Cheeks was part of a championship team in 1982-83, but doesn’t necessarily consider that his most memorable season.
“The championship probably should (be),” he said, “but when we went in Boston and won in the seventh game (in 1981-82), after being (up) 3-1, twice, that was pretty big for us.”
The Celtics erased such a deficit in ‘80-81 to beat the Sixers in the Eastern Conference finals, en route to the title. In ‘82, they came back to tie again, but the Sixers clinched the series with a Game Seven victory in Boston Garden.
“The championship is the ultimate,” Cheeks said, “but that was testing us a bit, because we were already up 3-1, and we had to do it again.”
That game is remembered for Celtics fans serenading the Sixers with chants of “Beat L-A” when the issue was no longer in doubt, since they would face the Lakers in the Finals.
Alas, they did not.
