1988–89 Boston Celtics season

1988–89 Boston Celtics season
Head coach	Jim Rodgers
Owners	Don Gaston Alan N. Cohen Paul Dupee
Arena	Boston Garden Hartford Civic Center
Results
Record	42–40 (.512)
Place	Division: 3rd (Atlantic) Conference: 8th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	East First Round (Lost to Pistons 0–3)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	WLVI (Gil Santos, Bob Cousy) SportsChannel New England (Mike Gorman, Tom Heinsohn)
Radio	WEEI (Johnny Most, Glenn Ordway)
< 1987–88 1989–90 >

The 1988–89 Boston Celtics season was the 43rd season of the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association (NBA).^[1] This was the first season for Jim Rodgers as head coach. Rodgers had been a Celtics assistant coach prior to this season. This year's Celtics team was severely hindered by the loss of star forward Larry Bird to a heel injury which required surgery. Bird played only six early-season games before being lost to injury. Initially, Bird was expected back in March, but it was delayed and ultimately became a season-ending injury. The results were dramatic as the Celtics, who had averaged over 60 wins per season thus far in the 1980s, fell to just 42 wins in this season. Coming into the season, the Celtics had been the Eastern Conference's #1 seed five years in a row. This season they were the #8 seed, clinching a playoff spot in the season's final game. This season included some bright spots, particularly the emergence of second-year guard Reggie Lewis, who had been only a minimal bench contributor in his rookie season of 1987-88, but averaged nearly 20 points per game as a starter in 1988-89.

The Celtics were still dangerous at Boston Garden (defeating both the Lakers and Pistons) but struggled mightily away from home, failing to record a road win over a team with a winning record.

The Celtics faced the Detroit Pistons in the postseason for the 4th time in 5 seasons, but this time much earlier, in the first round. The Pistons were heavily favored but hope arose for a competitive series when the Celtics activated Bird for their playoff roster. However, Bird never suited for a game and the Pistons easily dispatched the Celtics in a three-game sweep.

This was the first time since 1956 that the Celtics lost their opening round playoff series. The Celtics had won their previous 28 opening round playoff series dating back to 1957.

Draft picks[]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	24	Brian Shaw	SG	United States	UCSB
3	74	Gerald Paddio	SF/SG	United States	UNLV

Roster[]

Boston Celtics roster

• v
• t

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY-MM-DD) From C 42 Acres, Mark 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1962–11–15 Oral Roberts SF 33 Bird, Larry  6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1956–12–07 Indiana State SG 12 Birdsong, Otis 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1955–12–09 Houston SF 34 Gamble, Kevin 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1965–11–13 Iowa PF 31 Grandison, Ron 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1964–07–06 New Orleans PG 3 Johnson, Dennis 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1954–09–08 Pepperdine C 53 Kleine, Joe 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 255 lb (116 kg) 1962–01–04 Arkansas SF 35 Lewis, Reggie 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1965–11–21 Northeastern PF 32 McHale, Kevin 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1957–12–19 Minnesota C 00 Parish, Robert 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1953-09-30 Centenary College of Louisiana PG 4 Paxson, Jim 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1957-07-09 Dayton PF 54 Pinckney, Ed 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1963-03-27 Villanova C 45 Rivas, Ramón 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 260 lb (118 kg) 1966-06-03 Temple SG 20 Shaw, Brian 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1966-03-22 UC Santa Barbara SG 7 Upshaw, Kelvin 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1963-01-12 Utah

Head coach Jimmy Rodgers Assistant coach(es) Chris Ford Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Roster Notes[]

• Small forward Larry Bird played 6 games but missed the majority of the season after undergoing surgery to remove bone spurs from both of his heels.

Regular season[]

Season standings[]

Atlantic Division v t	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-New York Knicks	52	30	.634	–	35–6	17–24	18–12
x-Philadelphia 76ers	46	36	.561	6	30–11	16–25	19–11
x-Boston Celtics	42	40	.512	10	32–9	10–31	19–11
Washington Bullets	40	42	.488	12	30–11	10–31	17–13
New Jersey Nets	26	56	.317	26	17–24	9–32	9–21
Charlotte Hornets	20	62	.244	32	12–29	8–33	8–22

#	Eastern Conference v t
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Detroit Pistons	63	19	.768	–
2	y-New York Knicks	52	30	.634	11
3	x-Cleveland Cavaliers	57	25	.695	6
4	x-Atlanta Hawks	52	30	.634	11
5	x-Milwaukee Bucks	49	33	.598	14
6	x-Chicago Bulls	47	35	.573	16
7	x-Philadelphia 76ers	46	36	.561	17
8	x-Boston Celtics	42	40	.512	21
9	Washington Bullets	40	42	.488	23
10	Indiana Pacers	28	54	.341	35
11	New Jersey Nets	26	56	.317	37
12	Charlotte Hornets	20	62	.244	43

Record vs. opponents[]

1988-89 NBA Records
Team	ATL	BOS	CHA	CHI	CLE	DAL	DEN	DET	GSW	HOU	IND	LAC	LAL	MIA	MIL	NJN	NYK	PHI	PHO	POR	SAC	SAS	SEA	UTA	WAS
Atlanta	–	3–1	4–1	4–2	4–2	1–1	0–2	1–5	1–1	1–1	5–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	6–0	4–1	2–2	2–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	3–1
Boston	1–3	–	6–0	1–3	1–4	1–1	1–1	1–3	1–1	1–1	2–3	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–2	5–1	3–3	3–3	0–2	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–2	1–1	2–4
Charlotte	1–4	0–6	–	1–4	0–4	0–2	0–2	0–4	0–2	0–2	2–2	2–0	0–2	1–1	0–4	2–4	2–4	3–3	0–2	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–5
Chicago	2–4	3–1	4–1	–	0–6	2–0	1–1	0–6	1–1	1–1	4–2	1–1	2–0	2–0	6–0	2–2	3–2	1–3	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	0–2	3–1
Cleveland	2–4	4–1	4–0	6–0	–	2–0	2–0	3–3	1–1	1–1	5–1	1–1	0–2	2–0	3–3	4–0	2–2	3–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–2
Dallas	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–2	0–2	–	3–3	0–2	1–3	1–5	1–1	3–1	0–4	6–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–3	2–2	2–2	5–1	2–2	4–2	1–1
Denver	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	3–3	–	1–1	3–1	4–2	1–1	2–2	1–3	5–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	1��1	1–3	2–2	3–1	3–3	2–2	3–3	1–1
Detroit	5–1	3–1	4–0	6–0	3–3	2–0	1–1	–	1–1	1–1	4–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–4	4–0	0–4	5–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	5–0
Golden State	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–1	1–3	1–1	–	1–3	1–1	5–1	2–3	4–0	0–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–4	2–4	2–3	3–1	2–4	2–2	1–1
Houston	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	5–1	2–4	1–1	3–1	–	2–0	2–2	1–3	4–2	1–1	2–0	0–2	0–2	1–3	3–1	2–2	6–0	2–2	2–4	0–2
Indiana	1–5	3–2	2–2	2–4	1–5	1–1	1–1	2–4	1–1	0–2	–	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–4	1–3	0–5	0–4	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–3
L.A. Clippers	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–3	2–2	0–2	1–5	2–2	1–1	–	1–5	1–3	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–5	1–5	2–3	3–1	1–4	1–3	0–2
L.A. Lakers	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–2	2–0	4–0	3–1	0–2	3–2	3–1	2–0	5–1	–	4–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–3	5–0	5–1	3–1	4–2	1–3	1–1
Miami	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–6	1–5	0–2	0–4	2–4	1–1	3–1	0–4	–	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–4	0–4	1–3	2–4	0–4	1–5	0–2
Milwaukee	0–6	2–2	4–0	0–6	3–3	2–0	2–0	4–2	2–0	1–1	4–2	2–0	1–1	2–0	–	4–1	1–3	3–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	4–1
New Jersey	1–4	1–5	4–2	2–2	0–4	1–1	1–1	0–4	0–2	0–2	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–4	–	2–4	1–5	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–5
New York	2–2	3–3	4–2	2–3	2–2	2–0	1–1	4–0	0–2	2–0	5–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–1	4–2	–	2–4	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	5–1
Philadelphia	2–2	3–3	3–3	3–1	2–3	1–1	1–1	0–5	1–1	2–0	4–0	2–0	0–2	2–0	1–3	5–1	4–2	–	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	4–2
Phoenix	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–2	3–1	3–1	0–2	4–2	3–1	1–1	5–1	3–3	4–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	–	2–3	5–1	3–1	4–1	2–2	2–0
Portland	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–2	0–2	2–2	2–2	1–1	4–2	1–3	0–2	5–1	0–5	4–0	0–2	2–0	0–2	1–1	3–2	–	3–3	4–0	2–4	0–4	1–1
Sacramento	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	2–2	1–3	0–2	3–2	2–2	1–1	3–2	1–5	3–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–5	3–3	–	2–2	1–5	1–3	0–2
San Antonio	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–5	3–3	0–2	1–3	0–6	0–2	1–3	1–3	4–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–3	0–4	2–2	–	0–4	1–5	1–1
Seattle	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–2	2–2	0–2	4–2	2–2	1–1	4–1	2–4	4–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–4	4–2	5–1	4–0	–	3–1	1–1
Utah	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–4	3–3	0–2	2–2	4–2	1–1	3–1	3–1	5–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	4–0	3–1	5–1	1–3	–	2–0
Washington	1–3	4–2	5–1	1–3	2–2	1–1	1–1	0–5	1–1	2–0	3–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–4	5–1	1–5	2–4	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	—

Game log[]

Playoffs[]

1989 playoff game log
First round: 0–3 (Home: 0–1; Road: 0–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 April 28 @ Detroit L 91–101 Kevin McHale (27) Robert Parish (12) Brian Shaw (8) The Palace of Auburn Hills 21,454 0–1 2 April 30 @ Detroit L 95–102 Reggie Lewis (21) Kevin McHale (11) Lewis, Johnson (5) The Palace of Auburn Hills 21,454 0–2 3 May 2 Detroit L 85–100 Reggie Lewis (20) Joe Kleine (11) Brian Shaw (7) Boston Garden 14,890 0–3
1989 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[]

Playoffs[]

Awards and records[]

• Robert Parish, All-NBA Third Team
• Kevin McHale, NBA All-Defensive Second Team
• Brian Shaw, NBA All-Rookie Team 2nd Team

Transactions[]

This section is empty. You can help by . (February 2013)

See also[]

• 1988–89 NBA season

References[]