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#TBT – Boston Celtics 1961 Championship

By Joshua Bateman

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Now in the midst of the NBA’s greatest dynasty, the Boston Celtics continued their complete dominance of the league with yet another consecutive championship in 1961.

The Celtics dominated and their identity came right from the legend himself, Bill Russell.

The Celtics finished with the best record in the league and had little competition in the playoffs as they lost a total of 2 games. The Celtics did this with the worst offensive rating in the NBA.

Even though the Celtics did not score at the rate of the other 7 teams in the league at the time they still had tremendous offensive depth. Tom Heinsohn led the way with 21.3 points per game but he was helped with five other players that all averaged at least 15 points per game.

The Celtics were more than capable of getting it done on the offensive end but the fact of the matter is that they really did not need to. The reason the Celtics were so successful, the thing that truly separated them from the rest of the league was defense.

When you are looking for the defensive leader on the Celtics it really is one of the more obvious observations and Bill Russell was dominating the league like no one else has ever done.

Russell was already established enough that the league came to expect his 16.9 points per game and 23.9 rebounds per game. With Russell at the core and heart of the Celtics teams there really was nobody that could stand in their way, especially in the 1960-1961 season.

The Celtics continued their storied rivalry against the St Louis Hawks but the championship in 1961 was far from a classic. The Hawks won the closet and highest scoring game as they took game three 124-120. Other than that, the Hawks never finished a game within 8 points.

In every sense of the term, this was a true gentleman’s sweep of the Hawks as they never really got a hold on the series and were never a great threat to dethrone the defending champs.

Russell was particularly spectacular in this series. He was the team’s third leading scorer with 17.6 points per game and just shattered dreams and souls with his 28.8 rebounds per game. You could combine the top 2 rebounders on the Hawks and that is still not enough to match Russell.

Russell’s biggest impact was on the defensive end but he also did a great job of getting his teammates involved. Russell averaged 4.4 assists per game in the finals and that was good enough to be second best on his team and tied with the Hawks leading assist man.

You really would have had no idea the Celtics had the worst offensive rating in the league that year as they scored at least 116 points in every game and averaged over 120.

The Celtics were a dominant force like no other and even if the dynasty ended here it would have been one for the ages. Except, the dynasty did not stop there. In fact, the dynasty was barely beginning and the world was just being prepared for what was yet to come.

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