A great player and, by all accounts, great guy, Dennis "DJ" Johnson collapsed today and died on the court with his team, the Austin Toros of the NBADL, that he coached. He was only 52.
He had career averages of 14 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, over the course of an stellar 14 year career. He won 3 NBA titles, 1 with the Sonics and 2 as an instrumental force on the powerhouse Celtics teams of the '80s. He went to 5 all star games and was MVP of the '79 finals he won with Seattle. Larry Bird called him "...the best I've ever played with..." Amongst his greatest moments was the famous winning layup off Bird's now legendary steal of Isiah Thomas' inbound pass to beat the Pistons in game 5 of the 1987 the Eastern Conference Finals.
This is a huge loss for both the Celtics and the NBA. Our condolences go out to his family in this difficult time.
1 comment:
Thank you Capt'n Swag for the thoughtful words about DJ. He was a great player who was an irreplaceable part of the greatest team ever: Bird, DJ, Ainge, McHale, Parish under coach KC Jones. I still want to see that Celtics team on TV re-runs more than any current NBA game.
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