Celtic Chalk Talk - August 31 2026
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Steve: [00:00:00] Hello, Celtic fans. Welcome to Celtic Chalk Talk. My name's Steve Purciello, a lifelong Celtic fan going back to the Bill Russell days, and have a lot of memories and a lot of thoughts when it comes to the Celtics. Before I begin my countdown, of the top 10 f- best players I've seen as a Celtic I wanna just mention something about the Peach Basket Network.
Peach Basket Network is, which is where you're hearing this pod from is a group of people that are basketball fans. We are not affiliated with any team. We are fans. We have opinions and thoughts, and we put together some great articles, some great pods on different teams and different players. I really suggest, if you like this in any way, to open up and listen to some of the pods we have.
There's some really good ones, and there's some great articles that are written. If you take a chance and just look at it, you'll be pleasantly surprised. So [00:01:00] try us and you might like it. Today we're gonna talk about num- my number five, and if you think about it I guess he, he's almost next, in my mind, next to royalty.
Royalty would be the top four, and I think the top four are pretty obvious, and we'll talk about that next week. But today, number five is Kevin McHale. I- the shame of things w- it's not a shame, but the tough thing is he played with Larry Bird Kevin McHale was great. Kevin McHale as a post-up player was unstoppable.
He had a million moves. His feet he just the footwork was just tremendous and just was one of the greatest all-time in the NBA post-up players. He was 6'10". He had barrel-chested his arms were long, and he just when he got the ball down there, he was unstoppable. It-- Some people called this the torture chamber when he had the ball, because when he got the ball, he did so many things.
And I'm just [00:02:00] gonna read some of the f- the highlights of his career, things that he did. He's three-time world champion, and we'll talk about that in a few seconds. Seven-time All-Star All-NBA First Team once three-time All-Defensive First Team, three-time All-Defensive Second Team. Now, not only was he a great scorer, he and if you think about it, Bird was not a great individual defender.
Parish was a center, so he normally would take the best scorer of the forwards or the the, the power forward or the str- or the three, the wing forward. But he guarded them, and he was great at it. Two-time Sixth Man of the Year. First five years of his career, first five years, he came off the bench, and he was great coming off the bench because Boston had Cedric Maxwell, who played and started with Bird.
Now, when Maxwell got traded for Bill Walton in '86, that [00:03:00] made McHale the starter. He was on the All-Rookie team. Also, and this tells you how great he was, 50th and 75th Anniversary NBA Team, he was selected to. That means the top 50 and then the top 75. And his number 32 is in the rafters in Boston.
Just a great player. Y- you just don't see guys that can score in the post like him. They don't use the post anymore, so that, that's not even used. But he just was so good. Anyway, he came from Hibbing, Minnesota. Bob Dylan is also from Hibbing, Minnesota, so that might give you something to think about.
But he went to the University of Minnesota. Now, Red Auerbach, who's made a million great trades, stole him and Robert Parish, which I mentioned a couple weeks ago. In 1980, Auerbach offered... Boston had the first pick in the draft. Boston offered that pick for Golden State's third pick, [00:04:00] and Boston also threw in the 13th pick.
Now, coming back to Boston was Robert Parish and Kevin McHale. The dynasty was made with that deal w- if you think about it. Now, the beauty of that whole thing was Joe Barry Carroll was a center from Purdue, and many teams thought he was the best player in the draft. I think Auerbach shied away and Carroll didn't have a great c- career.
He was a pretty-- He was a good player, but I just, he never... I don't know if he... he just didn't never materialize into a great player. He was almost apathetic on the court, and it didn't help him. But anyway, Bo- Boston giving up the 13th pick and the first pick in the draft got Parish and McHale.
That put the dynasty together, because now you've got the three and with Bird, and y- you just go from there. So that was the re- Boston, how Boston got him. He, as I said, as a post-up player, he had a [00:05:00] million moves. He just was so unstoppable. His first five years was a sixth man. Some of the memories, I guess it was '82 Maybe '81 they're playing Philadelphia, they're down three to one.
They come back, they win the next game. It's 3-2 in the conference finals. It's game six, Boston's ho-holding on for dear life with about 20 seconds left. Andrew Toney's got a shot. McHale out of nowhere blocks the shot, Boston wins the game, ties the series at 3-3, and they do go on to win game seven to go to the finals.
So Kevin McHale didn't start, but boy, he was in at the end, and he wins that game for Boston. That was just a, a tremendous memory. Another memory I have is when McHale set the record for Boston scoring 56 points in March 3rd, '85, and we're gonna talk about the '85 team in a second. But in '85, [00:06:00] he scored 56 points on March 3rd.
Now, when it happened, Bird said he would-- Larry Bird said he would break that, and he did. Nine days later in Atlanta, Larry Bird went off for 60. Now, if you ever saw the tape, and I would really suggest you go to YouTube and look for the Larry Bird setting the scoring record game. In the game, Lar-Larry Bird was on fire and shooting it just everything went in and if you, they focus on the bench of Atlanta as he's making these crazy shots.
These guys are falling down over each other laughing and can't believe it. And the story goes that when Fratello, who's the coach of Atlanta, Mike Fratello, showed the film to the team, he kept going back and showing these guys laughing and really got on his players over it, and he was really pretty much disgusted.
The other thing that a lot of people, probably the biggest thing they'll remember McHale, and it's a shame they remember him for this, but in '84 Larry Bird called out [00:07:00] his team after, game three of the playoffs, again, not positive, as not being tough. In game four, Boston was struggling, but they were in a game, tight game, and Kurt Rambis went down the middle to get a layup.
Now this is before now with, with all kinds of penalties if you do anything flagrant. He literally clotheslined Rambis and Kurt Rambis went down and almost a fight and all the, the normal guys going at each other looking, and trouble starting. But there's nothing that really happened.
The big thing became in that Boston turned it around and did win that series in seven. The '86 team that McHale was part of, he was now a starter when Maxwell was traded. That's the team with Bill Walton. Now, in my years of watching the Celtics, and I go back into the early '60s I would have to think that was the most talented Boston team they ever had.
McHale, Bird, [00:08:00] Parish as starters with Dennis Johnson, who they acquired fr- from Phoenix a couple years before. Actually, I guess it was that year or yeah, it was that year. They acquired him, and the story goes that Bird was good friends with Rick Robey, and they did a lot of drinking, so Red Auerbach had to get rid of Robey because he wanted to calm Bird down.
Traded Robey, got got, DJ, Dennis Johnson, and Boston was a great team. And from that they won, they won the title, and that was one of the greatest teams. Another fond memory I have of Kevin McHale. In '87, Boston beat Detroit. That's the game where the series where B- Bird stole the inbounds pass from Thomas, fed Dennis Johnson, and Boston won and take a three-two lead, lost to Detroit, and won the seventh game in '87.
But what made McHale special in that series was this. He was playing with a broken foot. He played that. He held off [00:09:00] getting operated on. If you ever see him now, you'll see a slight limp, and that was from that. But he played through the broken foot for the Celtics which I thought was just incredible when it happened, and it's even more incredible today when I think about it.
He just-- What can I say? In, in '88, the downside started. Boston started breaking down. Bird missed a season in '88 'cause he had problems with his heels. And Boston was just, they weren't as good. Probably the worst thing was in '91, I believe it was, when the Celtics lost to the Knicks after leading two-nothing in the series.
They lost three straight, and that was near the end. That was near the end. Now, when you talk about this, one last thing is Danny A- Danny Ainge always told Auerbach he should've traded Bird, McHale, and all those good players before they were done, because if he did that, he could've continued the rebuild or started the rebuild.
[00:10:00] Instead, naturally Red decided not to. They were Celtics. He wasn't gonna do that. And by not doing that, if you think about it and you look at the history of the Celtics, the '90s were not very pretty. That's what I have to say about Kevin McHale. Probably one of the, is one of the greatest Celtics to ever play.
A lot of heart and was a true Celtic if you're a Celtic fan. Next week we'll do number four, and we'll go from there. But it's always a pleasure. Good to be back talking to you, and we'll see you next week on "Celtic Chalk Talk."
===
Steve: [00:00:00] Hello, Celtic fans. Welcome to Celtic Chalk Talk. My name's Steve Purciello, a lifelong Celtic fan going back to the Bill Russell days, and have a lot of memories and a lot of thoughts when it comes to the Celtics. Before I begin my countdown, of the top 10 f- best players I've seen as a Celtic I wanna just mention something about the Peach Basket Network.
Peach Basket Network is, which is where you're hearing this pod from is a group of people that are basketball fans. We are not affiliated with any team. We are fans. We have opinions and thoughts, and we put together some great articles, some great pods on different teams and different players. I really suggest, if you like this in any way, to open up and listen to some of the pods we have.
There's some really good ones, and there's some great articles that are written. If you take a chance and just look at it, you'll be pleasantly surprised. So [00:01:00] try us and you might like it. Today we're gonna talk about num- my number five, and if you think about it I guess he, he's almost next, in my mind, next to royalty.
Royalty would be the top four, and I think the top four are pretty obvious, and we'll talk about that next week. But today, number five is Kevin McHale. I- the shame of things w- it's not a shame, but the tough thing is he played with Larry Bird Kevin McHale was great. Kevin McHale as a post-up player was unstoppable.
He had a million moves. His feet he just the footwork was just tremendous and just was one of the greatest all-time in the NBA post-up players. He was 6'10". He had barrel-chested his arms were long, and he just when he got the ball down there, he was unstoppable. It-- Some people called this the torture chamber when he had the ball, because when he got the ball, he did so many things.
And I'm just [00:02:00] gonna read some of the f- the highlights of his career, things that he did. He's three-time world champion, and we'll talk about that in a few seconds. Seven-time All-Star All-NBA First Team once three-time All-Defensive First Team, three-time All-Defensive Second Team. Now, not only was he a great scorer, he and if you think about it, Bird was not a great individual defender.
Parish was a center, so he normally would take the best scorer of the forwards or the the, the power forward or the str- or the three, the wing forward. But he guarded them, and he was great at it. Two-time Sixth Man of the Year. First five years of his career, first five years, he came off the bench, and he was great coming off the bench because Boston had Cedric Maxwell, who played and started with Bird.
Now, when Maxwell got traded for Bill Walton in '86, that [00:03:00] made McHale the starter. He was on the All-Rookie team. Also, and this tells you how great he was, 50th and 75th Anniversary NBA Team, he was selected to. That means the top 50 and then the top 75. And his number 32 is in the rafters in Boston.
Just a great player. Y- you just don't see guys that can score in the post like him. They don't use the post anymore, so that, that's not even used. But he just was so good. Anyway, he came from Hibbing, Minnesota. Bob Dylan is also from Hibbing, Minnesota, so that might give you something to think about.
But he went to the University of Minnesota. Now, Red Auerbach, who's made a million great trades, stole him and Robert Parish, which I mentioned a couple weeks ago. In 1980, Auerbach offered... Boston had the first pick in the draft. Boston offered that pick for Golden State's third pick, [00:04:00] and Boston also threw in the 13th pick.
Now, coming back to Boston was Robert Parish and Kevin McHale. The dynasty was made with that deal w- if you think about it. Now, the beauty of that whole thing was Joe Barry Carroll was a center from Purdue, and many teams thought he was the best player in the draft. I think Auerbach shied away and Carroll didn't have a great c- career.
He was a pretty-- He was a good player, but I just, he never... I don't know if he... he just didn't never materialize into a great player. He was almost apathetic on the court, and it didn't help him. But anyway, Bo- Boston giving up the 13th pick and the first pick in the draft got Parish and McHale.
That put the dynasty together, because now you've got the three and with Bird, and y- you just go from there. So that was the re- Boston, how Boston got him. He, as I said, as a post-up player, he had a [00:05:00] million moves. He just was so unstoppable. His first five years was a sixth man. Some of the memories, I guess it was '82 Maybe '81 they're playing Philadelphia, they're down three to one.
They come back, they win the next game. It's 3-2 in the conference finals. It's game six, Boston's ho-holding on for dear life with about 20 seconds left. Andrew Toney's got a shot. McHale out of nowhere blocks the shot, Boston wins the game, ties the series at 3-3, and they do go on to win game seven to go to the finals.
So Kevin McHale didn't start, but boy, he was in at the end, and he wins that game for Boston. That was just a, a tremendous memory. Another memory I have is when McHale set the record for Boston scoring 56 points in March 3rd, '85, and we're gonna talk about the '85 team in a second. But in '85, [00:06:00] he scored 56 points on March 3rd.
Now, when it happened, Bird said he would-- Larry Bird said he would break that, and he did. Nine days later in Atlanta, Larry Bird went off for 60. Now, if you ever saw the tape, and I would really suggest you go to YouTube and look for the Larry Bird setting the scoring record game. In the game, Lar-Larry Bird was on fire and shooting it just everything went in and if you, they focus on the bench of Atlanta as he's making these crazy shots.
These guys are falling down over each other laughing and can't believe it. And the story goes that when Fratello, who's the coach of Atlanta, Mike Fratello, showed the film to the team, he kept going back and showing these guys laughing and really got on his players over it, and he was really pretty much disgusted.
The other thing that a lot of people, probably the biggest thing they'll remember McHale, and it's a shame they remember him for this, but in '84 Larry Bird called out [00:07:00] his team after, game three of the playoffs, again, not positive, as not being tough. In game four, Boston was struggling, but they were in a game, tight game, and Kurt Rambis went down the middle to get a layup.
Now this is before now with, with all kinds of penalties if you do anything flagrant. He literally clotheslined Rambis and Kurt Rambis went down and almost a fight and all the, the normal guys going at each other looking, and trouble starting. But there's nothing that really happened.
The big thing became in that Boston turned it around and did win that series in seven. The '86 team that McHale was part of, he was now a starter when Maxwell was traded. That's the team with Bill Walton. Now, in my years of watching the Celtics, and I go back into the early '60s I would have to think that was the most talented Boston team they ever had.
McHale, Bird, [00:08:00] Parish as starters with Dennis Johnson, who they acquired fr- from Phoenix a couple years before. Actually, I guess it was that year or yeah, it was that year. They acquired him, and the story goes that Bird was good friends with Rick Robey, and they did a lot of drinking, so Red Auerbach had to get rid of Robey because he wanted to calm Bird down.
Traded Robey, got got, DJ, Dennis Johnson, and Boston was a great team. And from that they won, they won the title, and that was one of the greatest teams. Another fond memory I have of Kevin McHale. In '87, Boston beat Detroit. That's the game where the series where B- Bird stole the inbounds pass from Thomas, fed Dennis Johnson, and Boston won and take a three-two lead, lost to Detroit, and won the seventh game in '87.
But what made McHale special in that series was this. He was playing with a broken foot. He played that. He held off [00:09:00] getting operated on. If you ever see him now, you'll see a slight limp, and that was from that. But he played through the broken foot for the Celtics which I thought was just incredible when it happened, and it's even more incredible today when I think about it.
He just-- What can I say? In, in '88, the downside started. Boston started breaking down. Bird missed a season in '88 'cause he had problems with his heels. And Boston was just, they weren't as good. Probably the worst thing was in '91, I believe it was, when the Celtics lost to the Knicks after leading two-nothing in the series.
They lost three straight, and that was near the end. That was near the end. Now, when you talk about this, one last thing is Danny A- Danny Ainge always told Auerbach he should've traded Bird, McHale, and all those good players before they were done, because if he did that, he could've continued the rebuild or started the rebuild.
[00:10:00] Instead, naturally Red decided not to. They were Celtics. He wasn't gonna do that. And by not doing that, if you think about it and you look at the history of the Celtics, the '90s were not very pretty. That's what I have to say about Kevin McHale. Probably one of the, is one of the greatest Celtics to ever play.
A lot of heart and was a true Celtic if you're a Celtic fan. Next week we'll do number four, and we'll go from there. But it's always a pleasure. Good to be back talking to you, and we'll see you next week on "Celtic Chalk Talk."
