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As a long time fan of the Boston Celtics, I had the privilege of watching Larry Bird, Kevin Michale, Dennis Johnson and Robert Parish play into the twilight of their career's. What a time that was for the NBA. The basketball world seemed to revolve around the Boston Celtics in the east and the Los Angeles Lakers in the west.
As the mid 80's gave way to the early 90's, the Boston Celtics front office was faced with a legitimate dilemma, break up the fab-5 of the 80's or try to win one more time.
The legendary Red Auerbach made his decision and it may have served as one of his only mistakes. From a business standpoint, when Larry Bird was forced to sit out the entire 1988-89 season, Red should have made his move and disbanded the front line of the Celtics. Instead, Red decided to trade away the only youthful element of the line-up for some help with big men. Ironically, the man Red traded was Ainge.
Despite sustaining a knee injury in 1987, Ainge had been the only Celtic to exist without major injury. Trading Bird was virtually impossible in a city that adored him and the aging ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Nick Gelso
It’s Deja Vu All Over Again for the Boston Celtics
March 8th, 2010 by Nick Gelso Leave a reply »
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