(CNN Spanish) — The day has come, fans of the burst sport! This Thursday begins the ultimate event for basketball fans (and players, of course): the NBA Finals. The 2022 edition of the NBA Finals kicks off with Game 1, at 9 pm ET, between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics, teams that beat the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat, respectively, in the conference championships.
Unlike the Warriors (who played their last NBA finals in the 2018-2019 season), the Celtics have not reached the top of the league for more than a decade: specifically, since the 2009-2010 season (12 years ago). ), when they lost the finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, in which the late legend Kobe Bryant got his fifth and last NBA ring.
And the Celtics’ wait has been even greater when it comes to the NBA championship, since they haven’t achieved it since the 2007-2008 season, when those led by Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett beat the Lakers.
That is why the Celtics, now led by the 24-year-old star Jayson Tatum, want to win again and thereby retake the title of the most winning team in NBA history (currently tied with the Lakers with 17 championships each). ).
The coach is Ime Udoka, who was an assistant at the Spurs, 76ers and Nets and became the Celtics’ head coach in 2021.
Next, we present you the most important data of the Boston Celtics so that you know them thoroughly.
Origin of the Boston Celtics
- The team was founded in 1946 by Walter Brown, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. From then until now, it has always been the Boston Celtics, the NBA notes.
- They played in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) from 1946 (the year the league was created) to 1949.
- The Celtics were one of the founders of the league we now know, the National Basketball Association (NBA), which began in the 1949-1950 season after the BAA absorbed the surviving teams of the National Basketball League (NBL).
- In their first seasons in the NBA, the Celtics were a team with a losing record, but since the 1950s, with the arrival of coach Red Auerbach, the Verdiblancos’ dynasty began.
- The team played at the Boston Garden until the 1995-1996 season, when it moved to a new arena: the TD Garden.
- The Celtics belong to the Eastern Conference of the NBA.
championships
The Boston Celtics dynasty began with the championship in the 1956-1957 season. From then until 1968-1969, the team won 11 championships, meaning they only failed to win two seasons in that period.
Between the 1970s and 1980s, the Boston team won another five titles. The 17th championship came through the 2000s.
Here all his championships, according to NBA data:
- 1956-57 (contra St. Louis Hawks)
- 1958-59 (vs. Minneapolis Lakers)
- 1959-60 (vs. St. Louis Hawks)
- 1960-61 (vs. St. Louis Hawks)
- 1961-62 (vs. Los Angeles Lakers)
- 1962-63 (vs. Los Angeles Lakers)
- 1963-64 (vs. San Francisco Warriors)
- 1964-65 (vs. Los Angeles Lakers)
- 1965-66 (vs. Los Angeles Lakers)
- 1967-68 (vs. Los Angeles Lakers)
- 1968-69 (vs. Los Angeles Lakers)
- 1973-74 (vs. Milwaukee Bucks)
- 1975-76 (vs. Phoenix Suns)
- 1980-81 (vs. Houston Rockets)
- 1983-84 (vs. Los Angeles Lakers)
- 1985-86 (vs. Houston Rockets)
- 2007-08 (vs. Los Angeles Lakers)
Historic team players
John Havlicek, a member of the Boston Celtics championship teams from 1966 to 1976, is honored at halftime of the game between the Celtics and the Miami Heat at the TD Garden on April 13, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo: Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
The most prominent historical names in the franchise are John Havlicek, Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Dave Cowens and Larry Bird (the last four won the NBA Most Valuable Player award, the MVP). In recent years, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, the “Big Three” of the first decade of this century under the command of Doc Rivers, stand out.
- Most games: John Havlicek
- Most minutes: John Havlicek
- Most points: John Havlicek, with 26,395
- Most average points per game: Larry Bird, with 24.3
- Bad field shots: John Havlicek, with 10,513
- Most free throws made: Paul Pierce, with 5,808
- Most assists: Bob Cousy, with 6,945
- Most rebounds: Bill Russell, with 21,620
- Most triples: Paul Pierce, with 1,578 in 4,273 attempts
- Best 3-point percentage: Eddie House, who shot 41.5% of his attempts (261 of 629 3-pointers)
- Most points in a single season: John Havlicek, with 2,338 in 1970-1971
- Most points in a single game: Larry Bird, with 60 against Atlanta on March 12, 1985.
Celtics crest
The Boston Celtics crest at TD Garden in 2010. (Photo: Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
- The Boston Celtics logo was created by Zang Auerbach, brother of legendary coach Red Auerbach in the early 1950s.
- Zang was a creative and artistic man who assembled the well-known elf with the words Boston Celtics arched around him in a circle.
