I grew up watching and worshipping the NBA. The league, and basketball in general, represented my gateway into sports geekdom. My first tangible sports memory is watching the Celtics dispatch the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals to the dulcet tones of Gil Santos and Bob Cousy on Channel 4 in Boston, at the ripe old age of 5. It would only get better, as the Celts were playoff regulars and championship contenders throughout the ‘80s, winning it all three times and making two other Finals appearances all while I turned from wide-eyed kindergartener to pimple-faced, middle school outcast. It was heaven. More
