Doc Rivers said Red Auerbach made sure the Hawks players didn't get food ahead of Game 7 in 1988: "No one got their room service order at the hotel"
Basketball fans remember the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals for the unforgettable Game 7 showdown between Dominique Wilkins, the Atlanta Hawks' electrifying forward, and Larry Bird, the iconic and fearless Boston Celtics legend. However, Doc Rivers, the Hawks' ace guard at the time, remembers the game for something entirely different.
Rivers, a former All-Star guard who became a championship-winning head coach, reflected on the events leading up to the high-stakes, winner-take-all game. Among the challenges they faced was a surprising mishap: Meals never arrived at their rooms, leaving them to seek food elsewhere.
The Hawks had to return to the Garden
After being down 2-0 in the series, Atlanta rattled off three straight wins to come to within a win away from ousting the Eastern Conference's top-seeded squad. However, they squandered their chance in Game 6, losing 102-100 on their home floor. This unfortunate result forced a deciding Game 7 at the Boston Garden, where the Celtics were nearly unbeatable.
Aside from contending with a confident Celtics squad and a raucous crowd cheering them on, Rivers disclosed that they also had to adapt to the game's unexpected twists and turns, one of which was dealing with a food shortage in their hotel.
"The morning of Game 7, no one got their room service order at the hotel. We didn't know what was going on," Rivers shared. "We just assumed it was Red Auerbach being Red Auerbach."
This proved to be a problem, as instead of focusing on the game, the players had to scrounge for food.
"I remember having chips on the bus going to the game. A couple of guys tried to get things after the walkthrough in the ballroom. We were all scrambling just to get something to eat," Doc furthered.
The chalkboard went missing in the Hawks' locker room
One of the more peculiar moments of Game 7 was the mysterious disappearance of the Hawks' chalkboard. While Doc could only laugh at the timing of these events, Hawks coach Mike Fratello was beside himself at how Celtics executive Red Auerbach could pull something like this off.
"There was no chalkboard for Coach Fratello before Game 7, and I remember him losing his mind. He's in the hallway screaming, 'Where the hell is my chalkboard?' I remember just laughing away," Rivers stated. "We could care less, but Mike was so mad. He was mad at Red. He was just convinced again it was the Boston stuff."
These things were nothing new to the Celtics' opponents. It was just one of many stunts that opposing deals dealt with whenever a game was held in "Beantown."
"There were certain times of year where there was no heat in the locker room, and other times there was too much when you were in the warmer weather or playoff time. That was the Garden. The parquet floor, knowing where the dead spots were, all those things were rumors that would go around," Fratello remarked.
Steve Holman, the Hawks' radio announcer who happens to be from Boston, virtually confirmed these rumors and claimed these were part of the mystique of the legendary Red Auerbach.
"Red Auerbach was the ultimate competitor. Sometimes, the board was there in the locker room, but the chalk wasn't, or sometimes, the chalk was there but not the board. Those were all little things," he quipped.
In the end, the Celtics won over the Hawks in a thrilling finale to the series, 118-116. However, they fell short in the Eastern Conference Finals, losing to the eventual NBA champions Detroit Pistons.
