The Celtics ’81 Eastern Conference finals win squares off against the Patriots’ introduction before Super Bowl XXXVI in the first round of Boston’s Greatest Sports Moment tournament.
The 1980-81 Boston Celtics found themselves in the same scenario they had been in the year before — facing Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals in Boston, down 3-1 to Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers. The C’s would not give up as they had in the previous year’s series, though, and marched back to force a Game 7 in Boston. After a back-and-forth battle through much of the game, second-year forward Larry Bird hit a bank shot with a minute to go in the fourth to give the Celtics a two-point lead. A crucial missed free throw by Mo Cheeks and a botched final play gave the C’s a 91-90 victory, leaving Bird jumping for joy near center court as fans mobbed him. It would be the first of many Eastern Conference championships for the newly formed “Big Three” of Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.
Kurt Warner ran out of the tunnel in the Superdome as one of the stars of the 2001 St. Louis Rams. Listed as the visiting team, Warner and the Rams had their lineups announced first. When the camera turned to the Patriots’ side, the tunnel looked too crowded for an individual to come running out upon hearing his name. However, only one name needed to be heard: the New England Patriots. With second-year quarterback Tom Brady leading the charge, the Patriots became the first team in NFL history to be introduced as a team before the start of a Super Bowl. The idea was proposed by head coach Bill Belichick and initially met with resistance from the league. But as seen before every Super Bowl since, an idea has become a tradition.
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