Banner Years: 1981, The Legend Arrives

NBA history spans 80 seasons, and as CelticsBlog readers well know, the Boston Celtics have won a league-high 18 championships. This month, we are recapping each of those title years.

“Anyone who tells you they knew Bird would be as good as he turned out—including me—is a liar.”

After the Celtics won their thirteenth title in 1976, the team sort of fell apart. The merger between the ABA and the NBA brought new talent into the league, and in any case, championship success was difficult for any team to sustain in the 1970s, a decade in which eight different teams won titles (only the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics won more than a single title). Havlicek was past his prime, and the Celtics were basically a one-man team, relying on the tough-as-nails but undersized Dave Cowens to carry them at both ends of the court. A young Cedric Maxwell had been drafted in 1977, but he was still coming into his own as a player.

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The Celtics lost in the second round of the playoffs in 1977, coming off a pedestrian 44-38 record, and they fell even farther the following season, one in which Tommy Heinsohn was replaced as coach by Satch Sanders, who was himself replaced by Dave Cowens the following season, all to ultimately disastrous results. Boston’s 29-53 record in 1978/79 was the worst of the Red Auerbach era.

The unsettled coaching situation and on-court struggles were accompanied by front-office turmoil.

Red had stockpiled three first round picks in the 1979 draft, with the goal of rebuilding the Celtics, but Boston’s new owner, John Y. Brown had other ideas. On February 12, 1979, he traded Tom Barker and those three picks to the New York Knicks for Bob McAdoo.

An incensed Red gave Brown an ultimatum. Either you go or I do.

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The threat had teeth. Red had been approached by the Knicks and had an offer in hand to take over basketball operations for the franchise.

Brown backed down almost immediately.

The Celtics had been passed from owner to owner since Walter Brown’s death in 1964—John Y. Brown’s consortium was the eighth in 14 years—and the one constant through all those changes was Red…

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Publish date : 2026-08-20 10:00:00

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