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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.
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