Team History: Boston Celtics Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1946

The team was formed on 6 June 1946 by Walter A. Brown, who was president of the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation at the time. The team was originally part of the Basketball Association of America (BAA), but when the BAA merged with the National Basketball League in 1949, the Celtics joined the National Basketball Association.

Answer: Chuck Cooper

Cooper was taken with the 14th overall pick by the Celtics in the 1950 NBA Draft. He spent four years with the team before signing for the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks. He left the NBA in 1956 after a spell with the Fort Wayne Pistons.

Alongside Cooper, Clifton and Lloyd were the other black players who were drafted in 1950, with Clifton signing for the New York Knicks and Lloyd agreeing a deal with the Washington Capitols. Russell was also drafted by the Celtics, going second overall in the 1956 NBA Draft.

Answer: 7

The Celtics were a struggling franchise, posting a 22-46 record in the season that preceded Auerbach's arrival. The Celtics improved almost immediately, posting a 39-30 record in the 1950-51 season. Despite making the playoffs in each of Auerbach's first six seasons, the team posted a poor 10-17 playoff record in these games.

The franchise qualified for its first NBA Finals in 1957, defeating the St. Louis Hawks in seven games to win its first NBA title, kicking off a dynasty in the process.

Answer: Alex Hannum

Hannum came face to face with Auerbach in three NBA Finals series. His St. Louis Hawks lost the 1957 NBA Finals but would defeat the Celtics in the 1958 rematch. Hannum's 1964 San Francisco Warriors also lost to Auerbach's Celtics in the Finals. Kundla won five NBA Championships with the Minneapolis Lakers but his team was swept by the Celtics in the 1959 NBA Finals.

Kundla's successor Schaus lost the 1962, 1963, 1965 and 1966 NBA Finals to the Celtics. Eckman never faced Auerbach in the NBA Finals but he did win the 1955 and 1956 championships with the Fort Wayne Pistons before the Boston dynasty began.

Answer: Chicago Stags

Cousy's talent was obvious, but he was deemed to be too flashy by Auerbach. He was drafted by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. When a contract could not be agreed, Cousy signed with the Stags. The Stags then folded, meaning that a dispersal draft took place, with the Celtics landing Cousy.

Although Auerbach was far from happy he had signed the point guard, he soon changed his mind. Cousy was nominated for the NBA All-Star Game in every season of his career, making the All-NBA First Team ten times. He also led the league in assists on eight occasions.

Answer: 38-21

The Celtics won nine of these series, winning four games in each of these series to make 36 wins. The team won two games in the 1958 NBA Finals that they lost, giving the team 38 wins in the ten Finals appearances.

The Celtics' opponents won three games in 1957 and four games in 1958 (both the St. Louis Hawks), zero games in 1959 (Minneapolis Lakers), three games in 1960, one game in 1961 (both the St. Louis Hawks), three games in 1962, two games in 1963 (both the Los Angeles Lakers), one in 1964 (San Francisco Warriors), one in 1965 and three in 1966 (both the Los Angeles Lakers)

This gives the Celtics' Finals opponents in this time period 21 wins, bringing the overall record to 38-21.

Answer: Philadelphia 76ers

The Celtics won 60 regular season games to finish #2 in the Eastern Division. After defeating the New York Knicks 3-1 in the Eastern semi-finals, the C's lost 4-1 in the divisional finals to the Philadelphia 76ers, who were led by the legendary Wilt Chamberlain. He helped lead the team to a 4-2 win over the San Francisco Warriors in the 1967 NBA Finals.

While the Bulls are a part of the modern-day Eastern Conference, the franchise was in the Western Division in 1966-67 and lost in the semi-finals to the St. Louis Hawks.

Answer: 34-48

The team's new head coach was Tom Heinsohn, but the rookie coach struggled to get his team into consistent form. The Celtics finished sixth of seven teams in the Eastern Division, failing to lead Boston into the playoffs.

It was not all doom and gloom for Boston, however. The Celtics drafted Jo Jo White with the ninth pick in 1969 and took Dave Cowens with the fourth selection in 1970, helping to speed up the franchise's rebuild.

Answer: Buffalo Braves

The Celtics defeated the Braves by a 4-2 scoreline. The series was tied at 2-2 heading into Game 5 but the Celtics scraped a 100-97 win to give Boston a 3-2 lead. Game 6 was also tight, with Boston winning 106-104 thanks to two free throws from Jo Jo White with no time left on the clock.

The Knicks were beaten in the Eastern Conference Finals in the next round, losing to Boston via a 4-1 score line. The Hawks finished fifth in the Eastern Conference, missing the playoffs. The Sixers had a 25-57 record in 1973-74, the worst record in the East.

Answer: 128-126

The game was tied at 95-95 after regulation. A first period of overtime saw the score at 101-101. Just as the Celtics seemed set to win by two, Phoenix's Garfield Heard scored a turn-around jumper to send the game to triple overtime. A quick six points from Celtics bench player Glenn McDonald gave the C's a 128-122 lead, before Phoenix nearly brought it back, eventually losing by 128 to 126. Jo Jo White's 33 points led all scorers, and this game played a large role in White winning the Finals MVP.

Answer: 6

Boston's 62-20 record was the best in the Eastern Conference, two wins ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks. Incredibly, the Rockets had a losing record in the 1980-81 season, finishing with 40 wins and 42 losses. However, victories in series against the Los Angeles Lakers (2-1), San Antonio Spurs (4-3) and Kansas City Kings (4-1) set up the match-up against the Celtics.

The Celtics won the series 4-2. Cedric Maxwell was named Finals MVP.

Answer: 1984

Auerbach oversaw the 1983-84 transition to the head coaching era of K.C Jones. After the team won its 15th NBA championship that season, Auerbach left the role. He stayed with the franchise however, becoming the president and eventually vice-chairman of the Celtics. He was succeeded as general manager by long-time Celtic Jan Volk.

Answer: 1994

The spine of the 80's Celtics gradually fell away in the early 1990's. The first to leave was Bird, who had missed half of the 1991-92 season due to back problems. By the 1992-93 season, McHale had niggling leg and back injuries and decided to retire before harming his legacy. Upon the end of the 1993-94 season, Parish signed for the Charlotte Hornets, drawing the curtain on another incredible era for the franchise.

Answer: Ron Mercer

It seemed like the stars had aligned for Mercer when he was re-united with his college coach Rick Pitino in Boston. He made it to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1998 but he was traded to the Denver Nuggets just a year later. The other three players were also Celtic draftees, with Billups going third in the 1997 NBA Draft and Pierce being selected tenth in 1998. Walker was taken with the sixth selection in 1996.

Answer: New Jersey Nets

The Celtics did not face great expectation heading into the 2001-02 season. With no playoff birth since 1995, it came as a surprise when the C's finished third in the Eastern Conference, winning 49 games. Boston took a 2-1 lead against the top-seeded Nets in the Eastern finals, eventually losing in six games.

The Sixers and Pistons both lost in the playoffs against the Celtics, with Philly losing 3-2 in the first round before the Pistons lost 4-1 in the conference semi-finals. The Hornets lost 4-1 to the Nets in the semis.

Answer: 26

The #1 seeded Celtics were matched with the #8 seeded Atlanta Hawks in the first round. Every game in the series was won by the home team, with the Celtics eventually winning the series in 7 games. This trend remained in the Conference semi-finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, with the Celtics again winning 4-3.

The C's eventually picked up on the road, winning two out of three at home and away to seal a 4-2 series victory in the Eastern finals against the Detroit Pistons. Eventually, the Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-2 in the 2008 NBA Finals, winning 131-92 in Game 6 at TD Garden.

Answer: 5

The trade sent shock waves through the NBA, with many pundits surprised that the Cavaliers had allowed one of its star players to leave for a rival. The original trade deal sent Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and a 2018 first round draft pick to the Cavaliers.

After it emerged that Thomas was not fit when traded, the Celtics sweetened the deal by placing its second round pick in 2020 as part of the deal.

Answer: John Havlicek

Havlicek scored 26,395 points in his 16 year career (1962-1978) with the Celtics. Pierce scored 24,021 points in his 15 seasons (1998-2013) in Boston. Bird (1979-1992) scored 21,791 in total. Russell was more renowned for his incredible rebound ability (21,620) but still scored an impressive 14,522 points during his legendary career (1956-1969).

Answer: 4

The team's founder Walter A. Brown was the team's original GM, holding the post between 1946 and 1951. Team icon Red Auerbach held the position between 1951 and 1984, with his successor Jan Volk holding the position between 1984 and 1997. Chris Wallace then held the post for a decade before Ainge's appointment.

Answer: Bob Cousy & Ed Macauley

Cousy and Macauley had their Celtics jersey numbers (14 and 22 respectively) collectively retired on 16 October 1963. Brown had the number 1 jersey retired in 1964 but Auerbach did not receive the honour until 1985, upon his retirement from the GM job.

Heinsohn and Sharman had the #15 and #21 jersey numbers retired on 15 October 1966. Jones had his jersey retired in 1969, with Russell's #6 jersey being hung up in 1972.