NBA

Youngsters taught wins only part of Auerbach's legacy

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published October 30, 2006

WALTHAM, Mass. - Celtics coach Doc Rivers called his players together before practice to talk about Red Auerbach. It was too late to know him but important the players understood what he meant to the team, the city, the game.

Older players had seen Auerbach's fire for themselves - the competitive one and the flame at the end of his ever-present cigar - but didn't know how he defined the game, then continued to dominate as his players became coaches and general managers. For the rookies, who never met him, it was a lesson about the franchise icon who traveled across New England to preach about the young NBA and build a mystique that would come to be known as Celtic pride.

"I wanted our young guys to hear those stories," Rivers said Sunday, a day after Auerbach had a heart attack and died at the age of 89. "I don't think they knew a lot about him."

With the Celtics' average age under 25, several players were infants when the team won the last of its NBA-record 16 championships in 1986. None was born yet in Auerbach's heyday, when as coach he led Boston to eight consecutive titles.

But what Rivers talked about wasn't what the Celtics did, or even what they looked like doing it; it was the fact Auerbach didn't care what they looked like. He drafted the NBA's first black player, hired its first black coach and fielded its first all-black starting five, and he did it in racially combustible Boston.

"Red did all that, but he wasn't doing that because he was trying to break ground," Rivers said. "His response was always: 'I'm trying to win a game and that's who I think gives us the best chance.' I think his example spread throughout the league."

The message got through, Celtics captain Paul Pierce said.

"I don't think a lot of these guys even knew that before Doc said it today," he said. "I think these guys really have to understand the history of the game. And Red is a big part of the history of the whole NBA, not just the Celtics but the whole NBA."

Heat star Shaquille O'Neal said Sunday he remembered Bill Russell telling a story about the time the Celtics arrived at a hotel that was for whites only. Auerbach didn't just find Russell another hotel; he loaded the whole team back on the bus and left.

"He was an innovator in almost everything he did," said Jerry West, who played for the rival Lakers and now runs the Memphis Grizzlies. "He not only brought the black athlete to Boston; more importantly, he recognized the greatness of the athletes that he had."

Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird said Auerbach was "one of the most influential people in my life."

"There could only be one Red Auerbach," the former Celtics star said. "And I'll always be grateful for having the opportunity to experience his genius and his dedication to winning through teamwork."

[Last modified October 30, 2006, 02:42:43]