Jordan the hardest worker: Parish

The 80s Boston Celtics team was perhaps one of the greatest franchises in NBA history. More so because of the team members that included cagers like Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.

“Playing with such greats made my task easier. Kevin and I were more of shooters and Larry was the playmaker. He created chances for both himself and us,” recollected Parish. “Along with the duo and point guard Dennis Johnson, they were the greatest players I played with.”

The 7 feet-one-inch cager helped his team winning four NBA championships — thrice with the Celtics (81, 84, 86) — and once with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in 1997, at the age of 43. “It was great playing with Michael. He is a great professional and one of the hardest workers I have seen. The Chicago team was a mirror of my experience with the Celtics,” said Parish.

Parish played a record 21 seasons in the NBA. “I was very lucky that I never had any serious injury. But it was the love and passion for the game that got me playing for so long,” said Parish.

Former Boston power-forward and teammate Cedric Maxwell gave Parish the nickname ‘The Chief’ for his stoic nature. “I was a very quiet kid, had nothing much to say. I was also a big fan of the movie One flew over the cuckoo’s nest and Cedric tagged me as that character who was like that in the movie,” said Parish.

Though the quiet type, Parish did enjoy a prank or two. “We had an announcer called Johnny Most who was a chain-smoker. So on one trip to the west coat, one of the boys replaced his smokes with the ones that exploded. It took him five cigarettes to realise that someone was playing a trick. His face was something to see. We all burst out laughing.”

Where there are two good teams, there is bound to be rivalry. In the NBA, you can look no farther than the one between Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. Parish was known for his on-court rivalry with Lakers legends Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. “I think we brought out the best in each other and made the game more competitive. The Larry-Johnson rivalry went back to their college days.”