It took Sam Cassell just two minutes on Thursday night to justify why the Celtics acquired the former Dunbar star to help Boston win its first National Basketball Association title in 22 years.
Cassell scored six of his eight points in the second quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the visiting Los Angeles Lakers before making a clutch jump shot in the fourth quarter to help secure a 98-88 victory at TD Banknorth Garden.
The game was Cassell’s first in the finals since 1995 when the Baltimore native was concluding his second season in Houston by helping lead the team to its second straight title.
But Cassell, 38, has a chance to win his third championship after he signed with the Celtics, who needed a backup point guard, in March after agreeing to a buyout with the Los Angeles Clippers.
“[Thirteen] years later I'm back in the finals and it feels good,”
Cassell told reporters. “It feels really good.”
The Rockets won titles in each of Cassell’s first two seasons, but soon after that, he would become one of the NBA's ultimate nomadic players. Cassell, the 24th player chosen in the 1993 draft has played for eight teams in his 15-year career. He has been traded six times, including a stretch in which he was dealt four times in six seasons.
Along with the Rockets, Clippers and Celtics, Cassell, who has averaged 15.7 points per game throughout his career, has also played for the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, New Jersey Nets, Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Coincidentally, Cassell made his lone All-Star team in 2004 while in Minnesota, where he and current Celtic Kevin Garnett led the Timberwolves to the Western Conference finals.
Cassell, who averaged 11.8 points during the regular season and 4.9 points a game in the playoffs this season, said helping Boston win its NBA-record 17th title was the reason he signed with the team.
“We're back in a big way,”
he said. “We've got to finish it off. Coming up short would be a bad season for us. This organization is about one thing: winning championships.”
Towson men's basketball coach Pat Kennedy knows firsthand of Cassell’s desire to win. Kennedy coached Cassell at Florida State, where he led lead the Seminoles to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in 1993.
“Sam was never afraid to take the big shot,”
Kennedy said. “He was such a competitor that when the game was on the line he always wanted the ball in his hands. He just may be the best basketball player ever to come out of Baltimore.”
Former Dunbar coach Pete Pompey said Cassell was a big help to him in his early years with the Poets after he took over the perennial state power from Bob Wade, who left in 1986 to coach the University of Maryland.
“Sam never met a shot he didn't like,”
Pompey said. “He is a tenacious player who always got after it. Sam is a great guy who helped me a lot as a coach. He helped me pull the kids in when they got out of whack so to speak. He was a godfather over that group.”
NBA FINALS
(Best-of-7)
Boston vs. L.A. Lakers
Thursday Boston 98, L.A. Lakers 88, Boston leads series 1-0
Sunday: L.A. Lakers at Boston, 9 p.m.
Tuesday Boston at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m.
Thursday: Boston at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m.
June 15: Boston at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m., if necessary
June 17: L.A. Lakers at Boston, 9 p.m., if necessary
June 19: L.A. Lakers at Boston, 9 p.m., if necessary
