The 1985-86 Boston Celtics were something special.
There's no disagreement about that.
But as memories fade over time, the 72-10 record of the 1995-95 Chicago Bulls tends to stand out when the debate turns to all-time great NBA teams.
Make no mistake, members of the 1985-86 Boston Celtics are intimately aware of the need to continue fighting for their place at the table.
First, Danny Ainge was asked about the 1985-86 Celtics home court advantage. "You guys were 40-1," the interviewer posited. "Actually," Danny said, "we were 50-1, if you include the playoffs." "Yeah, and I guess you'd have to include the playoffs since they are the most important part of the season," the interviewer conceded.
The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls lost two games at home.
Next, Larry Bird was asked about the new Big Three. He responded by saying that the phrase "Big Three" as applied to the 1985-86 Boston Celtics was a kind of backhanded slap in the face to Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge, Bill Walton, Scott Wedman, Jerry Sichting, and Rick Carlisle.
Dennis Johnson was selected to the all-defensive team nine times. He won the finals MVP once, and was largely responsible for holding Magic Johnson in check during the 1984 finals. He was also considered "money" in the fourth quarter of big games.
Bill Walton was a former league MVP, and won Sixth Man of the Year in 1985-86, leading the entire league in rebounds per minute. Scott Wedman had been an NBA All Star, and filled in for Kevin McHale when he missed 14 games with an injury. During that stretch, the Celtics went on a long win streak that included two wins over the Lakers. All Jerry Sichting did was shoot .570 from the field and .920 from the stripe in substituting for DJ and Ainge at both guard spots.
After the Chicago Bulls Big Three of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman, the rest of the starting lineup was comprised of Luc Longley and Ron Harper. Neither of those two would be confused with an NBA Finals MVP or 9-time All-Defense member. Toni Kukoc did win Sixth Man of the Year, and Steve Kerr was probably about as good as Sichting. But to even mention Bill Wennington in the same breath as Bill Walton, who absolutely owned Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in both games against the Lakers, is ridiculous to say the least.
Speaking of Mountain Man, Bill Walton was the latest to weigh in on the 1985-86 Celtics. In an interview with Bill Simmons, Walton was asked to comment on the two games he dominated Kareem that year. "Oh come on, Simmons," Walton protested in feigned disbelief, "you must be smoking some good stuff because I never dominated Kareem." Walton always defers to his UCLA predecessor when anyone hints that he outplayed him in head-to-head matchups.
Next Simmons asked Walton if he thought the Cs would have even won the title that year without him. Again, Walton feigned disgust with the interviewer.
But Walton's tone changed when the subject came to how the team as a whole stacks up against the all-time great teams in NBA history.
"Now in your single home loss to Portland that year," Simmons interjected, "the Trailblazers gave you some matchup problems."
I thought Walton was going to come through my headphones at work.
"Match-up problems? What matchup problems? This is the 1986 Boston Celtics we're talking about here. There were no matchup problems for us that year!"
Walton went on to explain how out of the team's 15 losses that year, 14 came to teams with losing records (by which he actually meant losing records at the end of the season). The only serious foe the Celtics faced that year, Walton continued, was themselves. The team's own inability to stay focused, he said, probably cost them a shot some improbably high won-loss record.
Keep on a fightin', guys.
The battle in the trenches may be over, but the battle over history is just beginning.
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