Tommy Heinsohn will be remembered for a lot of things, including how he felt about NBA officials.
Heinsohn died Tuesday at the age of 86. The Boston Celtics legend spent 60-plus years with the organization as a player, coach and broadcaster.
Many former and current players remembered the Hall of Famer, along with coaches and teams throughout the city of the Boston.
Doc Rivers, who coached the C’s for nine seasons, reminisced on NBC Sports Boston, sharing an awesome story about referees asking Rivers if he could ask Heinsohn to “lighten up.”
“Once I took the Celtics job and we would do that preseason where you met all the coaches and the referees came together,” Rivers said. “Every single time I would have at least one official come up to me and say, ‘Doc, can you just talk to Tommy and tell him to please just lighten up a little bit?'”
Well, did Rivers do that?
“I would always look the ref in the eye and say, ‘absolutely not!'”
We’re sure Heinsohn wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
Rivers also shared that after taking the job with the Philadelphia 76ers, only one person took offense. Of course, it was Heinsohn. Still, Rivers said he has no idea where he’d be in his career without the C’s legend.
Keep these stories coming.
