Red's Last Motivational Speech as Head Coach

Thursday night, April 28, 1966, was eventful in Boston.

It was seventh game of the championship series against the Los Angeles Lakers and Red Auerbach's last as a pro coach. The Celtics were going for an eighth consecutive National Basketball Association title.

Auerbach, reliving the past, recently recalled his final pep talk.

"This one means $700 apiece to you guys," he told his team. "That's the difference between the winners' and losers' shares. Show me another way you can make $700 quicker."

The National Basketball Association has since grown from 9 to 23 teams and the playoff pool to $1.5 million, with the winner's share worth about 30,000 a player.

The Celtics beat the Lakers in that last game, 95-93, and Auerbach went out a winner.

Three seasons later, on May 5, 1969, the Celtics were again involved in a seventh game in the championship round against the Lakers. This time it was Bill Russell's final game as a Celtic.

Jack Kent Cooke, then the Los Angeles owner, ordered thousands of balloons to be released from the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., to mark a Laker victory. They never were released because Boston won, 108-106, for its 11th championship.

Red's Last Motivational Speech as Head Coach

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Thursday night, April 28, 1966, was eventful in Boston.

It was seventh game of the championship series against the Los Angeles Lakers and Red Auerbach's last as a pro coach. The Celtics were going for an eighth consecutive National Basketball Association title.

Auerbach, reliving the past, recently recalled his final pep talk.

"This one means $700 apiece to you guys," he told his team. "That's the difference between the winners' and losers' shares. Show me another way you can make $700 quicker."

The National Basketball Association has since grown from 9 to 23 teams and the playoff pool to $1.5 million, with the winner's share worth about 30,000 a player.

The Celtics beat the Lakers in that last game, 95-93, and Auerbach went out a winner.

Three seasons later, on May 5, 1969, the Celtics were again involved in a seventh game in the championship round against the Lakers. This time it was Bill Russell's final game as a Celtic.

Jack Kent Cooke, then the Los Angeles owner, ordered thousands of balloons to be released from the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., to mark a Laker victory. They never were released because Boston won, 108-106, for its 11th championship.

That was the last previous time the teams met for the title.

Best Defensive Team in NBA History: 1965-66 Boston Celtics

Charlie Rosen, in your opinion, which was the best defensive team in NBA history?

— Daniel Lee, Los Angeles, CA

This is an easy one: The 1965-66 Boston Celtics.

In an era when Wilt Chamberlain typified the league's emphasis on high-volume scorers — with Wilt, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson all averaging over 30 points per game that season — the Celtics won their eighth consecutive championship on the basis of their defense.

During the regular season, they allowed opponents to score only 107.8 ppg, which was 4.2 points lower than the league's next best team defense (St. Louis). Boston's points-against-average was also 7.7 ppg less than the 115.8 points that all of the nine ball clubs scored per game.

In the Eastern Division finals, the Celtics squared off against Chamberlain and his Philadelphia 76er teammates (who had actually finished one game ahead of Boston in the regular season). The 76ers had averaged 117.3 ppg during the 80-game season but were limited to 104.0 while losing the series in five games.

Of course, the backbone of the stingy Celtic defense was Bill Russell. Back then, blocked shots were not included in the official statistics, but in hindsight, it is universally agreed that Russell must have averaged at least 10 swats per game.

Two other starters were also defensive stalwarts — Tom "Satch" Sanders and K.C. Jones. In addition, John Havlicek, who was Boston's sixth-man, was another ace defender — as demonstrated by his eventually being named to five All-NBA Defensive squads when he became a starter. Moreover, even though Woody Sauldsberry was on his last legs, he was still a plus-defender and was the only NBA player who could routinely shut down Elgin Baylor.

What was particularly interesting about this squad was that they played superior defense even as they played a decidedly up-tempo offense, which proves that, contrary to current thinking, the latter doesn't necessarily prohibit the former.

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