Celtics-Lakers tonight at TD Garden. It's a great matchup, but, man, it used to be destination-TV for all the sports world. Midway through the 1985-86 season, they met in a game at Boston Garden. Myself and Bruce Newman were assigned the pleasant duty of hanging with the teams as a leadup to tipoff - ThreadSky

jackmack12.bsky.social • 1 day ago

Celtics-Lakers tonight at TD Garden. It's a great matchup, but, man, it used to be destination-TV for all the sports world. Midway through the 1985-86 season, they met in a game at Boston Garden. Myself and Bruce Newman were assigned the pleasant duty of hanging with the teams as a leadup to tipoff

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majestic17.bsky.social•1 day ago

Looking forward to watching this game. Should be a good one.

tedgehring.bsky.social•1 day ago

It was. But in fairness…at least when I was growing up you didn’t get a lot of other games on tv. So when you did, it was a big deal.

jackmack12.bsky.social•1 day ago

then writing a story after the game that alternated between Celtics stuff and Lakers stuff. (Remember there was no Internet to post pregame material.) I had the Celtics, Bruce had the Lakers. The perception at the time was that the Lakers, the defending champs, were the plum assignment, loose and

jackmack12.bsky.social•1 day ago

fun compared to the dour Celtics. As Bruce and I both knew, nothing could be further from the truth. I had the much easier job. Celtics like Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge had loose lips, and even Larry Bird could become animated during Laker Week. On the other side, Magic made

jackmack12.bsky.social•1 day ago

himself available, but it was always tough getting stuff from Kareem and James Worthy. Also, Pat Riley ran a tight, keep-your-mouth-mostly-shut regime in L.A., while K.C. Jones had one of the lightest coaching touches in the league. Plus, this was the season that the Lakers had picked up Bill

jackmack12.bsky.social•1 day ago

Walton. He was visibly excited in the days before and so animated in warmups that he looked like he was at a Grateful Dead show. The game reflected the denouement of the season--the Celtics won the championship, the Lakers lost to the Rockets in the Western finals. (Though L.A. recovered and went

jackmack12.bsky.social•1 day ago

back-to-back in '87 and '88. I would supply our story, but SI can be impenetrable allowing links to past material.) Suffice to say that Walton (5-of-6 shooting, eight rebounds and SEVEN blocked shots) was phenomenal during the game and even better after it, celebrating and drinking beer far into

jackmack12.bsky.social•1 day ago

the night. Was it a different type of game back then? Uh, yes. Bird, considered one of the league's best perimeter shooters, attempted ONE three-pointer, which he made. Anyway, it remains one of my favorite memories of covering this golden age of the NBA. Thanks for listening.

jnana108.bsky.social•1 day ago

You mean Celtics not Lakers signed Walton.

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