With the victory in game 5 against the Dallas Mavericks i Boston Celtics they won title number 18 in franchise history, which says a lot about how the Massachusetts Greens are used to raising trophies. It is no coincidence that with the ring just put on the finger, the “Celtics” have become the team with the most titles in their portfolio, surpassing the Los Angeles Lakersanother iconic franchise of the stars and stripes basketball movement.
A historic franchise, that of Boston, which contributed to making the NBA the planetary myth that it is now. Raise your hand, without lying, who has never heard of the legendary woven parquet of Boston Gardennow TD Garden, a sports hall that exudes history, legend and passion in every brick of which it is made, or of the many champions who have passed through those latitudes.
A book could be written on the history of this team, which some remember only for the epic challenges in the 80s with the Los Angeles Lakers, sublimated by the beautiful book “Show Time” by Jeff Pearlman, then transposed into an iconic TV series seen, with superb ratings, even in Italy. That period, although fascinating because it confronted not only two different ways of playing, that hardsometimes bad, of the Celtics at that all champagne and bubbles of the Lakers, but also two different, or rather opposite, ways of being.
The one made of a lot of sweat, serious and almost grumpy of Boston, and the light-hearted and smiling one, full of glamor of Los Angeles and its parade of Hollywood movie stars. Dichotomy represented perfectly by the dualism between Larry Bird And Magic Johnson, two of the best players ever to miraculously appear on parquets around the world. Two who couldn’t be more different: one black, the other white, one serious, the other always smiling, as different as, in their diversity, equally winners.
Different but then incredibly became friends, starting from a lunch offered by Larry Bird’s mother to Magic during the filming of an advertising spot. That period is certainly the most analysed, multifaceted, chopped up in the history, or rather in the epic, of the Celtics, but it is not the only one full of successes, on the contrary.
Yes, because Boston’s first title dates back to 1957, when the arrival of two sensational freshmen like Bill Russellnumber one in the draft, chosen by Indiana, and arrived in Boston thanks to one of the many extraordinary trades that have punctuated the history of the Celtics, and Tom Heinsohn, changed the history not only of the franchise but of the entire NBA. In fact, that season came the first title for the Massachusetts franchise.
The following year, the Bostonians were beaten in the Conference final by the Atlanta Hawks, defeated the previous year, but from that moment on the green and white “dynasty” began, with the Celtics stringing together an incredible, but true, series of successes consecutive, with eight titles strung together one after the other, a series still unbeaten not only in the NBA but in the entire panorama of professional sports.
Just to understand, when the Lakers, led by Phil Jackson, won three titles in a row at the beginning of the new millennium, their feat was celebrated all over the world, but the “Threepeat” represents little more than a third of what they achieved in years first by the Boston Celtics. The cornerstone of that wonderful team was a long, colorful center, formidable especially in defense, the slender Bill Russell. The coach was legendary Red Auerbach, icon, yesterday, today and forever, of American basketball. It is no coincidence that when the man with the cigar always in his mouth decided to move on to a management career, the long winning streak was interrupted, with the defeat against the 67ers in the Conference final.
The series, however, resumed in the following two years, with the extraordinary Bill Russell in the role of player coach. A fantastic player, Bill, it’s no coincidence we’re talking about a center who grabbed 22.5, you read that right 22.5, rebounds per game. It was in that period that the rivalry with the Los Angeles Lakers led by the very talented was born Jerry Westdefeated in five finals in a row.
After the ’69 title, here was the inevitable decline, but also in the ’70s, those before the Bird era, Boston found a way to win two more titles, in 1974 and 1976, head coach another legend of the Celtics, that Tom Heinsohn, protagonist of the dynasty of the 60s. In ’74 the title arrived in Game 7, with the coup a Milwaukeeagainst i Bucks driven by Kareem Abdul Jabbaranother great enemy-friend of Boston, surrendered two years later Phoenix Sunsdefeated in five games.
The Bird era followed, with the last title won in 1986, at the end of which the Celtics had to wait 22 long years to return to the ring, won in 2008, guessing by beating who? The Lakers, of course. A title that bears the signature of “Doc” Rivers on the bench and the trio of champions Paul Pierce – Kevin Garnett – Ray Allen on the parquet.
A title which, however, remained a solitary gem in the path of the franchise which will have to wait another 16 years to conquer another ring, the one brought home in Game 5 against Dallasshot down by the class of Tatum And Jaylen Brownnot surprisingly named MVP of the “Finals”.
The one won a few days ago in front of the friendly public is the most recent title won by the “Celtics”, we bet that, given the habit of winning in vogue in those parts, it won’t be the last?
