There won’t be any ceremonies for it, but tonight is the 34th anniversary of Danny Ainge's first game in the NBA.
And there was pain involved in the first of his 1,042 career regular season affairs.
Ainge began the season late as the Celtics and Blue Jays worked out his separation from baseball, and he finally took the court for the Celtics' 109-100 victory over the then-New Jersey Nets -- the club over which he would later score perhaps his greatest win as president of basketball operations.
Larry Bird led the Celts with 30 that night, while Gerald Henderson threw in 27.