BOSTON – Just imagine walking into a basketball museum full of some of the greatest artifacts and then … they began to speak and tell stories of their day.
That’s what the past couple of days have been like around town with Celtics legends from the 1966, 1976, and 1986 championship teams in Boston where they will be honored during the Celtics’ regular season finale on Wednesday against Miami.
John Havlicek, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer and a member of both the ’66 and ’76 title teams, spoke with the media prior to a dinner reception Tuesday night.
Here are some of the highlights from Havlicek:
On his relationship with Bill Russell…
“Russ is a person I admired from the first day I came to the Celtics. He was a guy that took me around to different areas, helped me shop for a car. I’ll never forget it. A lot of people have a misconception about Bill Russell. He’s a great guy, a loveable guy and one who really feels for his players.”
Boston Celtics
On Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour which is some ways is similar to his final season in 1978 …
“I know Kobe’s playing his last game tomorrow. He’ll have mixed emotions about how it is all going to end. You want everything to end on a positive note.”
On Golden State’s run towards 73 wins …
“They are an amazing team. They play small ball. They have five guys shooting 3s, they’re not afraid to take them and they have the best shooter in the world hitting most of them. Anyone who wins that many games deserves the accolades.”
On scoring more than 25,000 points in an era without the 3-point shot. How many could you have scored if there was a 3-point shot when you played?
“Another 3,000 (points). No, I don’t know. But it would have been a few more.”