Boston forward Paul Pierce was uncertain about his future with the Celtics last spring as he sat out the final 11 games of the season with an injured left elbow for one of the NBA?s worst teams.
“But boy, how quickly things change,” he said. “I probably thought a year ago I?d never make it to the NBA Finals with the Celtics, just based on what we did a year ago, draft status, where I was at in my career, just a whole lot of things. It just didn?t feel like I would be a Celtic next season. It was tough times, it was going through tough seasons, and I got to a point where I didn?t know if I wanted to come back.”
Recommended Stories
Within a matter of weeks, however, there was plenty to make the All-Star want to stay in Beantown.
The Celtics, who finished 24-58 last season, started by trading their first-round draft pick and several players to Seattle for All-Star guard Ray Allen. Then, the team pulled off one of the biggest deals in league history, adding perennial All-Star forward Kevin Garnett via a trade with Minnesota.
The trades turned Boston from doormat to contender. The team?s transformation was completed last weekend, when the Celtics ? who finished the regular season an NBA-best 66-16 ? clinched their first berth in the NBA Finals since 1987.
But bringing another banner back to Boston, which already is home to an NBA-record 16, will not be easy against Los Angeles Lakers. The teams tip-off in the best-of-7 finals tonight in Boston at 9 in front of a national television audience on ABC.
“From my experience, you have to execute,” Lakers guard Kobe Bryant said. “You can want it worse than anybody on this planet, but if you don?t have a group of guys or a team that collectively executes well enough to win, you?re not going to win.”
The Lakers (57-25) started the regular season winning seven of their first 11 games, but became a legitimate contender when the team traded draft picks and castoffs to Memphis for All-Star center Pau Gasol.
Gasol, along with forward Lamar Odom and Bryant ? the league?s Most Valuable Player ? appear poised to win the Lakers? fourth title in the past nine years. The Lakers and Celtics have played in the finals 10 times, with Boston winning eight times, but the Lakers have won the past two meetings ? in 1985 and 1987.
But Pierce, who has never played in the finals, plans on making the most of his experience.
“In order to be great, in order to be a legend, you have to win a championship,” he said. “Those are the things I?m inspired to do from day one, playing basketball, since I was a little kid when I made that commitment. I always said I want to be great.”
