The Celtics: and the last shall be first
I used to follow the Celtics back in the heady days of the 70s and 80s, when they were the basketball franchise and their matchups against the mighty Lakers or Knicks rivaled the Red Sox/Yankees series’ for excitement.
Then there were the lean years, when I stopped watching or caring, not just about the Celtics but about basketball itself. It seemed the sport had changed and lost whatever it was that I’d enjoyed: finesse, teamwork, passing, outside shooting. Now it was all about power, fast breaks, selfishness, muscle. Some might find it just as interesting—or maybe more—than the old game, but I found it a crashing bore.
Plus, the Celtics had fallen on hard times. Very hard times. I didn’t need any more hard times in the Boston sports world—I had plenty of those already, being a Sox fan.
But sometimes it was difiicult to ignore. The really bad news seemed to begin with the cocaine-induced death of first round draft pick Len Bias in 1986, just two days after his signing was announced and he was celebrated as the key to a new dynasty. The championships dried up after that year. Then in 1993 star Reggie Lewis collapsed on court from arrhythmia and died of heart disease in an off-season practice game a few months later, amidst tremendous disagreement about both his diagnosis and treatment, controversy that remains unresolved to this day.
It seemed the Red Sox were not the only Boston team under a curse.
So I wasn’t a witness to the games during the years when the Celtics went down, down, down, the once-proud franchise having seasons like 1996-97 when they finished in last place with a 15-67 win-loss record. Actually, I didn’t pay a bit of attention to them until last weekend, when I happened to turn on the TV and learn they were engaged in one of the greatest comebacks in NBA playoff history (just last year they were the worst team in the Eastern Conference).
I also learned that these new Celtics were fun to watch again—they were playing the new Lakers in a style more like the old Celtics, with lots of passing and shotmaking and a formidable defense.
Last night the Celtics did it all and were rewarded by winning it all in a 131-92 blowout of the Lakers. Globe writer Dan Shaunessy called it a “dismemberment,” the Celt’s defense shutting down star Kobe Bryant and just about everybody else on the Laker team.
The entire second half of the game must have seemed a nightmare to the Lakers, as the clock ran out and the gap in the score got wider and it dawned on them that they were not only being beaten but being humiliated. Time probably slowed down for them when they wished it would speed up, and accelerated when they wished it would slow down, panic flooding the body even in such seasoned athletes, freezing and stiffening the hands and legs just enough to make their shots go a little off.
The winners were ecstatic. None of these team members, not even the older stars, had ever won an NBA championship before. Their years of wandering in the desert of Boston losses (or in some cases, languishing on other loser rosters) made this win all the more sweet. Garnett screaming “Top of the world, Ma!” like the crazed James Cagney in “White Heat,” the handsome and soulful-eyed Paul Pierce emotionally thanking the Boston fans for standing by him, coach Doc Rivers choking up as he mentioned his father who’d died this past year—a classic if there ever was one.
It must have been, if it got me to watch basketball again.
Congrats on the Celtics win. The Lakers were pathetic in that last game!
The C’s have had a long stretch of bad luck. Even in two years, in particular, when we finished dead last in the NBA, the lottery selections cheated us of the first round pick. I never liked the lottery system, since it assumes that teams toss their games in order to get that pick (some in-depth discovery about that reveals that it is not at all the case). But, David Stern has had his way on that. Thus, we lost the chance to have All-Star Center Duncan (in San Antonio) and last year’s number one pick (we got fifth in the draft lottery). The lottery makes it extremely difficult for bad teams to get out of the cellar.
It took a couple of big trades to get the C’s into contention like this, which really is NOT the way you want to go in building a team. It is far preferred to build a team through the draft and then finish off the missing pieces with a free agent or two.
Anyway, I was overjoyed to see this long drought ended. It has been a long time since The Hick From French Lick, McHale, and Parish brought home the trophies.
Now, we have one more team to get out of the long – and I mean really long – drought. The Bruins. Hockey is my favorite sport. I played the game growing up, played it when I was in the Army, and played it in college. I even played hockey in adult rec leagues until arthritic hips and hip replacements took me out of it. It is my passion (besides my wife and family). It has been a long time since May of 1972, when the captain Johnny Bucyk was accepting the Stanley Cup and skating around Madison Square Garden holding it aloft, then handing it off to Bobby Orr. Now, it looks like we are building a core of some really good young players, we now have an excellent coach in Claude Julien, and at some point, when we find room under the salary cap will be able to finish it off. Our pipeline is loaded with young talent. Things are on the upswing.
I happened to be about to walk to the first tee from the clubhouse at the U Maryland golf course when I learned Lenny had died earlier that morning. I worshiped Lenny Bias as a b-ball player for UM. As Lefty said, “He was a horse.” That was one depressing day. We played on, but our hearts weren’t in it. Crap day, that day. Goddamn cocaine.
None of these team members, not even the older stars, had ever won an NBA championship before.
Super sixth man James Posey was a member of the Miami Heat when they won in 2006.
I remember seeing Russell and Cousy playing on black and white TV. The old Celtics were about teamwork ,defense, and a killer fast break. I wish I had tapes of those games.
When Danny Ainge made those trades last summer, some said that he had mortgaged the future by giving up so many players and draft choices. I don’t think Danny will worry too much right now about that. I certainly won’t.
Of the three stars from the Celtics teams of the 80s that became NBA general managers or VPs, along with Bird and McHale, he is the first one to win it all.
There will be several roster openings . It will be interesting to see what Ainge will do to fill them. One thing for sure, good veterans will accept less money to play for a champion or potential champion. If the Celts don’t win again with the new Big Three, so be it. We at least won this one.
I couldn’t watch the game. Too nervous. I say maybe five minutes of it, most at the end.
For the last 15 years during the winter I have worn my old Celtics jacket (a birthday gift in ’86 from my wife) during my inspections in CT. This year, everyone asked me how I felt about this team and my response was always the same, “if I wore this when they were horrible, you can be damn sure I’m wearing it when they are good”, finally I get to wear it next winter knowing that they are champions. Now if only the Bruins would get their act together and win the cup.
s1c
I think I got a little teary-eyed watching Bill Russell and Kevin Garnett celebrating and talking. Since I was born in ’55, I was too young to appreciate Russell’s achievements and skills. I wish I could have seen him play. Instead, my first exposure to Celtic greatness live was Dave Cowens, Bill Havlichek, and Paul Silas. Later, The Chief (not the Bruins’ “Chief” Johnny Bucyk, who was one of my favorite Bruins), McHale, and The Hick From French Lick.
Don’t lose hope on the Bruins. Since I once played hockey at a fairly high level and now I coach in youth hockey, I’m a fairly good judge of talent. The Bruins have a core of really good young players, and a very deep defensive corps, anchored by Zdeno Chara. We have a ton of talent in the pipeline, in juniors and in college, and some in Providence (AHL). Our time is coming, and when it does this town will rock, because, much as we love the other teams, hockey really is the soul of the region. Although the Sox would contest that statement (and I love baseball).
Imagine the TD Bank North Garden with a powerful Celtics team and an up and coming Bruins…
Glad to see Ray Allen on a championship team at last.
He was here with the Sonics for a couple of losing seasons, but he’s a great palyer and a total class act off the court.
What I meant to say:
Glad to see Ray Allen on a championship team at last.
He was here with the Sonics for a couple of losing seasons, but he’s a great player and a total class act off the court.
Gringo: I was relying on something I thought I heard the announcer say about the fact that none of them had been on a championship team before. I guess I either heard wrong, or maybe he was talking about certain players only. I stand corrected on that.
Great game, though.
For the record, another Celtic played for two championship teams: Sam Cassell with the Rockets way back in 1994 and 1995.
Happy Juneteenth, everybody.
I was a big Laker fan back in the “Showtime” days, but like you, drifted away from the whole sport, particularly after Shaq was traded. I thought keeping Kobe only was unwise- He was too keen on making himself into the next Michael Jordan, not realizing the importance of team in a team sport.
I didn’t even watch most of the finals this year, but what I did see (Mainly game 5) seemed SO rough, wild, and uncontrolled- it hardly resembled the game played twenty years ago. I guess that’s what you get when showing off gets rewarded, and you change the refereeing to allow palming and traveling.
The NBA hasn’t won me back, but it still sickens me to see Celtic jerseys and flags around L.A.- it’s just WRONG!
It was one of the true “feel-good” sports stories, listening to the Celts all thank each other, the fans, Danny Ainge and the Celtic ownership, and neo, you are right, it was a wonderful change-of-pace to see a team that was about teamwork and subsuming their egos.
No team can win with one or two superstars. Even Michael Jordan’s Bulls had the crazy Rodman and Scottie Pippen et al. I usually don’t watch basketball anymore either, but was glad I saw that last game and the celebrations afterward.
I really enjoy the blog, btw, have been reading it for some time but don’t remember if I ever commented before.