On this day in Boston Celtics history, champion Boston big man (and now NBC Boston Sports broadcaster) Brian Scalabrine made his NBA debut back in 2001 — though not with the Celtics.
Scalabrine would play his collegiate basketball with the University of Southern California Trojans before being picked up with the 34th overall pick by the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets in the 2001 NBA draft, chalking up a pair of trips to the NBA Finals in his first two seasons in the league as a player. White Mamba — as he is sometimes called — would play four seasons with the Nets before leaving the team that drafted him.
He would leave to sign with the Celtics as an unrestricted free agent ahead of the 2005-06 NBA season.
The Ginger Ninja (another nickname of his) made his debut for the Nets on this day in 2002 in a home game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
New Jersey won the game 125-100, and Scalabrine scored 2 points, a rebound, and an assist in it.
It is also the date of the second-lowest point total scored in a game in the shot-clock era (and it is a tie with a game played by Boston on Jan. 4, 2002), a 118 – 66 shellacking by the Detroit Pistons played in 2003 at the Fleet Center (now, TD Garden).
Only two Celtics scored in double figures — Paul Pierce put up 23 points and 9 boards while J.R. Bremer added 10 points in the soul-crushing loss.
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