D.J. - R.I.P.
From the Boston Globe:He was the guy who would miss 11 straight shots, then come down the court with everything on the line and drill the game-winner without blinking.That's how I will remember Dennis Johnson, the freckle-faced bulldog who joined the Celtics in 1983 and was a pivotal member of the 1984 and '86 championship teams. DJ's role was often diminished amid the long shadows of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish, yet he was the one Bird singled out as "the best teammate I've ever played with."Johnson collapsed and died yesterday in Austin, Texas, where he was the coach of the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League. He was 52 years old, too young to have his life cut so terribly short.
posted by PSA+ at 08:08
2 Comments:
I was a high school student in southern MA when DJ, Bird and the others were winning their championships. I remember working as a busboy in a banquet hall, and we would be gathered around a little TV in the kitchen watching the playoff games in between meal courses. And men sitting around in these wedding receptions or whatever would pull us aside and ask for a score update. Good times.
The '83 - '86 Celtics run coincided with high school for me. The NBA is a pitiful product now when compared to the quality of play then. I firmly believe that - besides being more fun to watch - either the Celtics or Lakers of that era, or even the Sixers of the early '80s would thoroughly stomp the best teams of the last several years.
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