On this day in Boston Celtics history, former two way big man Elhadji Tacko Sereigne Diop Fall — better known to his fans as just “Tacko” — was born in Dakar, Senegal.
Falls path to the NBA was a fraught one involving shady handlers nearly costing him his visa. After some rough going early on in his career as a potential NBA prospect, the Senegalese center would land at Liberty Christian Preparatory School in Tavares, Florida. From there, he would accept an offer to attend the University of Central Florida in nearby Orlando to play at the NCAA level.
At UCF, he would earn American Athletic Conference (AAC) Defensive Player of the Year (2017) and AAC Third Team (2019) honors.
Despite a strong showing in the 2019 NCAA tournament — eventually falling to Zion Williamson’s Duke squad — Fall would go undrafted in the 2019 NBA draft, signing an exhibit-10 contract as a free agent soon after to join the Celtics’ Summer League team.
Fall did well and managed to get himself a two way deal for his performance that summer, making his debut with the Celtics on October 26 of that year.
At the G League level, the former Knight would average a double-double, logging 12.9 points and 11.1 rebounds per game with the Maine Red Claws (Boston’s developmental affiliate in that league, now known as the Maine Celtics); with Boston he put up a respectable 3.3 points and 2.1 boards per contest.
His inaugural campaign was impressive enough to earn Fall G League All-Defensive Team honors, and a much more lucrative two way deal for the next season despite the Celtics’ roster crunch.
In his final season with the team, there was no G League season for Bostons team in the league due to the pandemic. But Fall played in 19 games for the Celtics in 2020-21 before leaving to join the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency.
He averaged 2.7 points and 2.6 rebounds with Boston’s parent club over two seasons.
Fall shares his birthday with Bryant Stith, born this day in 1970 in Emporia, Virginia. He played his college ball at his hometown Virginia and was picked up by the Denver Nuggets with the 13th overall selection of the 1991 NBA draft.
Stith played for that team for eight seasons before being dealt with Chris Herren to the Celtics for Calbert Cheaney and Robert Pack.
The Virginian shooting guard played just one season for Boston in which he averaged 9.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game.
Today is also the date of an opponent scoring the third-most points in a game against the Celtics in franchise history. That honor falls to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as Boston would fall to the Milwaukee Bucks on the road 120-104 in 1971.
Abdul-Jabbar would hang a whopping 55 points on the Celtics that night, trailing only Elgin Baylor’s 64 points for the (then) Minneapolis (now, Los Angeles) Lakers and Wilt Chamberlain’s 62 points for the (then) Philadelphia Warriors (now, Golden State).
Finally, it is also the date of former Celtic floor general Rajon Rondo scoring a triple-double in a 96–87 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on the road in 2014.
Rondo put up 12 points, 10 boards, and as many assists, but it was not enough to get a rebuilding Celtics roster over the hump that night.
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