Big Red

When his Boston Celtics are on the basketball floor, Coach Arnold ("Red") Auerbach, 45, sits hunched forward on the bench as if it were the edge of a razor blade, his face flickering between anguish and rage. He once punched a heckling rival club owner in the mouth, has nearly come to blows with innumerable referees, and by his own reckoning pays something like $400 a season in fines for arguing too much. But if no one has ever accused Auerbach of being a popular coach, no one questions his success. In twelve years under Auerbach, the Celtics have never been out of the National Basketball Association playoffs, have won the Eastern Division title six years in a row and captured the professional championship five out of the last six years.

Last week, with the season half over, the Celtics were comfortably ensconced in their accustomed spot--seven games ahead in the Eastern Division. At 34, Bob Cousy is still the most dazzling playmaker on any court; Bill Russell seems to own the backboards with nearly 24 rebounds a game; Sam Jones averages 20 points a game; and John Havlicek is the odds-on favorite for Rookie of the Year honors. Yet other teams have their full share of stars. By common consent. Auerbach is the difference in the Celtics, the man who makes them the best team in basketball.

Feel of the Game. Every coach knows a good player when he sees one, can devise clever strategy to prey on an opponent's weakness. But when to substitute and when not to is the key to the fast-moving play, and Auerbach has what basketball men call the ''feel" of the game. He seems to know instinctively when a player starts to go sour, has a rare sixth sense for getting just the right man--into the pivot, the corner, the backcourt--at precisely the right moment. And because he does, he has survived in a harsh profession that has seen some 60 N.B.A. coaches come and go in the past 17 years.

Born in the teeming Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, Auerbach was a standout player himself in high school and at George Washington University in Washington. D.C. He watched how his coach, Bill Reinhart, welded a strong team together from the diverse styles practiced around the country. In 1946 Auerbach talked a Washington. D.C., arena owner into sponsoring a pro team in the newly formed Basketball Association of America. "It cost me less than $500 in phone calls to assemble the club." says Auerbach, "and I stuck to Bill Reinhart's theory."

In three seasons, Washington won 115 games, lost only 53. Soon it was on to Boston to coach the Celtics, whose record was dismal and attendance little better. Auerbach's first move did nothing to endear him to the fans: in the player draft he imperiously rejected a popular All-America from Holy Cross named Bob Cousy. "What do you want me to do," growled Auerbach. "win basketball games or satisfy the local yokels?" Cousy, insisted Auerbach, had yet to prove himself. The Celtics got Cousy back by a stroke of luck. When the Chicago Stags, a team that had acquired Cousy in a trade, folded, Celtic Owner Walter Brown picked Cousy's name out of a hat.

Run, Run, Run. Auerbach has made few mistakes since. He cannot afford to, since the team with the best record gets last choice in the annual player draft. Doing his own scouting, he landed Havlicek. who played in the shadow of highly touted Jerry Lucas at Ohio State, and was passed over by other teams. A clever trade gave him Bill Russell. He has the knack of picking up older players--such as Clyde Lovellette--who still have some good seasons left.

In practice, Celtics run, run, run--there are no exceptions. "I have a 25-c- fine for every minute a guy's late," says Auerbach. "If Russell comes in at 10:05 it costs him $1.25. I'd rather fine the big guys. Hell, anybody can fine a rookie." But Auerbach does not treat his giants like children. He rarely invokes a curfew, lets them enjoy a beer or two after the game. Whether his high-priced players are "happy" does not interest Auerbach. "It's up to them to make me happy," he snorts. "I tell them they must adjust to me. I won't adjust to them."

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