I'm spoiled. Rotten. To the core.
In the last 7 years, I've witnessed 3 Super Bowl wins by the Patriots, a perfect regular season and a trip to the Super Bowl only to lose it in the final minute, the first Red Sox World Series title since 1918, followed by another championship 3 years later, and the Celtics winning in style against the Lakers to add another banner to the rafters.
The country must hate us. The world must hate us. They'll say we don't know what it's like to suffer. But no one knows what it's like to suffer like Boston fans. No one.
Think about it: Bucky Dent. Bill Buckner. Len Bias. Reggie Lewis. '91 Patriots. '96 Patriots and Desmond Howard. Aaron Boone. Grady Little. The Nets in 2002. And even this year, a shot at perfection gone.
That's why all of this means so much more for all of us, the diehards that have sat in the original Boston Garden with the giant columns in the way but you didn't care because you where there. Going to Fenway on the weekends with ease when I was a kid and being able to pick where I wanted to sit in the bleachers. Going to games at Foxboro Stadium and sitting on the metal bleachers where you have to fight for cheek space since the only thing that keeps someone from spilling over into your "seat" is a sticker with the number of the seat.
Whether you were at the game, at home, or at the bar with your friends, this was one of those "I remember where I was…" moments for Boston fans.
The few stats that you must know about the game are eye-popping:
- Rebounds – Celtics: 48, Lakers: 29
- Steals – Celtics: 18, Lakers: 4
- Assists – Celtics: 33, Lakers: 16
- Turnovers – Celtics: 7, Lakers: 19
The real stats aren't ones that will land in the box score after the game. In Tommy Heinsohn's world, they are the Tommy Points he doles out for the outright hustle plays, when guys give more than they can possibly give on any one play. The game was littered with them. Garnett's extreme fallaway over Odom. Rondo's countless quick hits to the open guy. Posey's huge 3s. Pierce flying everywhere. Garnett outmuscling Gasol with one hand to Gasol's two to force a jump ball. Tony Allen's big dunk at the end.
The Celtics wanted it more. They really did. The Lakers gave up on themselves. Kobe came out hot, scoring 11 of the Lakers' first 13 points but it didn't faze me because I saw that no one was as amped up for the game as Kobe was. From the get go you could tell the crowd would will the Celtics to the win, no matter if they found themselves down by 40 at the half or up by 23. It didn't matter.
Simmons said it best, during the after game interview with Doc the crowd started chanting "DEEEEEEEE-FENSE!!! DEEEEEE-FENSE!!!!" when he explained that our defense is the big reason we won it all: not only is it the biggest reason why we won, but our crowd is second to none. We're the most knowledgeable sports fans in the country bar none. We are as passionate about our sports as anything. Do you think Garnett and Pierce and Ray were worried about coming back to Boston? Hell no. They wanted to win it here. Not only for themselves, to soak it all in but for the fans.
It's a good time to be a Celtics fan. I heard someone say in the post game interviews they wished Red was still around to see it. I thought about it for a second and just smiled. Red was there. He's always been there. Don't think otherwise.
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