<P> The team also had the tradition of wearing black sneakers through most of their history, except during the early 1980s when they wore green sneakers . According to legend, Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach had a problem with the white sneakers, claiming that the white sneakers can easily get dirty; hence starting a long tradition with the black sneakers . But prior to the 2003--04 season, current Celtics GM Danny Ainge and captain Paul Pierce suggested wearing white sneakers, in due part to a growing number of teams wearing black sneakers . Auerbach gladly accepted and the white sneakers have remained since on home games . They still wore the black sneakers on away games, but in the 2008--09 season, they wore white sneakers with green and gold accents while wearing their St. Patrick's Day jerseys on the road . Most recently, when the Celtics play on Christmas Day, they wore white or green sneakers with red and gold accents . Since the 2009--10 season, the NBA relaxed its rules on specified sneaker colors, and Celtics players are now seen wearing either green, white or black sneakers at home and on the road . </P> <P> The Celtics were the only team to wear warmup jackets with the player names on the back . During the 1980s, this style was dominant in most NBA warmup jackets, but by the late 1990s, this style gradually declined . The Celtics, however, kept the design in keeping with tradition, before discontinuing the practice after the 2011--12 season in favor of a templated jacket design common to all 30 teams . </P> <P> NBC Sports Boston is the Boston Celtics' main television outlet, having aired its games since 1981 when the station was known as SportsChannel New England . Like all the other SportsChannel networks, the New England channel was rebranded as Fox Sports New England when former owner Cablevision entered into a partnership with Liberty Media and News Corporation in 1998 . Comcast purchased Cablevision's original network stake in 2001, then acquired the remaining stake in what was now FSN New England in 2007 and rebranded the network as Comcast SportsNet New England . In 2017, all CSN networks (including CSN New England) were renamed as NBC Sports Regional Networks in reference to Comcast's current ownership of NBCUniversal . </P> <P> Mike Gorman provides the play - by - play with former Celtics player and coach Tommy Heinsohn serving as analyst for home games, while former Celtics' player Brian Scalabrine serves as analyst for road games . Abby Chin serves as courtside reporter . The Celtics can be heard on 98.5 the Sports Hub during all Boston Celtics games, all season long from preseason to postseason . The play - by - play announcer is Sean Grande with commentary from Cedric Maxwell . </P>

Who wore number 4 for the boston celtics