Red Auerbach

ORLANDO -- Phil Jackson paused before he answered. If you blinked, you might have missed the twinkle in his eye.

Over the next couple of weeks, those sounds you could be hearing throughout New England and the far-flung terrain of Celtics Nation are roiling stomachs, gnashing teeth and perhaps even full-throated howls. For if...

Phil Jackson came to this rivalry late, like most of the others participating in this 2008 NBA Finals dripping of history and rancor.

Issue date: March 21, 1988

Once Red Auerbach went to that old overheated locker room in the sky last October, suspicions about presumed cheating -- let's use the more polite "gamesmanship" -- in the NBA decreased exponentially. Actually,...