The Liberty Hotel was filled with Celtics legends on Tuesday night, three decades of NBA champions hugging, laughing loudly at decades-old stories, and reminiscing on greatness.
Members from the 1966, 1976, and 1986 NBA championship teams reunited Tuesday for a star-studded dinner that included Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, Paul Silas, Charlie Scott, Jo Jo White, Bill Walton, and Kevin McHale.
“It’s a shame Red [Auerbach] is not here for all the stuff we put together,” McHale said. “I don’t know if that will ever be [repeated], especially in today’s sports, keeping guys together that long, the amount of success, the transference from the Cousy/Russell, then to the Jones boys and into the Cowens, and into the [Larry] Bird era. That’s a lot of basketball the city saw.”
The 1985-86 championship team was considered one of the best of all time, and finished 40-1 at home, the best home record in league history. The San Antonio Spurs threatened to break that record, winning their first 39 games before losing at home Sunday to the Golden State Warriors.
McHale, who coached the Houston Rockets until being dismissed in November, was asked to compare his ’86 Celtics team with the current Warriors, who are vying for their second consecutive NBA title and a record 73 regular-season wins.
“I love our team and I’d take our team against anybody,” McHale said. “What Golden State is doing is unbelievable. For them to win 72 games is ridiculous, I didn’t think that was possible. We’d win eight or nine in a row and then we’d lose to a bad team.
“I thought two records that would stand the test of time was the 72-win Bulls team and then Wilt [Chamberlain’s] 1oo points.’’
Could Celtics’ defensive ace Dennis Johnson handle reigning MVP Stephen Curry?
“Dennis was a great defender but Steph Curry is a handful,” McHale said. “If you are talking about back when you could hold and grab someone . . . In today’s rules nobody is guarding him.”
When asked who would win a seven-game series between the ’86 Celtics and ’16 Warriors, McHale said: “If we played our rules in ’86, we’d win because those poor guys, we’d just beat them up. If we played today’s rules, they probably would because we’d all foul out. It’s two different eras. I love the era I played in and wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Gary Washburn can be reached at gwashburn@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GwashburnGlobe.