On this day in Boston Celtics history, guard Avery Bradley played his first game for the storied franchise in 2010. An alum of the University of Texas, the Tacoma, Washington native would be picked up by the Celtics with the 19th overall in the 2010 NBA draft.
The 6-foot-3 combo guard would play his inaugural minutes for the team in a 99-76 blowout of the Atlanta Hawks in the Celtics’ 14th game of the season, the Washingtonian scoring 2 points, a rebound, an assist, and a steal to go with 2 turnovers in his first game as a Celtic.
Bradley managed that over 6 minutes and 11 seconds of playing time, missing both his field-goal attempts but converting both of his two attempts from the free-throw line.
It is also the date of the Celtics’ first 4-point play in franchise history, a successful 3-point attempt plus a converted foul by Boston guard Chris Ford in 1980.
The play came in a 113-98 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in which Ford scored 17 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists.
The @NBA family mourns the loss of Willie Naulls (1934-2018), a 4x #NBAAllStar with the @nyknicks and 3x champion with the @celtics. Naulls was a pioneer, on and off the court. pic.twitter.com/r4HE648hM4
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) November 27, 2018
It is also the day that Celtics forward Willie Naulls left us in 2018.
Naulls played his college ball with UCLA, and played stints with the (then) St. Louis (now, Atlanta) Hawks, New York Knicks, and (then) San Francisco (now, Golden State) Warriors before coming to Boston after the Warriors sold his contract to the Celtics in 1963.
Naulls would be, with Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, and Tom Sanders, part of the first all-Black lineup in the history of North American pro sports in 1964, and a key part of three of Boston’s titles in their golden age of dominance in the mid-1960s.
He averaged 10.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game with the Celtics — rest in peace.
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