Boston Celtics Basketball

What is it that makes Boston Celtics basketball so legendary? Could it be that the team has won more than 2700 games, including 71% of the ones they have played at home? Or could it be the fact that they have won more NBA Championships (16) than any other team in professional basketball history, including an unprecedented eight in a row at one point in time. Or maybe it is the fact that the team has had so many legendary players wear their vaunted green and white jersey, including Bill Russell, Larry Bird, John Havlicek and Pete Maravich. In fact, the Celtics have 29 former players, coaches or executives enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Missouri. Or perhaps it is just the Celtic mystique, that "X-factor" that always seems to surround the team. Whatever the case may be, there is no doubt that the Boston Celtics are one of the best, most popular basketball clubs in the sport today.

Why Is It Boston Celtics Basketball?

So why did it become Boston Celtics basketball, anyway? According to the team's official website, the naming of the team dates back to the summer of 1946. Walter Brown, founder of the Boston basketball franchise, and Howie McHugh, a member of the publicity staff at the Boston Garden and the man placed in charge of the team's operations, were working together to try and come up with a name. Sources say that many team names were tossed back and fourth, including the Whirlwinds, the Unicorns and the Olympics. Suddenly, Brown suggested Celtics, a name that had ties to New York basketball as well as to the massive Irish population in the New England area. McHugh hated the idea and did all he could to talk Brown out of it, but the owner had his mind made up. Thus, Celtics basketball and a great hoops legend were born.