For the sixth time in the 21st century we here in Boston are having a Rolling Rally. Yes, it’s three times for the Patriots, twice for the Red Sox and now our beloved Boston Celtics today was your turn. Pride is alive and well in Boston and would Red Auerbach be ever so proud. These Celts are his kind of players from the tenacious defense of Kevin Garnett, to the sixth player exploits of James Posey, to the unselfish play of Rajon Rondo, to the big man prowess of Kendrick Perkins, to the pure shooting ability of Ray Allen, to the veteran presence of BJ Brown, to the three-pointers of Eddie House, to the pure fun of rookie ‘Big Baby’ Davis and most of all to the consummate Celtic of them all, Paul Pierce.
Pierce stuck with the team that drafted him out of Kansas State through the dreadful lean years and those eighteen straight losses last year to the MVP trophy of the 2008 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. How very appropriate that Paul, who grew up in the shadow of the LA Forum, a huge Laker fan who would sneak into the Forum as a kid to see his hero Magic Johnson, would be the one to lead his team to glory and to keep Red’s record of nine championships as a coach intact.
I remember when the Celtics won their 16th championship. There was a bumper sticker that Summer of 1986 which I loved and which said 16 Going On 17. Who knew that it would take 22 years to reach that goal which seemed so doable at the time! I had season’s tickets in those days and reveled in the original Big Three of Bird, McHale and Parrish. My favorite, other than Larry, in those days was DJ who always did anything it took to win. Paul Pierce is in that tradition with his ability to drive to the basket, pull up and shoot, nail a three-pointer when needed and perhaps most importantly play great defense. Did you see him shut down Kobe Bryant , as much as anyone can, in that unforgettable come from 24 points down victory in Game 4 of the Finals?!?
I can not resist revealing that I have something in common with Pierce. We both owned a Datsun 210 hatchback. Mine in the 70’s while teaching 4th Grade in Massachusetts and Paul when he was at Inglewood High School using his to pick up friends at 5:30 AM in order to work out at the high school gym. That intense drive and commitment to hone his skills served him well on Tuesday June 17, 2008 when he and his Celtic teammates secured their place as World Champions. Thank you, Paul and all your teammates for giving us back our Celtic Pride.
3 comments:
those were the days my friend
we thought they would never end but here we are once again
loving the team we believe in
great blog, DOTTY!! MOE T
you said it all. remember how you had seasons tickets on the floor of the Garden during the Bird reign and how accessible all the players were to us. one of your
4th grade student's father was the team physician, and we were invited into the locker room and got everyone's autograph. those were fun times and now this -it's like reliving the past once again. who said "you can't go back" - this Celtic team proved that theory wrong. Keep musing...
~~~To Moe and queenrok you are so right - those were the days and now they're back. I certainly will always remember being 'backstage' with passes from one of my students and what a thrill that was being with Larry Legend and the crew - so glad you shared that with me...
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