Celtics Fan Heartache

[slightly biased bias fan]

The plight of the modern Boston Celtics fan is very painful.

- Len Bias 1986 death

- Reggie Lewis 1993 death

- Kevin Garnett 2009 knee injury

- Rajon Rondo 2013 ACL tear

- Gordon Hayward 2017 broken leg

- Jayson Tatum 2025 ACL tear

All the Celtic banners have masked the atrocious luck the franchise has had over the last 40 years. I cannot think of an NBA team that has had worse fortune, not attributed to poor management.

[Redz]

I?ve got a hard time putting the injuries on the same list as the deaths. 

[Roy H.]

I?ve got a hard time putting the injuries on the same list as the deaths.

Yeah, I personally agree.  I've got the two deaths as tragedies that defined an era.  And then, the individual injuries that led to missed championships or title contention.

Other title-impacting injuries:

Havlicek 1973
Perk 2010

And, just because they robbed us of one of the most fun teams to watch, the 2011 injuries to Shaq, Jermaine O'Neal and Marquis Daniels.

[jambr380]

I'm going to go ahead and add Larry Bird building his mom a 2-mile long driveway in 1985. Yeah, he had an all-time year the next year and would continue to be very productive, but just imagine Larry without back problems plaguing him in the 2nd half of his career.

[Birdman]

Unfortunately injuries happens to  teams in every sport?

[slightly biased bias fan]

Unfortunately injuries happens to  teams in every sport?

Catastrophic injuries that happened to players in their primes, with no previous history of said injuries.

A good comparison would be Derrick Rose. That was a franchise altering injury to an MVP that had not reached his prime, yet he had a lingering history of lower body injuries because of the torque he put on his body. There was a reason he wore those heavy ankle braces.

All the Celtics injuries were freak occurrences with no previous history and all players were in their physical primes.

[Donoghus]

At least we got the titles in '08 & '24.  The pain would be infinitely worse if we were closing in on 40 years without a title.

But, yeah, it sucks.  A lot of "what ifs" and you can only wonder how many more banners might be up in the rafters.

[Yuckabuck33]

For the record, Red Auerbach's list of bad luck the Celtics experienced included the tragedies of Bias and Lewis and Bird's back.

[snively]

Don't forget Pierce getting stabbed. It didn't affect the team's fortunes, but the news hit hard.

[tenn_smoothie]

I?ve got a hard time putting the injuries on the same list as the deaths.

Yeah, I personally agree.  I've got the two deaths as tragedies that defined an era.  And then, the individual injuries that led to missed championships or title contention.

Other title-impacting injuries:

Havlicek 1973
Perk 2010

And, just because they robbed us of one of the most fun teams to watch, the 2011 injuries to Shaq, Jermaine O'Neal and Marquis Daniels.

Excellent list. That '73 ECF loss to the Knicks remains in my top 3 of all-time most painful Celtic losses.
I blame Danny for 2011. The Perk trade was a mistake. Danny wanted to trade muscle for athleticism to keep up with Miami when interior muscle was the one advantage we had over the other contenders that season. And that group was close, hungry and motivated by what happened in 2010.

Add in hiring Pitino, the Kyrie acquisition along with the Ime debacle.
No other franchise is even close to our misfortune.
I often make a comparison of the Bias/Lewis tragedies by asking, what if the Lakers lost Worthy and Byron Scott the same way ? And Scott was not Reggie's equal and Bias may have been a league MVP level talent.
Celts really have not been the same since we lost those two, both genius acquisitions by Red to continue the dynasty.