Larry’s Loyalty to Red

Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach had a hand in each of the team’s first 16 NBA World Championship titles, three of which he won with Larry Bird. “The one thing about Red was loyalty,” Bird said. “That’s why I never wanted to leave there because I knew he always had my back. He cared for me. He wanted me to do well. He wanted me to play at a high level.” Bird and Auerbach celebrated their third NBA World Championship in 1986 by hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy together.