Just a day removed from the unfortunate elimination of the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, it is no question that this year will go down as one of the best in recent history.
First off, I want to preface this by saying I fully understand that if the end result isn’t a title, it doesn’t really matter in Boston. Even still, what this young group of gritty, fearless, and resilient players were able to accomplish is impressive, to say the least.
Going back to the Celtics’ championship run in 2008, I was only nine years old. Even still, I remember everything that was going into that series. Two of the best teams of this generation battling it out, with arguably the greatest rivalry in sports history suspended in the air over their heads.
Watching Game 6, seeing my dream come true of being there for a Celtics championship as Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and so many more poured it on and annihilated Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 is up there with the greatest moments of my life.
This was all topped off with the classic Garnett quote, “Anything’s possible,” that became imprinted on the Celtics’ legacy, and in my opinion the mantra of this years squad.
To me, what happened this year was even more impressive than the finals appearance in 2010. That team was supposed to make the finals, they had multiple hall-of-famers and had been playing together for some time.
Fast forward to 2018, and what was the majority of Danny Ainge’s master plan ended up riding the bench with injuries. Seeing so many new players in green being led by a 20-year-old Jayson Tatum and 21-year-old Jaylen Brown, and forcing seven games against the greatest active player in the world, is certainly a great achievement.
Of course, it would have been even sweeter to convert on more uncontested threes than they did and advance to the Finals, but some things are just not meant to be.
Regardless, this year’s end result made me even more excited for the upcoming seasons. Being a contender without your top two players is something not many NBA teams could achieve, which only means good things as LeBron James squeezes out the rest of his time, and Boston remains poised to seize the throne in the East once again.
