LAS VEGAS – Most fans remember Gerald Henderson, Sr. as a hero for his iconic steal against James Worthy in the 1984 NBA Finals. Ask his son, though, and he’ll tell you his father was just like anyone else.

“Well, just like anybody in the [NBA], they’re regular people,” Gerald Henderson, Jr. said. “They have a different job than most people do, but they are regular people who go about their day, go to work every day, and work hard.”

This week Henderson (Charlotte Bobcats) and Austin Daye (Detroit Pistons) — the latter the  son of former Celtic Darren Daye — are trying to follow in the footsteps of their fathers at the NBA Las Vegas Summer League. While the rookies are looking to establish their own careers, they are influenced by their fathers’ careers in Boston.

The elder Henderson donned green from 1979-1984 and won two titles along the way. His last-second steal and layup against the Lakers pushed the game into overtime and an eventual victory for Boston. For his son, playing for the Celtics was the most memorable stop in his father’s 13-year career.

“My dad played for a lot of teams, but his best years were in Boston,” he said, adding, “I grew up in Philly so the Sixers … I was all about the Sixers. But I watched his game tape. Like I said, those were his best years. I was real young when he was really playing, but my images of him are in Boston.”

The images are hard to miss, especially during the postseason. His father’s steal steal was voted No. 26 in the NBA’s top 60 greatest playoff moments. Henderson estimates he has seen the play “hundreds of times,” but it took a few years to realize the significance of that one play.

“They were celebrating maybe the ’84 championship and me and my family went back and a whole bunch of people recognized him and they were saying his name,” he recalled. “That’s when I kind of realized how important his play was to them winning the championship, and then also the city.”

Austin Daye also has a special memory of an iconic Celtics moment during his father’s two seasons in Boston. Ironically it was against the Pistons, the very team that drafted him.

“I remember Larry Bird’s steal and the layup,” he said of the memorable moment during the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals. “That’s one of the main things — him jumping up and down like a crazy man.”

Daye was impacted by his father’s time in Boston in a different way — he became a fan. Even though he was born just after Darren’s final season in 1988, Austin has followed the team from the West Coast and cheered for them during the 2008 Finals against the Lakers.

He even considers Paul Pierce to be one of his favorite players, and has incorporated some of the Truth’s game into his own repertoire.

“I’m considered a big guy but I do guard-like things,” he said. “So his game, I try to watch and get some things from, just the way he uses his body so well, stuff like that. He’s such a good player and his team is so good too.”

While Daye models his game after a current Celtic, Henderson is influenced by his father as he prepares for his first season with the Bobcats.

“I think a big thing is, he played really hard,” he said. “I try to bring it every time I go on the court.”

As for Daye, it isn’t necessarily what his father did on the court, but rather the support he offered away from the game.

“It’s a really special experience,” he said. “Not a lot of kids have an opportunity to come up with someone who’s always there for you. He was always there for me whenever I needed help, or if he needed to kick my butt. It was just a special experience and I’m going to cherish it until the day I die.”

Gerald Henderson is hoping to have the same success in Boston that his dad did.

We chronicled his father’s most famous moment when he stole the ball from James Worthy in Game 2 of the 1984 NBA Finals. Now let’s hear it from the man himself. Assuming he can stay awake for the 10 p.m. tip-off, Gerald Henderson will start at point guard for Duke on Thursday night against Villanova.

There are several ironies at work here.

First is the fact that his game will be played in the home building of the Celtics but not on the parquet or with Celtics banners above him because of NCAA regulations, meaning he can’t pay tribute to one of the banners his father helped put up in the rafters.

“They took the banners down. They took them down,” Henderson said with some genuine remorse. ” It’s pretty nice to be playing in Boston, where my dad had his best years as a pro. It’s pretty cool to be playing in the same place as him. I’m sure he’ll have fun coming back here and hopefully watching me having some of the same success that he had.” Read the rest of this entry »

East Regional Semifinal-No.3 Villanova vs. No. 2 Duke, approx. 9:57 p.m. Thursday, Ch. 4

Memo to Villanova coach Jay Wright: If you’re leading by two late on Thursday night with say, 18 seconds left, your players better know exactly where Duke’s Gerald Henderson is on the parquet floor. If you don’t, this can happen. Just ask Henderson’s dad.

Everyone in Boston remembers that moment in 1984 when the Celtics were trailing 113-111, and down 1-0 to the Lakers in the NBA Finals. The Celtics won the game in overtime and then won the title in seven.

As Harvey Araton of the New York Times points out, the ghost of the old man’s steal will be out in the building next to the parking lot where the old one used to stand, the old Boston Garden. James Worthy can’t help but think what would’ve been if his lazy pass didn’t find its way into Henderson’s hands that fateful night.

Jay Wright: Dressed for Success.

Fast forward an unbelievable 25 years to this weekend’s East Regionals in Boston. One team has three national championships and one of the most successful coaches in the history of college sports on the sidelines.

The other team has a long and rich basketball tradition, including a 1985 NCAA title, with the best dressed coach in the history of college sports on its sidelines.

And so you have Mike Krzyzewski’s No. 2 seed Duke Blue Devils (30-6) against Jay Wright’s No. 3 Villanova Wildcats (28-7) going up against each other in the late, late nightcap on Thursday at TD Banknorth Garden. And for the record, Coach K is 833-273 all time and 760-214 in 29 seasons with the Blue Devils. Jay Wright is 176-89 at Villanova in eight seasons and has guided the Wildcats to the Sweet 16 in four of the past five seasons.

Villanova is trying to get back to the Elite 8 for the second time in four seasons and back to the Final Four for the first time since winning it all in 1985.

Whenever one speaks of Duke and Regional Finals the discussion starts with the most dramatic shot ever made in Regional Finals history. The date was March 28, 1992 and the scene was Philadelphia’s Spectrum, which just hosted its final basketball game ever two weeks ago. Duke was trailing Kentucky in the East Regional Final, 103-102, with 2.1 seconds remaining.

I know, enough of the trips down memory lane.

The Road to Boston:

Villanova: Beat No. 14 American, 80-67. Beat No. 6 UCLA, 89-69.

Duke: Beat No. 15 Binghamton, 86-62. Beat No. 7 Texas, 74-69.

Players to watch:

Villanova: Dante Cunningham, Corey Stokes, Corey Fisher and Scottie Reynolds. At 6-8, 230 pounds, Cunningham has been the stabilizing force for the Wildcats down low. Averages 16.8 points a game. Undersized as a center, his athleticism works wonders. He has an underrated jump shot which makes him very dangerous. Swingman Corey Stokes averages just 9.7 points a game but delivers at 42.8 percent rate from three-point range. Corey Fisher has emerged as a court leader in this tournament, taking some big weight off the shoulders of Scottie Reynolds. Together, Fisher and Reynolds form one of the quickest and pressure-oriented backcourt tandems left in the tournament.

Duke: Gerald Henderson, Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler. Henderson is the key to this young, some would say over-achieving bunch of Blue Devils. He quarterbacks the offense, scores at 16.8 points per game clip and obviously has the pedigree of a winner under pressure with his dad. He can rebound for a 6-4 guard, grabbing nearly five a game. Took over for Greg Paulus as starting point guard. Scheyer can shoot the three from the other side of midcourt. Exaggerating, but only a little. Singler, at 6-8, 235 pounds, draws the assignment of containing Cunningham. He leads the team in rebounding but that could be a challenge against this Villanova group.

Trags Final Take: Villanova learned a lesson against American in the first round. Don’t get into three-point shooting contests with teams that live on the perimeter. They were down 14 early in the second half before that hit home. Have a similiar lapse of memory here, and it’s nighty-nite. But Villanova knows that Cunningham is having a great tournament and spark plug Scottie Reynolds has yet to really get involved with his trademark dribble penetration. Gerald Henderson, Sr. got it done on the parquet in 1984 but Villanova and their three-guard set finds a way to contain his son.

Villanova 78, Duke 71