May 5 in sports history: Champ Celtics pop Lakers' balloons

It seems appropriate that we should post this one today...

May 5 in sports history: Champ Celtics pop Lakers' balloons

Yardbarker Staff

14 hrs ago


Getty Images Player-coach Bill Russell (center) and Emmette Bryant celebrate the Celtics' Game 7 NBA FInals win over the Lakers in Los Angeles.
 
In basketball, horse racing and baseball, May 5 in sports history was a day for unparalleled dominance.


On this date in 1969 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., the Boston Celtics won Game 7 of the NBA Finals, 108-106, for their 11th championship in 13 seasons. Anticipating a victory, the Lakers had thousands of balloons in the rafters, a band ready to play "Happy Days Are Here Again" and champagne ready to uncork.

"What are they going to do with all those (expletive) balloons now?" Boston GM Red Auerbach asked, according to the Los Angeles Times. "And all that champagne?"

Celtics star John Havlicek, who scored 26 points, called it his most satisfying championship with the team, which finished fourth in the Eastern Division during the regular season. "We gave away the home-court advantage in every series," he told the Boston Globe, "and we were the underdog in every series."

Wrote Globe columnist Bob Sales: "There is a mystique about the Celtics. The other players in the league know about it. They know that a victory over the Celtics is the highlight of a season. Deep down, they'd all like to be part of it."

The rest of the story and the other noteworthy May 5 events in sports history;

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/may-5-in-sports-history-champ-celtics-pop-lakers-balloons/ar-BB13AGT1?ocid=ientp

Oh I remember it well. I still have a telegram sent to me by my Uncle who lived locally but knew how huge a Celtics fan I was....it said...HAPPY DAYS WE DID IT FOR YOU, signed RUSS, SAM, JOHHNY AND LARRY!!!! Tatered and worn but still in my collection of keepsakes. One day my kids will find it and throw it away, but that was one happy night for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Johnny Most had given the radio fans the flight they were coming home on, we had a flag and everything, only to find out he gave out the wrong flight time !!!!!! Oh to be young again and laugh at our foolishness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They Identified the two guys that I knew. The other two in the picture, I can't recall.

Rich Johnson

Oh how I remember watching that game. Russell's will to win is why he is the ultimate GOAT.