"He Stops ... He Pops ..." ... Slippery Sam Jones

We have an indulgence today, as one of our boyhood heroes is in the news.

Boston Celtic legend Sam Jones (the "Slippery" moniker was given to him by legendary radio announcer Johnny Most).



Sam Jones owns the second-most championship rings on any player (10, only one less than teammate, Bill Russell), a clutch-shooting guard, who mastered the bank shot.

Often, from either the fast break, or a set play, Sam would pull up, from about 12-15-feet out, off to the side, and launch a sweet jump shot, banking it in with a swish.

Jones gets honored this week, by the New England Sports Museum, as one of seven, for their contributions to Boston sports;

Honoring a big shot ... Celtics legend Sam Jones was there when it counted

It's hard to pick out some quotes to highlight, for one, there are so many (his "stool" fight with Wilt Chamberlain, being one), and secondly, so much of it is so vivid for me, having been there, at "The Garden" for so many of his heroics.

He is a five-time All-Star, a Hall of Famer, one of the league’s top 50 players, and his game-winning shot in the 1969 Finals against the Lakers - taken off the wrong foot with seven seconds left, bouncing around the rim and in - is one of the greatest in playoff history.

Yes, that season of 1969 was the year the Boston Celtics, defending champions, were supposed to be dead.

They were aging, and injuries contributed to their coming in 4th place, with most sports pundits counting them out.

It was to be the Year-of-the-Lakers, Wilt Chamberlain having been traded to LA, giving them a formidable line-up of Wilt, Jerry West, and Elgin Baylor.

As it happened, they met in the finals, and West lighting them up for 54 in Game One (In LA), and forty-something in Game Two (both won by LA) ... Back to Boston, Celts win Game 3 and, in Game 4, Lakers are up by one, with about 10-seconds left, when Emmette Bryant stole the ball, with seven-seconds left.

From NBA.com;

16. 1969, Game 4: Sam Jones' Picket Fence
Only Bill Russell won more rings as a player than ten-time champion Sam Jones, one of the great clutch players of all time. In the closing seconds of Game 4, the Celtics ran a real-life version of the Hoosiers "picket fence". Jones came off the screens and got a shooter's roll to beat the Lakers 89-88, tying the series 2-2 and setting up one of the great upsets in Finals history

Actually, they have it wrong, it was an old Ohio State play, drawn up in the huddle by John Havlicek and Larry Siegfried.

And, I searched, for about an hour, for the photo that was in the papers the following day, a set of two, the first, showing the ball leave Jones' hand, as Wilt, Russell, and others are in the foreground, vying for position of a rebound .. There was no rebound, as the second photo captures Wilt, a look of anguish on his face, with his hands on the ball, just as it was coming out of the bottom of the net ...

The Celts went on to win Game 7, in LA, thanks to a shot by Don Nelson, that hit the rim, bounced high up, and then down, through the basket.



Jones, also, will be known in posterity, as part of the infamous "Havlicek Stole The Ball".

"All right, Greer's putting the ball into play . . . He gets it out deep and Havlicek steals it! Over to Sam Jones! Havlicek stole the ball! It's all over! Johnny Havlicek is being mobbed by the fans. It's all over! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball! Oh, boy, what a play by Havlicek at the end of this ballgame! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball on the pass-in. Oh, my, what a play by Havlicek! A spectacular series comes to an end in spectacular fashion! John Havlicek being hoisted aloft . . . He yells and waves his hands. Bill Russell wants to grab Havlicek . . . He hugs him. He squeezes John Havlicek. Havlicek saved this ballgame. Believe that! Johnny Havlicek saved this ballgame. The Celtics win it, 110-109. We'll be back with our wrapup in just one minute!
-- Johnny Most, describing the end of a basketball game played at Boston Garden April 15, 1965.

(You can go HERE, to hear the radio call)

For, at least, one more night, Sam Jones will be in Boston, and he'll stop, and pop, igniting so many great memories.


Bonus Riffs

Celtics-Lakers ... Not Quite The Old Days, But It Will Do

A Personal Note: The End For A True, True, Icon - Red Auerbach

Putting A Marker Down ... Orlando In Six

Well, we had success last year, in calling the NBA Finals, so, what the heck, why not go for two ...

For one, the Orlando Magic appear to have some momentum going, having beaten the defending NBA Champs Celtics (in seven games), and, then, dethroning the throne-less King James LeGone, and his Cleveland Cadaverliers, in only six games.

Kobe will be Kobe in this series, however, the Lakers will be asking too many others (Fisher, Odom, Bynum) to play at high level, consistently, of up to seven games, when there hasn't been any evidence, this year, that they can ... Casol can be neutralized, and his overall play will depend on who he guards defensively - Howard, Lewis, or Turkoglu ...

And, lets not forget that Orlando hails from the Eastern Division, and can (and will) play physical, while the Lakers showed last year, when they got crushed by the Boston Celtics, that they would prefer not to play physical.

Orlando showed in this years' playoffs, that they can play focused and close the deal.

So, we go with the Orlando Magic, winning the crown, and needing only six (6) games to do it.

And, it will be rather fitting, should he have a monster series, that Dwight Howard win the first Bill Russell MVP-of-the-Finals award...

Let's hope so ...


Bonus Riffs

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Reason LeGone James Blew Off Media After Losing To Orlando Magic

New Bill Russell Book!

Bob Ryan's "Greatest of the green"

New Bill Russell Book!

As regular readers of The Garlic are aware of, we have written, from time-to-time, about the Boston Celtics, (you can read those post HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE) having spent, virtually my entire childhood immersed in the beginning era of "Celtic Pride" (that moniker didn't come until the 1980's, once the league got hip to marketing), attending our first game, a year after Bob Cousey retired, in 1964 (December 12th, against the, then, Baltimore Bullets).

We saw many of the greats, whose retired numbers hang from the rafters - Bill Sharman, Tommy Heinsohn, Frank Ramsey, Sam and K.C. Jones, John Havlicek (click the link, to hear Johnny Most, and "Havlicek Stole The Ball!), Tom Sanders (and a bevy more ... Larry Siegfried, Emmette Bryant, Bailey Howell, Don Nelson, et all)



And, of course, William Felton Russell, of whom, there is no bigger, no larger, no more beloved hero.

Well, news burst out that Bill Russell has a new book hitting the shelves - "Red and Me: My Coach, My Lifelong Friend" (his previous books were "Go Up For Glory", "Second Wind", and "Russell Rules")

From The Boston Globe;

The book details his friendship with Red Auerbach, which spanned 50 years.

"I wanted to honor him and his two daughters," says Russell. "We came from two tribes. We didn't have to prove anything to anybody."

Russell was an outspoken civil rights advocate who grew up with the pain of segregation. His father and grandfather taught him to stick up for himself. He did just that during his very first NBA game in 1956.

Despite having an NCAA championship and Olympic gold medal to his credit, Russell wasn't getting the ball. Auerbach called a timeout, and Russell stayed outside of the huddle.

"I wasn't [angry]," he says. "I was assessing the situation. We had only three guys shoot the ball. I knew then that's no way to win."

Russell told Auerbach that he was the center and the ball should go through him, down low, so he could get rebounds. Auerbach listened and designed plays for Russell. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Russell retired from the Celtics in 1969, a few months after the team (all-Russell-led) winning their 11th championship in 13-years.

In a Sports Illustrated article is where Russell announced it, citing, among other things, that even though he had a year left on a lucrative (for that period of time) contract ($200,000), he couldn't continue to play, as he always played for fun, the competition, and to continue playing for just the money would make him a mercenary.

They don't make'em like that anymore.

Bob Ryan's "Greatest of the green"

Another basketball post, as the new World Champion Boston Celtics got the Duck Boat treatment yesterday, with a Rolling Rally through downtown (Major cool if you are a fan ... A royal pain-in-the-ass if you work downtown, make deliveries, or otherwise, have to go there).

In yesterday's Boston Globe, Bob Ryan puts things into perspective, with his rundown on the All Time Top Ten Celtic teams.

I'm old enough to remember when Ryan came to the Globe, in the late 60's, becoming the beat writer covering the Celtics, then soon becoming the Supreme Deposit of Basketball Knowledge throughout the land.

Here's a snip of Ryan's piece;

This was a championship for a Lost Generation of Boston Celtics fans.

These are people for whom Bill Russell, the greatest winner in American team sports, and Bob Cousy, the legendary "Houdini of the Hardwood," are like figures out of King Arthur's tales. These are people for whom John Havlicek, basketball's consummate 'sixth man," and Dave Cowens, the mercurial redheaded center, are as personally relevant as comic book characters. These are people for whom even the great Larry Bird is just some guy wearing short-shorts who pops up occasionally on ESPN Classic.

The Celtics began winning championships in the Eisenhower Administration with players born either before or during the Great Depression. They continued winning through the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Reagan administrations before hitting a snag following the 1986 championship. Now, after a 22-year wait, they have won a championship under the stewardship of George Bush with players born after man first walked on the moon.

Check it out - Greatest of the green; New champs near the top in storied franchise's all-time Top 10

No.17! ... Celtics Demolish Lakers!

Oh, man, was this ever something ...

If the Los Angeles Lakers are "Showtime" then the Boston Celtics are "HBO".

World Championship No.17 was delivered tonight with a nearly unprecedented thrashing of the LA Fakers, the final score ringing in at 131-92, winning the title in six-games.


















The Celtics, after a close first quarter took control of the game in the second, with suffocating defense, keying a potent offense and never looked back.

The Celts rode the 3rd and 4th quarter, throughout, with a 30+ point lead.

The Lakers, most of its' players having mailed it in, struggled to keep it that close, perhaps the only motivation was not to lose by 40+ points.

Terrorist suspects in Gitmo haven't come close to suffering an ass-whuppin' like the Laker got this evening.

Kobe Bryant as the next Michael Jordan?

No, Virginia, Kobe Bryant is not the Next Michael Jordan.

The Next Michael Jordan (whoever that may be), doesn't shoot 7-22, and allow his team to lose by 39-points in a "must-win" game.

It was embarrassing.

If I were the LA Laker Management, I'd make the team walk home to Los Angeles, for their thoroughly underwhelming, lack-of-urgency performance.

But enough about the Tinsel Town Tankers.

You'll be hard pressed to come up with a championship game, in any sport, where one team imposed its' will on the other in such an overwhelming, completely dominating fashion as the Celtics inflicted on the Lakers.

• Paul Pierce, stepping up, named MVP of the series.
• Ray Allen, dead-eye shooting, tying a series game record with seven three-pointers.
• KG (Kevin Garnett), coming up big!
• As a team (I haven't heard the final stats), came close (or tied, possible broke) to setting a series records for steals.

This is especially sweet, well, for one, the kicked the snot out of the Lakers, and, it's the first Celtic championship in 21-years (perhaps lifting the Len Bias curse; If Bias didn't die, we'd be celebrating, most likely, Championship No. 22 or 23).

But it also capped a truly storybook season, a team that went from 24 wins a year ago, to league-leading 66 wins this season.

It was a Secretariat, wire-to-wire, run for the Celts.

All is green, as the Boston Celtics are back atop the basketball world, emphatically putting their signature on this championship, unmistakably telling the hoop world "It's ours, baby, it's ours!"

And, as a bonus, they made me look good.

In our post last week, "Celtics-Lakers ... Not Quite The Old Days, But It Will Do", we made the call;

"Oh yeah, as to predictions ... Celts in six!"

Yes, 131-92!

That's not a typo ...