History week: Celtics and Lakers trivia

If you wish to try the harder All-Star edition of the quiz, try to answer the questions without looking at the multiple choice offerings.

Layup: Which Celtic great head coached the Lakers to their first NBA title based in Los Angeles? (*Bonus: name the year)

A) Bill Sharman B) K.C. Jones

Reverse layup: What Celtic forward won five rings with Boston after being cut by the Lakers?

A) Bailey Howell B) Don Nelson

Free throw: What former Celtic later won three rings with the Lakers?

A) Travis Knight B) CHucky Atkins C) Rick Fox

Free throw: Which Celtic starter on their 1974 title team jumped to the ABA and then helped the Lakers post the best record in the NBA in 1976-77?

A) Don Nelson B) Don Chaney C) Paul Silas

Jump shot: What numbers did Shaquille O'Neal wear with the Lakers and then the Celtics? (*Bonus: what number did he wear in college?)

A) 33/45 B) 34/36 C) 32/34 D) 34/39

Jump shot: What Celtic standout was the assistant coach on the 1971-72 Laker championship team?

A) Frank Ramsey B) Larry Siegfried C) Tom Sanders D) KC Jones

3-pointer: Which of the following men played for both the Celtics and Lakers in the 1977-78 season?

A) Sidney Wicks B) Curtis Rowe C) Don Chaney

D) Mel Counts E) Ernie DiGregorio

3-pointer: Who is the only man to win a championship for both the Lakers and Celtics as a player? (*Bonus: what team did he play for against the Celtics in the Finals?)

A) Bill Sharman B) Rick Fox C) Clyde Lovellette

D) Mel Counts E) Don Chaney

19 points is the highest possible score; extra points only apply if the correct answer is given first.

Answers

Layup-A) Bill Sharman, the sharpshooting Celtic great from USC, led the Lakers to their first NBA title based in Los Angeles in the 1971-72 season*, his first season at the Laker helm. LA won 33 in a row that season and set a then-record with 69 victories, a mark that stood for 24 seasons until the 1995-96 Bulls went 72-10 in an expansion-diluted era.

Reverse layup-B) Sweet-shooting, cerebral forward Don Nelson won five rings with Boston as a part-time starter and key reserve over 11 seasons after being cut by the Lakers in the mid-1960s. Three of his titles came against LA in 1966/68/69, which had to be especially satisfying.

Free throw-C) Rick Fox, a 1991 first round pick out of North Carolina and second team All-Rookie pick in Larry Bird's last season, later won three rings as a veteran Laker hatchet man from 2000-02.

Free throw-B) Don "Duck" Chaney, a standout defensive guard, started alongside JoJo White in the backcourt for the 1974 champion Celtics, who edged the Bucks 4-3 in an epic Finals.

Chaney later jumped to the ABA's St. Louis Spirits as a free agent before returning to play with the Lakers. He helped LA go 53-29 under the coaching of Jerry West in the first ABA/NBA post-merger season.

Chaney returned to Boston and finished his career in 1980, making him the only man to play with Bill Russell in his final season of 1968-69, and Bird in his rookie season of 1979-80.

Jump shot-B) 34/36. Shaquille O'Neal wore 34 with the Lakers and 36 with the Celtics. His college number of 33* at LSU had been retired by LA for Jabbar and for Boston by the one and only Larry Bird. He wore 32 for Orlando, but then had been retired for Earvin Johnson in LA. Shaq returned to number 33 in his short run with Cleveland and wore 32 for Phoenix.

Jump shot-D) Univ. of San Francisco standout K.C. Jones was the assistant coach on the 1971-72 Laker championship team under former Celtic teammate Bill Sharman - back when NBA teams either had no assistants or one at most.

3-pointer-E) Former Providence great and 1973-74 NBA Rookie od the Year Ernie played for both the Celtics and Lakers in the 1977-78 season.

Ernie D led the NBA in foul shooting and assists as a rookie in 1973-74 for Buffalo (now the Clippers) while also scoring 15.2 ppg, but the Braves fell to eventual champion Boston 4-2 in a tough series.

Ernie D's college backcourt mate, Kevin Stacom, won a ring with Boston 1976 as a reserve guard.

3-pointer-C) Clyde Lovellette is the only man to win a championship for both the Lakers and Celtics as a player.

The Hall of Fame center won it all as a rookie backup to George Mikan for the 1954 Minneapolis Lakers. At the end of his career, he won two more rings in 1963 and 1964 with the Celtics as Bill Russell's backup.

In between, he was a high-scoring hook-shoting center on two *St. Louis Hawk teams that lost to the Celtics in the 1960 and 1961 Finals.

Center Mel Counts won a title as Russell's backup as well in 1965 and 1966 when he became Lovellette's replacement, then lost to the Celtics in 1968 and 1969 as a Laker. The good-shooting seven-footer won an Olympic gold medal in 1964 for America and anchored the 1963 Oregon State Final Four squad.