BANNER 17

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Almost a year ago today, the Boston Celtics made the first of two blockbuster trades that would eventually bring the franchise their SEVENTEENTH World Championship. The Celtics first acquired Ray Allen (Jesus Shuttlesworth) from Seattle and then Kevin Garnett (The Big Ticket) to compliment long time Celtic, Paul Pierce (The Truth).
I grew up in the 80’s and was a big Celtics fan (still am obviously) – John and Mark (brothers)were both fans of Magic Johnson’s “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers – I was the Celtics fan bookended by two Laker fans. I had the life-sized Larry Bird poster and my brothers had the life-sized Magic Johnson poster. I remember Bird hitting the money-ball to win his 3rd straight 3-Point Contest, while walking away with his finger in the air. I remember watching the epic battles of Boston’s original “Big Three” – Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parrish – and Magic’s Lakers – Kareem, James Worthy, Byron Scott, etc. I remember the original "BEAT L.A." chant. You don’t see two franchises trade punches like this anymore. Boston won rings in ’81, ’84, and ’86. L.A. won rings in ’80, ’82, ’85, ’87, and ’88. The Lakers have had success since the ‘80s, winning rings in ’00, ’01, and ’02. The Celtics, however, seemed to have slowly faded into oblivion after ’86 due to tragedy and bad luck: Len Bias (one of the best college basketball players ever) died of a drug overdose 2 days after being drafted by Boston in 1986, Bird and McHale were hampered by injuries after ’86 and both had to retire early, Reggie Lewis (the Celtics All-Star shooting guard) suffered a fatal heart attack on the court during an off-season practice in 1993 (the NBA's lovely commissioner, David Stern, required Boston to count Lewis' salary against the cap for 3 years after his death), and the infamous “Rick Patino” era. (not to mention tearing down the famed Boston Garden).

So, when Danny Ainge (former Celtic and current G.M.) acquired Ray and KG, life was breathed back into the Celtics’ franchise. The Celtics had the biggest turn around in NBA history - +42 wins, going 66-16.

Well, I won’t ramble through the entire season, suffice it to say that we were treated to a renewed rivalry in this year’s Finals – the Lakers and Celtics at it again. It was a great match up with great players on both teams. The series had drama, controversy, injuries, etc. In the end, the Celtics prevailed in game 6 (calling it a blowout would be an understatement), preventing Laker’s Coach, Phil Jackson, from surpassing Red Auerbach (former Celtic’s coach) in total championships (both have 9).
As nostalgic as I am (and you know this), I hope the Lakers and Celtics meet several more times in the Finals – both teams seem to be equipped to do just that.

At the end of last year, Ainge was on his way out as G.M., Doc Rivers was on his way out as coach, Paul Pierce was nearly traded, KG and Ray were stuck on bad teams and it looked like they would never play for a contender. In the words of KG during one of the scariest post game interviews ever… "Anything's possssiiibbbblllleeee!!!!"