Chinese Food and a Victory Cigar

Woke up Sunday morning to hear the news that former Boston Celtics Coach, General Manager and Team President Red Auerbach had passed away. Red was/is a basketball legend...only UCLA's John Wooden is even in his league (at least when it comes to the matter of championships), with legends like Dean Smith, Larry Brown and even James Naismith all eclipsed by Red's accomplishments. I once owned a copy of his book *Basketball for the Player, the Fan, and the Coach* (which I think came down to me from my father), but it has long ago disappeared off of my bookshelf. What has been interesting to me these past two days now has been listening to the reflections of those who knew him, as they talk about what he taught them about the game, and analyze the secrets to his success.

Number One, of course, was his competitiveness. Red's teams won because Red HAD to win -- losing simply wasn't an option for him. Everything else about him seems to flow from this one, simple fact. Red had a great eye for both talent and character, and also a blind eye to things like race, religion and national origin: if you could play ball that was the only thing that mattered, but you'd better share Red's will to win. And so in a city notorious for its difficult race relations, Red was the first NBA coach to draft a black player, to hire a black coach, to start a line-up of five African-American players. Red was a great teacher of the game, and he also had a knack for getting talented individuals to feel good about playing together as a team. He believed in defense and he LOVED the running game, and those dynastic Celtics teams of the Bill Russell era were an awesome force on the hardwood. This from someone who cut his teeth rooting for Wilt Chamberlin, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West to wrest the title from them.

But Red also knew when to shut up. He knew that it's not so much what the coach says, but what the players hear that ultimately matters; and he apparently had a great knack for saying just the right thing at just the right time, and then giving it time to sink in and stay there. And notwithstanding his competitive nature, Red was also a fun-loving man with a great sense of humor, and a knack for making other people laugh. This was also part of his charm, and his effectiveness as a coach and leader. He was a fantastic storyteller, with a lifetime full of anecdotes and experiences, often reflecting his unrivaled passion for the game. I'm going to miss seeing him in the Garden, with his waiting, unlit cigar. He was the heart and soul of the Celtics, and both the franchise and the city of Boston itself will be different now that he is gone.

***

My own hoop outings are still trying to find a comfortable schedule. Played again last night for the first time in a couple of weeks...now officially 50 years old, and part of that exclusive club of...what? Half-Century Ballers? Not that the name really matters; there are so few of us it seems. Enjoyed a pretty decent run too. Light turn-out since the Patriots were playing on Monday Night Football, but it didn't really matter...if anything it was nice to get more court-time rather than sitting around watching and waiting to play. A nice mix of players too, which led to much better games: good ball movement, good help defense, a lot less cherry-picking and one-on-three. Fifteen players total, which meant that the teams didn't really change much over the course of the evening; and for some reason MY team seemed to be a little older, shorter and slower than the other two, which meant that early on we struggled a bit and were getting blown out pretty easily. But about the third game in we figured out how to win, by spreading the floor and bringing our "overmatches" out to the perimeter, then getting good ball movement by flashing the (few) mismatches that worked in OUR favor into the lane, and knocking down our three point shots. And then on defense we seemed to communicate a little bit better than our competition, and once we figured out that we needed to screen out on the weak side, we started rebounding the ball a lot better too.

In any event, I ended up shooting the ball a lot more than I normally would, and also doing a lot of the ball handling chores. Made some open shots and missed some too; make some very pretty assists and some horribly ugly turnovers; grabbed a couple of steals, but didn't really rebound as much as I usually do (although the very first shot of the night bounced off the backboard and landed right in my lap, for perhaps the EASIEST rebound I have EVER made -- I didn't even have to jump). Hope to play again Wednesday night, and to gradually settle back into my old twice-a-week routine. I simply FEEL better when I'm playing reglularly...in my heart at least, if not my knees. And I need to do SOMETHING to work off all that Chinese food....

What Time is it? Game Time!

It's been nearly a month since I last posted here, and nearly a month longer since I last posted regularly. But now summer is gone, the pre-season nearly over, and another year of roundball is about to begin. I've been back playing pick-up for a couple of weeks now...still trying to work it in regularly with the rest of my schedule, which is always hectic this time of year anyway. First few nights back were pretty ratty: missed one jump shot so badly (flat, no rotation, WAY wide to the left) that I wanted to crawl under the floor and hide, and had another humbling experience of making a surprisingly quick baseline move to my left, then trying to elevate for the lay-in and lifting up off the floor about an inch and a half....

But Wednesday night I finally started to find a little rhythm. 12 points on two good catch-and-shoot threes, a driving lay-up down the center of the lane, a little 8 foot "J" from the left baseline (after a terrific pump fake!) and a slashing cut to the basket after my defender went to double-team, which left me with a wide-open one-handed two foot leaner. Of course, I also missed a second lay-up when I took off a little too early and ended up just a WEE bit short of the rim, and another fantastic back-door opportunity where I simply got nervous, shot the ball too quickly and missed. I'm just not accustomed to being that deep in the paint these days. I prefer to live out in "the 'burbs," where the buckets are all worth 50% more and there's a lot less chance of getting mugged.

Also made two very impressive steals out on the open floor, hauled in my usual share of defensive rebounds, and made half-a-dozen assists...including a textbook pick-and-roll play which was truly a thing of beauty, and under normal circumstances would have made my whole evening feel worthwhile all by itself. But this time of year is always tricky. None of us are really in "game shape" yet (although there are a few hardy souls who have been playing all summer long, and thus are a little ahead of the rest of us). And I've heard rumors that there have also already been two serious injuries in the Over 45 game I used to play in regularly last year on Sunday evenings, which I simply haven't been able to get to yet. One is just a sprained ankle, which should have him back in a month or so. The other is a torn Achilles tendon, which is a season (and probably a "career") -ending injury. A cautionary tale for us old guys who insist on banging our bodies around every week like we were still in our twenties. But as you well know if you share that insanity, once you've been bitten it's hard to give it up.....