Tag: 2008 championship team

Paul Pierce talks on Celtics’ 24-point deficit in Game 4 of ’08 Finals

Boston Celtics legendary forward Paul Pierce talks about Boston’s historic comeback in Game 4 of the 2008 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The benefit of hindsight is that everything looks destined, preordained to happen by fate — but when the Boston Celtics fell into a 24-point deficit to the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the 2008 NBA Finals, Banner 17 looked far from certain to be on its way.

A loss to the Lakers would have tied the series 2-2 with one more home game for L.A. cued up that could have put the Celtics in a position to return to Boston down three games to two.

But the Celtics battled back and secured the 97-91 win on the road, and set themselves up to win the championship as a result — but what did it feel like to have been staring at that massive hole, and what not digging out of it might have represented to one of the finest Celtics seasons on record?

Forward Paul Pierce was asked exactly this question while appearing with former teammate Kendrick Perkins on a recent episode of ESPN’s “The Jump”.

His response?

“When you pay for one of the most stubborn teams, the most stubborn coaches and one of the most stubborn defenses of all time, we didn’t sweat once,” began the Kansas product.

“We always felt like we [could] come back. No lead was safe around our defense because we had the best defensive player in the game — arguably one of the best defensive players of all time — in Kevin Garnett. Perkins, [Rajon] Rondo, we had one of the greatest defenses. We always felt like we were going to give ourselves a chance and that kept that confidence in us.”

“We just continued to break the lead down once [P.J. Brown] got the two at the end of the third [quarter],” added the Truth.

Pierce would score 20 points and 7 assists to lead Boston’s historic comeback, Ray Allen 19 points and 7 rebounds and Kevin Garnett 16 points and 11 boards, but it was truly a team effort on both ends of the court that saved the game for Boston.

“I thought our defense was great,” Brown said at the time via the New York Times’ Howard Beck. “I thought Paul led the charge by switching on Kobe [Bryant].”

It was the greatest Finals comeback since records began to be kept by Elias Sports Bureau in the 1970-71 NBA season.

One Paul Pierce was certain to come, even without the benefit of hindsight.

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Kendrick Perkins recalls unexpected intensity of Lakers-Celts rivalry

Ex-Boston Celtics center Kendrick Perkins recalls how the intensity of his team’s rivalry caught him off guard.

You might think the glory days of the Los Angeles Lakers – Boston Celtics rivalry were in the 1980s, but like former Celtics big man Kendrick Perkins, you’d be wrong.

After the roster came together like Voltron in the summer of 2007 and the resulting team steamrolled its way through the NBA and to Boston’s  record 17th title, it was time to do the media tour.

That of course had a pit stop at the ESPYs, ESPN’s annual sporting award show, recorded in Los Angeles, California. Evidently thinking nothing of the location’s potential for shenanigans, Perkins and his wife made the trip.

“When we won it, we had to go out to the ESPYs,” Perkins began via the Athletic’s Joe Vardon.

“I flew out to the ESPYs with my wife, and we were on our way back, and man I was waiting on my bags when we landed back in Houston and my bags were all cut up. My shoes and stuff were gone. Everything. I actually was traveling with my Celtic bag that had the Celtic logo on there that said ‘Perkins,’ so at LAX they actually cut up my bag, took my shoes and clothes and everything out of there.”

“That’s how I knew it was a rivalry. And when my bag came, I was like, ‘Man, what happened to my bag?'” concluded the Beaumont native.

There would be some opportunities for revenge later on, but bad luck and injuries would derail Perkins — and the Celtics — opportunities for comeuppance in the years to come.

In fact, a knee injury to Perk ending up being instrumental in his being shipped out to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2011 as the door was closing on both team’s contention windows.

Whatever scores there are to be settled between the old rivals will have to wait for another generation, and with both franchises on the upswing in the short term, we might not have to wait that long, either.

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Celtics Wire evening trivia, April 19: Banner 17 and the 2000s

The 2000s were a much-needed return to excellence for the Boston Celtics, but it didn’t happen overnight; how much do you remember of this era?

After living through the 1990s, Boston Celtics fans were ready for a return to glory. And they started seeing signs of a move back towards competency if not contention in the first half of the decade, but it ultimately fell short.

The team chose to retool while there was still gas in forward Paul Pierce’s tank, but the medicine nearly killed the patient, with the Truth nearly losing patience with the process as former Celtic shooting guard Danny Ainge was brought on early in the decade to right the ship.

Risks were taken that panned out for a change, and by the summer of 2007 the plan that brought Boston its 17th banner was underway. The arrival of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen put the Celtics back on track after an unusually long time on the rocks, and set Boston on the path it still follows today.

How much do you remember about the end of the longest championship drought in franchise history — and the years just before and after it? Take tonight’s weekly trivia challenge, and find out.

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On this day: Celtics set record for biggest single-season turnaround

On this day, the Boston Celtics set the record for the greatest single-season turnaround in NBA history.

On this day in 2013, the NBA canceled a game between the Boston Celtics and the Indiana Pacers a day after the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks.

The move was made out of respect for the victims of the bombing after an initial postponement, and the game was ultimately not rescheduled.

The cancellations did not impact the postseason, as seeds that could have otherwise have been impacted were already locked into their position, marking the most recent season the NBA has had an odd number of regular-season games as a result, with 1,229 games played.

An NHL game between the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators was also canceled on the day of the Marathon bombings which was also to be held at TD Garden.

It is also the date the Celtics finished their season with 66 wins and 16 losses just one season after going 24-58, good for the record of the greatest single-season turnaround in NBA history.

The win came with a 105-94 win over the then-New Jersey Nets, and Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen mostly rested, letting reserve forward Leon Powe score 27 points to lead the team, and reserve guard Tony Allen added 18.

“I’m glad we finished off the season on a winning note despite me, Kevin and Ray not playing our normal minutes,” Pierce said via ESPN. “We’ll enjoy it tonight. But we’re a team on a mission starting tomorrow.”

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Danny Ainge, Kendrick Perkins talk 2008 title team genesis, chemistry

Boston Celtics team president Danny Ainge and former Celtics big man Kendrick Perkins recently spoke on the 2008 title team’s early days and chemistry.

Boston Celtics team president Danny Ainge recently appeared on ESPN’s Hoop Streams — hosted by Cassidy Hubbarth and joined by former Celtics center Kendrick Perkins and Amin Elhassan — to talk on Boston’s 2008 NBA Championship among several topics.

Spurred by Garnett’s recent Hall of Fame election, Hubbarth soon arrived at the foundation story of the “new Big Three”, as KG, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen have been called in deference to the 1980s frontcourt trio of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.

Asked about the conversation in which the BYU product convinced the Big Ticket to accept a trade to Boston, Ainge replied at length.

“KG was very polite, letting me in his home,” began the Celtics president.

“We talked about the possibility. I’d gotten permission from Minnesota to go talk to KG and see if we could talk him into doing a trade, and he was very respectful. And I think that he was very interested … At first, before we had made the trade … before Ray [Allen], KG wasn’t sure we were good enough to win.”

“And so he was waffling between us and and I think the [Los Angeles] Lakers might have been involved to try to get KG,” he added.

Ainge narrowly beat out a competing offer or offers from the Los Angeles Lakers to land Garnett once he managed to leverage draft assets in a deal to bring former UConn standout Ray Allen to join Paul Pierce and the rest of the team on draft night in 2007.

“We’d actually made a trade for KG before, but because [he] would not sign a contract extension, I wasn’t going to give up a lot of our young assets just to have [him] for one year,” explained the Celtics’ head honcho.

Once together, the team quickly clicked, and forged an incredible chemistry had coach Doc Rivers famously referred to as “Ubuntu”, after a Nguni Bantu term that means, roughly translated, “I am because we are,” an embodiment of the sacrifices all three stars were making to win together.

“There was so much hope in the face of Doc, in the face of Paul and Ray and KG,” said Ainge, referring to the anticipation and esprit de corp that emerged almost immediately with the group of new teammates.

“All of them, and all of our other players, there was so much hope in what had happened that offseason, that there was just an incredible enthusiasm when training camp started.”

Former Celtic big man Kendrick Perkins weighed in, agreeing.

“Our practices were so crazy that Doc used to have to call [Garnett] out … it almost gets a fist blows and this is not a real practice unless some people [are] about the fight. And … every practice it was like — seriously — what Doc was like [was], ‘Alright, that’s it. That’s it. That’s enough. That’s enough.”

While that may not sound like chemistry to a casual observer, the intense competitive fire all three of the new Big Three brought to the team was not only laser-focused desire to do what none of the trio was able to on their own, it also became infectious — to the point of boiling over at times.

But that fire fueled an epic title run ending in Banner 17 and a spot in Celtics lore only smaller than some others because of bad luck and injuries.

As much as they went at each other in practice, they also deferred to the hot hand in games, and built a chemistry bigger than a team or the word used to convey it as a concept.

The whole interview is a gem, and worth a listen if you haven’t heard it already — just play the video above.

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On this day: Celtics tie greatest single-season turnaround in history

On this day, the Boston Celtics tied the greatest single-season turnaround in NBA history, equalling a record set by the San Antonio Spurs.

On this day, the Boston Celtics tied the NBA record for the best turnaround in a single season for any team in league history.

The team they tied was the 1997-98 San Antonio Spurs, who went from 20-62 the season prior to 56-26 the next.

Boston went 24-58 in 2006-07, and the victory, a 92-77 win over the Indiana Pacers, gave the Celtics a 60-15 record so far that season (they would finish 66-16, losing just one more contest that season).

Still, for the Celtics, the regular season record was far from the focus.

“We’re well past where I’ve been,” said Paul Pierce via the Associated Press.

“I’ve only won 49 games. Sixty is all good. We have a bigger picture in mind.” That bigger picture would be realized with Banner 17, but that is a story for another day.

It is also the anniversary of a win over the New York Knicks in 2017, a 110-94 blowout at Madison Square Garden., and the first 50-win season of point guard Isaiah Thomas’ career.

“I’ve never won 50 games in my NBA career, so definitely was an individual goal of mine coming into this season to win 50 games and I’m just glad we got to that,” IT related at the time courtesy of the AP.

“But like I keep saying, we’ve got a lot more work to do.”

While no championship would be in the offing this season, Thomas had an outstanding performance in limited minutes, logging 19 points and 6 assists in only 24 minutes to push Boston over the 50-win threshold.

Shooting guard Jaylen Brown would add 16 points, big man Al Horford 14 points and 7 boards, and guard Marcus Smart 14 points and 5 assists off the bench in the victory.

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WATCH: Paul Pierce and Brian Scalabrine talk Game 6 of the 2008 Finals

Boston Celtics champions Paul Pierce and Brian Scalabrine revisit the fateful game that brought the team Banner 17.

We’re not far from the twelfth anniversary of the Boston Celtics’ Banner 17, and it materialized in Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals on the team’s home court.

For many fans, it was a moment indelibly burned in our memories, and certainly no less so for the players who hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy that evening.

Setting the record for the most playoff games played in one season, it was the Celtics’ 26th tilt of the 2008 NBA Playoffs, and both they and their foes, the Los Angeles Lakers were feeling the grind.

But the home crowd buoyed Boston to a blowout win, the 39-point margin of victory the largest in league history for a title game.

Watch the video above to hear big man Brian Scalabrine and Celtics legend Paul Pierce recount their memory of that fateful night. While injury and bad luck robbed the Big Three of another banner in their time together in Boston, they will always have this moment — and never will tire of remembering it.

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