When the buzzer sounded who did you think about?

[Lifer]

I was surprised at how emotional i got. Even though i hadnt follwed them much the last couple of years while living in SC and Kansas, all the memories of growing up with the Celtics and the glorious 80's came back.

when they reached the moutain top of #17, i thought about Reggie Lewis.
I thought about Len Bias. I thought about how Len Bias was supposed to be that spark to help us win #17 in 1987.

I thought about Reggie collapsing on the court, moments after playing better than he ever had and taking over completely for Larry. It was supposed to be Lenny. It was supposed to be Reggie.

Then the Pitino years. And then the 2001-2002 resurgance under Jim O'Brien. Antowain Walker. Did anyone think about him?

it all flashed in my mind within seconds. So it brought tears.

I am so happy for Paul Pierce, finally, he gets the love he has always deserved.

And i remember Reggie.

 

[Kdo5]

wished red was there to see the c's win #17.

 

[otis p. driftwood]

wished red was there to see the c's win #17.

Red was there. He was a 6th man on D. and I think he slipped something in Phil's gatorade.

I thought about my grandfather, who I used to watch the original big three with, who I miss more than I like to admit (even to myself) and I thought about how pleased I was for Pierce, he was such a good guy all those years on crappy teams...and I was pleased for KG, especially after he repeated a line from one of my favorite movies..."made it ma! Top of the world!"

 

[patriotspride]

wished red was there to see the c's win #17.

dito. thats the first thing i thought. he would have loved to see how incrediably happy paul pierce is. i dont think ive ever seen anybody as happy as paul pierce after winning the championship. kg also.

 

[Willie Andrews23]

As for the players, Paul and KG.
But personally it was my brother who passed 2 years ago almost to the day of the win. He was 13 years older than me and when we were kids, I played the 3 other sports and sucked at Basketball, but my brother loved it and he really got me into it and I owe him for that gift he have me. He was 56 when he died, far too young, and I remember thinking at the time how much it sucked that the Celts couldn't give him one more. Well, this years playoffs started on his birthday April 20, and ended a day away from the the anniversary of the day he passed. I gotta believe the big guy and Red are lighting them up, courtside in Heaven.

 

[IcyPatriot]

DOC
PIERCE
KG
R.ALLEN
RED​

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

In a sick way I thought about Rick Pitino and some future coach (hopefully not) saying.....
"Kevin Garnett is not walking through that door, Paul Pierce not walking through that door, Ray Allen is not walking through that door"

 

[IcyPatriot]

In a sick way I thought about Rick Pitino and some future coach (hopefully not) saying.....
"Kevin Garnett is not walking through that door, Paul Pierce not walking through that door, Ray Allen is not walking through that door"

Kind of ironic ... Pitino wanted the team to play a pressing collegiate type defense that was pretty much rejected by the players. This year we won with a stifling defense that no team could work around.

If Pitino had applied his idea to more of a half court level he may have succeeded ... but he was hell bent on playing full court pressure defense and he didn't have the personal or player desire to get it done ... we became a lame halfcourt offensive team that sucked on defense ... :bricks:

 

[JoeSixPat]

Kind of ironic ... Pitino wanted the team to play a pressing collegiate type defense that was pretty much rejected by the players. This year we won with a stifling defense that no team could work around.

If Pitino had applied his idea to more of a half court level he may have succeeded ... but he was hell bent on playing full court pressure defense and he didn't have the personal or player desire to get it done ... we became a lame halfcourt offensive team that sucked on defense ... :bricks:

Nicely summed up... Pitino's theory was sound... in theory. But he wasn't the right messenger and the players could not or would not (both probably) play at that level all the time.

Rivers in a way modified that up tempo, pressing defense as you said, allowing the players to conserve a bit of energy and effort over a very long season.

While that got them the #1 seed, seems to me that by the time the playoffs started the team was tired. While everyone began to doubt Rivers as a playoff caliber coach it just seemed to me that when the Celtics lost playoff games they weren't playing pressing D the way he was asking them to... and when they did, they won.

No matter how tired they were after that long season, the Celts dug deep and found the energy to play Doc's game when they needed to in the previous series.. and come the finals they were going on adrenaline and heart and just couldn't be stopped... but again, only when they played Doc's game.

For the record, when the buzzer sounded I was thinking of Pierce - and how happy I was for him sticking around all these years to have it finally pay off in Celtics immortality - as well as myself - where I was and who I was in the last championship runs of the 80s.

 

[Fanfrom1960]

I don't know that I thought about anybody in particular, maybe Paul Pierce, my favorite current Celtic, but what I can't figure out is why the feeling was so different from the Patriots and Red Sox championships. Still can't put my finger on it, except that maybe it was the 22 years in between Celtics titles that made it feel kind of weird, like the twilight zone or something. I still can't quite figure it out. With the Red Sox and Patriots, whom I'd followed since mid last century, it was the typical 'thank God they did it while I'm on this side of the surface of the earth' kind of thing. I watched all of the previous 16 Celtics triumphs, and then the gap, then this year. 'twas different.