The opening tipoff of Game 2 of the 2008 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers at the TD Banknorth Garden. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In 2007 the Boston Celtics were a reeling franchise. They were coming off back-to-back brutal seasons in which they finished a combined 50 games under .500. After finishing dead last in the East in the ’06-’07, Celtics GM Danny Ainge made drastic moves completely altering the state of the franchise by totally reenergizing it. By bringing in stars Ray Allen from Seattle and Kevin Garnett from Minnesota to join star Paul Pierce, Ainge had announced one thing: The Celtics were back.
These blockbuster moves immediately paid off as the C’s won 66 games, the first time Boston had done that since they won 67 games in the ’85-’86 campaign. The playoffs were a wild, but fun ride for Celtics fans as the team played three straight 7-game series against the Hawks,Cavs and Pistons before finally reaching the NBA Finals. Their opponent? Hated rival, Los Angeles. But the Celtics won the series with relative ease in six games and the Larry O’Brien trophy was back in what many consider it’s rightful place, Boston. That would be the franchise’s 17th title, giving them one more than the hated Lakers.
Unfortunately over the next few years the Big Three-led Celtics could never raise the trophy O’Brien trophy again. They returned to the Finals in ’10 only to watch the Lakers raise a banner this time. Many people say that if center Kendrick Perkins hadn’t gotten hurt in Game 6 of that series, the Celtics would have notched their 18th championship. Smatterings of over great moments came out of the Big Three, but never again would they have that ultimate moment, one KG left engraved in our minds forever. You had the epic first round matchup between the Bulls and Celtics in ’09, which was perfectly encapsulated by Pierce’s classic game winning shot in overtime of Game 5. Another great moment in that series, even though it came in a loss, was Allen’s 51-point game in Game 6, of course it was another crazy overtime contest. Allen’s record setting eight threes in a Game 2 victory in the 2010 Finals was also absolutely amazing. Probably the most surprising of all the great moments of the past seven years was Rondo’s 44-point game in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals last year. It was hard to imagine Rondo scoring more than 30 on most nights. To many this was considered his coming out party in terms of becoming a better all-around player. There may just be too many great memories to count.
Yet as we sit here on what seems to be the verge of the end of this Celtics era (down to 3-0 to the Knicks), how do we look back on these guys and these teams? Do we consider them a great success? They did win a title and did truly restore the Celtics pride that had been lacking for so many years when Antoine Walker and co. were here. Or do we consider them somewhat of a failure? Only one title in seven years with such phenomenal teams? That isn’t the greatest percentage. Either way it’s undeniable how meaningful Garnett, Allen and Pierce were to this organization and to this city. They restored basketball in a city that was pretty much built on the sport. Actually they were a major part of the restoration of NBA as a whole. The teaming up of this “Big Three” really made the NBA a likable league again and that’s something we can never take away from them.
Harmony on the Hardwood 