1981 NBA Playoffs: That Cinderella Season Part 2: Celtics vs 76ers 😳 Larry Bird, vs Doctor J,

Over the course of the Boston Celtics 35 year history, to that point, they had won nearly 50% of all championships won in league history. Needless to say, the Celtics in the nba finals in springtime had become a perennial event. An expectation, not a random occurrence. By 1981 however, the dynasty seasons were becoming a distant memory. Long gone were the cigar smoke filled sidelines of 8 consecutive titles. Russell, Cousy, Cowens, Heinsohn and Havlicek were no longer running the parquet floor. From 1976 to 1979, the Celtics were irrelevant and the rest of the nba seemed to revel in the unfamiliar pain of losing in Boston. In fall of 1979, The sun finally came out in Boston again with the arrival of a new head coach, a new point guard and the savior of the franchise, Larry Joe Bird. By the time Houston and Boston advanced to the NBA finals both were underdogs in their respective conference finals. Although Boston had won 62 games, the Philadelphia 76ers eliminated them a year earlier, having had gone down 3-1, losing in 5 games. The winner of the ‘81 nba finals was sure to be the next champion of the nba. Surely it was the celtics express wish to dethrone the Lakers of their 1980 championship but the Houston Rockets had other plans. Boston would find out just how much of a feisty opponent the 40 win Rockets would be. Script written by Nick Gelso for @CelticsCLNS on @CLNSMEDIA Follow Gelso At https://twitter.com/clns_nick -~-~~-~~~-~~-~- CLNS is powered by FanDuel. Gambling is now legal in Massachusetts! To celebrate, CLNS and FanDuel are giving players $200 when they bet $5. To claim your offer, go to https://fanduel.com/Boston -~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices