76 Fun Facts About Boston Celtics

How many NBA championships had the Boston Celtics won as of their 2024 title?

Banner 18 came in 2024 and broke a tie with the Lakers, who sat on 17.

Which Boston Garden-Arena Corporation president founded the Celtics in 1946?

Walter A. Brown, who ran the Boston Garden, founded the Celtics in 1946 as a charter member of the Basketball Association of America and owned the team until his death in 1964; his No. 1 is retired.

Which future star of the TV western The Rifleman was an original member of the Boston Celtics in 1946?

Chuck Connors also played Major League Baseball for the Dodgers and Cubs before turning to acting.

Cousy landed in Boston through a 1950 dispersal draft after which franchise went bankrupt?

Auerbach had passed on the local Holy Cross star in the draft, calling him 'too flashy.'

To get the 1956 pick used on Russell, the Celtics traded Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan's rights to which team?

The Celtics sent Ed Macauley and the rights to Cliff Hagan to the St. Louis Hawks for the No. 2 pick in 1956; the Hawks then met Boston in four Finals, winning only in 1958.

What did the Celtics owner reportedly promise Rochester so Russell would slide to No. 2 in 1956?

Walter Brown also owned the Ice Capades, so a lucrative skating booking was his to give.

Which Celtic won the 1957 NBA Rookie of the Year award over teammate Bill Russell?

Heinsohn capped his rookie year with 37 points and 23 rebounds in the double-overtime Game 7 of the Finals.

The Celtics' 1959 title came via the first sweep in NBA Finals history, over which team?

Boston swept Elgin Baylor's Minneapolis Lakers 4–0 in 1959, the first sweep in NBA Finals history, a year before the franchise moved to Los Angeles.

When Russell succeeded Auerbach on the bench in 1966, what milestone did he set?

Bill Russell became the first Black head coach in major U.S. professional sports when he took over from Auerbach in 1966 as player-coach, winning titles in 1968 and 1969.

Who filled in on December 26, 1964, giving the Celtics the NBA's first all-Black starting five?

Willie Naulls started for the injured Tom Heinsohn alongside Bill Russell, Satch Sanders, Sam Jones and K. C. Jones; Boston beat the St. Louis Hawks 97–84 that night.

Whose 1965 radio call 'Havlicek stole the ball!' did the NBA dub the best-known in basketball?

Most called Celtics games on radio for 37 years and won the Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Media Award in 1993.

Who is the Celtics' all-time leading regular-season scorer?

Havlicek's 26,395 points came over 16 seasons, many of them as the league's most famous sixth man.

Which NFL team drafted Celtics swingman Havlicek in 1962 and briefly tried him at wide receiver?

The Cleveland Browns took Havlicek in the seventh round of the 1962 NFL draft and tried him at wide receiver in training camp before cutting him; he had never played college football.

Which Celtics center spent a day in 1977 driving a Boston taxi cab, going largely unrecognized?

Dave Cowens, the 1973 league MVP, spent a day driving a Boston taxi in 1977 and said few passengers recognised him; he had also taken a mid-season sabbatical from the team in 1976-77.

The triple-overtime Game 5 of the 1976 Finals at Boston Garden came against which team?

Boston beat the Phoenix Suns 128–126 in three overtimes on 4 June 1976, after Gar Heard's turnaround jumper at the buzzer forced the third extra period; Boston then won the title in Game 6.

With which overall pick did the Celtics select Larry Bird in 1978, a full year before he suited up?

Auerbach gambled that Bird's potential was worth waiting a year while he finished at Indiana State.

Bird's then-franchise-record 60-point game in March 1985 came against which opponent?

Bird scored 60 against the Atlanta Hawks on 12 March 1985 in a game played in New Orleans, a franchise record that stood alone until Jayson Tatum matched it against San Antonio in 2021.

Nine days before Bird's 60, which teammate had set the Celtics single-game scoring record with 56 points?

Kevin McHale scored 56 against the Detroit Pistons on 3 March 1985, a Celtics single-game record that Bird topped nine days later.

The 1980 draft-day trade that brought Parish and the pick used on McHale to Boston was with which team?

On draft day 1980 Boston sent the No. 1 and No. 13 picks to the Golden State Warriors for Robert Parish and the No. 3 pick, used on Kevin McHale; Golden State took Joe Barry Carroll first.

Who was named Finals MVP when the Celtics beat the Houston Rockets for the 1981 NBA championship?

'Cornbread' Cedric Maxwell, who later told teammates to 'climb on my back' before Game 7 of the 1984 Finals, was the 1981 Finals MVP against Houston and became a Celtics radio broadcaster.

Roughly how hot was it inside Boston Garden during the 1984 Finals 'Heat Game'?

The temperature inside the un-air-conditioned Garden reached 97 °F for Game 5 on 8 June 1984; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took oxygen on the bench while Bird scored 34 points with 17 rebounds.

The 'Beat L.A.!' chant began in 1982 when Boston fans urged which team, about to eliminate the Celtics, to win it all?

The 76ers lost that Finals to the Lakers anyway, but the chant spread to arenas across every sport.

Which Celtics reserve went 11-for-11 in the 1985 'Memorial Day Massacre' win over the Lakers?

Scott Wedman made all 11 of his shots, including four three-pointers, as Boston won Game 1 148–114 on 27 May 1985; the Lakers then took four of the next five games and the title.

The 1985-86 Celtics, often called the franchise's best team, set an NBA record with how many regular-season home wins?

40 home wins powered a league-best 67-15 record; the mark was later tied by the Spurs.

Which Celtic won the 1986 Sixth Man of the Year award?

Bill Walton, the 1978 league MVP, won the 1986 Sixth Man of the Year award after coming to Boston from the Clippers, the only player with an MVP, a Finals MVP and a Sixth Man award.

Len Bias, Boston's No. 2 pick in 1986, starred at which university before dying two days after the draft?

Bias was twice named ACC Player of the Year at Maryland, in 1985 and 1986; he died of cocaine intoxication on 19 June 1986, two days after the draft.

The pick used on Bias had come from Seattle in a 1984 trade for which Celtics guard?

Gerald Henderson, whose Game 2 steal had turned the 1984 Finals, was sent to Seattle that October for a 1986 first-round pick that became No. 2 overall.

Reggie Lewis, whose No. 35 was retired after his 1993 death, played college ball at which Boston school?

Reggie Lewis led Northeastern to four straight NCAA tournaments under coach Jim Calhoun before the Celtics drafted him 22nd in 1987; both the school and the team retired his No. 35.

How many games did the Celtics win in their franchise-worst 1996-97 season?

The 1996-97 Celtics went 15–67 under M. L. Carr, the worst record in franchise history, then lost the draft lottery for Tim Duncan and settled for the No. 3 and No. 6 picks.

Rick Pitino's 1997 ten-year deal as Celtics president and coach was reportedly worth how much?

Pitino's May 1997 contract was reported at $70 million over ten years, making him the NBA's highest-paid coach; he took the president title Auerbach had held since 1970 and resigned in January 2001.

Pitino's 'walking through that door' speech followed a March 2000 buzzer-beater by whom?

Vince Carter's shot at the buzzer won the game for Toronto in Boston on 1 March 2000, after which Pitino declared that 'Larry Bird is not walking through that door', nor McHale or Parish.

Paul Pierce fell to the Celtics at which overall pick in the 1998 draft?

Pierce grew up in Inglewood as a Lakers fan and admitted he had 'despised' the Celtics.

Who gave Pierce the nickname 'the Truth' in 2001?

After Pierce scored 42 against the Lakers in March 2001, Shaquille O'Neal told reporters 'Paul Pierce is the truth'; the two were Celtics teammates in 2010-11, O'Neal's final season.

Which player did Seattle take with the No. 5 pick the Celtics sent in the 2007 Ray Allen trade?

Seattle used the No. 5 pick on Georgetown's Jeff Green, who came back to Boston in a February 2011 trade with Oklahoma City.

Garnett wore No. 5 in Boston because his Minnesota number, 21, had been retired for which Celtic?

Sharman, a Hall of Fame guard, also spent five seasons in the Brooklyn Dodgers farm system.

The 2007-08 Celtics went 66-16, improving by how many wins, the largest single-season turnaround in NBA history?

Boston jumped from 24–58 in 2006-07, a year that included an 18-game losing streak, to 66–16 after adding Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, a 42-win improvement, the NBA's biggest in a single season.

How many points did the Celtics come back from in Game 4 of the 2008 Finals, then the largest Finals comeback?

Trailing by 24 in the third quarter after the Lakers led 35–14 at the end of the first, Boston won Game 4 97–91 in Los Angeles, the biggest comeback in Finals history at the time.

Which Celtics starting center's knee injury in Game 6 of the 2010 Finals preceded the loss to the Lakers?

Kendrick Perkins tore knee ligaments in the first half of Game 6 in Los Angeles; without their starting center Boston, up 3–2, lost that game and Game 7 to the Lakers.

In Game 2 of the 2010 Finals, Ray Allen set a then-Finals record by making how many three-pointers?

He hit seven of them in the first half alone, breaking Michael Jordan's half record of six.

Whose career three-point record did Ray Allen pass as a Celtic in February 2011?

Allen's 2,561st career three-pointer, against the Lakers on 10 February 2011, moved him past Reggie Miller's 2,560; Stephen Curry passed Allen's final total of 2,973 in December 2021.

In 2013 the Celtics traded Garnett and Pierce to which team for future first-round picks?

Boston sent Garnett, Pierce and Jason Terry to the Brooklyn Nets in June 2013 for three unprotected first-round picks and a pick swap, a haul that seeded the next contender.

Brad Stevens was hired as Celtics head coach in 2013 from which college program?

He had taken Butler to back-to-back national title games in 2010 and 2011.

Isaiah Thomas, fifth in MVP voting for the 2016-17 Celtics, was drafted at which overall pick in 2011?

Sacramento took the 5-foot-9 Thomas with the 60th and final pick of the 2011 draft; he averaged 28.9 points for the 2016-17 Celtics.

In the 2017 NBA draft, Boston traded the No. 1 pick to Philadelphia and used the No. 3 pick on which player?

Jayson Tatum went third after Philadelphia took Markelle Fultz first; Boston also collected a future first-rounder in the swap.

Which player did the Celtics select third overall in the 2016 draft, a year before Jayson Tatum arrived?

Jaylen Brown had played one season at California, where he was Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.

Which Celtics signing fractured his tibia and dislocated his ankle minutes into the 2017 opening night against Cleveland?

Gordon Hayward was out for the regular season, yet Boston reeled off a 16-game winning streak anyway and finished 55-27.

The largest margin of victory in Celtics history, a 56-point rout in 2018, came against which team?

Boston beat the Chicago Bulls 133–77 at the United Center on 8 December 2018, a 56-point margin that is the largest win in franchise history.

Marcus Smart's 2022 Defensive Player of the Year award was the first for a point guard since whom?

Gary Payton won the award in 1996 with Seattle; Smart, the first guard to win it since, had also been an All-Defensive First Team pick in 2019 and 2020.

Joe Mazzulla became Celtics interim head coach in September 2022 after which coach was suspended for the whole season?

Ime Udoka was suspended over an improper relationship with a staffer; Mazzulla, 34, had the team at a league-best 42-17 when the interim tag came off.

The 2023 three-team deal that brought Kristaps Porziņģis to Boston sent Marcus Smart to which team?

In the June 2023 three-team trade Boston received Kristaps Porziņģis and two first-round picks, the Memphis Grizzlies got Marcus Smart, and Washington took Tyus Jones, Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala.

What was the Celtics' league-best regular-season record in 2023-24?

Boston went 64–18 in 2023-24, winning its first 20 home games and finishing 14 games ahead of the next-best team in the East.

The Celtics clinched title No. 18 in 2024 by beating which team in five games?

It was the first playoff meeting ever between Boston and Dallas in any of the four major leagues.

Whose half-court buzzer-beater closed the first half of the 2024 title-clinching Game 5?

Payton Pritchard banked in a shot from beyond half-court at the first-half buzzer of Game 5 on 17 June 2024, part of a 106–88 title-clincher; he had hit a similar long shot in Game 2.

Which member of the 2024 champions was the only Celtic who had previously won an NBA title?

Holiday won with Milwaukee in 2021, then added Olympic gold in Paris weeks after the 2024 Finals.

How many playoff games had Al Horford played by his first title in 2024?

Horford's 186th playoff game was the Game 5 clincher in 2024, the most anyone has played before a first ring; Karl Malone played 193 postseason games without ever winning one.

As of 2024, how many jersey numbers had the Celtics retired, a North American record?

Boston had retired 23 numbers by 2024, including Walter Brown's No. 1 and Paul Pierce's No. 34, more than any NBA, NFL, MLB or NHL club; Jim Loscutoff's banner reads 'LOSCY' instead.

Which Celtic wore the jersey number 00, retired by the team in 1998?

Robert Parish wore 00 for 14 seasons in Boston from 1980 to 1994, winning three titles, and the Celtics retired the number in January 1998.

Bill Russell became the third North American athlete with a league-wide retired number, after Jackie Robinson and whom?

Wayne Gretzky's No. 99 was retired across the NHL in 2000, following Jackie Robinson's 42 in MLB in 1997; the NBA retired Russell's No. 6 league-wide in August 2022 and every team wore a No. 6 patch that season.

The Lucky the Leprechaun logo was originally drawn by Zang Auerbach, who was Red's what?

The logo stayed strictly green, white and black until a full-color version arrived for the 50th anniversary in 1996-97.

How many NBA titles did Auerbach win as Celtics head coach before handing the job to Russell?

Auerbach coached Boston to nine championships, in 1957 and every year from 1959 to 1966, then added seven more as general manager and president for 16 in all.

What is the name of the Celtics' practice facility and headquarters, opened in June 2018?

The Auerbach Center, named for Red Auerbach, opened in June 2018 at Boston Landing in the Brighton neighborhood, replacing the team's old practice site in Waltham.

TD Garden opened as the FleetCenter but was slated to carry which bank's name before a merger?

The arena was to be the Shawmut Center until Fleet Financial bought Shawmut National in 1995, months before opening; it became the FleetCenter, then TD Banknorth Garden in 2005 and TD Garden in 2009.

Where was the Celtics' original parquet floor first laid before moving to the Garden in 1952?

The parquet was built in 1946 for the Boston Arena, using short oak scraps because post-war lumber was scarce, and was moved to the Boston Garden in 1952, where its dead spots became Celtics lore.

Which boxing promoter designed Boston Garden, opened in 1928, and also built Madison Square Garden?

Rickard wanted every seat close enough to see the sweat on the boxers' brows, which gave the Celtics a famously intimate home court.

Through 2024, how many times had the Celtics and Lakers met in the NBA Finals?

Boston and Los Angeles met 12 times in the Finals between 1959 and 2010, a record for any pairing; the Celtics won the first eight and nine overall, the Lakers taking 1985, 1987 and 2010.

Before joining the Celtics in 1981, Danny Ainge played parts of three MLB seasons with which team?

Ainge hit .220 in three seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays from 1979 to 1981, and Boston had to settle a lawsuit and buy out his baseball contract before he could join the Celtics in late 1981.

Which Celtics guard of the 1980s had already won a Finals MVP with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979?

'DJ' arrived from Phoenix in 1983 and started at point guard on the 1984 and 1986 champions.

Which Celtics guard, later a two-time title-winning coach, tried out for the Rams in 1958?

K. C. Jones, Russell's teammate on two NCAA champions at San Francisco and the 1956 Olympic team, tried out as a defensive back for the Los Angeles Rams in 1958, then coached Boston to the 1984 and 1986 titles.

Tatum's 55 points in the 2023 All-Star Game broke a scoring record held by which player?

Anthony Davis had scored 52 for the West in 2017; Tatum's 55 in Salt Lake City on 19 February 2023 also earned him the game's MVP, the first Celtic so honoured since Bird in 1982.

The August 2017 trade that brought Kyrie Irving to Boston sent Isaiah Thomas to which team?

The Cleveland Cavaliers also got Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the Nets' 2018 first-round pick in the Irving deal.

For approximately how much were the Celtics sold to William Chisholm in 2025?

Chisholm's group agreed in March 2025 to buy the Celtics at a $6.1 billion valuation, then a record for a North American team, a mark the Lakers' $10 billion stake sale beat within months.

Besides Boston's Irish population, the team name honours which early-20th-century barnstorming club?

Walter Brown chose 'Celtics' in 1946 partly to evoke the Original Celtics, the New York barnstorming team of the 1920s that was among the sport's first great professional clubs.

Which 1979 trade, made without consulting Red Auerbach, nearly drove him to take a job with the Knicks?

Owner John Y. Brown gave up three first-round picks Auerbach had planned to rebuild with; public support kept Red in Boston.

What was the 2008–09 Celtics' record after 29 games, then the best start in NBA history?

Boston started 27–2 in 2008-09 behind a franchise-record 19-game winning streak; the Warriors later topped the 29-game start at 28–1 in 2015-16, and Garnett's knee injury derailed Boston's title defence.

Which team did the Celtics beat in the 1986 NBA Finals for their 16th title?

Boston beat Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson's Houston Rockets 4–2 in the 1986 Finals, clinching at the Garden on 8 June; Bird was Finals MVP with a Game 6 triple-double.

According to legend, why did Red Auerbach insist the Celtics wear black sneakers?

Auerbach, famously frugal, reasoned that white sneakers got dirty too easily while black ones hid scuffs and needed replacing less often, and black remained the Celtics' look for decades.