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The Boston Celtics still feel The Sting Of Death


     For the most historic franchise in sports history from this writers perspective, has any other team ever lost two transcendent players in a span of seven years? Give me another franchise who had such success and yet lost what could have been two players who could have been basketball Hall of Famers? 
     
     In modern sports generally, your transcendent players go in a few directions. They tend to stay with the team that drafted them, typically they win and make an incredible impact on that franchise and city. Sometimes they force a trade, or they choose to leave in free agency. Yet for the Celtics, they lost Len Bias in 86 due to a cocaine overdose. Fast forward to 93 and they lost Reggie Lewis to a heart condition/ usage of cocaine. 
  
     These two impactful moments in a franchises history lead to some very dark days of basketball in Boston and eventually led to the hiring of Slick-Rick-the-rat Pitino. Who chose to stick the great Red Auerbach into the cellar of the franchise he built into a multi-Champion! 
  
     Think about this! A team that won 16 titles in such a rapid and sustainable fashion. This franchise and team waited until 2008 to finally win again. Here we are and it's 2021 and no rings. Now this writer has addressed this subject in other ways. Yet the question is, can any other sports franchise say they dealt with this?! I don't think so! Call it bad luck, or like life sports to show us that life is a blessing and no one is guaranteed tomorrow. 

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