By Stuart Shikano
Kevin Garnett made some remarks on The Bill Simmons Podcast about his Celtics “breaking” LeBron. A lot of people thought that was ridiculous and made fun of him, Paul Pierce, and that Celtics team on Twitter afterwards. I can’t say I agree with that statement. I do understand the sentiment behind what KG said though. Despite not totally agreeing with what KG said, this leads me to write an in appreciation post of the Pierce-Garnett-Allen Celtics.
Why is this necessary?
Because people dismiss them for winning one championship. People act like they were some one-hit wonder, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. Pun not intended, I swear. The Celtics were a juggernaut and not just for one year.
When, the Celtics acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in one offseason, we all were excited to see them play together, and knew that this was going to be the team to beat in the 2007-08 NBA season. We had seen each individual be great, but not have much help. So, the idea of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen playing together was thrilling for anyone who loves basketball, as we would get to see these three stars compete for a championship. Boston went from depressed they didn’t get the #1 pick and draft Greg Oden to incredibly excited about seeing a big three play in Beantown. There was a lot of anticipation to see this Celtics team play. I mean, Pierce, Garnett, and Allen even shot a This Is SportsCenter commercial before they even played together.
We were all right in thinking this team would be great. The Celtics went 66-16 in 2007-08 NBA season and finished as the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference and had the best record in basketball. After somehow going seven games with the #8 seed Atlanta Hawks, the Celtics won the series. They then played LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. This was the young LeBron with no help from Cleveland teammates LeBron. Remember those days? The days when LeBron played with Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, and Daniel “Boobie” Gibson. The days when we wondered if LeBron would ever get to play with fellow future Hall of Famers like the greats who played before him and at the same time as him. I digress. The series went seven games, a testament to LeBron’s greatness, and the Celtics came out on the winning side. Game seven was awesome; LeBron and Paul Pierce engaged in a back-and-forth duel that had announcers reminiscing about Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkins’ duel in 1988. The Celtics then went on to beat the Detroit Pistons in six games in the Eastern Conference finals. The Pistons had been the beasts of the east for practically the whole decade, as that was their sixth straight appearance in the Eastern Conference finals.
Then in the NBA Finals, the Celtics beat the Lakers in six games. It was not quite as close as it sounds. I do not consider that close of a series if one team never ties the series. Boston won the first two games, Los Angeles won game three. Well, if they hadn’t, they’d be down 0-3, and effectively have no chance at winning the series. Then, Boston won game four, and Los Angeles won game five. Again, if L.A. does not win game five, the series is over. So it’s an elimination game that gave them life for one more game. In game six, the Celtics won by 39 points, so that was nowhere near close. I mean, Paul Pierce was dumping Gatorade on Doc Rivers at the end of the game. So, yes it was a six game series. But, no it was not a close series. It was an impressive and dominant performance by the loaded Celtics.
We all thought they were great after that. Now, one thing that did happen in that series that people mocked at the time and still do was the Paul Pierce-wheelchair moment. In game one, Pierce injured his knee, he was down for a long time, he was carried by teammates, and eventually departed on a wheelchair. He returned shortly and looked like himself. It was an odd and iconic moment. Phil Jackson poked fun at him to reporters. I had not even heard of Twitter yet, as it was not big at all then. But if it was, there would have so many memes of Pierce. Now that was something that really annoyed people and still to this day, Paul Pierce gets s**t for that. People thought it was dramatic and that he was faking it. I think this is one of the reasons people discredit the Celtics’ success during this time. Another part of that is some of the odd things Pierce has said as an analyst, including his proclamation that he had a better career than Dwyane Wade. I get why people are rubbed the wrong way by some of Paul’s proclamations, but we have to be honest. The man had a great career. He was 2008 NBA Finals MVP, was clutch, was a reliable scorer, and was a tough as nails competitor.
The next season (2008-09), Boston went 62-20. They caught a tough break when Kevin Garnett’s right knee sprain sidelined him for many late regular season games and the whole postseason. Boston not having Garnett was a huge blow to them on both sides of the ball and made them significantly less scary. Garnett’s such a great player and a competitive monster. Boston beat the Bulls in seven in the first round. Then, they played the Dwight Howard-led Orlando Magic in the second round. Even without Garnett, the Celtics led the series 3-2 after five games. But, Orlando won games six and seven to eliminate Boston. Now, that Orlando team was really good; but, if they took them seven and were up 3-2 without Garnett, is there really any doubt that they wouldn’t have beaten Orlando with Garnett? I say no. If they had Garnett, after they beat Orlando, they would have gotten LeBron and the Cavs again in the Eastern Conference finals. So, if Orlando beat Cleveland and I said Boston beats Orlando with Garnett, then Boston beats Cleveland with Garnett too. So, they would have made their second straight NBA Finals appearance, where they would have squared off with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and the Lakers again. I can’t give a conjecture on who would have won that series. It would have been a hell of a series though. So the point here is that after winning a championship, Boston was a Kevin Garnett injury from getting back to the Finals where they could have repeated.
In 2009-10, Boston went 50-32 in the regular season. In the first round, they beat the Heat in five games. In the second round, they beat LeBron and the Cavs in six in a very odd series where you could feel that LeBron was about to leave Cleveland. This is part of what KG is referring to. LeBron did know that the Cavs weren’t going to win that series and knew he had to squad up to make it fair. Next up was the Eastern Conference finals, where the Celtics beat the Magic in six games to advance to the NBA Finals. Now, if KG wasn’t hurt last season, this would be three straight Finals trips. Nothing to sneeze at. Also, every year at the start of the season, we expected Boston to be in the Finals. We were never surprised when they got there, we expected them to get there. We all knew they were great at the time. Any way, in the 2010 NBA Finals, Boston was up 3-2 through five games. In game six, the Lakers wiped out the Celtics 89-67 in L.A. to force a game seven. Also noteworthy is that Celtics’ center Kendrick Perkins got hurt in that game and was then ruled out for game seven. Game seven was wild, an NBA classic. The game was very close, Ron Artest hit the biggest shot of the game, and the Lakers won 83-79. The Celtics were so close to another title, but instead it was an NBA Finals loss. Sports often comes down to games that close.
In the 2010-11 season, Boston went 56-26, and then lost to the Heat in the second round in five games. Okay, this one wasn’t close. Nothing to brag about here for Boston. LeBron had his own superteam with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and they beat down the Celtics. But even the next season, the Celtics were back in the Eastern Conference finals, and up 3-2 against the LeBron-Wade-Bosh Heat. The Celtics were old at this point and LeBron was prime LeBron and it was still a tight series. Game six got quite possibly the greatest LeBron game ever when he dropped 45 points, shot 19-26 from the field, and tacked on 15 rebounds. It was a hyper focused and almost demonically possessed-type game for LeBron. The frame of LeBron crouched over, staring ahead with a really serious look in his eyes from that game is still one of my favorite memes. Then in game seven, Miami won convincingly 101-88 to eliminate the Celtics. That was the end of the Celtics big three era, as Ray Allen signed with the Miami Heat that offseason.
But, damn, the fact that those three guys were as old as they were and were pushing prime LeBron along with D-Wade and Bosh to seven games is impressive to me. The Celtics had no business making that series THAT competitive, but that’s a testament to the Celtics’ competitive will. Pierce, Garnett, Allen, Rondo, all of them. Coach Doc Rivers too.
So to recap, the Celtics won a championship in the ’07’-’08 season, were the second favorite to win the Finals heading into the ’08-’09 season and quite possibly could have if it wasn’t for a Garnett injury, were the third favorite to win the Finals heading into the ’09-’10 season and were one win away from winning the NBA Finals, and then were respectably battling God-mode LeBron and D-Wade & Bosh in the Eastern Conference finals as old guys. That’s not a one-hit wonder, folks. The Celtics were Finals contenders for multiple seasons. They got robbed of a chance to go back-to-back because of KG’s injury. They made two Finals trips. In the second one, they were up 3-2 and then lost a close game seven. Come on! These guys were great. These dudes were ruthless competitors. They, no doubt, pushed LeBron, pushed D-Wade, made these guys dig deep and brought out some of their best games ever. They weren’t rock stars like the Heatles, they weren’t as flashy as Golden State, nobody on the team was as iconic as Kobe Bryant, but dammit put some respect on their names. These dudes went toe to toe with everybody. They changed the landscape of the league by showing you could form a superteam and instantly have a great chance to win a championship. This team deserves credit for how we ended up watching a LeBron-Wade-Bosh Miami Heat team, a LeBron-Kyrie-Kevin Love Cleveland Cavaliers team, and a Kevin Durant-Steph-Klay-Draymond Golden State Warriors team. This team did WIN a title and were a few instances of bad luck away from being a mini-dynasty.
I think part of the reason Paul Pierce offers boastful takes about himself and Kevin Garnett talks about “breaking” LeBron is because they never get the credit they deserve, like 2 Chainz says. They know how great they were and how little they’re discussed as time passes. They deserve more respect for what they accomplished, how they played, and how they fought from 2007-2012. I haven’t forgotten and, I never will. Don’t let your grievances with Paul Pierce let you lie about those Celtics.
I appreciate the Pierce-Garnett-Allen Celtics.
StuartTheWW 