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1972–73 Boston Celtics season
NBA basketball team season
NBA basketball team season
(lost to Knicks 3–4)
The 1972–73 Boston Celtics season was their 27th in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Celtics finished the season with the best record in the league, and currently in franchise history, at 68–14. Third-year center Dave Cowens won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award ahead of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tiny Archibald. They also won the Atlantic Division for the second consecutive season.
In the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics lost to the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks in seven games.
Draft picks
Main article: 1972 NBA draft
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Paul Westphal | PG/SG | United States | USC |
| 2 | 27 | Dennis Wuycik | SF | United States | North Carolina |
| 3 | 44 | Wayne Grabiec | G | United States | Michigan |
| 4 | 61 | Nate Stephens | C | United States | Long Beach State |
| 5 | 77 | Bryan Adrian | G | United States | Davidson |
| 6 | 94 | Don Holcomb | C | United States | Memphis |
| 6 | 96 | Wally Rice | G | United States | Widener |
| 7 | 111 | Steve Previs | PG | United States | North Carolina |
| 8 | 127 | Sam McCamey | F | United States | Oral Roberts |
| 10 | 154 | Marty Hunt | G | United States | Kenyon |
| 11 | 165 | Mark Minor | SF | United States | Ohio State |
| 12 | 173 | Phil Stephens | C | United States | South Carolina State |
Roster
- Tom Heinsohn
- John Killilea
Regular season
Season standings
Game log
| 1972–73 game log |
|---|
| **#** |
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Playoffs
|- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 1 | April 1 | Atlanta | W 134–109 | John Havlicek (54) | Dave Cowens (17) | Art Williams (12) | Boston Garden 11,907 | 1–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 2 | April 4 | @ Atlanta | W 126–113 | John Havlicek (29) | Dave Cowens (25) | Jo Jo White (11) | Omni Coliseum 11,588 | 2–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 3 | April 6 | Atlanta | L 105–118 | Jo Jo White (23) | Dave Cowens (18) | Jo Jo White (10) | Boston Garden 15,320 | 2–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 4 | April 8 | @ Atlanta | L 94–97 | John Havlicek (21) | Paul Silas (22) | John Havlicek (5) | Omni Coliseum 11,675 | 2–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 5 | April 11 | Atlanta | W 108–101 | John Havlicek (32) | Dave Cowens (20) | John Havlicek (11) | Boston Garden 12,525 | 3–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 6 | April 13 | @ Atlanta | W 121–103 | Jo Jo White (33) | Paul Silas (17) | Jo Jo White (7) | Omni Coliseum 16,181
| 4–2 |
|---|
| - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" |
| 1 |
| April 15 |
| New York |
| W 134–108 |
| Jo Jo White (30) |
| Dave Cowens (15) |
| John Havlicek (11) |
| Boston Garden |
| 15,320 |
| 1–0 |
| - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" |
| 2 |
| April 18 |
| @ New York |
| L 96–129 |
| John Havlicek (21) |
| Dave Cowens (13) |
| John Havlicek (11) |
| Madison Square Garden |
| 19,694 |
| 1–1 |
| - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" |
| 3 |
| April 20 |
| New York |
| L 91–98 |
| John Havlicek (29) |
| Paul Silas (14) |
| John Havlicek (6) |
| Boston Garden |
| 15,320 |
| 1–2 |
| - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" |
| 4 |
| April 22 |
| @ New York |
| L 110–117 (2OT) |
| Jo Jo White (34) |
| Paul Silas (23) |
| Jo Jo White (6) |
| Madison Square Garden |
| 19,694 |
| 1–3 |
| - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" |
| 5 |
| April 25 |
| New York |
| W 98–97 |
| Dave Cowens (32) |
| Paul Silas (20) |
| Jo Jo White (7) |
| Boston Garden |
| 15,320 |
| 2–3 |
| - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" |
| 6 |
| April 27 |
| @ New York |
| W 110–100 |
| Dave Cowens (26) |
| Dave Cowens (14) |
| Jo Jo White (7) |
| Madison Square Garden |
| 19,694 |
| 3–3 |
| - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" |
| 7 |
| April 29 |
| New York |
| L 78–94 |
| Dave Cowens (24) |
| Paul Silas (16) |
| Dave Cowens (5) |
| Boston Garden |
| 15,320 |
| 3–4 |
| - |
Awards, records and milestones
- Most Valuable Player: Dave Cowens, Boston Celtics
- Coach of the Year: Tom Heinsohn, Boston Celtics
- All-NBA First Team:
- John Havlicek, Boston Celtics
- NBA All-Defensive Team:
- First Team:
- John Havlicek, Boston Celtics
- Second Team:
- Paul Silas, Boston Celtics
- Don Chaney, Boston Celtics
References
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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