On this day in Boston Celtics history, the storied franchise won its first game of the second round of the 2020 Eastern Conference playoffs against the Toronto Raptors, 112-94. Played in the so-called bubble at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex at Lake Buena Vista, Florida, as a result of the exigencies of conducting a postseason in the midst of a global pandemic, the Celtics took a 1-0 lead over the then-reigning champion Raptors.
They did it with the help of twin 21-point games from forward Jayson Tatum and guard Marcus Smart. Veteran floor general Kemba Walker chipped in 18 points and 10 assists.
Toronto trailed in the game from wire to wire.
“You got a team like Toronto, the defending champs, a really, really good team and they know what it takes … you have to be locked in even more,” Smart said after the game via the AP.
“And that’s just (what) we try to come out and do.”
Teammate Jaylen Brown chipped in 17 points and 5 boards, big man Daniel Theis 13 points, and 15 rebounds, and Robert Williams III 10 points and 5 boards off the bench.
It was Boston’s second straight win over the Raptors in the bubble and their fourth of five in that pandemic-interrupted season.
Finally, it is also the birthday of Hall of Fame Boston Celtics big man Robert Parish.
Born this day in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1953, Parish played his college ball at nearby Centenary College and was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 1976.
Parish played with the Dubs until the 1980 NBA offseason, when legendary team president Red Auerbach dealt the top overall draft pick in that summer’s draft plus another first-round pick to the Warriors for Parish and the third overall pick the team used to select Kevin McHale.
This was one of the more lopsided trades in league history after the fact. Parish went on to win three of his four NBA titles with the Celtics along with the bulk of his many accolades before leaving the team in free agency in 1994 to join the Charlotte Hornets.
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