The Boston Celtics are an iconic franchise, and a crucial reason behind it is winning 17 NBA Championships. Red Auerbach is one of the most important figures in the franchise’s history.
Auerbach won nine NBA titles as a head coach and seven additional titles as the president of the Celtics. According to Phil Jackson, Auerbach had some tricks up his sleeve that he used to make away teams uncomfortable during the playoffs.
“Red Auerbach who is one of the great competitors and a fine coach,” Jackson said. “Boston Celtics won nine championships as a coach, won a couple as a general manager. We went there, they had the home-court advantage that year because they had won 68 games, they had a great year. The rivalry was tremendous. We were there four times. Every game we played, there was a different locker room. We had the visitor’s locker room.
“Just anything [to make you uncomfortable]. The seventh game, we had to sit outside the ring. In Boston, they had this grandstand, and then they had a ring where all the pedestrians would hang out during halftime. So to get off the court, we had to walk through all the pedestrians to get to this, I called it the ‘Janitor’s closet.’ It was like a janitor’s closet, we had beer thrown on us. That’s a Red Auerbach special.”
That’s not the end of it. Auerbach had another tactic to make the away team uncomfortable.
“The other thing he would do is that he would send the tickets down to the players down. The players get two tickets each. So there are 24 or 30 tickets maybe for the whole team – coach, trainer, etc. He sent the tickets down half hour before the game. So players are going out to the court to start their warmups, and his trainer Danny, I put the ticket envelope in my locker.”
(Stars at 48:45)
Now, that’s how you take the focus of the opponents from the game. Auerbach was a truly special coach and executive. His glorious resume speaks for it.
The Celtics legend served the franchise for 29 years. He is sadly no longer among us, as Auerbach passed away in 2006 at the age of 89.
Phil Jackson And The New York Knicks Also Used Tricks
Prior to becoming a legendary head coach in the NBA, Phil Jackson was a member of the New York Knicks.
Jackson played 10 seasons for the Knicks and won two NBA Championships. The Zen Master revealed that the 1973 NBA title-winning roster of the Knicks used to deflate basketball to avoid getting long rebounds.
“We used to deflate the balls because we were a short team and didn’t want long rebounds.”
That’s a sneaky trick played by the Knicks. It just goes to prove that every NBA team in the older generation had some hidden tricks to gain an unfair advantage in the game.
Now, some may believe it is against the spirit of the game of basketball, while others will label it as smartness.
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