The Robert Parish Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Wednesday, May 11th, 2005
Just like that, the Big Three was born.
Parish arrived in Boston excited and rejuvenated, yet understandably unsure as to his place on the team. With an aging Dave Cowens penciled in as the starter, Parish figured that he would learn from one of the best while contributing off of the bench. Cowens’ abrupt retirement changed all of that. Thrust into the starting lineup alongside Bird and Maxwell, Parish responded by averaging 18.9 ppg and 9.5 rpg and earning his first All-Star Game appearance. The best, however, was yet to come: With taskmaster Bill Fitch pushing his young charges, the Celtics steamrolled to a 62-20 record and a date with the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals. In an historic series, the Sixers – led by the nonpareil Julius Erving – forged a seemingly insurmountable 3-1 series lead. Yet the Celtics were able to fight their way back, winning three consecutive nail biters to advance.
Boston then dispatched Moses Malone and the Houston Rockets in the 1981 NBA Finals, 4-2, winning the team's 14th championship. And while the NBA's most storied franchise found itself in the midst of a glorious rebirth, Parish found his deeds celebrated in a very special way by the Boston Garden faithful: Mistaken early on by television announcers as lustful boos, it soon became clear that the chants raining down on the fabled parquet floor were actually that of "Chief! Chief!” Suddenly, Parish was a fan favorite.
“I pinned that one on him,” Maxwell said, when asked about Parish’s moniker during a recent Celtic Nation interview. It is a story he has recounted many times over the years. “I saw the Jack Nicholson movie ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and I instantly thought of Robert as Chief Bromden [laughs]. Bromden was this silent, towering and dignified patient who was committed to the same mental ward visited by Nicholson’s character. As I got to know Robert I couldn’t help but pin that nickname on him. He was a man of few words, so it really seemed to fit.”
Parish continued to blossom during the 1981-82 season, one in which he earned a spot on the All-NBA Second Team and finished with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting in the 1982 NBA All-Star Game. He was also 20th in the league in scoring (19.9 ppg) and eighth in rebounding (10.8 rpg), numbers that spoke loudly to his arrival as one of the league’s elite. A Game 7 loss to the Sixers in the Eastern Conference Finals left Parish disappointed, however, and things would only get worse with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1983 NBA Playoffs. With the team clearly floundering Auerbach responded with two shrewd moves: He named KC Jones as the team's head coach, and he traded for defensive stopper Dennis Johnson. The Celtics responded, winning the 1984 NBA Championship in thrilling fashion. It was Celtics versus Lakers, East Coast meets West Coast, Bird against Magic. No Finals before or since has equaled its hype. None has been as fun to watch.
“It was special,” concurred Maxwell. Everybody was watching Bird and Magic, but there was some great stuff going on between Robert and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar]. Awesome and unbelievable. Great series. We came out on top, and that was the best part.”
Los Angeles had its revenge a year later, beating the Celtics in six games. It was a bitter pill to swallow, especially for a Boston team that had stormed to a 63-19 regular season record, tops in the league. Parish averaged 17.6 ppg and 10.6 rpg, but found himself physically drained from the outset of the 1985 NBA Finals. Auerbach responded by swinging a major deal during the offseason, trading the popular Maxwell for Bill Walton, a former superstar center who had struggled to stay healthy in recent years. The gamble paid off as the Celtics won it all again in 1986, storming to a 67-15 record and a six-game pounding of the Rockets in the Finals. Many still believe that this was the single greatest team in NBA history.
The Celtics began a slow descent following that championship season, touched off by the tragic death of Len Bias just two days after the 1986 NBA Draft. An All-Star for the seventh consecutive year in 1986-87, Parish contributed 17.5 ppg and 10.6 rpg per game in his 11th season, which included his lone career triple-double, recorded on March 29 against the Philadelphia 76ers. Parish hobbled through much of the 1987 NBA Playoffs, missing a second-round game against Milwaukee and repeatedly willing himself up the court against the young, hungry Detroit Pistons. That series remains best-known for Bird’s last-second steal of Isiah Thomas’ inbounds pass, but few can forget the sight of a courageous Robert Parish limping into battle. The Celtics, weary and injured, competed valiantly but were unable to beat the hated Lakers in the Finals.
By the 1990s, Boston was a solid playoff team but hardly a championship contender. Bird’s back was so bad that he often lay prone on the floor when not in action. McHale had become a shell of his former self. Both were in retirement by 1993, the same year that superstar mantle was to be passed to Reggie Lewis. Sadly, Lewis died of a heart attack while shooting baskets at Brandeis College later that summer.
Despite a series of years marked by tragic loss and inevitable departure, Parish remained a significant and viable piece of the Boston Celtic rebuilding process. At the age of 40, he averaged 11.7 ppg and 7.3 rpg, and in an late-season game against Chicago, he logged 51 minutes in a 104-94 overtime Celtics win over Michael Jordan and the defending champion Bulls.
His next two seasons were spent as a reserve with the Charlotte Hornets, where he became the NBA's all-time leader in games played, passing Abdul-Jabbar's total of 1,560 on April 6, 1996 at Cleveland. He spent a final season in Chicago, winning a fourth NBA championship and walking away with a boatload of records and awards. Among them: Most seasons played all-time (21); most games played all-time (1,611); most offensive rebounds in the NBA Playoffs (571); and most defensive rebounds all-time (10,117). In 1996, Parish was also recognized as one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players of All-Time. On September 5th, 2003, Parish was given basketball’s highest honor, induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Celtic Nation is honored to bring you this interview.