2000–01 Boston Celtics season 2000–01 Boston Celtics season The 2000–01 NBA season was the 55th season for the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association. During the offseason, the Celtics acquired Bryant Stith from the Denver Nuggets. The Celtics played around .500 in November, but then struggled as Kenny Anderson played just 33 games due to an ankle injury and broken jaw. With a 12–22 start to the season, a frustrated Rick Pitino resigned as head coach after three years with the Celtics. Under replacement Jim O'Brien, they played around .500 for the remainder of the season finishing fifth in the Atlantic Division with
Original Celtics fourth place, while first-half winner Cleveland slumped badly to fifth place. Cleveland’s fall was precipitated by the hasty mid-season departure of star Honey Russell, who was exiled to Chicago after a disagreement with team owner Max Rosenblum. The Celtics easily disposed of the weakened Cleveland team in three straight games to take the ABL championship. In 1926, the American Basketball League, developed by sports entrepreneur George Preston Marshall, effectively railroaded the team into joining its ranks by prohibiting member teams from playing against them. The Original Celtics responded by winning the next two ABL titles. During their first full season