The Man

The wrong people are forever getting the credit for making the Boston Celtics the best team in basketball. First it was Bill Sharman, then Bob Cousy, then Frank Ramsey--and when each retired, that was supposed to signal the end of the Celtics' reign as champions of the National Basketball Association. Nothing much has changed this year. Forward Tommy Heinsohn, who scored 12,194 points in nine years, hung up his sneakers after last season, and the familiar cry went up: "The Celtics are dead!" Well, last week the Celtics, winners of seven straight N.B.A. titles, were leading the league again, and Center Bill Russell decided to set the record straight. "There," he said, pointing to a chunky man chewing on a fat cigar, "is The Man. This is his team. He put us together. He keeps us together. And he makes us win."

The Man is Arnold ("Red") Auerbach, 48. Executive vice president, head scout, general manager and coach of the Celtics for the last 16 years, Auerbach is a self-proclaimed "dictator" to the players he commands. "We have a great deal of respect for Red," shudders Boston Forward Willie Naulls, "and a considerable amount of fear too." Says Center Russell, the highest paid (at $100,001 per year) player in the N.B.A.: "You run for Red--or get a job. Who wants a job? You can't beat these hours, or the pay."

Hard on the Hearing. Auerbach's temper is legendary: when the Celtics blew a six-point lead against the New York Knickerbockers one night recently, he called a time-out and gave them a dressing down in full hearing of practically everybody at Madison Square Garden. "Oh, did I blow," Red recalled last week. "I chewed them out like they've never been chewed before."

Another of Red's well-known talents is picking up castoffs from other clubs, welding them into a winning team--a necessity with the Celtics, who as champions always have last pick in the N.B.A. draft. "You take a washed-up guy," he says, "and if you instill his pride again and create desire, you can squeeze a good year or two out of him." A typical Auerbach retread: Forward Don Nelson, who scored 2.4 points per game for the Los Angeles Lakers last year. With the Celtics, Nelson is averaging 10 points per game.

Without Auerbach, Boston is just another ball club--as the Celtics showed last week when Red flew to Miami to visit his sick father and they lost to the Lakers, 120-113. The loss dropped them below the .700 mark, left them only one game ahead of the second-place Cincinnati Royals. Red was back two nights later, directing the Celtics to a 115-114 victory over the San Francisco Warriors and insisting that by season's end the Celtics would win their eighth straight N.B.A. title. "I give the other teams one more year before they catch up with me," he said last week. That was sweet of Red--since he has already indicated that he will retire from coaching at the end of this season.

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