1st Cleveland Cavaliers coach Bill Fitch dies; Hall of Famer was 89 years old
CLEVELAND — Bill Fitch helped turn bad NBA teams into winners, and the Celtics back into champions.
“Coach Fitch’s numerous accomplishments pale in comparison to the giant impact he had on countless members of the basketball world in a legendary career that spanned 40-plus years,” said Carlisle, who broke in as an assistant under Fitch with New Jersey. “His mark on the NBA game is indelible.” He helped develop a young team that won just 15 games in its first season and improved steadily before making the playoffs in 1976 and shocking the Washington Bullets in what became known as the “Miracle of Richfield.”“Our franchise lost a great man and Rock that it was built on,”Fitch spent nine seasons in Cleveland, winning 304 games.
Fitch was hired by Red Auerbach and the Celtics in 1979, the same year Bird arrived in Boston, which was coming off the two worst seasons in the famed franchise’s history. The Celtics went 61-21 in Fitch’s first season and won the championship the following year by beating the Rockets in six games.
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