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Seventeen NBA Championships.
Remember that number. That's the most number of titles any organization has ever won in the NBA. And that's the number of championships Boston Celtics have to their name, all the way from their first one in 1957 to the latest in 2008.
Founded in 1946, "Celtics" and their mascot "Lucky the Leprechaun" are a gesture to indicate Boston's historically large Irish population.
One of the original eight NBA teams to survive the test of time, Celtics ruled the 20th century NBA basketball landscape winning 16 championships.
Names like Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Robert Parish and Paul Pierce are synonymous with Celtics basketball, but there's more to it than meets the eye.
Numerous special talents have sported the iconic green three-leaf shamrock logo jersey since the inception of the franchise but only a few could immortalise it. Let's dive into the multifaceted history of this extraordinary franchise and learn about the people who contributed most in scoring while they donned a Boston uniform.
#10 JoJo White - 13,188 points
Joseph Henry White was the ninth pick overall in the round 1 of the 1969 NBA draft and spent the first 10 years of his 12-year playing career with the Boston Celtics. He was an integral part of the Celtics team winning the 1974 and 1976 NBA Championship and also won the NBA Finals MVP when Celtics clinched the title in 1976, as well as averaged 22.7 points in the playoffs that year.
He has an impressive playoff average of 21.5 points per game and has played the 9th most career minutes(26,770 minutes) for the franchise.
White was a skilled passer and scorer and is seventh on the Celtics' all-time assists list with 3,686 career assists.
He was a seven-time All-star and a two-time NBA Champion and more interestingly, his streak of 488 consecutive games played remains a franchise record.
White’s No. 10 jersey was retired by the Celtics in a ceremony at the Boston Garden in 1982. JoJo White passed away on Jan. 16, 2018 after a courageous bout with cancer. He was 71 years old.
#9 Dave Cowens - 13,192 points
Carrying around a 6 feet 9 inches tall frame, Dave Cowens was a monster on the boards and pulled down 10,170 rebounds for the Celtics which is ranked third on the Celtics all-time rebounds list. His career average of 14.0 rebounds per game is ranked second all-time next to Bill Russell on the Celtics all-time RPG list.
Cowens was the NBA Rookie of the year in 1971, being drafted 4th overall by the Celtics in the 1970 draft. Dave made it to the All-NBA first team in 1976, averaging 16 rebounds per game in the 1975-76 season.
He won two NBA championships(1974 & 1976) and also a regular season MVP(1973) award. Furthermore, his grit and hustle made him a fan favourite, which says a lot for a franchise with such history as the Celtics.
Cowens delved into the coaching realm with three separate teams, including the Celtics. He finished his coaching career with a 161-191 (.457) record.
#8 Bill Russell - 14,522 points
There are champions, and then there is Bill Russell(Some might be surprised to see him this early in the list but that's how it is). Russell is the champion of champions, as he owns the most NBA championship rings of any player in the history of the game, with 11 at his disposal.
Bill Russell (by name of William Felton Russell) is one of the sport's greatest icons & the NBA Finals MVP award is named after him.
More inclined towards shot-blocking and rebounding rather than making shots, Russell is the Celtics' all-time rebounding leader with 21,620 boards(ranked 2nd on the NBA's all-time rebounding list) during his time with the franchise.
During his stint in the NBA, Russell won 11 NBA championships (1957, 1959–66, and 1968–69) as he widely came to be known as 'Basketball's Ultimate Winner'.
He played just 13 seasons in the NBA, got named an All-star in 12 of them AND won the regular season MVP award in five of those seasons (1958, 1961-63, 1965).
Needless to say, Russell’s legacy is as grand as they come, and he has left an indelible impact on the Celtics organization. Russell’s No. 6 jersey was retired after he spent his entire playing career with the organization.
#7 Sam Jones - 15,411 points
Only one player in NBA history has won more championships than the legendary Sam Jones. That player happens to be the one you just read about. Yes, Bill Russell.
Boston selected Jones with the eighth overall pick in the 1957 NBA Draft. Jones earned himself the nickname "Mr. Clutch." by scoring at least 20.6 PPG in seven of his 12 postseasons and was regarded as one of the best shooting guards of his generation.
He was named an All-Star five times in his career, averaging a career-high 50% from the field in the postseason of 1964.
Jones was a role player, but an excellent one at that. Jones’ 12-year career with the Celtics included 15,411 points, 4,305 rebounds and 2,209 assists as the Celtics honoured him by retiring his No. 24 jersey in 1969.
He was also inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in the class of 1984.
The only reason Russell has one more title than Jones is that he arrived in the league one year later.
#6 Bob Cousy - 16,955 points
Cousy was undoubtedly the top point guard of his generation. He is Boston Celtics' all-time assists leader with 6,945 dimes to his name, averaging 7.6(second to only Rajon Rondo's 8.5 apg) career assists per game. His behind-the-back and no-look passes got him the nickname "Houdini of the Hardwood".
As far as scoring goes, he was as efficient with a career average of 17.7 ppg during the regular season and 18.9 ppg in the post-season.
While playing for the Celtics, Cousy was chosen as the NBA’s MVP award after averaging 20.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg and 7.5 apg over 64 games of the 1956-57 season.
A six-time NBA champion, 13-time All-star and 10-time All-NBA first team member, Cousy is also one of the few to be part of the NBA's 25th Anniversary Team, 35th Anniversary Team and 50th Anniversary All-Time Team at the same time.
#5 Kevin McHale - 17,335 points
Kevin McHale was chosen with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1980 NBA Draft. He spent his entire 13-year career in the NBA with Boston, winning three NBA championships and making seven All-Star teams.
He carved out a niche as a top reserve during his first five seasons. McHale averaged 18.4 ppg and 19.4 ppg in 1984 & 1985 respectively, coming off the bench, and won NBA's Sixth-Man of the Year for both the years.
As a full-time starter from 1985-88, McHale averaged a career-high 26.1 ppg in the 1986-87 season. He was a member of the NBA All-Defensive first team for three years in a row(1986-88), and boasted a career average of 1.74 blocks per game(all-time franchise leader in blocks per game).
The Celtics raised his #32 jersey number to the rafters in 1994, and he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame with the class of 1999.
#4 Robert Parish - 18,245 points
Robert Parish, also known as “The Chief,” was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 1976 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors and was later acquired by the Celtics in 1980. The Celtics now had a dominant frontcourt consisting of Bird, Parish and McHale.
The trio helped the franchise win three titles(1981, 1984 & 1986) and Parish went on to play for the Charlotte Hornets after the 1993-94 season.
Parish shot an outstanding 53.7 percent from the field and regularly averaged 20 ppg and 10 rpg during his best years. Parish's impact on the Celtic boards is everlasting as he tops the all-time defensive & offensive rebounding list for the franchise(Bill Russell would have outnumbered him there had the NBA kept records of offensive & defensive boards when he played).
Also, Robert Parish has played the 2nd most games(1,106) for Boston as well as recorded 873 steals(4th on the all-time franchise steals list) during his 14 seasons with the organization.
#3 Larry Bird - 21,791 points
Bird was the face of the franchise in the 1980’s when the Celtics often took on their rival Los Angeles Lakers. He donned green and white for all 13 of his NBA seasons and became one of the greatest professional basketball players of all time.
He won three championships for the Celtics, the first one coming in 1981 and the next couple in 1984 and 1986.
The latter two featured Finals MVP performances by Larry averaging 27.4 ppg and 14.0 rpg in the 1984 Finals and following it up with 24.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg and 9.5 apg in the 1985 Finals.
His regular season expertise does not deserve any less attention. He won NBA's regular season MVP for three consecutive years from 1984-86, ending his career with an astounding average of 24.3 points per game along with 10 rebounds per game, shooting nearly 50 percent from the field.
Following his retirement, the Celtics retired Bird’s No. 33 jersey in 1993.
#2 Paul Pierce - 24,021 points
Pierce was selected with the 10th overall pick in 1998 NBA draft and spent 15 seasons with the Celtics, making him one of the longest-tenured members of the organization.
Paul is considered to be one of the key figures involved in bringing back the NBA championship to Boston.
He was instrumental to the Celtics' 2008 championship run, as he was awarded the Finals MVP after averaging 22 points per game. Of course, he needed the services of Kevin Garnett & Ray Allen to form the "Big Three" that restored the Celtics' legacy.
He holds the Celtics' record for most three-point field goals made and also ranks third in team history in games played, seventh in total rebounds, second in points scored, fifth in total assists, and first in total steals.
Pierce was nicknamed "The Truth" by Shaq after the Celtics beat Lakers on March 13, 2001 with Pierce scoring 42 points on 13 of 19 shooting.
#1 John Havlicek - 26,395 points
Legendary Celtics head coach Red Auerbach described Havlicek as the "guts of the team". He is the Celtics all-time leader in terms of games played, points scored and field goals made. He played all 16 of his NBA seasons in Boston and took home the championship in eight of them.
His blazing career playoff average of 22 points per game shouts volumes of his finesse in closing crunch games, as he constantly pushed triple-double numbers being a full-time reserve. He won the NBA Finals MVP in 1974 and averaged an inhuman 27.1 ppg in the playoffs that year, and set the NBA Finals single-game record for most points in an overtime period.
When you spend 16 seasons playing for the same franchise in any sport, being named an All-Star for 13 consecutive years(1966-78), you become an immortalized figure for the coming generations. He was honoured as an inductee to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984, about six years after the Celtics retired his No. 17 jersey in 1978.
What do you think about this impressive list? Sound off your opinions in the comments section below!
