Bill Russell, Marcus Smart Lead Celtics’ Twitter Tributes To John Havlicek

The Boston Celtics family mourns one of their own.

Celtics icon Bill Russell and guard Marcus Smart shared tributes to John Havlicek shortly after the legendary player died late Thursday night at age 79. Russell, who played alongside Havlicek for seven seasons and coached him for parts of three, and Smart used Twitter to express their sadness over the news.

Havlicek spent his entire 16-year NBA career with the Celtics between 1962 and 1978. He helped the Celtics win eight NBA championships, was a 13-time All-Star and is the team’s all-time leader in games and minutes played and points scored.

Other Celtics past and present almost surely will follow Russell and Smart in sharing public tributes to Havlicek. Younger fans probably will do the same upon learning how great a player and man Havlicek was.