How Ime Udoka has already claimed a spot among the All-Time Great Celtic coaches

Boston's nine-game winning streak that was snapped on Wednesday by Detroit, stands out as their best stretch of play this season. But it also put Udoka in rare company among 1st year Celtic coaches

The Boston Celtics didn’t go into the All-Star break with a double-digit winning streak after coming up short, at home, to the lowly Detroit Pistons, 112-111.

Boston, winners of nine in a row prior to the loss to Detroit, had an eight-point lead (106-98) against the Pistons following a Jayson Tatum dunk, a lead that seemed the beginning of a Celtics run to close out the game and with it, set them up with an ideal 10-game winning streak heading into the break.

But breakdowns at both ends of the floor allowed Detroit back into the game and in doing so, rally for the win.

But even with the loss, it doesn’t take away from what has been the best stretch of play by the Celtics this season.

But beyond that, there’s a historical dynamic to their success that’s getting very little attention.

It’s Ime Udoka.

When the team was struggling to string quarters of good play, let alone good games, his rookie coach status was at times seen as one of the main ingredients in the team’s struggles.

And yet here he is, having helped lead the team to a nine-game winning streak and you don’t hear a word about how that compares to other rookie coaches in franchise history.

How good was the nine-game winning streak?

Only one other first-year coach in Celtics history put together a longer winning streak in their first season than Udoka.

It wasn’t Red Auerbach.

It wasn’t Tommy Heinsohn, either.

One needs to look no further than the franchise’s G.O.A.T. as a player, Bill Russell, who also won as a coach in Boston.

His success as a coach was honored by being inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame, one of just five Hall of Fame inductees as both a player and as a coach.

In Russell’s inaugural 1966-1967 season as the Celtics’ head coach, he had a pair of impressive winning streaks of nine and 11 games, respectively.

The 11 straight wins are the most any rookie coach in franchise history put together in their first season on the job.

And by winning nine in a row, the only first-year Celtics coaches to achieve that monumental feat were Bill Fitch (1979-1980 season) and K.C. Jones (1983-1984 season).

There’s no question that Udoka’s start gave few clues, if any, that he would get this Celtics team playing this well, for this extended period of time.

And there’s no telling if the success they have enjoyed leading into the All-Star break will continue once players return to action next week.

The only thing we know with absolute certainty is that Udoka has led this team to an unprecedented level of success of late in his rookie season, putting him among some of the greatest coaches in both franchise and NBA history.

Every Celtics coach that strung together a winning streak as long or longer than what Udoka has done, has a place in the Naismith Hall of Fame for their coaching.

Is Udoka next?

No idea.

But for a rookie head coach, he’s trending in the right direction.