[I stumbled onto this old Boston Globe clip and couldn’t put it down. Thought I’d pass it along for your reading pleasure. Journalist John Ahern takes us into the madhouse known as Boston Garden for the deciding game of the Celtics’ best-of-three series with the Syracuse Nationals, a.k.a., the Nats. The date is March 21, 1953. The subject: The Cooz does it again. Enjoy!]
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A woman fan, tears streaming down her face, held onto her young son and kept saying: “It’s impossible. He did it all by himself.”
A Syracuse writer, too jittery to light a cigarette, kept insisting: “He’s the greatest thing anybody ever will see any place. He beat this league all by himself. He’ll bring the championship back to Boston for you guys. He is the one who can do it.”
If there were one person who could bring the [baseball] Braves back from Milwaukee, it would be Bob Cousy yesterday afternoon. He could have done anything.
The Cooz, drawn and pale and operating on a leg that threatened to buckle under him any second, put on the greatest one-man show ever seen in Boston Garden or any other place in this town during the 3-hour, 11-minute stretch that seemed an eternity to 11,053 limp fans.
His great floor play and foul shooting kept the sagging Celts in the ballgame through the regulation periods, his last three free throws sending the game into the first overtime. He bailed the team through that session with two of the four points. In the third hectic extra round, he scored seven of the nine points, including a basket with three seconds left to preserve the tie, and he got nine of the 12 points in the wild windup.
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In his great show, Cousy, besides getting an ear-splitting ovation, broke two NBA playoff records and two Boston Garden records. His 50 points for one game broke George Mikan’s record of 47. His 30 of 32 foul shots also broke Mikan’s record of 17 out of 18. Bob’s total points broke the Garden record of Ed Macauley—46, made two weeks ago—and the fouls are a new high.
Cousy’s great show was hard to take, not only for the Syracuse team but for the fans, who are emotionally spent. Walter Brown, the man with the most to gain, walked out at the end of the second overtime. “It was too much for me then,” he said. “But I had to come back and watch the last few seconds.”
Howie McHugh, the team’s publicity man, was seized by severe headaches early in the extra rounds. By the end, he had quietly passed out in the press box. He was revived and will be all right . . . If he doesn’t have to watch anymore games like that.
Even the players were shot. Bob Donham, who fouled out with little more than a minute to play, could hardly talk in the dressing room. “Greatest thing anybody ever saw.”
Bob Harris, who doesn’t say much anytime, just murmured, “He’s the best. Nothing like him.”
Even Red Auerbach, who can deliver an oration on anything at any time, just yelled: “Let me alone. Let me calm down. He’s wonderful. They’re all wonderful.” And then he nearly lit his nose instead of a cigar.
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But Cooz, the reason for the mass delirium, just sat on the bench, hunched over, trying to hide the tears. “Thanks for everything. Thanks fellas,” he said to well-wishers and his teammates. “There was a prayer going with every shot. I certainly needed them. But I don’t want to have to play a game like that again. Boy, it’s too much. I was lucky.”
Luck was with Cousy on two distinct occasions. Late in the last period of regulation play, Chuck Cooper was going in alone and a pass anywhere near him could have won the game. Instead, Bob threw the ball away, and Syracuse came back to stay in contention.
At the end of the second overtime period, Cooz had an easy layup to win the game. He missed the basket completely. “I certainly could have been the goat,” the weary former Holy Cross star agreed.
“Just proves he’s human,” Dolph Schayes of Syracuse said in a quick defense.
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Schayes had his doubts about the human qualities of some of the Celts. In the first half, he was floored by Bob Brannum, and seconds later he retaliated, touching off a good brawl. “He elbowed me, and then I belted him in the eye,” Schayes said. “He hit me back, but then someone came off the Celtics’ bench and held me while I got belted again. It was a lousy deal.”
“Baloney,” Brannum retorted. “He hit me in the stomach and then cut me over the left eye before I could even swing. If he wants to try it again, I’m waiting right here.” Branham needed a stitch of his left eye.
The imbroglio held up the game for five minutes while Boston police and Garden ushers piled on the floor to clear it up. For their troubles, they got a good pushing around. Billy Gabor [of Syracuse] took on a whole platoon of cops and was holding his own with them. Brannum and Schayes were disqualified for the rest of the game.”
Paul Seymour, Syracuse’ great backcourtman, collapsed late in the third overtime with a bad knee wrench. He was carried off the floor and treated at the bench. He couldn’t be replaced because all the Nats on the bench were out on fouls. So, he came back and hobbled around under the basket. Despite the injury, the Celts’ five men couldn’t take care of the Nats’ four healthy players.
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“Whaddaya mean, the Celtics’ five players?” an angry fan asked. “They got four, and we got only one—Cousy—and he’s gonna lick ‘em himself.”
“He did it, just that one kid,” Al Cervi, Syracuse player-coach, agreed. “We should be going back to play the third game now. Instead, we’re going home for the year. What a ballplayer! He’s the best.”
The fouling situation never was so extensive. Referees Arnold Heft and Charlie Eckman called 107 fouls, 52 on the Celts. At the end, “More” Mahoney, Kenny Rollins, and John Mahnken were the only Boston players without six fouls. Osterkorn and Lloyd were the only Nats players who could foul again without causing technical fouls.
“It was the toughest one I ever worked,” Eckman said. “We didn’t get a chance to let up from start to finish.”
By the time the Garden cleared, Walter Brown had shaken off his headache and personally thanked his players. Auerbach, too, had returned to earth and was willing to talk. “It’s tough to say anything or single out a player, they did a helluva job, all of them. Harris was great off the boards. Kenny Rollins was wonderful in there. And that Mahoney, he was great. Three times in the last seconds, he stole the ball, and when he made them foul him as he faked a shot, that set us up for good.
“Cousy you ask? Don’t get me started. I could go all night on what that kid did. He’s only the best.”
For once in his coaching career, Red will get no argument. The Cooz did everything but take tickets.
From Way Downtown 