Sam Jones provides Game 7 inspiration with gift to Doc and players

Lance Roehl, the owner of Game 7, gave me the scoop this afternoon on a very cool thing going down today in L.A.  After speaking with Celtics legend Sam Jones to arrange this, Sam provided Doc Rivers a box of "Sam Jones" and "Respect is Earned" t-shirts. All the players and coaches will get these gifts from Sam. Doc will either be handing out these shirts at today's shootaround/film session or they will be hanging in the players' lockers tonight when they arrive at Staples center. Sam is hoping the shirts will bring the players some inspiration from the Celtics 1969 Game 7 road victory over the Lakers.

Yes, these are the same shirts many of you have won on our facebook page throughout the playoffs during our t-shirt giveaway contests. I think this giveaway to the players and coaches was a fantastic idea by Lance (and Sam)!  I also want to thank Lance for providing all these awesome shirts to Celtics Life fans. One last cool tidbit about Lance and Game 7 is I had asked him a couple weeks ago if this series going to 7 games would be a dream come true for his Game 7 business. He simply replied that he didn't care how long the series went; he just wanted the Celtics to win, because he couldn't stand the Lakers. Awesome.

Here's a little more info on Sam Jones from Game 7's website:

Sam Jones played on 10 NBA championship teams and was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Jones had a perfect 9-0 record in Game 7s. He averaged 27.1 points in those elimination games, including a Game 7-record 47 points in the 1963 East Finals.
"Sam Jones has a champion's heart. On the court he always had something in reserve. You think he’d been squeezed of his last drop of strength and cunning, but if you looked closely, you’d see him coming up with something else he’d tucked away out of sight. His presence gave me comfort in key games. Under pressure, we had hidden on our team a class superstar of the highest caliber. In the seventh game of a championship series, I'll take Sam over any player who’s ever walked on a court." -Bill Russell