Debate: Greatest Celtics Team by Decade: 1950s

[canman1971]

Alright guys, lets see if we can spark up a good debate/discussion. Sully00 had a good idea that I feel we should take a shot at. Lets first decide what team from what decade is the best of that decade and then, we can put those teams up against each other to find out what Celtic team is the best of all time. I'll do a poll and we can vote and debate. We can start with the 50s. I leave it open for about a week and then move onto the 60s and so on. That should bring us up to training camp. I've enabled users to change their vote if they change their mind over time, but you are still only allowed one vote. (I've never tried the "change your vote" function, so let me know if it works or doesn't). Also if someone has a better idea of how to do something like this, let me know and I can fix it.

Thank sully00 for the great idea.

[Truthiracy]

The defeat of the Minneapolis Fakers

[MyInsatiableOne]

Tough choice between beating the hated Lakers and the first one, but I went with the first team that was under suspicion of traveling to destination: world championship...that's the one that started it all.

[sunshinekids99]

Great idea guys.

Looking up on the teams quick they had a main core of Sharman, Cousy, Russell and Heinsohn.

You have to really give it up to the 56-57 team for being the first, but I can't give them the vote. They were a 44 win team, that did lead the league, but the over win % is the lowest of the three seasons. The team also did not have Sam Jones on the team, which the other two teams had. Now don't get me wrong the two season with Sam Jones were not his best, but he was still a very valuable players to both those teams.

The 58-59 team was a 52 win team. This was Sam Jones first full time season with the Celtics. Bill Sharman had another great season as a 20ppg guy for the team. This would be my second place team, Russell was really coming into his own and the team had three other big scorers in Sharman, Cousy, and Heinsohn.

The 59-60 team was a 59 win team. This year Tom Heinsohn was the leading scorer at 21 ppg. My main reason for picking this team is that this was Bill Russell's best season in the 50's with the Boston Celtics player. His numbers were ppg at 18.2 (second highest of career) and 24 rpg (third highest of career). This team also included KC Jones who got regular minutes with the team, but of course this was very early in his career. Also this was Cousy's highest apg season of the three and Sharman's highest in fg% while still almost scoring 20 ppg (19.3)

I'm sure people can make an argument for any of the three teams, but I had to go with the 59-60 team.

[BillessuR6]

Nice thread idea for the summer time. Though it would be nice if there were some links in the opening post. I doubt many here know much about the teams in the 50`s.

56-57 team:
Roster/Stats
1957 Finals

58-59 team:
Roster/Stats
1959 Finals

58-59 team:
Roster/Stats
1960 Finals


It is really interesting to go through the boxscores in the finals. Some crazy numbers...

That 59-60 team had the most talent but I will go with the 56-57 team. The finals against St.Louis were unbelievably close and with that 57 team the Celtic greatness started.

[greenbeans]

I'll go with 56-57 because that was when Red decked the Hawks owner.
and when i was looking that up i found this cool Red timeline:
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball ... _timeline/

[Point forward]

The first ring is the sweetest. Not to mention it was Game 7 in double OT, Heinsohn had a career game, Russ does that SICK Coleman Play, just slows Pettit down enough and we win 125-123. CIGAAARS!!

[Jammer]

I've decided to cast a vote, at this late juncture, because although I've never seen these teams, I just realized:

1) Bill Russell joined the 1957 team in late December due to the Olympics in Australia
** (52 point average margin of victory for United States)
2) Sam Jones first season as a Celtic was the 1958 season
3) KC Jones first season, after two years coaching and playing for the U.S. Army team, was 1959

So, given that the rotation in 1959 was:

PG: Bob Cousy / KC Jones
SG: Bill Sharman / Sam Jones
SF: Frank Ramsey / Sam Jones
PF: Tom Heinsohn / Jim Loscutoff
C: Bill Russell / Gene Conley

I'll go with the 1959 team.

[Jammer]

I object to the third team listed (1959-1960) listed among the 50's teams.

I feel that that team should be the first of the Ten 1960's teams.

And, I would include the only Celtic team to not win a championship that decade,

the 60-21 1967 Team, in the list of ten teams eligible,

because that was one heck of a team that,

that had a 5-4 record during the regular season

against eventual NBA Champion Philadelphia, who was 68-13.

Of Philadelphia's 13 losses that year, 5 were to the Celtics.

[canman1971]

Well not a lot of discussion on this first one, but I expected it as it was the furthest away and most of us, if not all weren't old enough to remember. I am hoping the closer we get to today, it'll improve and it'll be closer to training camp. Jammer, I put 59-60 season in the 50s because it started then, and I figured it would be better to have at least 3 teams to vote for as opposed to 2. I would like to include the 67 team in our next pole, however, Red would turn over in his grave. We only hang up championship banners, right? Then we can only discuss championship teams is something I feel he might say. For this, I went with the 58-59 team. Sweeping the Lakers, from Minny or LA, is all too sweet. Also the start of 8 in a row. So the winner of this pole is the team from 1958-1959. I'll get another up soon.