Number 17 oh so sweet

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June 18, 2008

By Matt Jenkins The Tribune Star Wed Jun 18, 2008, 10:05 AM EDT

It was just about 7 p.m. on Nov. 2 when we caught our first glimpse of the new Boston Celtics.

Kevin Garnett ushered in a fresh professional basketball era in Beantown when an oversized version of his head greeted the Garden crowd with a simple scream.

Just seconds after witnessing it on the sports department's 15-inch TV/VCR combo I sent the following text message to a friend who I knew was watching:

I smell a championship.

Of course, I was joking.

I knew the yell was a message of hunger, passion and intensity. Only in my wildest dreams did I think it screamed championship as well.

All that really mattered was that Garnett and Ray Allen were joining Paul Pierce to become the best trio of teammates in the NBA, and basketball was relevant here again.

Then, with each passing game that text message seemed to become less of a joke.

By late March, a sweep of the Texas Triangle was proof that not only were the Celtics favorites in the East, they also had to be considered contenders for the outright title.

The playoffs were hardly a breeze. First and second round wins over the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers were each stretched out to seven games. They provided more hold-your-breath moments than a heated game of Marco Polo.

While the early playoff struggles seemed to fuel doubters' arguments that Boston wasn't designed to be a championship team, the Celtics grew tighter.

Allen, Pierce and Garnett had never played in the finals and it simply took them a little time to learn how to win playoff games together.

The Detroit Pistons never really had a chance. And neither did the Los Angeles Lakers.

Everyone, including Jack Nicholson and the rest of professional sports' most fraudulent fan base, rooted for a renewed rivalry.

Yeah, not so much.

This was arguably the most lopsided championship series in NBA history that wasn't a sweep.

The Celtics had the better starters, better bench, better coach (hard to believe, isn't it?) and the better star in Pierce. This has been his franchise for years. Truthfully, The Truth never got enough credit for being a leader. It was hard to live with his momentary lapses in on-court judgment, but for years he was asked to do everything.

This year with support, Pierce played a complete game. He even showed Kobe and the rest of the NBA he could be a defensive stopper.

Not only did Pierce and the Celts expose Kobe's Lakers as being soft, they managed to expose the entire Western Conference as marshmallows in the process.

With three of the last five championships going to Eastern Conference teams, it's time to suspend all that talk of the power being in the West. It may be a more competitive conference from top to bottom, but the Celtics, Pistons and Cavs play a physical brand of basketball that the West can't match anymore.

How we handle the new Celtics' success is the only question that remains.

I hardly remember when Larry Bird and company raised banner No. 16 to the rafters. I was only 9 years old and Matchbox cars and cartoons were equally as important to me as basketball. I've waited a long time to have my own NBA franchise that I could be proud of.

Things are much different around here now. The Red Sox and Patriots are no longer losers, and only the diehard fans care about the Bruins anymore.

Just like in 1986 — when people would have thought the term cell phone was a rad new expression for a prison pay phone — there were no text messages Tuesday night. Thanks to Brady, my 16-month-old son who officially knocked down his first jumper when he tossed my cell phone into a toilet last week, I get a moment to enjoy this one alone.

The next one I'll share.

Matt Jenkins is a staff writer at the Salem (Mass.) News. He can be reached by phone at 978-338-2648 or by e-mail at mjenkins@ecnnews.com.

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