End Of An Era

It’s over. The era of the modern Big Three in Boston of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen has officially come to an end with the blockbuster trade between the Celtics and Brooklyn Nets. Pierce and Garnett, along with Jason Terry, will be exchanged for five players and three future first round draft picks, similar to the trade that brought Garnett to the Celtics in 2007. The news also puts an exclamation mark on one of the more discouraging weeks in Boston sports in recent memory.

In the NBA especially, teams can become contenders with a trade for marquee players (Boston in 2007) or signing a top-notch free agent (Miami in 2010), and then filling in the remaining pieces. Then there’s going through the rebuilding process, which might mean a couple of losing seasons to acquire lottery picks and hope to strike gold through the draft (Oklahoma City). Boston GM Danny Ainge knew his recent run at being a title contender was over, and it was time to look towards the future. With Doc Rivers leaving Boston, moving a still valuable Pierce and Garnett was inevitable.

I’m not against the trade. If I have any objections it’s that Pierce and Garnett will be playing for another team in the Atlantic Division where the Celtics will have to face them four times next season. They would have been a perfect fit with Doc Rivers on the L.A. Clippers, but the deal for Rivers killed any chance of that happening. But inserting Pierce and Garnett into the Brooklyn starting lineup should vault them to compete as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference along with Miami, Indiana and Chicago. Even though they’re playing for a division rival, and a team from New York to boot, I will still be rooting for them to compete for another title.

It’s also unfortunate that Paul Pierce will not finish his career as a Celtic. It’s very rare these days in any sport that you see one marquee player stay with the same organization for as long as Pierce did. I remember watching the 1997 NBA draft where Pierce was selected tenth overall, probably the best thing that Rick Pitino ever did for the Boston Celtics. Out of all the players picked before Pierce in that draft, only Dirk Nowitzki has been as durable and has consistently played at an all-star level.

Over fifteen seasons, The Truth has seen his share of highs and lows. In September 2000, Pierce was stabbed eleven times while playing pool at a Boston nightclub. The fact that his friends rushed him to the hospital so quickly probably saved his life. That season, he was the only Celtic to play in all 82 regular season games. In 2001-2002, Pierce helped lead the team to their first playoff appearance in six seasons, going as far as the Eastern Conference Finals in his first postseason. In 2006-2007, Pierce played in only 47 games due to a stress reaction in his foot while the Celtics had one of its worst seasons in franchise history, going 24-58 and at one point losing 18 games in a row. That all turned around the following season, when the team acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett and the Celtics won their first championship in 22 years. Pierce was named finals MVP.

I wrote in a previous post about Garnett’s career accomplishments, and his numbers make him one of the most versatile players ever. He brought a level of toughness to the Celtics that had not been seen since the Bird era, and infused a defensive mindset that orchestrated their run to the 2008 title. He knew what it meant wear Celtic green, instilling that sense of pride that had eluded fans for many years. His tenure in Boston will not be forgotten, especially this interview. It will never get old.

As much as KG helped bring back that winning tradition to Boston, no one is a truer Celtic than Paul Pierce. The Truth bled Celtic green, playing with grit and many times through pain. He lived up to his nickname, hitting numerous clutch shots throughout his career. It will be tough to watch him in a Brooklyn uniform, but fans know that he’ll always be a Celtic. When his playing career is finally over, he will have his day in Boston, and his number 34 will be retired to the rafters of the Garden with all the other Celtic greats.

So mark your calendars in the fall when Brooklyn comes to Boston for the first time of the season. It should be one homecoming you won’t want to miss.

A Tough Week For Boston Sports

It's not my intention to make my readers depressed. It really isn’t. This was originally going to be my homage to Doc Rivers (and it still is), but so many things have happened in the past couple of days, I feel that I need to vent. Try to stay with me people.

The world of Boston sports has been in a mad whirlwind. Let’s begin with the one story that we can all agree is positive. With just about half of the season in the books, the Red Sox are not only in first place in the American League East, but quietly own one of the best records in all of baseball. The team’s new formula of assembling hard-nosed ballplayers instead of high-priced free agents seems to be working, and their pitching staff is performing up to their potential. Let’s hope they can keep it up with the dog days of summer approaching.

As for the Bruins, I view their overall playoff run as an uplifting experience, even though their Game 6 loss gave me flashbacks to Aaron Boone’s home run, Ron Artest’s three pointer, and David Tyree’s helmet catch. As tough as the loss was, you can’t deny that they exceeded many fans’ expectations. They fought back from the brink of elimination in the Toronto series and carried that toughness and determination through the remainder of the playoffs. They brought hope and excitement to a city that desperately needed it, and we should be thanking them. They gave it all they had and lost to a good Chicago team, whose method of winning has been to rally when their backs were against the wall. Now let’s move on before I put my fist through my computer screen. Unfortunately the news doesn’t get much better.

Aaron Hernandez. What the hell? This story just took off and never stopped, riveting New Englanders for the past week. After his eventual arrest and finding out more about some of the details of the case, things aren’t looking too promising for the former Pats tight end. It’s just a sad waste of talent. On top of that, Tom Brady has one less quality target to throw to. They’re dropping like flies.

Finally, the NBA has approved the trade of coach Doc Rivers to the Los Angeles Clippers in return for a first round draft pick in 2015, and Rivers has officially been released from his contract with the Celtics. During his nine-year tenure in Boston, Rivers lead the team to two appearances in the finals and the NBA title in 2008.

The initial news of the trade came as somewhat of a surprise. Doc signed a five-year contract extension in 2011, knowing that he would oversee the end of the Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett/Ray Allen era. With Allen bolting for Miami after last season and the Celtics first round exit to the Knicks in this year’s playoffs, it’s not surprising that Rivers was intrigued with the chance to coach a young and upcoming team. Doc’s arrival should also solidify the Clippers in resigning Chris Paul.

The loss of Doc is disappointing, and he did quit on the team, but part of me can understand where he’s coming from. Rivers has already been through the rebuilding process with the Celtics. Let’s not forget the 24-win team from the 2006-2007 season, which included the stellar play of Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair and Michael Olowokandi (no, that’s not a misprint). They dodged a bullet by not landing the top pick in the 2007 draft that would have turned out to be the colossal bust Greg Oden. That allowed Celtics GM Danny Ainge to trade draft picks to Seattle for Ray Allen and a miraculously send half the team to steal Kevin Garnett from Minnesota (thank you Kevin McHale). The rest is NBA history.

The league has its share of top coaches, but having the right blend of talent also helps. Teaming up Allen, Pierce and Garnett hurled Rivers to the NBA coaching elite, highlighted by him defeating the mighty Phil Jackson in the 2008 NBA finals and bringing Boston its seventeenth NBA title. He was the right coach for that championship team, introducing the Ubuntu philosophy that led to continued success in subsequent seasons. It can be argued that Kevin Garnett’s knee injury in 2009 robbed Doc the chance to repeat and that Kendrick Perkins’s knee injury in Game 6 in the 2010 finals cost him another title. In the end Doc helped bring back a winning tradition to the Boston Celtics that had not been seen in over twenty years, and I wish him the best of luck in L.A.

Now that Rivers is gone, there are questions that remain with the team. Who is going to be the next head coach, and what does the future hold for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce? I’m sure that Rivers wanted Garnett to join him in L.A., but part of the deal is that the two teams can’t trade any players until after the 2013-2014 season. If Garnett and Pierce are traded, that will be a column for another day, and we can add it to this list of somber news. At least for now we have the Red Sox to fall back on.