On this day in Boston Celtics history, head coach and former player KC Jones resigned as coach unexpectedly on completion of the 1987-88 NBA season. Jones, an eight-time NBA champion with the team as a point guard, would win two more rings as head coach (one in 1984, the other in 1986), and would be designated coach of the NBA All-Star game for Boston four times between 1984 and 1987.
The University of San Francisco product coached the Celtics for five seasons beginning in 1983-84 and would amass a 308-102 regular-season record and a 65-37 playoff record, good for .751 and .637 winning percentages, respectively.
Jones would stay on with the team in an advisory role for one more season before joining the Seattle Supersonics as an assistant coach in the 1989-90 NBA season.
It was the same date as the elevation of assistant coach Jimmy Rodgers to head coach after Jones’ departure. Rodgers had joined the organization along with then-head coach Bill Fitch, remaining with Jones after Fitch’s departure.
Rodgers would have a mostly unremarkable tenure as head coach in terms of success with the team in decline and Larry Bird in particular missing all but a handful of games in Rodgers’ first season.
After falling in the 1990 Eastern Conference Playoffs first round to the New York Knicks in five games, Rodgers’ tenure as head coach with the team came to an end.
He would record a 94-70 regular-season record and a 2-6 playoff record for a .573 and .250 respective winning percentage.
Rick Weitzman (HOF’82) captained the #HowlinHuskies to their best-ever record & NCAA Tournament in ’67 before becoming the first player to be selected in the NBA Draft. Just one year later, he won the NBA title w/the @Celtics.
Make your IMPACT today: https://t.co/8sF2tuOC71 pic.twitter.com/A87rMWzJV1
— Northeastern Men’s Basketball (@GoNUmbasketball) January 29, 2020
It is the date of the 1967 NBA draft, in which Boston took two players of note.
The first is shooting guard Rick Weitzman, taken with the 110th overall pick out of Northeastern (there were many more rounds to the draft in that era), Weitzman would play one season for the Celtics, winning a championship at the end of the 1967-68 season.
Over 25 games with the team, the former Husky logged 1.3 points, 0.4 rebounds, and 0.3 assists per game with the team.
Chet Walker grabs a rebound against Bailey Howell and the Celtics at the Garden. #11 for Boston is Mal Graham, 54 is Luke Jackson, then to the right is Tom Sanders, Wali Jones 24 for Philly, Sam Jones 24 for Boston and way in the back is Bill Russell pic.twitter.com/LtIhBsBSTp
— Sports Days Past (@SportsDaysPast) February 23, 2020
Boston also selected point guard Mal Graham out of New York University with the 11th overall pick.
The White Plains native would win two championships with the Celtics, averaging 4.7 points, 1.7 boards, and 1.1 assists per game over those two seasons.
It is the anniversary of two playoff victories since the season of Boston’s last championship season in 2007-08 as well. The first was a 104-86 blowout of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010 to even the series 1-1 that would spoil LeBron James’ MVP award presentation before the game.
Despite James leading all scorers with 24 points and 7 rebounds, the Cavs fell to the Celtics with Ray Allen putting up 22 points and 7 rebounds, and point guard Rajon Rondo 13 points and an absurd 19 assists.
It is also the date of Boston taking a 2-0 series lead over Philadelphia in 2018 as the Celtics defeated the 76ers 108-103 behind 21 points from then-rookie forward Jayson Tatum.
Point guard Terry Rozier had 20 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds and Marcus Smart added 19 points and 5 rebounds as the team came back from 22 down for the victory.
A year to the day later, the Celtics dropped a game to the Milwaukee Bucks 123-116 at TD Garden in 2019.
Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 29 points and 6 assists, but Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks and the game with 32 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists.
Milwaukee then took a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Two years after that, the Celtics faced Milwaukee in the postseason once again, but this time things broke in Boston’s favor to the tune of a 109-86 blowout.
“It’s the playoffs. That’s it,” Jaylen Brown said after the win via the AP. “We can’t let one game kind of dictate how this series goes. We wanted to be aggressive from the gate.”
The Georgia native led all players with 30 points, 6 rebounds, and as many assists. It was also the most 3-pointers ever made by the Celtics in a playoff game, with 20 total treys sunk that night.
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