1990–91 Boston Celtics season

1990–91 Boston Celtics season
Atlantic Division Champions
Head coach Chris Ford
Arena Boston Garden
Hartford Civic Center
Results
Record 56–26 (.683)
Place Division: 1st (Atlantic)
Conference: 2nd (Eastern)
Playoff finish East Semifinals
(eliminated 2-4)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television SportsChannel New England, WFXT, WTXX, WTIC-TV
Radio WHDH, WTIC Radio
Boston Celtics seasons
< 1989–90 1991–92 >

The 1990–91 Boston Celtics season was the 45th season of the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After failing to advance past the first round in the two previous seasons, it appeared going into the 90-91 season that the Celtics were fading as NBA title contenders. However, the Celtics burst to a 31-4 start reminicient of their title years of the 1980s and once again established themselves as contenders. Besides general team improvement (and perhaps the chemistry employed by new head coach Chris Ford), the Celtics were helped by the return of 1988 first round draft pick Brian Shaw (who had played in Italy in the 89-90 season). Beginning in January, Larry Bird began to miss significant playing time due to back injuries (Bird would miss 22 regular season games) and the team struggled in his absence. The team limped to the finish, losing 9 of their final 10 games to finish at 56-26 (still good for the Atlantic Division title and #2 seed in the East). In the first round of the NBA Playoffs, the Celtics survived a scare from #7 seed Indiana, going the full five games before winning a classic finale (in which Bird went to the locker room during the game with injury, only to return and finish with 32 points). In the eastern semis, the Celtics held home court advantage against the 2-time defending NBA Champion Detroit Pistons, but Bird missed game 1 with injury and the Pistons took the game at Boston Garden. Bird returned for the remainder of the series and the Celtics rallied to win games 2 and 3 (game 3 a blowout win in Detroit), but Detroit won 3 in a row afterwards to take the series.

Contents

Draft picks

Main article: 1990 NBA Draft
Round Pick Player Position Nationality College
1 19 Dee Brown SG/PG  United States Jacksonville

Roster

Boston Celtics 1990–91 roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. From
F 33 Bird, Larry 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Indiana State*
G 7 Brown, Dee 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Jacksonville State
G/F 34 Gamble, Kevin 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Iowa
C 53 Kleine, Joe 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 255 lb (116 kg) Arkansas
G/F 35 Lewis, Reggie 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Northeastern
F/C 32 McHale, Kevin 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Minnesota
C 00 Parish, Robert 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Centenary (Louisiana)*
F 54 Pinckney, Ed 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Villanova
F/C 42 Popson, Dave 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) North Carolina
G 20 Shaw, Brian 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) UC Santa Barbara
G 13 Smith, Charles E. 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Georgetown
G/F 43 Smith, Derek 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Louisville
F 11 Smith, Mike 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Brigham Young
C 52 Vranković, Stojko 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) 260 lb (118 kg)
G 12 Wynder, A. J. 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fairfield*
Head coach
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Depth chart

Regular season

Season standings

Atlantic Division W L PCT GB Home Road Div
y-Boston Celtics 56 26 .683 — 35–6 21–20 20-6
x-Philadelphia 76ers 44 38 .537 12 29-12 15-26 14-12
x-New York Knicks 39 43 .476 17 21-20 18-23 17–9
Washington Bullets 30 52 .366 26 21-20 9-32 10-16
New Jersey Nets 26 56 .317 30 20-21 6–35 8-18
Miami Heat 24 58 .293 32 18-23 6-35 9-17
y - clinched division title
x - clinched playoff spot
# Eastern Conference
Team W L PCT GB
1 z-Chicago Bulls 61 21 .744 –
2 y-Boston Celtics 56 26 .683 5
3 x-Detroit Pistons 50 32 .610 11
4 x-Milwaukee Bucks 48 34 .585 13
5 x-Philadelphia 76ers 44 38 .537 17
6 x-Atlanta Hawks 43 39 .524 18
7 x-Indiana Pacers 41 41 .500 20
8 x-New York Knicks 39 43 .476 22
9 Cleveland Cavaliers 33 49 .402 28
10 Washington Bullets 30 52 .366 31
11 New Jersey Nets 26 56 .317 35
12 Charlotte Hornets 26 56 .317 35
13 Miami Heat 24 58 .293 37
z - clinched division title
y - clinched division title
x - clinched playoff spot

Game log

1990-91 Game Log
November
December
January
February
March
April
1990-91 Schedule

Playoffs

East Semifinals: 2–4 (Home: 1–2; Road: 1–2)
Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location
Attendance		 Series
1 May 7 Detroit Pistons L 75-86 R. Lewis (20) K. McHale (10) B. Shaw (5) Boston Garden
 0-1
2 May 9 Detroit Pistons W 109-103 R. Lewis (23) R. Parish (13) D. Brown (8) Boston Garden
 1-1
3 May 11 @ Detroit Pistons W 115-83 R. Lewis (21) R. Parish (11) D. Brown,
K. McHale (6)		 The Palace of Auburn Hills
 2-1
4 May 13 @ Detroit Pistons L 97-104 K. McHale (28) R. Parish (10) B. Shaw (6) The Palace of Auburn Hills
 2-2
5 May 15 Detroit Pistons L 111-116 R. Lewis (30) R. Lewis (11) D. Brown (10) Boston Garden
 2-3
6 May 17 @ Detroit Pistons L 113-117 (OT) K. McHale (34) E. Pinckney (9) R. Lewis (5) The Palace of Auburn Hills
 2-4
1991 playoff schedule

Player statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game

Season

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Larry Bird 60 60 38.0 .454 .389 .891 8.5 7.2 1.8 1.0 19.4
Dee Brown 82 5 23.7 .464 .206 .873 2.2 4.2 1.0 0.2 8.7
Kevin Gamble 82 76 33.0 .587 .000 .815 3.3 3.1 1.2 0.4 15.6
Joe Kleine 72 1 11.8 .468 .000 .783 3.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 3.6
Reggie Lewis 79 79 36.4 .491 .077 .826 5.2 2.5 1.2 1.1 18.7
Kevin McHale 68 10 30.4 .553 .405 .829 7.1 1.9 0.4 2.1 18.4
Robert Parish 81 81 30.1 .598 .000 .767 10.6 0.8 0.8 1.3

14.9
Ed Pinckney 70 16 16.6 .539 .000 .897 4.9 0.6 0.9 0.6 5.2
Dave Popson 19 0 3.4 .406 .000 .900 0.7 0.1 0.1 0.1 1.8
Brian Shaw 79 79 35.1 .469 .111 .819 4.7 7.6 1.3 0.4 13.8
Charles E. Smith 5 0 6.0 .429 .000 .600 0.4 1.2 0.2 0.0 1.8
Derek Smith 2 0 8.0 .250 .000 .750 0.0 2.5 0.5 0.5 2.5
Michael Smith 47 3 8.3 .475 .250 .815 1.2 0.9 0.1 0.0 4.6
Stojko Vranković 31 0 5.4 .462 .000 .556 1.6 0.1 0.0 0.9 1.9
A. J. Wynder 6 0 6.5 .250 .000 .750 0.5 1.3 0.2 0.0 2.0

Playoffs

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Larry Bird 10 10 39.6 .408 .143 .863 7.2 6.5 1.3 0.3 17.1
Dee Brown 11 0 25.8 .491 .000 .824 4.1 3.7 1.0 0.5 12.2
Kevin Gamble 11 11 21.6 .483 .000 .667 1.2 1.7 0.4 0.2 6.0
Joe Kleine 5 1 6.2 .444 .000 .000 2.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 1.6
Reggie Lewis 11 11 42.0 .487 .000 .824 6.2 2.9 1.1 0.5 22.4
Kevin McHale 11 1 34.2 .527 .545 .825 6.5 1.8 0.5 1.3 20.7
Robert Parish 10 10 29.6 .598 .000 .689 9.2 0.6 0.8 0.7 15.8
Ed Pinckney 11 0 15.5 .762 .000 .810 3.6 0.2 0.5 0.2 4.5
Brian Shaw 11 11 28.7 .470 .333 .867 3.5 4.6 0.9 0.1 11.0
Derek Smith 10 0 8.6 .429 .000 .786 0.9 0.5 0.3 0.1 2.9
Michael Smith 2 0 3.0 .500 .000 .000 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 1.0
Stojko Vranković 1 0 4.0 1.000 .000 .000 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0

Transactions

Players Added

Draft

Free agency

 Players Lost

Released

Free agency

References

See also

1990 NBA Draft • All-Star Game • Playoffs • Finals • Transactions
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