Believe it or not, Thad Young never got to see Julius Erving play basketball. Docs last game was in May of 1987, and Youngs mother wasnt even pregnant with him yet. So indeed, it feels like a lifetime since the Sixers and Celtics were matched up in a postseason Game 7.
Young is certainly not alone. The Sixers have eight players on the roster age 24 or younger, a fact not lost on Doug Collins or Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who got his nickname because he was a fan of Dr. J when he was a kid. Its not that the players on either team are dismissive of history, they just might be too young to understand the appeal of a Game 7 between the Sixers and the Celtics.
There have been a lot of Game 7s, Rivers said. Half of these players don't know I played, and they definitely don't know Doug played.
That means they dont know that Collins actually played alongside Erving in the 1977 Eastern Conference semifinals in which the Sixers beat the Celtics in Game 7 at the Spectrum.
Ugly, ugly game, Collins recalled about his Game 7. We had World B. Free and I think he got about 28 shots up that day and it was all good. That was the year we went to the finals.
The Sixers have a storied Game 7 history (see story), but its been a while since these franchises got together in such an epic game. Still, dont think for a minute Collins hasnt clued in his guys about the time the Sixers beat the Celtics in a Game 7 at the Garden. In fact, Tuesdays film session was dubbed, The Ghosts of Celtics Past, according to Collins, who showed his players the 1982 Eastern Conference Finals.
That was the game where The Boston Strangler, Andrew Toney, showed up to lead the Sixers to the NBA Finals.
Indeed, the Sixers history is riddled with instances of the Celtics blocking their path to a championship and perhaps we are at that precipice again (hey, crazier things have happened), so here is a look back at the series finales played between the Sixers and Celtics.
April 15, 1965,Eastern Conference Finals, The Boston GardenCeltics 110, Sixers 109:'Havlicek stole the ball'
The Sixers were the surprise team to get this far in the playoffs, having finished the regular season 40-40 and 22 games behind the Celtics in the standings. But in the nine-team NBA, the Sixers slipped past Cincinnati in the best-of-five first round to set up the showdown against the Celtics.
In a series that mirrored the 2012 addition, the Celtics and Sixers traded wins with neither team winning back-to-back games. In Game 7, the Celtics had a one-point lead and the ball with five seconds left. But when Bill Russells inbounds pass hit the guide wire holding up the backboard, the Sixers got the ball back with a chance to win it.
Hal Greer settled in to inbound the pass, obviously looking for Wilt Chamberlain, who had scored 30 points. But with Russell fronting Chamberlain and K.C. Jones blocking Greers view underneath the basket, the plan was to hit Chet Walker on the perimeter. But laying off Walker and counting to five in his head, John Havlicek leapt in front of Walker just as the ball was to arrive and deflected it to Sam Jones, who dribbled out the clock.
Meanwhile, Celtics announcer Johnny Most let loose with the famous, Havlicek stole the ball! call.
April 19, 1968,Eastern Conference Finals, The SpectrumCeltics 100, Sixers 96:Celtics make history
Game 1 of the series came a day after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. and the players voted, despondently, to play the series opener. However, after a Celtics win in Game 1, the series was delayed by three days so Chamberlain and Russell could go to Atlanta to attend Kings funeral. When the series resumed, the Sixers reeled off three straight wins to take the 3-1 edge.
To that point in NBA history, no team had ever overcome a 3-1 series deficit. So against the defending NBA champs, the Celtics task seemed that much more difficult. But the Celtics won Game 5 by 18 points in Philadelphia and then took Game 6 by eight points back at the Garden. For Game 7, the Celtics arrived to see a banner hanging from the top deck that read, Boston is Dead.
It didnt turn out that way. Six of the eight Celtics that played scored in double digits with Sam Jones and Havlicek combining for 43. Meanwhile, Chamberlain scored just 14 points on four field goals and 6-for-15 shooting from the foul line. Strangely, Chamberlain attempted just one shot during the second half.
May 1, 1977,Eastern Conference Semifinals, The SpectrumSixers 83, Celtics 77:All World
The Sixers were back after a rebuilding period, however, to build off their first division title since 1968 they had to face the defending NBA champs.
It went exactly as expected.
The Celtics took Game 1 in Philly on Jo Jo Whites OT buzzer-beater, but the Sixers took the next pair of games, including Game 3 at the un-air conditioned Garden where Collins scored 25 points and says he lost 15 pounds of fluid after chasing Havlicek around. The Sixers had a chance to close out the series at the Garden in Game 6 in which Collins scored 32, but White went for 40 to force Game 7.
Neither team could make a shot in Game 7 with the Celtics shooting 30 percent and committing 27 turnovers. Midway through the third quarter it was tied at 56. Thats when Free came off the bench after missing his first six shots of the game and rescued the Sixers with 27 points to set up the conference final against Houston.
For the Celtics, the loss was just their second in a Game 7.
May 3, 1981,Eastern Conference Finals, The Boston GardenCeltics 91, Sixers 90: Celticsghosts
ESPN.com ranked this as the greatest playoff series played in NBA history. It featured five games decided by two points or fewer and the difference in the last three games was just five points.
Amazingly, the Sixers lost all three of those games after leading each game by double digits and the series, 3-1.
Game 7 was famous for the fourth quarter in which the referees put the whistles away and let the players settle things on the floor. As a result, there was just one basket scored in the final three minutes. Needless to say it was a crucial shot as Larry Bird banked in a runner with a minute to go.
The Sixers had chances to win it, though, but Mo Cheeks missed a foul shot and the Sixers couldnt get off a last shot as the Celtics rallied from the 3-1 deficit.
May 23, 1982,Eastern Conference Finals, The Boston GardenSixers 120, Celtics 106: TheBoston Strangler
Once again the Sixers built a 3-1 lead in the series and once again the Celtics made it disappear to force a Game 7 at the Garden.
This time the Sixers had an answer in Game 7.
Clinging to a three-point lead at the half, Toney took over. Toney scored 34 points in Game 7, which was the topper on a series in which he scored 30 in Game 2 and 39 in Game 4. In fact, Toney just may have been the most important player to the Celtics during that era.
Heres why:
If the Celtics had anyone remotely capable of guarding Toney, they would not have traded to get Dennis Johnson. And without Johnson, the Celtics are just a very good team, but not that much different from the rest of the very good teams like the Sixers, Bucks, Pistons, Knicks or Hawks.
So without Toney, the Celtics dynasty might have just been a blip in time and the Sixers might have snuck out of the East another time or two.
May 3, 2002,Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, The Boston GardenCeltics 120, Sixers 87: The short series
Back when they had a best-of-five first round of the playoffs, back-to-back losses were nearly a death sentence. But with the Sixers and Celtics in the first round, a short series is just more drama packed into a small amount of time.
In this one, the Celtics took two straight at the TD Garden from the defending Eastern Conference champs. However, the Sixers bounced back with two wins at the Wells Fargo Center by a total of seven points, including a 42-point effort from Allen Iverson in Game 3.
But when Game 5 rolled around, the old Celtics ghosts reappeared.
Paul Pierce scored 46 points on eight three-pointers as the Celtics turned a 12-point lead in the first half into an old-fashioned drubbing.
Pierce, of course, is still the Celtics leading scorer, while their former starting center in that game was Tony Battie, the Sixers 12th man. Meanwhile, Sixers assistant coach Aaron McKie was the teams top reserve that season and averaged 10.6 points per game in that series.
E-mail John R. Finger at jfinger@comcastsportsnet.com.