The Glenn McDonald Interview
By: Michael D. McClellan | He was on the court for less than two minutes in the third overtime of The Greatest Game Ever Played, and yet Glenn McDonald’s contributions loomed extraordinarily large on that day, as he and his Boston Celtic teammates pursued a league-record 13th NBA Championship. Who knows what may have happened had the Celtics lost that Game 5, triple-overtime thriller, and then flown to Phoenix down three-games-to-two. Perhaps the Celtics would have won that game anyway, and returned to Boston to close out the 1976 NBA Finals on the fabled Boston Garden parquet floor. Perhaps another Celtic hero would have emerged, hitting clutch baskets with the game on the line in that blast-furnace of a gym, lifting the most decorated team in NBA history to another level of championship success. Or, perhaps not. No one knows how the emboldened Phoenix Suns would have played at home, with the luxury of a one game cushion, or how the Celtics would have responded after losing that triple-overtime epic – especially after leading in regulation by more than twenty points. And no one knows what might have happened had the series came down to a deciding, winner-take-all Game 7 in the Garden, with a sold-out crowd roaring for the Celtics and millions more watching the drama unfold on TV. Thanks to the timely, stellar play of McDonald, those scenarios remain the stuff of sports-crazed watering holes and Internet chat rooms. All the seldom-used swingman did on that memorable day, in those 95 seconds, was put the Boston Celtics on his back and carry the team to a 128-126 penultimate Game 5 victory.
The only triple-overtime game in NBA Finals history has been well-chronicled through the years, celebrated to the point of mythology and marketed to a whole new generation of NBA fans. Boston, with its rich tradition and star power – John Havlicek, Dave Cowens and Jo Jo White were household names at a time when the league was struggling to broaden its fan base – entered the series as the prohibitive favorites, while Phoenix arrived with brash determination and little else. Games 1 and 2 belonged to the Celtics, with the young Suns unable to match Boston’s veteran intensity. Phoenix answered in Game 3, riding the play of Paul Westphal and rookie center Alvin Adams to a 105-98 victory and keeping its comeback hopes alive. An 109-107 Suns win in Game 4 evened the series, sending it back to Boston 2-2 for the pivotal Game 5. That is where the most improbable championship game in NBA Finals history unfolded, a bizarre series of events that set the stage for McDonald’s beautifully unscripted heroics.
The Greatest Game Ever Played started as if it would be one of the biggest blowouts of all time, as the Celtics raced out to a 32-12 lead with just over nine minutes played in the first quarter. Few could have expected the Suns to climb back – especially in the stifling din otherwise known as Boston Garden – but Phoenix, young and blissfully ignorant to the Celtic Mystique, continued to chip away at the lead. With the halftime deficit at 15, Celtics head coach Tommy Heinsohn railed at the officiating – as he had for most of the first four games in the series – and then headed to the locker room to blunt the Sun comeback. The adjustments, however, did little to change the momentum; Boston scored just 34 points in the entire second half, while Phoenix maintained its composure and fought back to tie the game, 95-95, at the end of regulation.
The teams traded baskets in the first overtime, scoring six apiece, and a second overtime session appeared inevitable. With time draining away, Boston forward Paul Silas signaled to official Richie Powers for a timeout that the Celtics didn’t have. The gaffe could have – some say should have – cost the Celtics the game. Powers, however, failed to acknowledge Silas’ signal, and no technical was called on the play. Time ran out, and the Phoenix coaching staff angrily stalked after Powers, to no avail. The Celtics and Suns would play on.
Given new life, Boston forged a three-point lead with fifteen seconds remaining in the second overtime – a two-possession difference in 1976, this at a time when the three-point arc simply didn’t exist. A Dick Van Arsdale basket cut Boston’s lead to a single point, and former Celtic Paul Westphal stole the ball with less than 10 seconds to play. Curtis Perry suddenly found the ball in his hands with the game on the line, and he took the shot. The 14-foot jumper was off the mark, but Perry alertly followed his shot and scored to put Phoenix up, 110-109. With four seconds remaining, the Celtics did the only they that they could do – they raced the ball up the court, where John Havlicek’s fifteen footer banked cleanly into the basket as time expired. Pandemonium ensued. Fans poured onto the court to celebrate. In the stands, hugs and handshakes and talk of raising another banner to the rafters above. Jo Jo White, exhausted after playing nearly the entire game, sat on the bench and removed his shoes and socks amid the chaos. His teammates sprinted to the locker room. All of this while Powers worked frantically to inform the coaching staffs of both teams that the game wasn’t over, ruling that there was one second left on the clock when Havlicek’s shot dropped through the net.
Phoenix may have been given a one second reprieve, and a chance to win the game in the most dramatic fashion of all, but they still had to inbound the basketball from underneath their own basket. Scoring in that situation? The Suns didn’t have a chance. Everyone in the building knew it. But, as order was restored on the court, an idea was hatched; Westphal lobbied his head coach, John MacLeod, to let him call a timeout that didn’t exist. The Suns had already spent its allotment and had none to take. The referees would be forced to call a technical, which would give the Celtics a foul shot, and then the Suns would be allowed to inbound the basketball at midcourt – a far less daunting proposition with one second still on the clock. MacLeod listened intently to Westphal’s epiphany, and then acquiesced. It was a long shot, but it was also his team’s best option.
With order restored, White stepped to the line and calmly sank the technical. The Celtics were now up by two, 112-110, and time was on their side. One more second. One more stop. Phoenix had other ideas. They inbounded the ball to Gar Heard, who launched a shot from beyond the top of the key. With a flick of his wrist, the NBA’s first double-overtime Finals game since 1957 morphed into an epic battle that would transform everyone involved.
For Heinsohn, Heard’s shot was a bitter pill to swallow. Three key players had already fouled out, and a fourth – rugged power forward Paul Silas – would pick up his sixth personal with less than two minutes remaining. The rest of his rotation was exhausted. Heinsohn looked down his bench, considered inserting veteran forward Steve Kuberski, and then mysteriously changed his mind. An instant later, the opportunity of a lifetime belonged to the relatively inexperienced swingman from Long Beach State.
“I was definitely ready to go in,” McDonald says now, reflecting on the moment that would define his basketball career. “As a role player, you are always preparing for an opportunity to step in and help the team. You work hard in practice, doing the drills and competing in the scrimmages, and you want to be ready if your name is called. I honestly thought Heinsohn was going to bring in Kuberski, but he waved me over instead. You don’t think about anything at that point. You just go in and do the very best you can.”
All McDonald did in those 95 seconds was score six points, grab a pair of key rebounds, and run the floor with reckless abandon – all while thriving under the pressure of a national television audience. And although McDonald’s deeds didn’t win the series, it was his Game 5 heroics that had the basketball world talking long after the team’s 13th championship banner had been raised to the Boston Garden rafters.
“It took a while for my contributions to completely sink in,” McDonald says, smiling at the memory. “It’s something I’ll never forget, and it’s something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
Little did McDonald know then, but that brief, shining moment in the NBA Finals would also be his last in a Celtic uniform. The team would cut him in training camp the following fall, and he would play just nine more games with the Milwaukee Bucks before retiring from the NBA. A clipped career, perhaps, but one that produced a championship ring and a permanent place in Celtic lore. And for those who think that McDonald was only about those 95 seconds of fame, it should be noted that McDonald played for two coaching legends while at Long Beach State (Jerry Tarkanian and Lute Olson), earning All-America honors and the distinction of being a first round pick in the 1974 NBA Draft. Add to that a successful post-basketball career, a lasting marriage to his college sweetheart, and two grown children with thriving careers of their own, and it’s easy to see that there’s more to Glenn McDonald than his giant role in The Greatest Game Ever Played.
You were born on March 21st, 1952 in Kewanee, Illinois. Please tell me a little about your childhood, what led you to relocate in California, and some of the things that spurred your interest in playing basketball.
I was born in Kewanee, but I pretty much moved right away. My mother married my father for the second time – they got married, had an annulment, and then remarried in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I guess I was there until I was eleven, and then we moved back to Kewanee, Illinois. I was there until I was thirteen years old, and during that time I started getting involved in athletics. I ran track, and I played football, and I played a little basketball. That may sound surprising, but I really didn’t play much basketball initially. I was on the team. I wasn’t called on a lot in games. It wasn’t a real passion for me at that time – I just loved sports in general, and I played because it was the sport in season at the time. There was a lot of pickup basketball going on in the neighborhood that I was l living in, so I’d always go to the courts outside and play with the older guys. I just enjoyed playing, and enjoyed watching the older guys. It really helped me to learn to play the game.
I was in the eighth grade in 1965, and my mother told me that we were going to move to California. I didn’t want to go because I had gotten involved with a lot of friends, and as kid you don’t want to leave your school all of a sudden. She explained that there was more opportunity for her in California, and at the time is was just her, me, and my three sisters. She just felt that there was more opportunity as far as work went, if we moved west. It was a quick decision; we had relatives in California, whom she went to visit, and all of a sudden she just decided she wanted to move out here. I told her that I wanted to stay behind and live with my aunt, but she explained that I needed to help raise my sisters. And then, not long after that, we’re sitting in the living room, watching TV, and there is all of this coverage of the Watts Riots. I just looked at her and said, ‘This is where you want to take us – right into the middle of the Watts Riots?’ I didn’t want to go [laughs]. But that’s what happened. We moved to California just as the riots were coming to an end – I think they lasted six days. So, moving to California was a big cultural change for me. My new school was predominantly black, whereas the school I went to in Illinois was predominantly white. It was just a whole different world for me.
You played high school basketball for Jefferson High School in Los Angeles. Please tell me about this period in your life.
I rebelled against the move. I told my mother that I wasn’t going to play organized sports of any kind, because she just knew that I would get involved in athletics as soon as we settled into our new environment. My attitude was, ‘You’re making me move and I don’t want to, so I’m not going to play sports for you.’ So I guess you could say that I went through a phase where I was trying to punish her.
We arrived in California in ’65, and I think I was going through the ninth grade at that time. Jefferson High School was tenth-through-twelfth, so I was still a year away from all of that. And I stuck to my threat – for awhile, at least. I would play pickup games in the neighborhood, but I wouldn’t go out for any of the teams. And then one day during my sophomore year in high school, which was my first year at Jefferson, I learned that there was going to be tryouts for the basketball team. One of the kids on the varsity team was a high school All-American, and he baited me into playing. He told me that I wasn’t good enough to make the B team at Jefferson, and I was like, ‘What do you mean, I can’t make the B team? I’m better than most of the players on your varsity team.’ He just kept it up, and the next thing you know, there I was, trying to make the team [laughs]. I wanted to prove the point that I could make the team, and that’s how I really go involved with basketball.
Following graduation, you accepted a scholarship to play basketball for Long Beach State and a talented, young coach named Jerry Tarkanian. What was it like to play for Jerry those first two seasons?
Awesome. During those days you couldn’t play varsity ball right away – you had to play on the freshman team – but it was still special just being involved. I practiced with the freshman team, but I practiced with the varsity as well. Just the knowledge Jerry had as a coach was unbelievable. Up to that point I’d never been involved with someone who knew so much about the game. In high school we were just a run-and-gun team, not a whole lot of fundamentals, just playing basic defense and using our press. When I got to Long Beach, Jerry showed me a lot more about the skills aspect of basketball. He really worked with us on our fundamentals.
The defensive schemes were so much different. As I said, in high school it was either man-to-man or the press. Jerry believed in zones. He had a 1-2-2 zone that was just unbelievable. We had big, quick, athletic people in our program, and with those types of players you would think we would play man-to-man, but we ran a tremendous zone at that time. So I learned a lot from Jerry. He was a great coach to play for, and he transformed me from a scorer into a defensive specialist. That became my thing. At Long Beach, I ended up being one of the top defensive players in the nation. It was a great reputation to have. As a defensive specialist you go out and challenge people, and you don’t like to be scored against. That was my mindset. I didn’t like people scoring on me. And Jerry instilled that in me. I learned that great defense was just as important as scoring baskets. He was a good coach to be under. He was also a very funny man. People reflect on his career now and think that he was pretty lenient, and back then he could be that way at times, but he was still a disciplinarian.
Lute Olson replaced Tarkanian prior to your senior season, and Long Beach State didn’t miss a beat. The team was 24-2, and ranked #2 in the nation at one time. Please tell me a little about playing for Mr. Olson.
We always tease Lute about that situation. We had a young man come into the program named Clifton Pondexter – his brother, Roscoe, was already playing at Long Beach – and he was just a monster. He was 6’9”, very strong, could score around the basket, and could jump out of the gym. We didn’t pick up very many more people. Lute brought in a couple of his kids from Long Beach City College, but they didn’t play a lot. So we tease Lute to this day, and tell him that even if our mothers had coached that team we would have been 24-2 [laughs]. We felt that we were that talented. It was sad that we ended up going on probation over some things that had happened in previous years, but the fact was that we were a very good team. It was just unfortunate that we weren’t able to prove it by going to the NCAA Tournament.
Lute was quite different than Tark. He didn’t like to joke around a lot. One of the big things may have been that it was his first year there, and he had to come in and set the tone right away. He probably felt like he had to make the statement that said, ‘I am in charge.’ So, he really didn’t get along with a lot of the players. I was basically the mediator on the team. When things would happen on the team between Coach and the players, I would always step in and let them know the deal. Guys would say, ‘I didn’t come here to play for Lute, I came to play for Tark.’ And I would say, ‘Well, Tark’s not here. He had to leave. So you have a new coach, and you need to give this man the respect that he deserves.’ And we overcame the transition. We all clicked together as a team and had a tremendous year.
Lute was another great teacher of the fundamentals. He was a very disciplined coach. The thing that he did do was give people a little freer reign as far as scoring. Tark had a set group of players that he wanted to do the scoring. Lute’s approach was, ‘If you know you can score, and you’re in a range where you know you can score, then go ahead and look for your shot. I’m not going to stop you from looking for your shot. Just understand your limitations, and don’t try to exceed your limitations.’ For me, I went from averaging 3 points-per-game to averaging 16 points-per-game.
So, like I said, they were just two totally different types of people – but very much alike at the same time. Lute didn’t joke around with the players like Tark did, but they were both disciplined in their own ways. If someone was doing wrong, they would sit that person on the bench. They didn’t play favorites. If the best player on the team did something wrong, both coaches would let that player know it. That’s what I respect the most about both of them.
From 1971-74, Long Beach State’s record was an incredible 75-9, and you were a huge part of that success. You gained a reputation for your defensive prowess, as well as for your clutch shooting. What memories stand out from this period after all of these years?
The biggest thing that stands out now is how dominating we were on our home court. That’s one of the things that’s always been important to me – winning at home. The other thing is just the fact that we were such a close-knit team. We really and truly got along. We did things together. To this day we stay in touch with one another. For me, the way I am as a person, that was one of the most enjoyable times in my life. Being around my teammates like that – we really did look at each other as family. Of course you are going to have a little resentment here-or-there, but it never held over. We might get upset with each other over something at practice, and then we’d be right back together that evening, eating dinner together or going to a movie together. So I just think that the camaraderie that we had as a team was very special. I don’t think a lot of teams understand how important chemistry is, both on and off of the court.
In 1988, you were inducted into the Long Beach State athletic hall of fame. What does this honor mean to you?
To me it shows that people really appreciated me as both a person and a basketball player. The people that vote for you look at a lot of different things when they decide to present your with that award. They look at whether you graduated from college, and how you performed as a player. They look at your character – not only during your days as an athlete at Long Beach, but also during the years since leaving school. So that award just shows me that people have a lot of respect for me. I was very, very honored to have been inducted. It’s one of the biggest events that they have at Long Beach, and to be inducted so soon was just a huge honor. It showed me that people looked at me in a different light, and not just as a basketball player.
You were selected by the Boston Celtics with the 17th overall pick in the 1974 NBA Draft. How has the draft changed over the years, and what was it like to be drafted by the world champion Boston Celtics?
There are so many more teams in the NBA today – that’s one difference. And now they have the NBA Draft Lottery, and the Green Room where all of the top picks gather. It’s a huge event now. The cash rewards for being drafted in the first round are mind boggling when compared to what we were signing for back then. During my days, a player had to negotiate a contract. Now, you really don’t have to negotiate. There are already set amounts in place for each draft position in the first round, so you already have an idea of what you’re going to make based upon where you end up in the first round of the draft. So it’s just totally different in that aspect. And like I said, today players sit in the Green Room and wait to see if they’re going to be a lottery pick. I can imagine that the wait must be incredibly stressful. During my time, you were basically waiting for a phone call. That was my case.
I had a feeling that I was going to get drafted. I didn’t know how high or how low, or anything like that, but I knew that there were teams interested in me. I knew that the Milwaukee Bucks were definitely interested, and of course they had the ABA at that time as well. My coach called me with the news, which was kind of funny because of who drafted me. I was never a Celtic fan, and I wasn’t a Laker fan because I didn’t like the Lakers, either. I was always pulling for the underdog. So one of the things I said was, ‘I hope that I don’t get drafted by the Celtics, because they win all of the time and I want to be able to beat the Celtics.’ That was my thing. And then, all of a sudden Coach calls me up that day. I was in the middle of moving, and he says, ‘Glenn, I’ve got some news for you.’ And I said, ‘What’s up, Coach?’ And he says, ‘You were just drafted in the first round by the Boston Celtics’. I said, ‘Oh, okay…good. But let me call you back a little later because I’m moving right now.’ And he says, ‘Don’t you understand what I just told you? You were drafted in the first round by one of the greatest NBA franchises ever.’ I said, ‘I know, but I’m moving my furniture right now. Let me call you back’. That’s just how I am. I just don’t get real excited about a lot of things. And even though I might be excited, a lot of times I just don’t show it outwardly. So I called him back later, and Coach was still taken aback by my attitude. I just said, ‘ Look, I’m sorry but I was moving!’ [Laughs.]
After the news hit me, I was like, ‘Man, the Celtics – now I’ve got to move from one coast to the other coast. I’m thinking of all this kind of stuff. And then I went out there and met Red, and had a chance to tour the Boston Garden – and as raggedy as that place was, it still made me have chill bumps. I was so excited when I got there. I saw the banners, and at that time I just felt so proud to be involved with that organization. And to this day I’m still proud to have been a Boston Celtic. They still keep in contact with me. It’s just a different situation, it really is. They preach family, and they truly are a family. They try very hard to keep former players informed as to what’s going on, and I just really appreciate that so much.
In addition to yourself, three other Long Beach State players were taken in the draft; Cliff Pondexter, Leonard Gray, and Roscoe Pondexter. What does this say about the strength of that Long Beach State team?
For me it says that we were very, very talented, and we played against very good schools to have that talent come out. A lot of times when you play against weaker schools, your not seen and you don’t put out the effort that you should. If you’re not careful, you end up playing down to that level of competition. Tark and Lute made sure that we played the toughest schedule possible. At that time we were in the PCAA, which is the Big West now, and the conference had good schools. Even Cal State-LA had a very competitive team. So did Pacific, and San Diego State. Fresno State. So the conference schedule was a challenge, and we tried to play a tough non-conference schedule as well. I think USC and UCLA were the only non-conference teams that flat out refused to play us. If we were going to play them, then it was going to be in the NCAA Tournament.
Please take me back to that first training camp with the Boston Celtics.
Very, very tough [laughs]. I remember my first day of training camp very well. I actually drove from California to Boston, stopped in Illinois because I wanted to see some of my relatives, and got to Boston the day before training camp was to start. That was a big mistake on my part. I was only going to stay in Kewanee for a day, and then keep going, but I ended up staying there for three days [laughs]. So now I’m hustling to get there, and I get there the day before camp starts. Our first practice was just run, run, run, run, run. I remember Heinsohn asking the players if we were tired. I’m thinking that he’s wanting to know who needs a sub, so I raise my hand. And he says, ‘Well, that’s too bad, Mac, because you’re going to get even more tired.’ He didn’t sub me out – he kept me on the court and ran me to death. It was unbelievable. That’s when I really learned that watching NBA players run on TV and doing it yourself are two entirely different things. I had always prided myself on being in shape, but that was whole different situation. As much as we ran I just knew that I was going to pass out. Luckily I didn’t, but it was the most demanding thing that I’d ever been through in my life.
The big thing about those Celtic training camps was that you could never stop moving. Even if you didn’t have the ball, you were moving. If you were playing defense and your man didn’t have the ball, then Heinsohn expected you to have your feet moving in case they made a pass to your man, or in case he made a cut to the basket. He wanted you to be able to react right away. So you couldn’t stand still. If he was talking to you on the sidelines, and you weren’t in the game, you had to be running in place. I’ll never forget that. I had never seen anything like that in my whole life. But then I realized why they did that. They were in excellent shape. Perpetual motion. It was an eye-opening experience, for me.
What was it like to meet Red Auerbach for the first time?
When I first me Red, I didn’t have an idea of how he was going to be. I didn’t watch a lot of pro games on TV. Every now and then I’d watch one, but that just wasn’t me. I’ve never been the kind to go, ‘Oh, so-and-so is playing so I’d better get home and watch the game.’ I’d never been that type. If I’m home and a game’s on, then I might watch it. If not, then I’m not going to make a plan just to get home so that I can see a basketball game. I was never like that. So I had heard about Red Auerbach, because he had won all of those championships. I’d seen him on TV with that cigar, so I knew what he looked like. But then to go in there and actually meet him – you know it’s an honor to be able to meet a man like that, but at the same time you’re saying to yourself, ‘My God, this man is arrogant.’ But then you look at him again and say to yourself, ‘He has the right to be arrogant – just look at what he’s done. No one else has done anything close to what this man has done.’ He was a very brash individual, but you could tell that he cared about his players. I had never been under him as a player, but you could just tell by watching film that he cared. The way he reacted, the way he protected them. It wasn’t only about Red Auerbach. It was about his team – his family – and he was going to do what he had to do to protect them. And when they won, he was going to celebrate.
So it was an honor to meet him. And then, to sit down and talk contract with him, you learned very quickly that he was a businessman. It was as simple as that. There wasn’t any joking around about money. He didn’t pretend like you were going to come in and take over the team. John Havlicek was there. Don Nelson. He let you know that there were players on the team that deserved to be there, and had been there for awhile, and that you were going to have to come in and prove yourself. So you looked at him and said to yourself, ‘If that’s the way it has to be done, that’s the way it has to be done.’ And I’d never be one to feel entitled to anything anyway. I believed that playing time was something that I had to earn.
The Celtics went 60-22 in your first season with the team, but fell to the Washington Bullets in the Eastern Conference Finals. Please take me back to that series. What stands out after all of these years?
More than anything else it was the dominance of Wes Unseld. We had good guards, and we had good post players, but Wes the difference maker. I didn’t play much in that series, so it’s hard to recall a lot of the specifics, especially now that so many years have passed. But Washington was the better team that year. They beat us to come out of the East, and then they defeated Golden State in four straight to win the title.
Please tell me a little about Dave Cowens.
Dave….[laughs]….one of the most intense individuals I’ve ever met in my life. To this day I have the utmost respect for him, because Dave has always been the most down-to-earth individual. The thing that I’ve always liked about him is that he says what’s on his mind, and he’s not going to let you sit around wondering what he’s thinking. He’s going to tell you what he thinks about different things. Tremendous player. For his size – he was only 6’9” – the things that he would do, and the way he would throw his body around in order to help his team win, you just can’t ask for more from a player. He was very, very talented. He was a lefty that would take it at you. He was ferocious on the boards. Never gave up. And then you get him off the court and he’s a very low-key, down-to-earth person. And just a joy to play with. If I ever had to do it over again, he is somebody that I would definitely want to be on my team. He epitomizes what hard work is all about. He wasn’t the most talented person in the world, but my God, he got it done. He had the biggest heart that you would ever see.
Following the 1974-75 season, the Celtics traded Paul Westphal to the Phoenix Suns for Charlie Scott. What did Scott’s arrival mean to this team in terms of regaining the championship?
He was already a phenomenal scorer, but he was also a big, quick guard that wanted it. He came in and hadn’t won a championship, and he really wanted that ring. I think that his mindset was one of fitting in. He was going to come in here and do whatever possible to help us win a championship. Charlie could rebound, he could shoot, he could take his man off the dribble. He was a long guard that could defend pretty much anybody in the backcourt. He also had heart. He’d been through so much during his college days – the atmosphere that he had to play in, and he was just one of those types of people who really wanted a championship bad. He was going to sacrifice whatever he needed to sacrifice in order to do that. With him having to come in and play with Jo Jo White, John Havlicek and Dave Cowens, everybody wondered if there would be enough basketballs to go around. Charlie subjugated his game to fit in with these guys. He knew that they were the primary weapons on offense, and that his job was to compliment them and defend.
I previous years, Paul Westphal wasn’t really looked upon as a scorer for our team. He was young and just starting, and he had a lot of potential. But there wasn’t a big need for him to produce points at that stage of his career. Charlie had to come in and pretty much play the same role as Westphal. He was suddenly the fourth option on offense, whereas he was the primary option in Phoenix. When he came in he knew his role and he accepted it, and he really played it well.
You’re career with the Celtics is perhaps best known for your role in that triple-overtime classic in the 1976 NBA Finals. Please take me back to that game in general, and to your contributions in particular.
That particular game was supposed to have been over at halftime. We were killing them, up twenty-plus points, and it really illustrates that you can never let up on your opponent. When a team starts gaining confidence, you don’t know what’s going to happen. And that’s pretty much what happened with us. We felt we had the game locked up. We made some mistakes defensively, and then they started hitting some shots. I played earlier than normal in the first quarter, and then I played early in the third quarter. After that I was pretty much on the bench. By then I could tell that the Suns weren’t afraid. They believed that they could come back in this game, and they believed that they could win it. It became a situation where we’d score one basket and they would score two or three, we’d make a mistake and they would capitalize, and the next thing you know, we’re in the middle of a game. You could see the players on our team trying to step it up – we were on our heels and we needed to do something about it. You could tell that they knew that it was time to get serious again. But it was already too late by that time, because Phoenix already had the momentum. Paul Westphal was playing unbelievable basketball, hitting just about everything he put up there.
And so we went into that first overtime, and then into the second overtime where we thought we had won the game. And then we had to come back out, because Richie Powers had made the call to give the Suns another second on the clock. I remember that he got jumped on by a crazed fan, and the place was an absolute madhouse. It was hard to believe the things that were going on out there.
My role was to be a cheerleader more than anything else. I really wasn’t focusing on the fact that I might be going back into the game. With so many veterans having been in those situations before, I was sure that my few minutes in the third quarter were the last that I’d see in the game. But then another one of our veterans fouled out, and at that point Tommy just felt that he wanted fresh legs. And that’s when he looked down the bench and called my name. He just looked at me and said, ‘Mac, get out there and run ‘em’. And that’s basically what it was. With me having fresh legs from sitting on the bench for awhile, I was able to get a couple of rebounds. I was able to fill the lanes and get out on the break. I was able to get a layup here-or-there. And that’s basically what my role was in that third overtime.
When Paul Silas fouled out, I told Steve Kuberski that he’d better get ready to go in. Steve took his warm-ups off, and all of a sudden Heinsohn says, ‘Mac, get in there!’ And I’m saying to myself, ‘Oh my God!’ But that was only for a split second. I jumped up didn’t think about the magnitude of the situation. I went in there to do my job, contribute, and make the most of a golden opportunity. And that’s what I’ve always told my kids. I stress how important it is to be focused and to be ready, because you never know when your number is going to be called. You want to be able to produce whenever they call your number. Fortunately for me, I was able to hit a couple of baskets and make a couple free throws. And fortunately it went right. It’s amazing, but it happened for me. I thank God that he put me in that position, and I thank Him even more for my being ready to produce when called upon.
The Celtic championship teams of the 70s tend to get overlooked. Do you think this is because those teams were sandwiched between the title teams of Bill Russell and Larry Bird?
Probably so. Yeah. Because, first of all, there were so many championships before those teams won titles in the 70s, and then there were all of those trips to the NBA Finals with Bird running the show. In both cases there wasn’t a big gap between trips to the Finals – it just seemed like the Celtics were playing for a championship every year. On one side of us you had Russell, a phenomenal player won 11 titles in 13 years, and on the other you had Bird, who won 3 in 7. He probably should have been more, if things had gone a little differently against the Lakers.
Dave was named one of the 50 Greatest Players, but he still wasn’t the most dominant player around. Russell and Bird were dominant. Dave was a dominant player in his own sense, but it was mainly because of his blue collar work ethic. He was often overmatched against most of the centers in the league – he was always looking up to them, height-wise – but he had that great heart and he usually won the battles under the boards. He was a team player who worked extremely hard, like Russell and Bird, but he did it with less flash and bravado. I think that’s why he may tend to get overlooked, and why those championship teams of the 70s tend to get overlooked. I’m glad that he was recognized as one of the 50 Greatest Players, because he really deserved that honor.
After playing basketball your whole life, and dreaming of winning a championship, what was it like to finally win it all?
When we came back from Phoenix we were all so excited, but, for me, the appreciation factor didn’t really set in until I came back from playing overseas. Because after I came back from the Philippines I started seeing clips of The Greatest Game Ever Played, and I realized that I played a significant part in that piece of history. And then I realized that I’d accomplished something that a whole lot of other people strive for but never obtain. Although I was in the NBA only two years, I was fortunate enough to win a championship ring in one of them. So it wasn’t until later in my life that I was able to understand the importance of that whole situation. If I want to wear my ring, then I get it out and wear it and know that I was a part of something special. It’s a tremendous feeling. I work as Director of Intramurals at Long Beach, and kids will see clips of the game on ESPN Classic. They’ll come up to me and say, ‘Mr. McDonald, I saw this game last night – it was between the Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns – and I didn’t know that you played for the Celtics! You have a championship ring!’ And then you realize that a lot of people would give anything to experience that moment. It makes me cherish that moment even more.
What do you remember most about the fabled Boston Garden?
The dead spots in the floor [laughs]. We would know where the dead spots were, and we would force dribblers to those spots. We could get steal opportunities that way, because the ball wouldn’t come up as high as it normally did. The Celtic veterans would know not to go to those areas – they’d played in the Garden for so many years, and they knew that floor like it was a second home.
The other thing was looking up at all of those championship banners and retired jerseys. You can’t beat that. And then you realize that you’re a part of that same program, so you understand that it’s a true honor to be a Boston Celtic.
Your time in Boston was brief, but we have a saying: “Once a Celtic, always a Celtic.” What was it like for you to play for this proud franchise?
I was blessed to be able to play for a franchise like the Celtics. You have the Lakers, and the 76ers, and those are proud franchises, but I was blessed to be a Celtic because of the way that they treat you as a person. I was a role player who was with the team for two years only, and to this day I get literature or phone calls if there is something going on. They always make a point to ask if I’d like to come back and be involved. Those things, to me, are really important. That tells me that the Celtics truly believe that you are a part of the family.
Final Question: You’ve achieved great success in your life. If you could offer one piece of advice on life to others, what would that be?
Whatever dream you have, go for it. Be sincere with yourself. Treat people the way you want people to treat you. You can accomplish whatever you set out to do in life if you’re sincere about it, and you put forth the effort.
- The Conner Henry Interview - 12/26/2018
- The Antoine Walker Interview - 12/25/2018
- The Dee Brown Interview - 12/23/2018
