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BOSTON — For those who dig symbolism, let it be known that the raising of the Boston Celtics’ 18th championship banner Tuesday night began its ascent to the TD Garden rafters directly in front of the visiting team’s bench. Up, up and away went the new blanket, the crowd revving up the motors with a booming “Let’s go, Celtics!” chant, until it arrived at its new home next to the first of the three banners that commemorate the retired uniform numbers of Boston basketball legends.
In the seating assignment of championship banners, then, this new one is all by itself. On one side of the retired-number banners is championship banner No. 17, earned by the 2007-08 Celtics. On the other side, No. 18. And there No. 18 will remain, high above courtside, as the late, great Celtics play-by-play barker Johnny Most used to say. Legend has it that the old Boston Garden parquet had secret and dastardly dead spots that were known only to savvy Celtics; now it’ll be banner No. 18 taunting the Knicks, Pacers, 76ers, Lakers, etc., as to how things are in the NBA until next spring’s tourney begins.
Will the neighborhoodiness or that banner help the Celtics repeat as NBA champions? Not one bit. But what Tuesday night’s banner ceremony reaffirmed is that the NBA hierarchy has returned to its ancestral roots. The Celtics’ 18 NBA championships are one more than the 17 earned by the Los Angeles Lakers … and we’ll pause here so that nitpickers can squawk that four of the Lakers’ championships were earned in ye olden days when the franchise was paying taxes in Minnesota and playing its home games at the Minneapolis Auditorium. That argument is nonsense, of course. Championships are championships, and the Lakers have 17 of ‘em. But it’s moot now, because 17 isn’t as much as 18.
As used to be the case with hockey’s Montreal Canadiens, and may soon return to being the case with baseball’s New York Yankees, the 2023-24 Celtics did more than win a championship. They provided a new occasion for old stars, living and dead, to be remembered. Boston sports fans who watch the upcoming World Series will have to grin and bear it as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Derek Jeter are being blended with Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton, just as Knicks fans who tuned in Tuesday night — the Knicks were in their locker room during the ceremony — had to endure many a reference to Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Larry Bird and so on. (For good measure the Garden crowd let loose with a “Yankees suck!” chant in the third quarter of the Celtics’ runaway, season-opening 132-109 victory over the visiting Knicks.)
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The big picture for Green Teamers is that each newly won championship turns the next season’s home opener into an eye-popping, can’t-miss family reunion as the players from long, long ago and not so long ago are invited back for the banner raising and the presentation of rings. And so it was Tuesday night. The ceremony had all the expected video tributes and spirited oratory, as when majority owner Wyc Grousbeck said, “The statistics do not lie. You are looking at one of the finest teams in the history of the NBA.”
The cast of Celtic legends on hand was impressive. Cousy, who turned 96 in August, was wheeled out to the court by longtime Celtics executive Jeff Twiss. The Cooz played on the Celtics’ first championship team in 1957, and five more after that. Cedric Maxwell was there to represent the 1980s Celtics. The Big Three reboot of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen was on hand. Sam Cassell was there, both as a current assistant coach and as a role player on the 2007-08 Celtics.
And then came the ring dispersement. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla never fails to deliver a surprise, and on this occasion, he got down and kissed the green floor under the basket when his name was announced and he emerged from the shadows. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were introduced last and got the biggest applause. (But the cheers bestowed on Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens were right up there. At a time when the management of the Red Sox and Patriots is being roundly mocked by the customers, Stevens has emerged as the daddy of Boston sports.)
Jayson Tatum receives his championship ring from Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck. (Jared Weiss / The Athletic)
Most of Tuesday’s ceremony was scripted, as one might expect. When you have a packed house, and with emotions flying in every direction, nothing is left to chance. But one thing that did happen — unscripted, unannounced, and probably not noticed by a lot of fans — was the interaction between Tatum and Garnett. Tatum sought out ol’ No 5 and planted a big hug on the big guy.
That’s what tied the whole thing together, a Celtic from today embracing a Celtic from yesterday. Tatum and Garnett never played together, except they’re now title-owning teammates in the rafters, Tatum and Brown with Pierce, Allen and Garnett … with Bird, McHale and Parish … with Hondo and Cowens .,. with Russell … with the Cooz.
Few NBA teams can put on a show like that. The Lakers have done it a lot. The Celtics have done it a little more.
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(Top photo: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)
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