1965-66 Celtics win eight straight games, Auerbach retires from the NBA.
1965-66 Celtics win eight straight games, Auerbach retires from the NBA.
Boston had defeated Philadelphia in the previous year's season, but the 76ers
were still powerful and determined to win the chamionship. Billy Cunningham, a
rookie from North Carolina (averaging 14.3 pp), joined Wilt Chamberlain, Chet
Walker and Lucious Jackson t, Hal Greer and Wali Jones. During the season,
Philadelphia beat Boston six times in 10 games, and took the Eastern Division
title with 55 wins. Chamberlain won again the league's scoring title, averaging
33.5 ppg and became the NBA's all-time leading scorer, passing Bob Pettit.
In the Playoffs, the Celtics had a few problems, but recovered and beat
Cincinnati 3-2. Then they moved on to play Philadelphia. The 76ers after some
resting period were defeated in five games, which cost Dolph Schayes his job as
coach. Meanwhile, the Lakers fought for the Western Finals , and advanced after
defeating the Hawks in seven games. In the last match up the Celtics proved to
be better, winning 4-3. Before he retired, Auerbach received the best gift he
could ever dream of - his eighth straight NBA title.
For so many years Auerbach had kown how to lead his players to get the best
out of them . When the Lakers took Game 1, Auerbach pulled out a wildecard card,
announcing that Bill Russell would become his successor as coach. Russell was
the first black head coach in history of American sports league.
The seasone is long gone, but its memory is stll alive today. Nobody, up to
now, has won 9 titles in 10 years.
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