"Dynasty Restored" by Thomas J. Whalen
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| Photo: bu.edu |
It's a great time for the Celtics and their fans. It hasn't always been this way. Older fans remember the lean years of the 1990's heading into the 2000's, the years that followed the heady days of the 1980's when Boston won three titles in six years, and almost had a fourth banner to add to the rafters in that time.
For Celtics fans who remember watching games in an outdated Boston Garden complete with rats and a lack of air conditioning, Thomas J. Whalen has penned a book about the 1983-84 Boston Celtics. His book is titled "Dynasty Restored: How Larry Bird and the 1984 Boston Celtics Conquered the NBA and Changed Basketball". In the book, Whalen follows the C's through the 1983-84 campaign. It was a less than enjoyable time for the National Basketball Association. Drug use was rampant around the league and apathy toward the NBA Finals was such that games were shown on a tape delay at various times between 1979-1981. Fans were looking elsewhere for their sports in a time where Michael Jordan was a year away from beginning a storied NBA career.
Whalen's book begins with an overview of 1984 inside and out of basketball. It was a year of the Olympics and a presidential election. On Causeway Street, the Celtics were coming off a disappointing end to the previous season, being swept out of of the playoffs for the first time in their history when they fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. After the exit, the Celtics brass, led by "Red" Auerbach went to work to shore up the personnel and assemble a team that would exceed the previous season.
Under Head Coach K.C. Jones, the Celtics finished the regular season with the Atlantic Division and the number 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. After securing the Eastern Conference title, they faced their archrivals, the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. After a grueling 7-game series, the Celtics secured banner number 15 rewarding the players for their efforts and the front office for the moves made prior to the season. Fans that walked through the turnstiles and tuning in to Johnny Most and Glen Ordway, enjoyed every win.
"Dynasty Restored" takes the reader from training camp's open to the final buzzer of the Finals. The narrative of the basketball season is briefly placed on hold at various times for a short biography of select players, coaches, and front office personnel. Included in the bios are the events that led them to Causeway Street and how they almost played for a different team. Whatever it is that led them to the parquet of the Boston Garden, the franchise and its fans benefited and title number 15 was the result of it.
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