1997–98 Boston Celtics season 1997–98 Boston Celtics season The 1997–98 NBA season was the 52nd season for the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association. In the 1997 NBA draft, the Celtics selected Chauncey Billups out of the University of Colorado with the third pick. Billups only spent half of his rookie season in Boston, and was traded along with Dee Brown to the Toronto Raptors for Kenny Anderson at midseason. The Celtics also had the sixth pick in the draft and selected Ron Mercer from the University of Kentucky. In the offseason, they acquired second-year forward Walter McCarty from the New York Knicks
2010–11 Boston Celtics season Conference standings during the All-Star break. However, after center Kendrick Perkins, who was working his way back from a torn ACL in last year's Finals, was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder mid-season, the Celtics then started to play mediocre basketball after the trade, winning just 15 of their final 27 games. Still, they managed a 56–26 record and enter the playoffs as the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference. They swept the New York Knicks, in four games in the first round to advance to the Conference Semifinals where they faced the Miami Heat, the team the Celtics defeated