versus Celtics Eastern Conference Semifinal. I’ve been a Knicks fan for sixty years as made abundantly clear by prior posts. I like this team, a gritty group that seems one more star away from true contention. But no matter for I believe that we will steal Game 1 in Boston and see where it goes from there.

It is difficult to dislike this Boston Celtics team. Class and talent, starting with future Hall of Famers Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown. So I have to go into the memory bank and call up 1969 when the Celtics took down the favored Knicks in the Eastern Division Final in six games. Clyde and Willis were great, just not great enough to stop Bill Russell and John Havlicek en route to the 11th and last title of the never matched Russell Era. I did what any true-blooded Knicks fan would do that April—tacked the Sports Illustrated cover with Havlicek on it to my brown corkboard wall and threw mini darts at it. And maybe it worked—-the Knicks won their first NBA title the very next season.

Turns out I would have loved those Celtic teams if I could have transcended the 200-mile distance in my mind. Back then, I didn’t think about anything not on the court; that’s how sports were covered. No exposé shows back then, no insider historical reflections like the great Celtics City documentary on HBO to show just how smart and savvy and pioneering and courageous these Celtics were. Russell, one of the greatest of all time on the court and so much smarter and courageous off it. Havlicek, never stopping, best Sixth Man ever, perennially underrated and another class act. KC Jones, Sam Jones, Don Nelson, and so on, and before that Satch Sanders, Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn, and so on, and so on.

And don’t even get me started on how Red Auerbach outfoxed everyone to steal Larry Bird in the 1978 Draft after his junior year. It’s the reason why the Celtics went from 29 wins in 1979 to 61 wins in 1980 and went on another run of titles that decade.

I once had a friend who went with the winners wherever they were. Yankees, Celtics, Packers, Canadiens. To me, that was inexplicable. We were New Yorkers and the only decision was Yankees or Mets, Giants or Jets, Knicks, and Rangers. I’m not going to say the friend was happier than me but he did have fewer disappointments I suppose. And the Celtics were a source of a number of those disappointments.

So I’m going to take my seat in front of a television screen signficantly upgraded from the barely color Motorola of my youth and hope things come together for the road team tonight. Not because I don’t admire and respect Boston Celtics history but because I’ve got sixty years in on these Knickerbockers and I have a strong feeling the payoff is coming soon.