Today in Boston Celtics history, defensive legend Tony Allen made his debut for the team in a 98-95 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2004. The former Oklahoma State Cowboy standout, picked up by the Celtics with the 25th pick in that summer's draft, did not have a standout performance in his first game. He scored a mere 2 points on his one shot attempt and recorded the same number of rebounds.
Thankfully for both his and Boston's future success, this outing did not reflect his true potential that would eventually be a key part of the 2008 Ubuntu title team.
He was on the floor for just inside six minutes, with a single turnover and one personal foul.
Historic milestones
It is also the date former Celtic forward Eric Williams made his debut for Boston in another close
one, a 101-100 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The one-time Providence College standout logged 16 points, 6 rebounds, and an assist in 20 minutes of floor time.
These two share their debut date with former Celtic center Al Jefferson, who debuted in the same game as Tony Allen against the Sixers. It was an especially rough game for the Mississippi native, who went scoreless in 3 minutes, logging 2 personal fouls.
On that date in 1995, Charles Claxton debuted for the Celtics at center in a 101-100 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in 1995 at (then) Fleet Center (now, TD Garden). Claxton (father of NBAer Nic) ended up going scoreless as well in just 1 minute of floor time. In the same game, Celtics center Junior Burrough played his first contest as a Boston big man. The North Carolina native put up 4 points, 2 rebounds, and a block in 14 minutes of play.
In 1949, Hoot Gibson debuted for the Celtics on this date, a 98-83 loss to the (now defunct) Sheboygan Red Skins. The Creighton alum recorded 5 points and a personal foul in the loss. That same game was also the debut tilt for forward Ed Leede, who put up a solid 13 points and 5 personal fouls. A Dartmouth standout, Leede had been selected by the (defunct) Providence Steamrollers in the 1949 Basketball Association of America (BAA - a precursor to the NBA) Draft.
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Today in Boston Celtics history: Tony Allen, Eric Williams, Al Jefferson debut
