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After returning to the NBA Finals last season, your 2010/11 Boston Celtics have kept the core of the team intact and added a couple of complimentary players in Shaquille ONeal and Jermaine O’Neal and could be the most talented team in recent years. "This team is more talented than any team we've had here since Doc (Rivers) and I have been here, for sure," said director of basketball operations Danny Ainge. "We're excited about this team, but the thing is, we need to be better than what we've been in order to win a championship this year -- and we think we are. So, yeah, there's always if's with every team, but I love our talent, our depth, our size, our speed, our shooting. I mean, I like the team a lot."
That being said, the entire Eastern Conference has bulked up and upgraded their teams. Long time Celtic Paul Pierce is very confident that this team could make it all the way back to the finals. "I think it has a chance," said Pierce. "You know, from top to bottom, this is the most talented team I think I've played on since I've been in the NBA -- just for the opportunity to play with both O'Neals, bringing Delonte back. I mean, just the depth is crazy to me. I'm excited every day I come to practice."
After finishing the season with an amazing 62-20 season record, the Celtics burned out against the Orlando Magic, who took the defending NBA Champions out in Conference semi-finals, coach Doc Rivers and the rest of the team went in search of the missing pieces of the puzzle. It seemed they found it when, in early July, GM Danny Ainge, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce went to Detroit, Michigan in order to persuade free agent power forward Rasheed Wallace to sign with the team. Six days later, Wallace did so signing a 3 year contract. With that signing, Marquis Daniels and Sheldon Williams both signed with the team.
As of mid December, the Celtics were sitting at 19-4, atop the Eastern Conference. In the West, the Lakers are right with them at 18-4 and a meeting of the two teams could foretell the next championship series. Don’t miss a minute of it! Secure your tickets to the Boston Celtics remaining home games before the tickets are all gone!
The Boston Celtics are arguably the most storied franchise in all of professional basketball and would also rank quite high on the all-time sports list. The Celtics were a dominating force in the 1960s like nothing ever before (eight consecutive championships, 11 in 13 years) and then behind players like Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish, the team went through another three rings in the 1980s. The next version of the Celtics was led by Paul Pierce, a shooting guard with a nice jump shot, an explosive first step, and a knack for scoring at the biggest moments. After missing the playoffs for six consecutive years in the 1990s, the team was two games from a finals appearance before eventually losing to the New Jersey Nets. Since then, the team has been eliminated in the semifinals and the first round.
In 2004 Doc Rivers, a former player in the league, took over as coach of the Celtics and looked to shake things up a bit. Rivers implemented his own system on offense and defense and looked for the same type of effort from his players that he gave when he played in the league not so many years ago. The Celtics were relatively quiet in the off-season until early August with their only big “move” being that they resigned center/forward Mark Blount. Late in the off-season, the Celtics decided to send Chris Mihm, Marcus Banks, Chucky Adkins and a second round pick to the Lakers in exchange for PG Gary Payton, SF Rick Fox and a future first round pick. The move rejuvenated Payton and Fox after neither played well in 2003 with the Lakers and could have helped to propel the Celtics from afterthought into top-five team in the depleted Eastern conference. The team didn’t lose any free agents either so their focus was turned to the draft.
Danny Ainge, an ex-Celtic himself who is now the general manager, made some swift and bold moves last year to acquire extra first round picks for this year’s draft and the team had three picks in the first 25 picks and another in the second round. The team took PF Al Jefferson at 15 and SGs Delonte West and Tony Allen back to back at 24 and 25. The second round pick, number 40 overall, was used on PF Justin Reed.
The next phase began in the 2007 season with the acquisition of Ray Allen coming on board in June of 2007. Then the unthinkable happened. In one swift move the team went from worst to first as they pulled off the trade of the season; Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff and cash considerations were traded to the Boston Celtics for perennial All Star Power Forward Kevin Garnett. The team would go on to win more games than they had since the 1985-86 season, finishing with a 66-16 record and their first NBA Championship since 1986.
In an effort to repeat, Coach Rivers kept the core of the team intact, electing to sign free agent small forward Darius Miles and resigned Tony Allen and Eddie House after James Posey left the team for the New Orleans Hornets. The Celtics finished strong again with a 62-20 record and during one stretch, recorded the franchise’s longest winning streak at 19. But the rest of the Eastern Conference did improve and get stronger and just when the basketball world thought the Celtics were sure to repeat, the unthinkable happened in the form of “Superman” and the Orlando Magic. The Magic beat the Celtics in 7 games.
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