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June 20, 2008
Boston Celtics: Lottery Lost = Paradise Found
(this was written right after the clinching 6th game)
Talk about turning around misfortune.
The Boston Celtics just erased any doubts about which team is the very best in the NBA. It wasn’t even close. They inflicted their purposeful vengeance upon the heavily favored and long time rival Los Angeles Lakers in a play-off game clinching record 39 points. The final score: 131 to 92.
In a single year, make that a year and a single month’s trades, they went from the depths of despair after drawing only the 5th best pick in the NBA draft after finishing with the 2nd worst record in the NBA. Drafting 1st or 2nd meant a potential franchise player in Greg Odom or Kevin Durant. Anything after that meant more development time.
Time was not something Celtic team star Paul Pierce, nor Executive Director of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge had a lot of. Danny was named to his position on May 9, 2003. The team was moving backwards and getting younger every year. People scratched their heads. Vision? How about derision? Danny knew it takes time to turn a ship around, but he was running out of time.
29 year old Paul Pierce’s patience with Danny’s rebuilding and ‘asset accumulation’ was wearing out and he knew his window of opportunity to win an NBA championship was starting to narrow. Danny did as well. Get me help or trade me, was Paul’s message. It was a moment of truth for The Truth and Danny.
Two godawful seasons of 24 wins after 33 wins, was preceded by 19 years of championship drought. Winning a league champion is an enormously difficult task. But we are talking about the Celtics. Think New York Yankees when you think Boston Celtics. It is just not supposed to happen that way to the league’s legendary franchise. This is the league that Bill Russell and Red Auerbach built.
Ainge opted to try to trade for another star or two to support Pierce, instead of trading him away and go for a full blown youth movement. That decision was monumental and course changing for the Celtic franchise. Amazingly, it would lead to the construction of a team that would fashion together this storybook season culminating in the franchise’s 17th NBA title one year later.
Two decisive trades and the franchise’s reversal of fortune was in motion.
1) On draft night June 28th he traded the 5th pick, oft injured sharp shooter Wally Szczerbiak, and fan favorite guard Delonte West to the Seattle Supersonics for Ray Allen, one of the league’s top offensive players and their 2nd round pick, power forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis.
2) On July 31st, he made “the trade” that made the NBA earth stand still. Sending 5 players and 2 number one draft choices to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the largest single player trade in NBA history, he acquired league jewel Kevin Garnett. The Big Ticket was the most athletically gifted player the league has ever seen at 7’ feet tall. They bought the Ticket to ride. Ride him they did. Garnett was the player that would be the cornerstone of a new destiny for the franchise.
Ironically, the ever loyal Garnett had rebuffed a Celtic trade in the previous month. The addition of Ray Allen and the knowledge that Wolves’ owner Glen Taylor wanted to rebuild, moved Kevin Garnett to reconsider. He called Danny to tell him he now wanted to come to the Celtics. He realized this team, with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, would provide the best possibility for him to try to win an NBA title. None of them had won a ring in their careers. That common motivation and singular goal would mean everything.
Call it a Sequence of Fortunate Events. But you could see the plan. The funny thing is that right away Boston became a magnet for other players. Danny’s follow up sequence of moves put the rest of the cast in place.
The choice of role players was critical. They would ultimately play large roles in making it all happen. Outside shooting specialist Eddie House was added on August 9th. Forward, defensive specialist, three point shooter and NBA title veteran James Posey was added on August 27th. Then there were the late acquisitions. Veteran point guard Sam Cassell and semi-retired forward/center PJ Brown were added. Both proved to be pivotal acquisitions.
We witnessed a relentless march through the NBA. We were witness to the single biggest turnaround in NBA history. The team's early commitment to defense was surprising and the singular difference between this team and all others. It was the way to attain an NBA Championship ring. Corny things like 'team first', losing egos, and new words like ubuntu were sprouting. NBA players and coaches talk about those things all of the time. Few ever mean it.
Kevin, Paul and Ray’s embrace of each other, when removed from the final game at the 4:01 mark was the moment they played 108 grueling games this year for. Mission accomplished.
My only question is how anyone could have favored the Lakers at all, let alone heavily?
The Celtics' difficult march through inferior teams in the east was enough to convince the experts that they couldn’t beat the potent Lakers. The Lakers sliced through the west in a conference considered far superior. Golden State, a 50 win team was unable to even crack the play-offs.
Three individual legacies were on the line. Yet, outside of Boston, there were more believers at an athiests' convention than there were in sports circles about the Celtics chances.
It all changed in 3 hours and exactly 48 game minutes later on Tuesday evening. Fittingly, Boston won their 17th World Championship at home after blowing a chance to win on the Lakers’ floor on Sunday night.
Three Celtic players, two of them new this season, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen cemented their Hall of Fame credentials and their legacies forever in a single game. They dispelled a mountain of questions, criticisms, and doubts about how good each of them were.
All three performed magnificently throughout the play-offs, with Paul Pierce’s anchoring performance at both ends of the floor earning him the Finals MVP Award.
He now joins other Celtic greats and can stand shoulder to shoulder with them knowing he helped put another banner up in the rafters.
“These are the guys, the (John) Havliceks, Bill Russells, the (Bob) Cousys,” Pierce said. “These guys started what’s going on today with those banners. They don’t hang up any banners but championship ones, and now I’m a part of it. And just all the years talking to Bill and John and Cousy, finally I just feel like we’ve come out of that shadow and created our own. Now we can stand up and look at them eye-to-eye and say, ‘Hey, we accomplished it, too.’ ”
Well said and well done by the captain of the 2008 NBA World Champion Boston Celtics.
A lost lottery turned into paradise found for the Celtic organization.
I'm glad we could share the journey together, fellow believers. The very fact that it was done at Phil Jackson's and Kobe Bryant's expense made it all that much sweeter.
Soak up the moment.
Posted by Tom on June 20, 2008 10:05 PM
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