The Celtics were battling the Bucks in an epic seven-game Eastern semifinal series during the grueling 1987 NBA Playoffs. Milwaukee head coach and former Celtic Don Nelson was standing courtside watching Boston warm up with his assistant, John Killilea, Tom Heinsohn’s key assistant on the 1974 and 1976 Celtic title teams.
In 1987, defending champion Boston was ravaged by injuries to six of its top eight players during that postseason, yet still managed somehow (mainly behind the hoop heroics of Larry Joe Bird) to fight its way to The Finals.
Because of their unprecedented spate of injuries, the team had to pick up some relatively unknown players to fill out the roster like Conner Henry and Darren Daye, or depend on little-used reserves like Sam Vincent and Greg Kite.