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Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Monday, there are 8 days remaining.This was the kind of domination that puts to shame the Los Angeles Lakers of this decade and the Chicago Bulls of the '90s. It's something those outstanding teams could only dream about.
It's the kind of domination that professional sports will never ever see again.
The Boston Celtics won eight consecutive championships from 1959 to 1966, the most impressive streak in high-profile team sports, a mind-boggling string that sounds almost mythical today.
The closest comparison would be UCLA and John Wooden winning seven consecutive NCAA Basketball titles. These kind of feats just can't happen anymore.
It's why center Bill Russell and coach Red Auerbach are the legends they are.
The Celtics – and not the Lakers -- are the most storied franchise in the NBA because they have won 17 titles, but they cementing their place during that championship run.
The Lakers served as losers to the Celtics in the NBA Finals in five of the eight years.
While everyone knows about Russell being the center and centerpiece of that magnificent run of titles, what isn't as well known are that there were two other players alongside him every step of the way.
They were not Bob Cousy and Tommy Heinsohn, Hall of Famers who helped start the streak in 1959. They weren't John Havlicek and Don Nelson, two more stars who were there at the end in 1966.
They were guard K.C. Jones and forward Sam Jones, fellow Hall of Famers who played alongside Russell from start to finish.
K.C. Jones, who went on to coach the Celtics to two more NBA titles (1984 and '86), was a durable, defensive-mind guard who played at least 78 games in seven of his nine seasons with the Celtics.
Sam Jones was the undersized forward who led the Celtics in scoring for three of their championship years.
The eight-year run could have been considerably longer – actually 13 consecutive titles -- if not for a little bad luck. The Celtics lost to St. Louis in the 1958 Finals after winning the year before that. They lost to Philadelphia in the 1967 Eastern final, then won two more titles with Russell as a player/coach.
Eight was more than enough.
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