The Biggest Celtic Steal

I'm blatantly stealing this idea from RedsArmy.com

Who gets credit for the greatest steal in Celtic history?

1.  John Havlicek of "Havlicek Stole the Ball!  Havlicek Stole the Ball!" fame.

Game 7, 1965 Eastern Conference Championship vs Philadelphia 76ers, in Boston.  Boston leads 110-109 with 5 seconds left.  Bill Russell's inbounds pass, which probably would have sealed the win, hit a wire holding up the basket and turned it over to Philly.  Havlicek was guarding Chet Walker, with his back to inbounder Hal Greer.  Havlicek spun around and tipped the ball to Sam Jones.  Earl Strom wrote in his memoir that this was one of the greatest plays he'd ever seen in 32 years of officiating.

"Heart like a Wheel" John "Hondo" Havlicek's clutch series winning steal, for the greatest steal in Celtic history.






2.  Larry Bird steals Isaiah's inbound pass.

Game 5, 1987 Eastern Conference Finals vs Detroit Pistons, in Boston.  Detroit leads by 1, 107-106.  Bird's fga with 9 seconds left gets blocked by, what looks like, Dennis Rodman, collapsing from the free throw line.  The ball goes out of bounds off of Jerry Sichting.  With 5 seconds left on the clock, all the Pistons have to do, pretty much, is just inbound it.  Bird leaves his man at the free throw line weak side and streaks in front of Laimbeer for the steal.  Dangling just on the fair side of the baseline he keeps his balance to hit DJ, who came from beyond the 3pt line, for the layup and game winner.  If Larry had just put his heels on the floor, he'd have been out of bounds.  The Celtics went on to win the ECF in 7 games.

Unathletic, earthbound white boy Larry Legend, for the greatest steal and assist in Boston Celtic history.






3.  Gerald Henderson's steal of James Worthy's pass.

Game 2, 1984 NBA Finals vs Los Angeles Lakers, in Boston.  The Lakers had won game 1, in the Gahden.  They were leading 115-113 with 15 seconds left and had possession.  They were on the verge of heading back to LA with a 2-0 lead. Worthy inbounded the ball to Magic, who passed it back to Worthy (?), who then attempted a cross court pass to Byron Scott.  Henderson briefly left Scott to double-team Magic and then cut the passing lane to steal the ball before it got to Scott.  He raced in for the layup and the tie.  The Lakers were so stunned Magic Johnson dribbled out the rest of the clock without the Lakers taking another shot.  The Celtics went on to win in OT, 124-121.  Larry Bird said afterwards "To be honest, if it wasn't for that steal, we probably would have been swept".  "What will I remember most from that series?" said Lakers coach Pat Riley. "Simple. Game 2. Wothy's pass to Scott. I could see the seams of the ball, like it was spinning in slow motion, but I couldn't do anything about it."  The Celtics went on to win the Championship in 7 games.

Gerald Henderson and his game saving, series resurrecting, Championship salvaging steal, for the greatest steal in Boston Celtic history.







bob



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I voted for Henderson because his steal was in a Finals and without it would hate for that team to have won only 2 titles, as we know they should have won more, the Bird steal as great as it was, was in an ECF. On Hondos steal, I wrote in another thread if Wilt would have gotten one more or Baylor even one, Russell's legacy would still be intact, maybe even greater in making his adversaries accomplishments better IMHO, if those teams won 9 or 10, they still would have been as great to me.