Havlicek stole the ball!

[rutzan]

Anyone here see all three:

1965 - Havlicek stole the ball
1984 - Henderson stole the ball
1987 - Larry stole the ball

In person and/or on tv when it originally happened

[Roy H.]

Don't forget Rondo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdMPSYtQeIQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkkmOb8wCJY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ui-iLWBugI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3-nY2xU07c&feature=related

[Redz]

Anyone here see all three:

1965 - Havlicek stole the ball
1984 - Henderson stole the ball
1987 - Larry stole the ball

In person and/or on tv

Saw the last two on TV live.  Wasn't born for the other, but I had the Havlicek Stole the Ball vinyl record pretty much memorized from about as early as I can remember.

[rutzan]

we used to have the vinyl album...that's the one with the white cover isn't it...wish i still had it!

[rutzan]

did you see tommy called the steal before henderson stole the ball

[GrandTheftRondo]

Don't forget Rondo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3-nY2xU07c&feature=related

The play where I got my username from lol

[Redz]

we used to have the vinyl album...that's the one with the white cover isn't it...wish i still had it!

still have mine 

They actually released those on Cd a few years ago.

[Bent]

Maybe it's time I updated my list (from http://www.celticsblog2.blogspot.com/2005/08/top-ten-of-everything-by-bent.html):

The Top Ten Steals in Boston Celtics History

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.

I think number 8 needs rethinking