Easy Trivia (especially for the old-timers)

On the famous "Havlicek stole the ball" play, who threw the inbound pass?

Greer threw the pass and was supposed to take a return pass for the shot.

"All right now, Greer gets it out deep....AND HAVLICEK STEALS IT! Over to Sam Jones. Havlicek stole the ball! It's all over! Etc., etc., etc."

I think that's almost verbatim. I'm not sure, because I've only listened to it about seven million times.

Sam

Sam, I guess thats what baseball announcers mean when they say "he threw that one right into his wheelhouse"!

Will,

I've always thought that play was symptomatic of Celtics play in general, which I've always felt contains a very high cerebral input.

John wasn't facing Greer. He was facing the intended recipient of the pass, Chet Walker and staying between Walker and Greer. And John simply counted...one Mississippi, two Mississippi, etc. When Walker hadn't moved after about 4.5 seconds, John simply whirled, and the ball was basically waiting for him—right in that wheelhouse you describe.

I've occasionally wondered who would have been credited with the steal if the stat had been kept back then. John, who deflected the ball, or Sam who wound up in possession of the ball. I come to the same conclusion every time. Who cares?

I went to two Celtics games with my boss at the time, in what was really my first professional job. The first was the Selvy game, and the second was the Havlicek steal game. Not too shabby an alliance, although I did quit that job later in 1965.

Sam

Observations:

You can actually hear the gravel in Johnny's voice in your mind's ear. "Havlicek stole the ball! It's all over! It's all over!"

The guy wires, like the balloons in LA, played their part, came down and are now lost forever.

Havlicek was greatness personified from the beginning, but this was the moment he stepped across the threshold into legend status. The fact that he did so while bailing out his friend and inspiration, Bill Russell, who himself had bailed out the Celtics so many times before, resonated as the very image of the ultimate moment in team sports, and still does.

History:

It was Game 7 of a hard-fought series, the 1965 Eastern Division finals. Philadelphia was a dangerous team and Wilt in his prime was a force of nature. There were 5 seconds remaining, with the Celts leading 110-109. They had led 110-103 only a minute earlier and Red, smilingly that Cheshire smile, had already lit the cigar: LA was next and Baylor was out hurt. Then, Wilt scored 6 straight points.

Hal Greer had hit the guy wire in an earlier game in this series and Red had argued successfully that the Celtics should get the ball. The move came back to haunt him. So what did he (hysterically) argue? That Chet Walker, who guarded Russell on the inbounds pass, had stepped out of bounds and crowded Russell, forcing him to throw the errant pass. Close but get that lit cigar out of my face, shouted Earl Strom amid the cacophony of voices.

In the 1962 draft, Red had to choose between Chet Walker and John Havlicek. After making the pick, Red explained, "What I like about Havlicek is his competitive spirit. He’s a guy who can give you a hard-nosed brand of basketball and that’s what I like. Of course, he fits in our plans.”

Quotes:

“There’s this guy Havlicek who runs around like he’s got a motor up his ass.” Curt Gowdy to Red after broadcasting the Ohio State 1962 NCAA Championship.

“The guys who finish the game are more important than the guys who start it.” Red Auerbach to John Havlicek on why he should appreciate the sixth man role.

“He hit the wire! He hit the wire! By God, he hit the wire!” Johnny Most.

“Oh my God, oh my God, it’s their ball!” Bill Russell, on his knees and pounding the floor in frustration.

“Red went crazy. He was screaming at me. I wasn’t buying any of it. Also, Russell never said a word to me. He just hung his head and left the court when Boston called a timeout.” Earl Strom.

“Russell came into the huddle and said, “I blew it, man. Somebody bail me out. I don’t want to be wearing these horns.” John Havlicek.

“I looked down at the Philly huddle and they were all crowded around Dolph [Schayes, the 76ers coach], who was drawing up a play. Red wasn’t even in our huddle. He was out on the court, yelling at the officials for the whole timeout. The horn sounded and right before we stepped on the court, Red said, “Okay, don’t foul anyone.” That was the extent of our strategy.” John Havlicek.

“Wilt was dominating Russell. Wilt had just dunked on him and we had a last chance to win. In the huddle, guys were saying, let’s get the ball to Wilt.” Dolph Schayes

“Greer was inbounding the ball under our basket. I stayed close to Walker, and at the same time I was counting in my head “one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three . . .” “Everyone knows that you have five second to get the ball inbounds, and often the guy passing the ball in would count to himself. But I’d do it on defense, too. It gave me a better feel for what was going on. When I got to one thousand four and the ball still hadn’t been passed in, I took a peek over my shoulder and saw that Greer was about to lob a pass to Walker. As I said “one thousand four” to myself, I saw the flight of the ball. I realized that Greer’s pass was going to be a little short. Had I not looked back, it would have been perfect because it would have gone right over my shoulder. But since I saw the ball leave his hand, I got a great jump on it. I was able to tip the pass away from Walker and the ball went right to Sam Jones, who dribbled it a few times, the threw the ball back to me and the game was over.” John Havlicek.

Sam threw the ball back to John in the far left corner of the Celtics' offensive end. And, barely ahead of the crowd surge, Havlicek flung the ball at the basket as time expired. And it damn near went in.

Sam