2008 Boston Celtics: Anything Is Possible

On June seventeenth, two thousand and eight, the Boston Celtics win the NBA title versus LA Lakers. After over a decade of the NBA being led by duos, they put together a trio of all stars to win their first title in years. Here's the story behind their incredible season and title. Today on Daily Sports History, this episode is brought to you by Our Weird World. Every week, I John Henson dive into weird, crazy and forgotten stories from the history books that you have probably never heard before. I try to put some humor into it, or maybe I just come off sounding like a dick, And that's really up for you to decide. But join me every Monday. Subscribe everywhere that you get your podcasts. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every In today's trivia question to listen out for is how many times have the Lakers and Celtics met in the NBA Finals? Now, today, we're going back to the year two thousand and eight. Doesn't seem that long ago, but it was a major moment in the United States as we were facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression known as the Great Recession. There's also a change in leadership as America's first black president was elected in Barack Obama, and this was also the year that Google released its first public version of Google Chrome, which many of us use exclusively to this day. This was a big moment in Hollywood as Iron Man, the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was released and everyone was dancing to the song low from Flow Rider as the most popular song of the year. And the NBA had a lot going on as well, as the Hornets had officially moved back to Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, and it was announced after that the Seattle SuperSonics would be moving to Oklahoma City and become the Oklahoma City Thunder. But arguably the biggest news in the NBA that year was the Boston Celtics. See after finishing the two thousand and seven season with a twenty four and fifty eight record, which was the second worst record in the league, they knew it was time for a change and it all started with the two thousand and seven NBA Draft. Going into it, the Celtics had the fifth overall pick, which this draft was very top heavy, with Greg Odin going number one and Kevin Durant going number two. But after those two players, there wasn't a clear cut game changer in the draft, although you did have other great players in the draft such as Al Horford, Mike Conley, Jokimnoah, and even Mark Gasol went in the second round. But seeing as none of these players out of the top two would be game changers, they opted for a big trade. They trade. They set up a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks, sending them the fifth overall pick along with Wally Zerbiak and de Lante West in exchange for their all star three point specialists Ray Allen and the thirty fifth overall pick. But that offseason, they were not done. The team had just acquired Ray Allen and they already had Paul Pierce on their team, a perennial All Star, so they had a great combo of guards, but they needed a big man, and on July thirty first, two thousand and seven, they made a trade for ten time All Star in two thousand and four MVP, sending Al Jefferson, Ray Gomes, Theo, Ratliffe, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, and in two thousand and nine first round pick to acquire Kevin Garnett, giving them that big man they needed and giving them a big three, which at the time was a new concept to acquire players to put together three perennial All Stars. Now it weren't more used to it after the Miami Heat did this, But previously it was the league was led by duos. You had Shaq and Kobe, Shaq and Dwayne Wade, and of course in the nineties you had MJ and Scottie Pippen. Duos were the rage for the league. This was a change in concepts Now after this, it left the roster very depleted. They had basically Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce and not much else. So they signed Eddie House Jackie Manuel. They also drafted Glenn Davis, and they also signed James Posey, who had become a major factor for the team, giving them a defensive prout. And they attempted to get five time All Star Reggie Miller to come out of retirement in a reserve role, but that did not work. And they also had two young players that would step up big in Kendrick Perkins and Rai Jon Rono. Now, many thought that the biggest challenge this team would have despite having all these stars, was would they be able to play together. The thing was, these were three very unselfish superstars that none had won a title before, and they all wanted that ring. So they all had the same goal, which allowed them to come together and fight to win. And not only that, but they were also very defensive minded. Kevin Garnett was not only a great offensive player, but he was a great defender, and his tenacity helped change the culture around the Boston Celtics and lead a defensive minded team, not just because they had great stars that could score. And the season started out great. They started eight and zero, winning their first eight games and continued their hot streak, including a ten game winning streak lasting most of November. The chemistry between Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen quickly solidified as they were balanced and unselfish. Paul Pierce ended up being the leading scorer that year with nineteen point six points. Kevin Garnett was number two with eighteen point eight points, also averaging over nine rebounds in overall block a game, and would go on to win Defensive Player of the Year honors this year, and Ray Allen took a little bit of a back seat, scoring seventeen point four points a game, but was able to shoot almost forty percent from three point range and was their go to man during clutch situations. Throughout the year, they were a balanced team, ranking in the top ten in both offense and defense, and that's what led them to a sixty six and sixteen record, which was the best in the NBA and was the third best the Celtics had ever done, as they had won sixty eight games in nineteen seventy three and sixty seven games in nineteen eighty six, but this was good enough to be the top seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the playoff. Now, going into the playoffs, they were heavily favored as they had ran through the league the entire year, and they came up against the Atlanta Hawks in the first round, who were led by Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, and a young rookie in Al Horford. But this young team wasn't just going to sit down and let the Celtics win, as they pushed them to a seven game series where Boston eventually won, advancing to the second round where they faced a young Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had just made the NBA Finals the year previously, and they showed how resilient they were as they also pushed the Celtics too seven games, and the Celtics would eventually win on their home court. And then they came up against the Detroit Pistons led by Chauncey Billips, Rich Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Rashid Wallace, but this team was no match for the Celtics as they won in six games headed into the NBA Finals where they would face a foe in the La Lakers, who they would be meeting in the NBA Finals for the eleventh time, and in twenty ten, they would meet for the twelfth time, giving them the record for the most times teams have faced each other in the NBA Finals. Now. Coming into this series, the Lakers made also a big trade themselves, as in the two thousand and six and seventh season they were just a mediocre team, finishing seventh in the West, barely over five hundred and they needed to make a change and they did after their sinner Andrew Biden went down for the injury for the season, they made a trade trading Kwame Brown, Javeris Crittinton, Eric McKay, and the draft rights to Mark Gasol his brother, to Memphis to get Pau Gasol and a second round draft pick and give them a running mate with Kobe Bryant, which completely changed their season and allowed them to finish with a fifty seven and twenty five record and get the number one seed in the Western Conference, heading up against their rival, the Boston Celtics. Now, the first game was was in Boston and there was a lot of hype in this game as it was the two royalties in the NBA facing off against each other again, and both teams started very tight. There was multiple turnovers, but the Lakers came out on top at halftime with a five point lead. But in the third quarter, Paul Pierce got injured after colliding with his own center Kendrick Perkins and left the game. But despite this, the Celtics went on a six to oh streak and Paul Pierce would return from the locker room and instantly get put back in the game and help lead the team back, holding the Lakers to a fifteen point fourth quarter, and they would win ninety eight to eighty eight, being led by Kevin Gardinet's twenty four points. Then Game two came back in Boston, and the Lakers wanted to come out and fight even harder. They took the lead in the first quarter twenty two to twenty, but the second quarter the Celtics would go on to score ten unanswered points, giving them a twelve point lead at halftime, and they came out in the third quarter just as dominant, increasing their lead to twenty two points. But in the fourth quarter, Kobe Bryant caught fire and started to lead his team back as they had a forty one point fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough as they lost one oh eight to one oh two, and Boston took the series' lead two to zero. Now, Game three headed to Los Angeles, where Kobe Bryant took over. Having a thirty six point game, and despite it being a defensive struggle, the Lakers were able to hold on and win eighty seven to eighty one, making the series two to one. Heading into Game four was a pivotal game and despite the Lakers jumping out to a thirty five to fourteen lead at the end of the first quarter, which was the largest first quarter lead in the NBA Finals history, they began to lose ground as Kobe Bryant had one of his worst Finals games to ever play, as he only scored seventeen points, and the Celtics slowly chipped away, and especially in the third quarter when they came out and scored thirty one points and held the Lakers to fifteen points, showing that their defense was ready to step up to the challenge, and they won this game ninety seven to ninety one, giving them a three to one series lead, and to this point, no team had ever come back three to one in the NBA Finals until twenty sixteen, when the Cleveland Cavaliers did it. Now we come to Game five, which was still in Los Angeles, with the Lakers back against the wall. They came out fighting as they scored thirty nine points in the first quarter, taking a seventeen point lead, but Boston came back in the second quarter to shorten the lead to only three at halftime. But the Lakers were able to build a lead in the second half and had a lead as much as fourteen points in the fourth quarter, and despite the Celtics coming back with a sixteen to two run to tie the game with just minutes left, Kobe Bryant was able to steal the ball and take a breakaway dunk to take the lead, which they would hold on to and win one oh three to ninety eight. Now Boston only led the series three to two as the series headed back to Boston, and in Game six, Boston was set to win. They wanted to win in Boston in front of their fans and they would not let that go as in entering this game, this was their twenty sixth playoff game that season, which broke the record of twenty five set by the New York Knicks, and they were ready to end their historic run this day as Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen both scored twenty six points and they held Kobe Bryant to only twenty two and they took off in the second quarter to increase their lead to over twenty points and they would not let go as they would blow out the Lakers in this final game one thirty one to ninety two, giving them their first title since the nineteen eighties and the first title for all of their Big three in Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. And it goes to show you, even though a team of stars can seem problematic, if they work together for a common goal, you can have great success because a team that works together, no matter how many stars you have, will always prevail. And thank you for listening to today's Daily Sports History. I want to thank Jeremy Mountain from Twitter for suggesting the topic. And if you want us to do a topic for you, all you need to do is leave us a review wherever you're listening, or go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review there and leave us your name and the topic you want us to cover, and we will get that done, especially just for you. And come back tomorrow for more Daily Sports History. And did you catch the answer to today's trivia question? How many times have the LA Lakers and Boston Celtics met in the NBA Finals, an NBA record twelve times, and the Celtics hold a series lead nine to three,