The point of last week’s column was not that the 1956-57 Celtics were the best basketball team, but that the Boston Celtics as a team from the 1958-59 season through the 1965-66 season were the best team ever. There were many different starting lineups during those eight years and I mentioned only the usual ones.

The last Bill Russell-led Celtic NBA champs were the 1968-69 team, which included player-coach Bill Russell and 35 year-old Sam Jones in their final season, Satch Sanders, John Havlicek, Larry Siegfried, Don Nelson, and Bailey Howell; Havlicek and Howell were the leading scorers, but all the above averaged double figures, except Russell who got 9.9 points a game and 19 rebounds with strong help on the boards from Howell, Sanders, Havlicek and Nelson.

Guards Emmette Bryand and young Don Chaney also played. They were a balanced team.

In the NBA finals, they played Hollywood’s favorites, the talented LA Lakers, lead by Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlin and Elgin Baylor. The Lakers won the first two games in LA; the Celtics won the next two on the parquet floor at the Boston Garden; the teams split the next two. Game seven was in Los Angeles; the aging Celtics raced to a 17 point lead and held on for a 108 – 106 victory, their eleventh NBA championship in thirteen seasons, a record that will probably never be matched.

Under coach Tom Heinsohn the Celtics won their next title in the 1973-74 season, with only Havlicek, Nelson and Chaney from the 1969 team still playing. Havlicek averaged 22+ points a game, powerful center Dave Cowens 19, and guard JoJo White 18, with Chaney, Nelson and Paul Silas in double figures. Cowens and Silas were the leading rebounders; White, Havlicek and Cowens lead in assists and steals.

Paul Westphal also contributed some valuable minutes. They beat the Milwaukee Bucks of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a seven game final and brought home another flag for the ceiling of the Garden.

Prior to the 1975-76 season, Chaney went to the American Basketball Association, and Auerbach traded Paul Westphal to Phoenix for shooter Charlie Scott.

So the starters were White and Scott at guard, swingman Havlicek, and Cowens and Silas underneath; Don Nelson, Glen McDonald, Kevin Stacom, Steve Kuberski and Jim Ard contributed off the bench.

Ironically, the Celtics played the Suns in the 1976 finals, winning the first two at home, losing the next two at Phoenix. Game five at Phoenix went to overtime due to Westphal scoring five points in the last minute to tie the game. With two seconds on the clock in the second overtime, Havlicek’s shot gave the Celtics a one-point lead, and a technical foul shot made it two, but Garfield Heard made a shot at the buzzer to force the third overtime.

The Celtics finally won by two. Back at the Garden they won game six to capture the crown. Next week: Larry Bird, Robert “the Chief” Parrish, Kevin McHale and three more championships.

Dan Rapp is pastor of Ohio Baptist Church and a south Ironton resident.