The

2000–01 NBA season The 2000–01 NBA season was the 55th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning their second straight championship, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 4 games to 1 in the 2001 NBA Finals. Not ...

was the 55th season for the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

. During the off-season, the Celtics acquired

Bryant Stith Bryant Lamonica Stith (born December 10, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently a men's assistant basketball coach at University of North Carolina Green ...

from the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

, and signed free agents Randy Brown, Chris Carr, and rookie center

Mark Blount Mark D. Blount ( ; born November 30, 1975) is an American retired professional basketball center with four teams in the National Basketball Association between 2000 and 2009. Career Blount spent his freshman year of high school in Summerville, ...

. Prior to the start of the season, the Celtics were nearly hit with tragedy when

Paul Pierce Paul Anthony Pierce (born October 13, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Boston Celtics. He was most recently an analyst on ESPN ...

was stabbed 11 times in the face, neck and back, and had a bottle smashed over his head, and was attacked by three men at the Buzz Club, a late night dance club in the

Boston Theater District The Boston Theater District is the center of Boston's theater scene. Many of its theaters are on Washington Street, Tremont Street, Boylston Street, and Huntington Avenue. History Plays were banned in Boston by the Puritans until 1792. Bosto ...

on September 25, 2000;

Tony Battie Demetrius Antonio Battie (born February 11, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player. He works as an analyst for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). High school and college career Battie attended S ...

, Pierce's Celtic teammate, along with Battie's brother, saved him by rushing him to a nearby hospital, where Pierce had to undergo lung surgery to repair the damage. Nevertheless, Pierce was the only Celtic to start all 82 games during the 2000–01 season. The Celtics played around .500 in November, but then struggled as Kenny Anderson only played just 33 games due to an ankle injury and broken jaw, and Battie only played just 40 games due to an ankle injury. With a 12–22 start to the season, a frustrated

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA D ...

resigned as head coach after three years with the Celtics. Under replacement

Jim O'Brien Jim O'Brien may refer to: Sports Basketball *Jim O'Brien (basketball, born 1950), American coach for Emerson College, Ohio State and Boston College *Jim O'Brien (basketball, born 1951), American player for the New York Nets and Memphis Sounds *Jim ...

, they played around .500 for the remainder of the season posting a six-game winning streak between January and February, but later lost six of their final eight games, finishing fifth in the Atlantic Division with a 36–46 record, missing the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

for the sixth consecutive season. In the 39 years before the current streak, they had missed the playoffs only five times. Pierce averaged 25.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game, while

Antoine Walker Antoine Devon Walker (born August 12, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player. He was drafted with the sixth overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft out of the University of Kentucky and played in the NBA from 1996 to 2008. Walker ...

averaged 23.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, 5.5 assists per game, and led the league with 221 three-point field goals, Stith contributed 9.7 points per game, and

Vitaly Potapenko Vitaly Nikolaevich Potapenko ( uk, Віталій Миколайович Потапенко, pronounced ''vee-TAH-lee poe-TAH-pen-koe'', born March 21, 1975) is a Ukrainian former professional basketball player who is currently an assistant coach ...

provided the team with 7.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game off the bench. Following the season, Stith signed as a free agent with the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

, while second-year guard

Adrian Griffin Adrian Darnell Griffin Sr. (born July 4, 1974) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played in the NBA as a shooting guard ...

signed with the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

, and Carr was released to free agency.

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Player statistics

Awards and records

Transactions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2000-01 Boston Celtics Season Boston Celtics seasons

Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...