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Injuries gave Gamble an
opportunity to show his stuff, but, after only nine games, players such as
veteran John Paxson and first round pick Ronnie Murphy were working their
way back into the equation. Gamble suddenly found himself caught in a
numbers game. He was released, setting off a nomadic wandering from which
few NBA castoffs return: There was a full season spent toiling in the CBA,
followed by an invitation to the Detroit Pistons’ rookie camp the following
summer, followed by a training camp tryout with the Milwaukee Bucks later
that fall. Neither the Pistons nor the Bucks felt that Gamble fit. Gamble
then played in the Philippines for a month, before returning to start his
second stint in the CBA. It was beginning to look as if his NBA dream would
end at nine game with the Trailblazers, if not for his dominating, 12-game
stint with Quad Cities. Scouts from several NBA teams took notice,
including the Boston Celtics, a team loaded with All-Star talent and the one
Gamble least expected to hear from.
Ironically, an injury to Larry
Bird gave Gamble his big break. The Celtics called and offered him a job,
and this time Gamble was determined to stick. Few expected him to last
through the season, especially on a team populated with hall-of-fame talent
such as Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, as well as players such as
Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge, Reggie Lewis and Brian Shaw. Gamble played
sparingly the first few months after signing his contract, and it looked
like the Celtics would expose him to Orlando and Minnesota in the expansion
draft at season’s end. That all changed with a strong, seven minute
performance in a road win over Philadelphia. Gamble played tenacious D, and
delivered several key plays down the stretch to secure the victory.
While that performance may have
won the favor of his teammates, his play over the final six games of the
regular season impressed the one who mattered most – head coach Jimmy
Rodgers. With starter Dennis Johnson out during that span, Rodgers trusted
Gamble to step in and contribute. Gamble played magnificently. With
Johnson back for the playoffs, Rodgers was able to bring the battle-tested
Gamble off of the bench. Gamble played well until going down with a groin
injury, but the Celtics were swept in the first round by Dennis Rodman and
the Bad Boys of Detroit. It was a bitter disappointment, but Gamble get it
all in perspective. He understood that he could have been playing in Europe
– or out of basketball altogether. Instead, the player who appeared
destined for the expansion draft was suddenly a big part of the Celtics’
future. Kevin Gamble had arrived.
Gamble played in 71 games the
following season, averaging 5.1 points in 13.9 minutes-per-game. The
Celtics entered the playoffs as an aging and injured team, but many of its
fans refused to believe that its beloved Big Three – the heart and soul
behind three championships during the 1980s – would suffer another early
post-season exit. Facing the New York Knicks in the opening round, Boston
jumped to a quick 2-0 series lead. The high-water mark was Game 2, a
157-128 pasting that positioned the Celtics for another playoff run. Two
tough losses in New York brought the series back to Boston for a
winner-take-all battle. Gamble, as well as everyone else on the team, fully
expected to close out the Knicks in the Garden and move on to the second
round. A shocking Game 5 loss (121-114) doomed the Celtics in the first
round for the second consecutive season. Rodgers was fired, paving the way
for Chris Ford. The Celtics, so dominant for so long, found themselves
slipping further toward mediocrity. Gamble, for his part, entered the
offseason determined to help reverse the team’s course.
1990-91 proved to be Gamble’s
breakout year. He played in all 82 games, averaged 15.6 points (fourth on
the team, behind Bird, Lewis and McHale), and helped the Celtics to a 56-26
record and a return to first place in the Atlantic Division. The Celtics
were again faced with a Game 5 in the opening round, this time against
Reggie Miller and Indiana Pacers. It was a classic series, one in which
Bird and Indiana’s Chuck Person went at each other with long-range bombs and
biting verbal jabs. It was also perhaps Bird’s last great moment, as he
returned to the game after suffering a concussion, stoking the crowd and
willing his team to victory. Gamble, who had often watched Bird on TV, came
away from that performance in awe.
“Larry wasn’t going out in the
first round again,” he says, smiling at the recollection. “We knew he was
coming back out there, and that he was going to play big, but it was just an
incredible moment to see him walk back out of that tunnel. The place went
crazy, and we were able to beat the Pacers and move on. Unfortunately, we
lost to the Pistons in the next round.”
Gamble played in all 82 games
the next season, but the Celtics were eliminated by the Cavaliers in the
second round of the playoffs. Bird retired over the summer, and Boston
entered the 1992-93 season with Parish and McHale playing well beyond their
All-Star years. Facing the upstart Charlotte Hornets in the opening round
of the playoffs, the Celtics succumbed quietly, 3-1. The series is best
remembered for Reggie Lewis’ strange collapse in Game 2. Replays showed
Lewis clutching his chest, as if unable to catch his breath. A team of
cardiologists would later diagnose Lewis with a rare heart ailment, urging
him to retire immediately from professional basketball. Two months later
Lewis was dead, collapsing while shooting baskets at Brandeis University.
“An unbelievable loss,” Gamble
says. “Devastating to the team, to the community, and to his family.
Reggie Lewis was just a tremendous person.”
Gamble would play one more
season in a Celtic uniform, before stints with the Miami Heat and Sacramento
Kings. He would retire following the 1996-97 regular season, having played
ten seasons in a league that didn’t want to give him a chance. In beating
the odds, Gamble proved that hard work and dedication can go a long way
toward big time success. He remains forever grateful to the Celtics for
taking a chance on him, when everyone else had their doubts.
"I'll always be a Boston Celtic," Gamble says. "There were so many great
times. So many great players. It was just an honor to be a part of that
great tradition – it’s something that I’ll never forget.”
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