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- It Couldn’t Be Done and They Did It
It Couldn’t Be Done and They Did It
Date: 1968-69 season
After faltering in the 1967 NBA Playoffs, some basketball fans suspected that the Celtics would not win another title without Red Auerbach on the sideline. The team leaned into the critics and surprised the sports world by winning the 1968 NBA World Championship title – the first in North American sports won by a Black coach. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, Boston repeated as champions in 1969 for player-coach Bill Russell’s 11th ring. That season’s yearbook paid homage to the two most successful figures in franchise history.
( C ) NBA/Celtics