Dang....a legend is gone. Arguably the most influential person the NBA has ever witnessed, aside from MJ. But he did it at multiple levels, never achieved before or since. 9 titles as head coach and 7 more as an executive in a span of roughly 30 years...phenomenal
Celtics nearly won 10 in a row from 57-66, losing only in the finals in 58, 4 games to 2 to the Bob Pettit-led St. Louis Hawks. An ankle injury to Bill Russell clearly hurt the Celtics chances of taking the series. But the only answer Auerbach would give was "You can always look for excuses. We just got beat". Pettit dropped 50 points on Boston in the series clencher. Pettit's Hawks would play the Celtics in 4 finals from 57-61, losing the other 3 series.
I'm a little too young to remember him being anything other than a legend, but my dad has the utmost respect for the man. And my dad truly respects very few people in professional sports. That is all I need to know about Red. He must have been amazing.
Bob Ley of ESPN does a really good job in these type of segments (as well as his late night program, Outside the Lines). An original of ESPN, and still very high quality (as opposed to Berman).
He was still running Celtics practices well into the 80's. Mchale was the monster of setting the elbow-in-the-side screens underneath the basket on Larry Bird's man to free him up. It's a lot harder to run out on Bird when you've just been elbowed in the side.
