On this day in Boston Celtics history, iconic head coach and general manager Arnold “Red” Auerbach secured the 1000th win of his head coaching career with the storied franchise in a 114-102 home win at the old Boston Garden over longtime rival Los Angeles Lakers.
Auerbach had initially joined the team in 1950 to become the franchise’s third-ever head coach after stints leading the (now defunct) Washington Capitols and (then) Tri-Cities Blackhawks (now, Atlanta Hawks). The New Yorker quickly rose to prominence as a consummate professional obsessed with winning at a time when many organizations were quite far from actually being organized.
Never mind something we would refer to as “professional”.
And while it took him six seasons to create a contender, once he got the ball rolling in the mid-1950s, his Celtics rarely missed winning it all until he ceded the role of head coach to iconic big man Bill Russell at the end of the 1965-66 NBA season.
The campaign would not only see him surpass the 1,000-win mark but would also end with Boston winning a title against that same team — the Lakers — for Auerbach’s ninth title as a coach.
It is also the date of a less festive record, the end of former Celtic guard Dana Barros’ 89-game 3-point streak.
It certainly wasn’t for lack of effort – Barros launched 9 treys in a 105-92 loss to the New York Knicks on January 12, 1996.
The streak, which began on December 23rd, 1994, stood as a record for 26 years until broken by Kyle Korver, who hit treys in 127 consecutive games between November 4th, 2012, and March 2nd, 2014.
The record is currently held by Stephen Curry, who stretched the record to nearly double Barros’ record at 157 consecutive games between November 13th, 2014 to November 3rd of 2016.
Today is also the birthday of former Celtic Dominique Wilkins, who was born on this day in 1960.
Wilkins, who joined the Celts for one season as his career began to wind down, still managed a noteworthy performance with the club, averaging 17.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
The aging star would later move on to play in Europe, unwilling to slog through what was at that time a rebuilding Celtics team.
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