Celtics Thump Lakers Capturing 17th NBA Championship
With legendary greats Bill Russell and John Havlicek sitting court side,and Red Auerbach surely lighting up a victory cigar somewhere, the Boston Celtics returned to glory like the great teams before them.
On a new parquet floor below championship banners hung in the rafters two decades ago,the Celtics won their 17th NBA title and the first one for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
In the age of"going green", after 22 long years, the NBA is green once again.
The Celtics concluded a shocking rebound of a season with a stunning 131-92 blowout overthe Los Angeles Lakers in Game6 on Tuesday night.
"It means so much more because these are the guys, the Havliceks, the Bill Russells, theCousys," Pierce said. "These guys started what's going on with those banners. They don't hang up any other banners but championship ones. And now I'm a part of it."
Boston fans sanginto the night as if they were in a pub on nearby Canal Street. They serenadedthe newest champs in this city of champs, and taunted Kobe Bryant and hisLakers, who drowned in a green-and-white wave for 48 minutes.
The Lakers tried to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the Finals. They didn't stand a chance. Boston's 39-point win surpassed the NBA record for the biggest margin of victory in a championship clincher.
It's was Boston's first title since the passing of Auerbach, whose presence was the only thing missing on this night. Even Auerbach, who died in 2006, got some satisfaction. Led by coach Doc Rivers, Auerbach's team denied Lakers coach Phil Jackson from overtaking him with a 10th championship.
The Boston-Los Angeles rivalry remains tilted toward the Atlantic Ocean. The Celtics are 9-2against the Lakers in the Finals.
Boston missed its first crack at closing out the series in Game 5, but the Celtics didn't miss on their second swing, running the Lakers out of the gym.
"They were definitely the best defense I've seen the entire playoffs," said Lakers guard Kobe Bryant. "I've seen some pretty stiff ones and this was right up there with them."
"This is the reason we came here," Garnett said. "This is the reason we got together."
No team had to work harder for a championship than these Celtics, who were playing in their record 26th post season game after being pushed to seven games by Atlanta and Cleveland before taking care of Detroit in six to win the Eastern Conference title.
But there were no excuses, and just as they had while winning 66 games during the regular season, the Celtics got plenty of help from their bench. It was a group effort by this gang in green, which bonded behind Rivers.
After surrendering a 24-point lead in Game 4, then coughing up 19-and 14-point advantages in a game they barely won, the Lakers proved to be as soft as they are talented. No six-game series ever seemed so one-sided.
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