What is the best steal in Celtics playoff history?

[Kiorrik]

I'd go for either Larry or Havlicek, most likely Larry, if it wasn't for my Rondo fan-dom.

So, yeh, I'm that 1 Rondo vote. Totally biased. Live with it :p

[Bent]

Number 8 is a little embarrassing now (this was written in 2005), but here you go...

10. Emmette Bryant v. Lakers. NBA Finals 1969. Emmette Bryant only played 2 seasons with the Celtics, but made one of the biggest plays during the 1969 finals. Bryant's steal with the C's down one with seven seconds left, would give Sam Jones a chance to even up the series at two (see above). Bryant's son, Mark would go on to play for the Celtics in 2003 and his grandson Kobe would become a Laker. (Not really).

9. Robert Parish v Lakers. NBA Finals 1984. The Chief came up with a huge steal in game two after Scott Wedman's jumper with 14 seconds to go in overtime had given Boston a 122-121 lead. Incredibly, this wasn't even the biggest steal of the game, though. (See below).

8. Al Jefferson and Gerald Green. At 15 and 18? In consecutive years? Are you kidding me? Hopefully, in years to come, this may be looked upon as even bigger than the 8th biggest steal in franchise history. It makes the list for its "upside".

7. Kenny Anderson v New Jersey. Eastern Conference Finals 2002. The greatest comeback in playoff history was punctuated when, seconds after the Celtics took the lead back for the first time Anderson made a steal and went coast to coast for a (goaltended) lay-up. The roof almost lifted off the fleetcenter and Paul Pierce would soon be back up on that scorer's table. Kenny actually had it pretty easy as Kerry Kittles threw the ball to no-one in the backcourt. Somewhere, Kittles is going to be on the top ten list for worst passes in Nets history.

6. M.L. Carr v Lakers, NBA Finals, 1984. Another classic overtime game was clinched when M.L. Carr stole James Worthy's inbounds pass with six seconds to go and dunked to clinch a 129-125 win. Larry Bird had just given the Celtics a lead with a turnaround jumper over Magic.

5. Milt Palacio v Nets, 2000. Down two, Nets ball at half-court, under two seconds remaining. How the Nets managed to lose this game is anyone's guess. The inbounds pass was stolen by Palacio, who managed to launch a 30-footer just before the buzzer. Amazingly, it went in and gave the Celtics an implausible 112-111 victory. This was the highlight of Palacio's short-lived Celtics career and probably his NBA career as a whole. Sadly, it was probably the highlight of the Rick Pitino era too. (And yes, it probably should have been in the buzzer beaters list, but I had more to work with there).

4. Gerald Henderson v Lakers, NBA Finals 1984. Another guard whose signature moment was a game-saving steal was Gerald Henderson. Another James Worthy assist, as Henderson ghosted in to tie the game with 13 seconds remaining. Another steal would later preserve the win (see above).

3. Kevin McHale and Robert Parish for Joe Barry Carroll and Rickey Brown. What? I've seen you guys come up with some pretty terrible trade ideas, but what on earth were the Warriors smoking when they agreed to this deal?

2. John Havlicek v Sixers, Eastern Division Playoff, 1965. Game Seven and up one, Bill Russell had just made an uncharacteristic mental error to give the Sixers a chance to win with five seconds left. Guess what? Hondo had his back and his leaping pick-off gave Johnny Most the chance to shine brighter than ever.

1. Larry Bird v Pistons, Eastern Conference Finals, 1987. Best play I have ever seen. Full stop (that means "period" where I'm from). The game (which even without this finish was a classic) was over and the Pistons had won. I still can't believe how Larry appeared in a puff of smoke to pick off Isiah's pass and feed it to a cutting D.J. for the game winner with one second left. Everything about this play is perfect, from the reaction of the crowd (including some who were on their way out of the building) to the reaction of the Pistons players. I must have watched it a thousand times and I've never seen anything in sport as exciting.

http://celticsblog2.blogspot.com/2005/08/top-ten-of-everything-by-bent.html

[butterbeanlove]

Man, I was torn...  But I voted for Gerald's.  That game (and series) was like no other (outside of the '81 EC Finals).  The momentum of that play killed the Laker's spirit and Magic was greatly affected by that one singular moment...

But Bird's steal is a CLOSE 2nd...

TP for you... I saw that ESPN show and was freaking out the longer they counted down and gave short shrift to Gerald... I was like, is it going to be the biggest of all time, or are they going to stiff him altogether?

1984 was my first C's championship, so that helped, but I still don't see anything coming close.

[Q_FBE]

Charlie Scott made a critical steal in Game 6 of the 1976 Eastern Conference Finals vs Cleveland to go up by four minutes with under two minutes left of a hotly contested series.

Deserves a mention.

[Hoops]

Great topic. By far, Henderson.

Not to take anything away from Bird's steal, but the C's ended up losing in the next round.

When Henderson stole the ball, we were looking at being down 2-0 at home and going to L.A. for the next two games. In short, no Henderston steal, no 1984 title.

I can't believe this is even debatable.

I'm not so clear on Hondo's steal other than Russ threw the ball off the guide wire on the previous play so he bailed him out and sealed the win.

Henderson stealing the ball was the biggest steal of the last 30 years.

A fairly compelling argument, but I still think it's second to Bird's steal. Henderson's steal came with 10+ seconds left - if he misses the steal, there's still time to make another play on the ball; Bird's came with less than 3 seconds left - no steal, no victory. Henderson's steal led to an easy layup that only tied the game; Bird's steal was coupled with a difficult pass that led to a game winning lay-up.

Henderson's steal may have had a bigger historical impact, but in the moment, the stakes couldn't have been higher nor the impact greater than Bird's steal.

[tenn_smoothie]

my vote is for Gerald Henderson - Game 2 1984 Finals vs Lakers

why ? 

unlike the others, that play was made in the finals and led directly to a win that led to a title. without that steal, the celts probably lose that series.

Havlicek's steal is my 2nd because it wins a huge game in the playoffs that helped the Celts win another title.

Bird's steal was probably the best play of the bunch because all hope was lost in that game just 2 seconds prior to Bird's play ....... and for him to hang in there and then step in from nowhere to steal the ball off the hands of (sorry to saay) another hall-of-fame player was amazing. but we didn't win the title that year - that fact takes just a little shine off the win - but i hated those Pistons so much, thank god for Larry.

here's hoping that Rondo's steal contributes to another title - it was a great play and helped win a very important game in a series in which the Celts were decided underdogs going in. let's win game 7 tonite and put that steal in special place in Celtics history.