{"id":16697,"date":"2018-12-05T17:10:03","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T17:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/?p=16697"},"modified":"2018-12-25T17:10:31","modified_gmt":"2018-12-25T17:10:31","slug":"the-don-nelson-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/the-don-nelson-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"The Don Nelson Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Written\u00a0By:\u00a0\u00a0Michael\u00a0D.\u00a0McClellan<\/strong> | Don Nelson is enshrined in the Hall of Fame as a coach, and rightly so; the winner of 1,335 NBA games sits alone atop the list of all-time great coaches, collecting more Ws than legends like Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, and Greg Popovich. He wins the NBA Coach of the Year Award three times, conjures the point forward into basketball lexicon, and introduces the world to \u201cNellieball,\u201d an alien concept during the NBA\u2019s center-centric \u201980s but all the rage in the small-ball world we live in today. At Golden State, he mixes his small lineup with a run-and-gun attack, emerging from his laboratory with something the press dubs \u201cRun TMC\u201d and leading the Warriors to a 23-game turnaround from the previous season. Yes, Don Nelson\u2014\u201cNellie\u201d to the basketball world\u2014should be in the Hall of Fame as a coach. But lost amid the coaching savant narrative is a baller who wins five NBA championships, three with Bill Russell and two with Dave Cowens, and whose leprechaun-aided jumper crushes the Lakers hopes and helps Russell walk away a champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surprisingly, a young Don Nelson nearly bypasses a playing career altogether, setting his sights on coaching long before taking that first gig with the Milwaukee Bucks in \u201976. Who knows how many wins he would have racked up had he decided not to play in the NBA. But then again, Nelson, who joins the Celtics in 1965, would have never played for (and learned from) one of the game\u2019s greatest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRed wanted to speed up the pace and dictate how the game was going to be played,\u201d Nellie says. \u201cWe spent countless hours practicing it in the gym. He would drill into our heads why the fast break was so important, reiterating the mechanics that made it successful . . . the rebound, the outlet pass, the finish. It was my first year on the team and Red\u2019s last as coach. For me, it was a master class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in Muskegon, Michigan, Nelson gets his first taste of hoops on his family\u2019s Illinois hog farm. Nelson\u2019s family loses the farm when he\u2019s in the sixth grade, and his father takes a shop job in the farm implement industry. They move to Rock Island, Illinois, and it\u2019s here that Nelson begins spending time at the local YMCA, learning to play the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI went out for my seventh-grade team and got hooked on basketball,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I was a sophomore at Rock Island High School, the head coach thought that I was good enough for the varsity team. I sat on the end of the bench my first year. I started as a junior, and the next year I made All-State.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His success gets him noticed. He ultimately signs with Iowa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIowa\u2019s head coach, Bucky O\u2019Connor, recruited me. I signed a letter of intent, and then Bucky was killed later that summer in a tragic automobile accident. Sharm Sherman was appointed head coach. He came down to Rock Island and watched our games, so he knew what he was getting. It made for a natural transition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Iowa, Nelson scores 1,522 points and averages 21.2 points-per-game from 1960\u201362, leading the team in scoring and rebounding all three seasons. He\u2019s named first-team All-Big Ten and second-team All-American as a senior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomebody at the University of Iowa knew somebody who worked for the Chicago Zephyrs, and they asked if I wanted to play pro ball,\u201d Nellie says. \u201cI was actually going to be Sharm\u2019s assistant coach, but that conversation got me headed in another direction. I figured I could always fall back on coaching if a playing career didn\u2019t work out. I was drafted in the third round that year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Zephyrs begin NBA play in \u201961 as the Chicago Packers, the nickname a nod to the city\u2019s meatpacking industry. (Today the team is known as the Washington Wizards.) After one season in Chicago, Nelson is acquired by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1963, starting out on the other side of the NBA\u2019s greatest rivalry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI only played one full season for the Lakers, before I was waived midway through the 1964\u201365 season. That\u2019s how Boston picked me up. I was a backup that first year with the Lakers. We ended having a bunch of injuries\u2014Elgin got hurt in the playoffs, and Jerry West averaged 44 points to get us to the Finals. Boston killed us. The next year I got waived because the Lakers had this hotshot draft pick named John Fairchild. I remember he had a really good exhibition game, and the next day they waived me and kept him. Ironically, Fairchild never made it in the NBA, and I went on to have a pretty good career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lakers waive Nelson 39 games into the 1964\u201365 campaign. The reserve forward is averaging a paltry 2.4 points and 1.9 rebounds. He figures his NBA experiment is over.
\u201cIn those days I didn\u2019t have an agent, and I didn\u2019t know if any other teams even had my number,\u201d Nellie says. \u201cI was home for a couple of weeks when I got a call from Red, who was looking for a player. They\u2019d drafted Ronnie Watts from Wake Forest, but he didn\u2019t pan out the way that they\u2019d hoped, so they were looking for a guy who could play. It was either going to be Jackie Moreland or me from the Detroit Pistons. They chose me, and to this day I don\u2019t know why. It only cost the Celtics $1,000 bucks. I flew into Boston, but the season had already started, and the team was on a road trip. I signed my contract and then I went to my hotel room and waited for four days. I listened to them on the radio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nelson averages 10.2 points and 5.4 rebounds while appearing in 75 games during the 1965\u201366 season, Auerbach\u2019s last as head coach. In the 1966 NBA Finals, the Celtics beat the Lakers 4\u20133, sweet revenge for a player the Lakers deemed expendable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was my first championship, so it was special,\u201d he says coyly. \u201cI\u2019ll just leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next several seasons, Nelson continues his role as valued bench contributor. \u201cRed started the Sixth Man trend with Frank Ramsey. John Havlicek was the Sixth Man when I got there. A few years later they moved him into the starting lineup, and that\u2019s when I became the Sixth Man. It\u2019s a role I played for about six years, and then somebody else took my place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Celtics\u2019 streak of eight consecutive championships comes to an end in 1967, but the team rebounds to win again in \u201968. A year later, an aging Bill Russell carries Boston back to the Finals, where they face Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and the heavily favored Lakers. The series is deadlocked after six games, Game 7 in Los Angeles. Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke orders purple and gold balloons harnessed at the top of the Forum, to be set free as soon as the last second drain from the clock and an entire city exorcises the Ghosts of Celtics Past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shot that beats the Lakers that night leaves Nelson\u2019s hands from the foul line, hits the back of the rim and bounces straight up, an impossibly high trajectory for a midrange jumper. It hangs in the air for what seems like days, before falling through the basket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot has been written about that game,\u201d Nellie says. \u201cI hit the lucky shot that probably won the championship\u2014I shot it so poorly that it hit the back of the rim and it went way up in the air, and it came down and went straight through the basket. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, because Havlicek was dribbling the ball and had it poked out of his hands. It came straight to me. We were up a point when that shot dropped, so that basket definitely helped us hang on to win that game. The Lakers didn\u2019t release those balloons. They\u2019re probably still up there today [laughs].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bill Russell and Sam Jones walk away after that championship, and Auerbach hires Tom Heinsohn to lead the rebuilding process. Jo Jo White arrives via the 1969 NBA Draft, and a year later Dave Cowens is selected out of Florida State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRed Auerbach drafted a great player that year in Dave Cowens, but at the time we really didn\u2019t know what we had,\u201d Nellie says. \u201cI met Dave early that summer after he\u2019d been drafted. He came to Boston to get comfortable with the city . . . We\u2019d go to the YMCA every day and work out. I could tell how good he was going to be, but at that time he was a rookie and didn\u2019t know a lot. We played one-on-one all the time, and he couldn\u2019t beat me, no matter how hard he tried. Two months later I couldn\u2019t beat him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a nucleus of Cowens, White, and Havlicek, and with Nelson providing valuable minutes off the bench, the Celtics return to win the 1974 NBA Championship, beating the Milwaukee Bucks in seven games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTommy Heinsohn made a key strategic decision at the beginning of that series,\u201d Nellie says. \u201cTommy wanted to use Oscar\u2019s age to our advantage. He decided that we were going to press Oscar full court and try to wear him out over the course of the series. The press would make it harder for him to bring the ball up the court, and the Bucks would have to start their offense deeper in the shot clock\u2014which meant they couldn\u2019t get the ball into Kareem\u2019s hands as easily. We picked him up full court using Don Chaney or anybody else we had. We ended up beating them in Milwaukee, which was my first title without Bill Russell. It was a pretty special moment for me because I was part of a completely new group of champions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years later the Celtics win it all again, defeating Phoenix to claim the team\u2019s 13th banner. The series will forever be remembered for Game 5 in Boston Garden, a triple-overtime affair that ranks as one of the best games ever played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat game had everything. The Boston Garden was so hot that Tommy Heinsohn had an episode with his blood pressure. We jumped to an early 20 point lead, but the Suns came back and forced overtime. That\u2019s when Paul Silas called a timeout that we didn\u2019t have. Referee Richie Powers was supposed to call a technical foul on that play. If that technical had been called, Phoenix would\u2019ve had a foul shot to win the game. Everybody on the Suns\u2019 sideline was pissed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had a three-point lead with 15 seconds left in the second overtime, but Dick Van Arsdale scored a bucket, then Paul Westphal made a steal, and Curtis Perry followed his own miss to score a basket and put Phoenix up by one point. With four seconds left, Havlicek dribbled down the left sideline, made his cut, and hit a 15-foot bank shot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone thought the game was over because the shot was at the buzzer. Hundreds of people stormed the court to celebrate. The referees ruled that one second remained on the clock. Eventually, the court was cleared, and that\u2019s when Westphal called the timeout that the Suns didn\u2019t have. We were up by a point, and while the foul shot gave us a two-point lead, it also allowed the Suns to inbound the basketball at half court. That\u2019s when they designed a last-second play for Garfield Heard, who made a jump shot over me at the top of the key. It was a little out of his range, but he made it anyway and put us into triple overtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGlenn McDonald rarely played for us that season, but because of all of the foul trouble he had to play big minutes in the third overtime. He responded by scoring six points to help us secure the win. It was without a doubt the craziest game that I ever played in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nelson retires following that \u201976 championship, his fifth with the team, and dives headlong into coaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI learned everything that I knew about coaching from Red Auerbach,\u201d Nellie says. \u201cNot only did I play for him, we struck up a friendship, and he became a close personal friend. Before every home game I would have my pregame meal in downtown Boston, and then I would show up at the Garden early and talk basketball with Red for an hour. I learned so much just listening to him\u2014how he handled the players, his coaching philosophy, things like that\u2014and I basically adopted most of what he imparted. Over time I added a few my own wrinkles, and I ended up becoming a pretty decent coach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Nelson\u2019s genius is unquestioned, he\u2019s quick to remind us that it\u2019s Auerbach who was ahead of his time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople call me a genius and I cringe,\u201d he says. \u201cRed used to play the smalls against the bigs in practice to get everyone fired up. When we played full court games, the bigs never won. They were ineffective because they couldn\u2019t handle the basketball, and that gave the smalls an advantage. When we played half court, it worked out the other way. The smalls couldn\u2019t stop the bigs. I think I get more credit than I deserve about a lot of things. I don\u2019t think of myself as a coaching genius. All I did was use a small lineup with a team that didn\u2019t have very good big men, and I was very successful with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he doesn\u2019t win an NBA crown as a head coach, Nelson strikes gold at the 1994 FIBA World Championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was the hardest thing I ever did as a coach because the Dream Team had just won the gold medal in the 1992 Olympics. I was coaching Dream Team 2. The criticism came if we didn\u2019t win by 20 points every time out, so it wasn\u2019t just about winning the gold medal. It\u2019s a good experience to look back on, but it was a tough one to go through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nelson retires in 2010, his coaching career capped by those 1,335 wins and three Coach of the Year trophies. His r\u00e9sum\u00e9 might not include an NBA championship, but he could care less. His only regret is not pursuing the Celtics head coaching job when Bill Fitch is fired, which ends up going to K. C. Jones instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt a loyalty to the Milwaukee Bucks because they had been so good to me,\u201d Nellie says. \u201cLooking back, who knows, maybe I should have been more willing to make that break and pursue the Celtics job. But I have no complaints with the way things worked out. If you write my epitaph, I would be very happy if you just said that Don Nelson was a good guy and a pretty good coach.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written\u00a0By:\u00a0\u00a0Michael\u00a0D.\u00a0McClellan | Don Nelson is enshrined in the Hall of Fame as a coach, and rightly so; the winner of 1,335 NBA games sits alone atop the list of all-time great coaches, collecting more Ws than legends like Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, and Greg Popovich. He wins the NBA Coach of the Year Award three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","iawp_total_views":16,"footnotes":""},"categories":[774,773,775],"tags":[782],"class_list":["post-16697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celtics-dynasty","category-featured-interview","category-team-green","tag-don-nelson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}