Top of the World: The Inside Story of the Boston Celtics' Amazing One-Year Turnaround to Become NBA Champions

257 Pages·2008·0.62 MB·English

by  Peter May

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Top of the World
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THE INSIDE STORY OF THE
BOSTON CELTICS’
AMAZING ONE-YEAR TURNAROUND
TO BECOME NBA CHAMPIONS
Da Capo Press
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
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Copyright © 2008 by Peter May
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without
the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States
of America. For information, address Da Capo Press, 11Cambridge Center,
Cambridge, MA 02142.
Design and production by Eclipse Publishing Services
Set in 11 point Janson
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the
Library of Congress.
ISBN: 978-0-306-81810-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008935954
Published by Da Capo Press
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
www.dacapopress.com
Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases
in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more
information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus
Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or
call [phone], ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected].
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Contents
Prologue 1
1 Ping-Pong History 11
2 Along Comes Ray 27
3 The Big Ticket 47
4 Setting a Course 65
5 Ubuntu 83
6 Shot from Guns 103
7 Growth Spurts 123
8 Highs and Lows 141
9 All Stars, Add-ons, and a Fantastic Finish 163
10 Bandwagon Fans and Menacing Gestures 183
11 LeBron and Another Grinder 193
12 The Real NBA Finals 205
13 Finishing the Race 215
Epilogue 231
boston celtics championships 237
acknowledgments 239
index 241
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Prologue
F or some,the celebrating started at halftime. The lead
in Game 6 of the NBA Finals was 23 points, the Boston
Celtics were dominating at both ends of the floor (holding
the Los Angeles Lakers without an offensive rebound in
the first half), and the atmosphere at the Courtside Club inside the
TD Banknorth Garden, was undeniably jubilant.
The Celtics were one half away from winning the 2008 NBA
championship, their record seventeenth in the history of the sport’s
most storied franchise. But it had been 22 years since the last one—
prior to that drought, no Celtic team had gone more than five years
between championships No. 1 and No. 16—and the relief and ela-
tion in the room were palpable. During their playoff run, the
Celtics had survived two nerve-wracking seventh games at home.
They had played an NBA record 26 playoff games—or two more
playoff games than they had had victories in the bleak season
before.
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2 Top of the World
Before the game, Wyc Grousbeck, the team’s managing gen-
eral partner, had stuck a cigar into the left breast pocket of his navy
blue suit jacket, intending to light it up as a tribute to the immor-
tal Red Auerbach, who had died in the fall of 2006. Grousbeck had
had a good feeling going in; the Celtics led the series 3–2. He said,
“I told myself that in the Super Bowl, you only get one chance.
In the World Cup final, you get only one chance. In the NCAA
Tournament, you only get one chance. But we had two chances to
win, so I felt lucky. With two chances to win one game, I felt pretty
confident.”
Inside the club at halftime, movers and shakers from all walks,
including Boston Red Sox owners John Henry and Tom Werner,
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, Pats’ owner Robert
Kraft, assorted Patriots players, and Wyc’s father Irv were equally
upbeat—and with good reason. The first half had been a tour de
force at both ends of the floor, a display so powerful that the Celtics
coach, Doc Rivers, mostly just sat on the bench and watched with
transparent pride. Before the game, it was Rivers who had told
his team that tonight was going to be the night they put it all
together.
“Let’s leave no doubt,” he said. “We have yet to play a com-
plete game in the playoffs. Not just in this series, but in the whole
playoffs. We blew some teams out, but we have been mostly a spurt
team and have not put together the product we have been working
on all season.” Then he said, “What are you waiting for?”
The Lakers scored the first four points of the game, but the
Celtics’ first basket of the night proved to be a sign of things to
come. Point guard Rajon Rondo, who had struggled mightily in
Games 3, 4, and 5 in Los Angeles while dealing with an ankle
sprain, swiped the ball out of the hands of Pau Gasol. It was the
first of his six steals in the game; afterward Lakers coach Phil
Jackson said that Rondo “created havoc” on the floor. Rondo then
drove the length of the court, went under the basket, and found an
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Prologue 3
open Ray Allen on the left perimeter; Allen made the first of his
seven three-point field goals in the game.
The Celtics then blew it open by closing the second period
with a 26–6 run to create the 23-point halftime lead. James Posey
and Eddie House knocked down big three pointers. Kevin Garnett
converted an old-fashioned three play in the final minute after
being decked by Lamar Odom.
Still, while many of the Celtics ownership group were early
revelers, neither Rivers, nor the man who put this team together,
general manager Danny Ainge, were quite as confident. “Because
of what had happened earlier in the series, I didn’t feel too com-
fortable,” Ainge said.
Indeed, in Game 2, the Lakers had been down by 24 points in
the fourth quarter and rallied to cut the deficit to a single point.
The Celtics had trailed by 24 points in Game 4 in Los Angeles and
then staged the greatest rally in the history of the NBA Finals
to win the game. Coaches and general managers are predisposed to
notfeel comfortable until they can look up at the scoreboard at the
end of the game. But this was not going to be one of those nights.
The Celtics made sure of that.
“I’m thinking the Lakers still have all those great three-point
shooters, and Kobe [Bryant] can be a game-changer,” Ainge said.
“But at the same time, I knew our players were not going to let
down. I started to feel really good about halfway through the third
quarter.”
That was when his cellphone buzzed, signaling a text mes-
sage. It was from Larry Bird, his former Celtics teammate, who was
running the Indiana Pacers. It was brief and to the point: “Great
Job Danny. I’m Really Happy For You.” When the lead swelled
into the 30s and even low 40s in the fourth quarter, a second mes-
sage popped up, this one from Ainge’s close friend, former team-
mate, and, Lakers fans would say, enabler of the 2008 champions
by agreeing to trade Garnett to Boston: Kevin McHale, the man