When "Havlicek stole the ball," I saw it on a 13-inch black-and-white television in the kitchen of my house in Northeast Philadelphia. The play caused me, a nine-year-old fledgling Sixers fan, to run in agony to my bedroom, never to emerge until the following morning, crying myself to sleep.
The play served as my first memory in what has become one of the most storied rivalries in NBA history. Now, these two teams will meet again, for the 20th time in the postseason.
John Havlicek stole the ball with five seconds to go in a tense, decisive Game 7 of the 1965 Eastern Conference Finals being played at the old Boston Garden, sealing a one-point win for the Celtics. Perhaps you've seen the play, with Boston's late radio voice Johnny Most screeching, "Havlicek stole the ball! It's all over! It's … all … over!"
Boston would eventually go on to win the title that year, one of an NBA record eight straight championships, a string that was ironically broken by the Sixers in 1967. I remember listening on the radio the night the Sixers unseated the champion Celtics in Game 5 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Final series before a roaring crowd at Philly's old Convention Hall.
The following year, the teams met again in the East finals, with a seventh and deciding game at the brand new Spectrum. The late Wilt Chamberlain, one of the greatest scorers in league history, took just nine shots in the game. The Celtics would win, dethroning the defending champion Sixers, coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the series. Remember that, coming back from being down 3-1 …
Fast forward to 1981. Julius Erving was now leading the Sixers, and Larry Bird was Boston's headliner. In that Eastern Conference Finals, the 62-win Sixers led the series 3-1, to only see Boston win the next three games by a total of five points, clinching the series in a Game 7 at Boston Garden.
The following year, the Sixers again would face Boston in the East Finals, and again Philly would bolt to a 3-1 lead, to only see Boston win the next two decisively by an average of 13 points. But the Sixers would shock the basketball world with a 120-106 victory in a Game 7 in Boston. Sixers shooting guard Andrew Toney, "The Boston Strangler," scored 34 in the win. The normally venomous Boston Garden Crowd yelled in unison "Beat L.A., Beat L.A." as a sendoff to the Finals-bound Sixers.
The teams met a number of times in the playoffs after that, including their last meeting in 2012, when the Sixers extended the Celtics to seven games in their conference semifinal to only lose Game 7 in Boston.
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Nobody who played in that game is currently with either the Sixers or the Celtics. But none of these new players will have to look far to gain a historical perspective and see exactly what it means for these two teams to meet in the NBA playoffs … again.
