1986–87 Boston Celtics season

1986–87 Boston Celtics season
Eastern Conference Champions
Head coach K. C. Jones
Owner(s) Don Gaston, Alan Cohen, Paul Dupee
Arena Boston Garden
Hartford Civic Center
Results
Record 59–23 (.720)
Place Division: 1st (Atlantic)
Conference: 1st (Eastern)
Playoff finish NBA Finals(Eliminated 2–4)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television SportsChannel New England, WLVI, WTXX
Radio WRKO, WTIC
Boston Celtics seasons
< 1985–86 1987–88 >

Contents

Offseason

NBA Draft

Thanks to the 1984 trade of Gerald Henderson and the subsequent fall of the Seattle SuperSonics, at the end of the 1985-86 the Celtics owned not only the best team in the NBA but also the second pick in the 1986 NBA Draft. The Celtics drafted Len Bias with the pick and had high hopes for the young University of Maryland star. Fans believed Bias had superstar potential, and that he would be the perfect complement to the aging, but still strong, Celtics. The hope was that his presence would ensure that the franchise would remain a powerhouse after Bird, McHale and Parish retired. Unfortunately, Bias died 48 hours after he was drafted, after using cocaine at a party and overdosing. It would be the first in a long string of bad luck for the Celtics.

Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club Team
1 2 Len Bias Forward  United States Maryland
4 93 Tony Bedford N/A  United States Texas Tech
5 116 Dave Colbert N/A  United States Dayton
6 139 Greg Wendt N/A  United States Detroit
7 162 Tom Ivey N/A  United States Boston

Regular season

Season standings

Atlantic Division W L PCT GB Home Road Div
y-Boston Celtics 59 23 .720 – 39–2 20–21 15–9
x-Philadelphia 76ers 45 37 .549 14 28–13 17–24 12–12
x-Washington Bullets 42 40 .512 17 27–14 15–26 13–11
New Jersey Nets 24 58 .293 35 19–22 5–36 12–12
New York Knicks 24 58 .293 35 18–23 6–35 8–16

Game Log

1986-87 Game Log
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
1986-87 Schedule

Roster

Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight DOB (Y–M–D) From
G/F 44 Ainge, Danny 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1959–03–17 Brigham Young
F 33 Bird, Larry (C) 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1956–12–07 Indiana State University*
G 34 Carlisle, Rick 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1959–10–27 Virginia
G/F 20 Daye, Darren 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1960–11–30 UCLA
G 43 Henry, Conner 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1963–07–21 UC Santa Barbara
G 3 Johnson, Dennis 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1954–09–18 Pepperdine
C 50 Kite, Greg 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1961–08–05 Brigham Young
F/C 32 McHale, Kevin 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1957–12–19 Minnesota
C 00 Parish, Robert 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1953–08–30 Centenary College of Louisiana*
F/C 31 Roberts, Fred 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 218 lb (99 kg) 1960–08–10 Brigham Young
G 12 Sichting, Jerry 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 168 lb (76 kg) 1956–11–29 Purdue
F 45 Thirdkill, David (waived) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1960–04–12 Bradley
G 7 Turner, Andre (waived) 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 160 lb (73 kg) 1964–12–13 Memphis
G 11 Vincent, Sam 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1963–05–18 Michigan State
C 5 Walton, Bill 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1952–11–05 UCLA
G 8 Wedman, Scott 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1952–07–29 Colorado
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured
  • * High school

Roster

[1]

Depth chart

Pos. Starter Bench Reserve Inactive
C Robert Parish Greg Kite
Bill Walton
PF Kevin McHale Fred Roberts
SF Larry Bird Darren Daye Scott Wedman
SG Danny Ainge Conner Henry Rick Carlisle
PG Dennis Johnson Jerry Sichting Sam Vincent

Player stats

Note: GP= Games played; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points; AVG = Scoring Average

Player GP REB AST STL BLK PTS AVG
Larry Bird 74 682 566 135 70 2076 28.1
Kevin McHale 77 763 198 38 172 2008 26.1
Robert Parish 80 851 173 64 144 1403 17.5
Dennis Johnson 79 261 594 87 38 1062 13.4
Danny Ainge 71 242 400 101 14 1053 14.8
Jerry Sichting 78 91 187 40 1 448 5.7
Fred Roberts 73 190 62 22 20 402 5.5
Darren Daye 61 124 75 25 7 236 3.9
Sam Vincent 46 27 59 13 1 171 3.7
Greg Kite 74 169 27 17 46 123 1.7
Conner Henry 36 27 27 6 1 98 2.7
Rick Carlisle 42 30 35 8 0 80 1.9
Bill Walton 10 31 9 1 10 28 2.8
David Thirdkill 17 19 2 2 0 25 1.5
Scott Wedman 6 9 6 2 2 20 3.3
Andre Turner 3 2 1 0 0 4 1.3

Playoffs

1st Round

(1) Boston Celtics vs. (8) Chicago Bulls: Celtics win series 3-0

Conference Semifinals

(1) Boston Celtics vs. (4) Milwaukee Bucks Celtics win series 4-3

Conference finals

(1) Boston Celtics vs. (3) Detroit Pistons Celtics win series 4-3

NBA finals

Main article: 1987 NBA Finals

Despite the loss of Bias, the Celtics remained competitive in 1986-87, going 59-23 and again winning the Eastern Conference Championship. Unfortunately, in the Finals the tired, aging, and injured Celtics ran into perhaps the best Los Angeles Lakers team of the decade. The biggest injury was yet another foot injury for Bill Walton, who only played 10 regular season games in 1986-87 after playing 80 games the year before. Walton fought through the injury, playing 12 games (out of 23) in the playoffs, but was not the same player as he was the year before. McHale, Parish and Ainge were also fighting injuries, forcing reserves Darren Daye and Fred Roberts to play larger roles in the series, which the Celtics would lose 4 games to 2.

(1) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (1) Boston Celtics Lakers win series 4-2

Award winners

References

  1. ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1987.html
1986 NBA Draft • All-Star Game • Playoffs • Finals • Transactions
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00 Parish | 3 Johnson | 5 Walton | 7 Turner | 8 Wedman | 11 Vincent | 12 Sichting | 20 Daye | 32 McHale | 33 Bird | 34 Carlisle | 43 Henry | 44 Ainge | 45 Thirdkill | 50 Kite | Coach Jones