Their Home Arenas

The Celtics played their first game at the Boston Arena which was the first arena to have a parquet floor installed. Even though they played most of their home games mainly at the Boston Garden from 1946 to 1995, it remained a secondary venue for many of their initial years. The Hartford Center was also an arena where the Celtics played some of their home games during the same period. Their current home arena is the TD Banknorth Garden which was also known as the Fleet Center and the Shawmut Center. They have been playing their home games there since 1995.

A Brief History

When the Celtics were first formed in 1946, they were a member of the Basketball Association of America. They became a part of the NBA when the two merged in 1949. After a slow start, the team hired Red Auerbach as Head Coach who turned their fortunes around. With the drafting of Bob Cousy, the team went ahead to become one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. In 1956, Auerbach drafted Bill Russell and Tommy Heinsohn. The combination of Cousy, Russell and Heinsohn proved to be invaluable to the Celtics as they went on to win their first NBA Championship in 1957. They lost in 1958 to the St. Louis Hawks but they won the championship again in 1959 and continued their winning streak for the next seven years. After their eighth consecutive championship in 1966, Auerbach retired as coach and became their General Manager and Russell took over as player-coach. Under Russell, the Boston Celtics won two more NBA Championships in 1968 and 1969 after which he retired as well, ending the team’s most successful era.

The Celtics went on to win five more NBA Championships, the last being in 1986. Their total of sixteen championships is the highest for any team in the NBA. They have also won nineteen Conference Titles and twenty-five Division Titles so far.

The Celtics were one of the best teams in the 1985 season when they won sixty-seven games. Tragedy struck the team in 1986. The Celtics drafted Len Bias who had high potential. He died just 2 days after the draft when he overdosed on cocaine at a party. His death was seen as the turning point in their history as they were hounded by bad luck after that.

The Celtics have the most retired jersey numbers in any professional sports franchise in North America. They have retired twenty-one numbers including Bill Russell 6, Bob Cousy 14 and Larry Bird 33.