No player has torched the Boston Celtics quite like Andrew Toney did. Toney was such a problem for the Celtics during the 80s that he earned the monicker “Boston Strangler.”
The 6’3″ Toney had a career average of 15.9 points per game. However, that number jumped to 17.8 points per game when playing the Celtics. In the playoffs, Andrew had a career scoring average of 17.4 points per game. But as a rookie, he put up 26 and 35 in Games 1 and 2 of the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals. With both games played at the old Garden, Boston media christened him the “Boston Strangler.”
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Looking back at his exploits in Beantown, Toney revealed that the reason why his heart always beat faster against Boston wasn’t any player on the Celtics team.
“It was the ball boys in Boston that really got me fired up,”said Toney. “One time, they brought me a gas cap, with the idea that I had run out of gas in the last game. Other times, they slipped notes into my locker, talking down my game.”
Boston used ball boys to take Toney out of his game
Back then, the Celtics had a reputation for trying to win at all costs, to the point of messing up their opponents outside the court. There were stories about the visitor’s locker room having no heat or fire alarms in the road team’s hotel set off the night before games. Apparently, Boston tried a different strategy with the Philadelphia 76ers, using ball boys to try to take Toney out of his game.
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One year after the Sixers lost to the Celtics in that 1981 East Finals, the teams met again in the same round, and this time around, the Sixers beat the Celtics, also in a seven-game thriller. Toney led all scorers in that series, averaging 22.1 points per game. He scored 30, 39, and 34 in Games 2, 4 and 7, respectively, all of which the Sixers won.
“It was the ball boys that ticked me off,” he reiterated. “They always played mind games that never worked at all. If they hadn’t done the things they did, I might have just had so-so games.”
Red Auerbach traded for DJ to stop Toney
After losing to the Sixers in their ECF rematch in 1982, the Celtics knew they had to do something about the “Boston Strangler.” And so on June 27, 1983, Celtics President and General Manager Red Auerbach traded Rick Robey and draft picks to acquire defensive guard Dennis Johnson from the Phoenix Suns.
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“There was a definite need for us to get the sacrificing kind of guard that Toney can’t intimidate,”said Auerbach. “I don’t mean physically — I can’t imagine Quinn Buckner being scared of him — but scoring-wise.”
DJ, however, shut down the notion of having an “Andrew Toney stopper.” He said containing a lethal weapon like Toney should be a team effort.
“The day I was traded to Boston, one of the first things impressed upon me was the need to stop Andrew Toney,” Johnson said. “Everyone acts like we’re both gonna be playing against each other for the whole 48 minutes of the game. But one person doesn’t really stop anybody.”
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Johnson had some success against Toney, but in the end, it wasn’t him or any defender who really slowed down the “Boston Strangler” but injuries. Andrew’s NBA career lasted only eight seasons, but he will always be remembered for his exploits against the Celtics.
And it’s crazy to think that it was Boston’s ball boys who created the “Boston Strangler.”
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 1, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.