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That time the Boston Celtics almost moved to Long Island

The Long Island Celtics. How does that sound?

Believe it or not, it could have happened.

Nearly five decades ago, the owner of the Celtics wanted to move one of the most storied franchises in sports history to Long Island.

It was 1970, and the new owner of Boston’s NBA team was a New Yorker named Woody Erdman. According to stories that appeared in Newsday and the Boston Globe that year, he immediately began lobbying Nassau County officials to let him relocate his franchise to the under-construction Nassau Coliseum, which was planned to open in 1971.