The 2008 Boston Celtics | Why They're Hated

So there are a lot of like one-time champions in NBA history, you know, cores that maybe only got to the finals once or twice, only won a single title, the 2004 Detroit Pistons, 2011 Dallas Mavericks, 2019 Toronto Raptors, and most of these teams are just beloved by the NBA community. So fuck the 2008 Boston Celtics. Before we start talking about the 08 Celtics, if you haven't already, make sure you leave this video a like, give us a subscribe and hit that notification bell so you never miss out on one I've never heard one team that won one championship, not two, not three, not four. They won one championship and somehow every single year we got to hear about it. They were the only one champion dynasty in sports history. Exactly. This team literally thinks they're the best team in NBA history. They do. Let's go a little bit in depth on this team. They had maybe the best in arguably actually the best offseason in NBA history. They traded for Ray Allen. A month later, they traded for Kevin Garnett. Fun fact, that trade for KG, they gave up seven players. If you count players and picks, that is the most players ever traded for a single player in NBA history. They were giving up Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair. It's insane looking back on these trades. I know KG and Ray Allen were old, but they gave up a bag of peanuts and some players to get these guys. Compared to modern day trades, I couldn't believe looking back at these trades. It's insane. They did give up the fifth overall pick for Ray Allen. True. That being said, the Sonics botched the pick and they took Jeff Green. True. That's on the Sonics a little bit. Really though, this was the first big three in the modern NBA. We'd had big threes before, you know, the old Lakers, the old Celtics, Jordan Pippen and Horace Grant slash Dennis Rodman, but really this was the first big three of the modern era. Yeah. This is the first time a GM, Danny Ainge, you got to give him so much credit for this year. He just pulled a big three out of nowhere. Now it happens almost every off season, there's a major trade and you're like, oh, this new super team out of nowhere, but this at the time in 2008 was basically unheard of. Fun little anecdote from this team that I didn't really know about until recently. Danny Ainge called Reggie Miller and asked him if he would be a reserve on this team because while they did give up a lot of players who are basically nobodies for KG and Ray Allen, that left their roster basically barren. So Danny Ainge rang up Reggie Miller and was like, hey, come be a backup. Reggie Miller had been retired for two years, by the way. I'm pretty sure he was like 42 years old. That would have been insane that Ray Allen and Reggie on the same team. Sure, Reggie would have been washed, but the two greatest shooters ever at that point. I would have liked to see that, but I had no idea until you just said that. Would have been something to see. Even though they didn't get Reggie, they did do a pretty good job around and out the roster. They picked up James Posey. They picked up Eddie House. They had Kendrick Perkins from when they drafted him back in 2003. He was drafted the same year as LeBron. Kendrick Perkins and LeBron, what a legendary draft class. Forget Mello, forget Wade, forget Chris Bosh. Who? Hey, shout out Eddie House though. I swear that dude hit so many big threes and for whatever reason, Eddie House, him taking a three, I always just assumed it was going in. I don't know why. Yeah, he was one of those guys that I felt the same way. It was him and Jamal Crawford were the two guys whenever they shot a three, I'm like, oh, that's in. This Celtics team though, biggest single season turnaround in NBA history. I think this is a record that's going to go unbroken for a while. I'm sure it eventually will get broken by somebody, but they went from 24 wins to 66 wins. They went 35 and six at home, 31 and 10 on the road. That's the ninth best record of all time. This was a great regular season team. Yeah, I'm pretty sure they started the season 29 and three, which actually is insanely impressive. I'll give them credit for that because usually the big threes we saw with the Heat, they kind of stumble out the gate. You got to get used to playing with each other, but this team just straight up out the gate was on all cylinders and just eating, and their defense, it was a lead. Yeah. I mean, hell, even the KD and Steph Warriors got beat by 27 in their first game. This Celtics team had no problem. KG, Ray Allen, and Pierce made the all-star team. KG was actually the leading vote getter, ahead of LeBron, ahead of Kobe, ahead of Wade. Pierce made it as a reserve. Ray Allen made it as a replacement for Karam Butler, who was out. KG won defensive player of the year. He made all-defensive first team and all-NBA first team. Pierce was all-NBA third team. Danny Ainge won executive of the year. I mean, this team was just rolling in regular season accomplishments. I mean, they had everything. I don't even remember this. They beat the Knicks 104 to 59. 59. There might've been a team this season that scored more in the first quarter. Didn't the Warriors put up 54 points on us in the first quarter? 55 points. 55. They almost did that, and they held the Knicks to that during an entire game. Best defensive rating in the NBA that year, 98.9. Yeah, it was the best defensive rating of a Celtics team since the Russell era, so pretty impressive, I'd say. The problem with this team, though, this is why I think they're hilariously overrated. As good as this team was in the regular season, they did win the title. They did win the title, so no one come at me saying, whoa, how could you say they're bad in the playoffs if they won the title? They did win the title. They took 26 games to do it. That is an NBA record that still stands to this day and is also two games away from the maximum amount of games you can play on your way to winning the title. They got taken to seven in the first round by a 38-win Atlanta Hawks team. It's one of those things, you kind of forget about first-round series. Once the playoffs are 15 years away like this was, you kind of just remember the Celtics beat the Lakers, that's it, but you really got taken to seven as a first seed? Sure, they did blow out the Hawks in the game seven, but that's kind of pathetic. A Hawks team with Josh Smith and Joe Johnson and a baby Al Horford takes you to seven? Come on. What I find so hilarious about this series is that if you watch the Celtics championship DVD that they released with all the teams that win championships, KG is being interviewed and he's talking about how loud and raucous and how much energy there was for those Atlanta home games. For anyone who doesn't know, no hate to Atlanta or any fans, but ask most fans, ask most websites, players, anyone, Atlanta I feel like is consistently ranked in the bottom five in terms of home court advantages and KG was like, man, they were getting to us. Crowd was getting to us, man. Yeah, that's insane. The Hawks, out of all places, a home crowd. This dude, KG, he's just delusional. I mean, we'll get to some other quotes he's had in the past about this as well, but he is straight up delusional with that take. They also got taken to seven in the second round by a Cavs team that was quite literally LeBron or bust. I mentioned this a bit in the LeBron Kobe video. LeBron averaged 30 points per game. None of his teammates averaged even half of that. Yeah, this whole BS that we broke LeBron. Uh, we broke LeBron. You really didn't. The Cavs forced him to South Beach. Like you beat LeBron. Five of you beat LeBron. Like congratulations for that. His second best player was old ass to Drunus Ilgauskas. Exactly. Like, are you kidding me? Good job. Well, what did you think would happen? Kind of obvious. And then the next series, they beat up what was the remnants of that Pistons team. They beat them in six. Give them credit for that. But like, this was not like an insane Pistons team at the time. This was the Pistons team past their prime. I don't even remember the series to be honest. So I mean, sure you won the East. I'll give you that, but it wasn't really the toughest road. If you really look back at it. No, this Pistons team had been broken the year before by LeBron. Oh yeah. Like he had ripped their souls from them the year before and they still were, they were a good team. Like they were fine, but they were far removed from their best. And that sets up the Lakers and the Celtics in the finals. Once again, the historic rivalry and who could forget game one, the infamous wheelchair game. Oh God. Paul Pierce literally shit himself. I just had to go to a bathroom. Why did you need a wheelchair to get to the bathroom? Something went down. You were streaking. And he's still lying about it to this day. I want to know what happened when, uh, it was the playoffs and you had to get in the wheelchair. Yeah. I sprained my MCL. I don't believe all them rumors. I had to go to the bathroom. I just had to go to a bathroom. I just had to go to a bathroom. I just had to go to a bathroom. And he tried to cover it up with an injury that was so bad. Apparently he injured both his legs because he needed to be carried off of the courts. Literally. He could not put any pressure on either leg. And then I believe, what was it like a minute 40 of game time past? Yeah. Something like that. He comes trotting back out. Turns out all he needed was a little brace on his knee on just one knee, by the way, because remember he couldn't put pressure on either of them. So apparently a brace on one knee affects both of them. He 100% shit himself. Yeah. It's so funny. He's getting carried off by two players. He's in a wheelchair. Then he comes back, like hopping back on the court. It's like, yeah, for sure you injured your knee. You didn't just have to use the bathroom buddy. The funniest part of this whole thing to me is when they show the footage of him being wheeled in the wheelchair backstage and he's like holding his knee or whatever. The Celtic staffer who's wheeling him back puts his hand out to cover the camera. I know exactly what you're talking about. Don't look at this man in his moment of pain. I mean, I'm sure he didn't know that Pierce was going to trot out there. It's probably 60 seconds later, but it's hilarious in hindsight. They did still have some good moments. You know, it was the first championship of the Celtics in 22 years, the iconic game four comeback against the Lakers, where that was another game where Eddie house was hitting everything largest comeback in finals history. They blew them out in game six, like Ray Allen. I think he set the finals record for threes at the time he was hitting everything to be fair to them. Let's give them some credit. They kind of dominated the Lakers in that series. Oh yeah. Like here's the thing. This is still a good basketball team. You don't win 66 games and win a championship. If you're not a good basketball team, like this is a good team. The question comes as to whether this is one of the like top 10 teams of all time, which I feel like they would make the argument. They were a top five team of all time. Oh, easily. And a lot of Celtics fans might make that argument too, but let's get into a little bit more. So post championship, I will say they probably would have repeated if Kevin Garnett didn't get injured. Yeah, they were actually dominant the next year. And I completely agree. I think they would have won the title if KG doesn't get injured, but it is what it is. I mean, that's one of the things like when you put together a quote unquote dynasty or hope to be a dynasty and all the superstars are over 30, you kind of have to factor that in. So I think they could have repeated if KG stays healthy. Maybe we'll never know. I mean, they got bounced by Orlando, who eventually made it all the way to the finals. So the only, I mean, they took Orlando farther than Cleveland took them 2010, made it back to the finals again, bounced LeBron in the second round. Maybe that was when they broke LeBron. Yeah, for sure. When his sidekick was still Mo Williams and old Shaq. I mean, they kind of did. Cause LeBron was like, I'm done with this. I'm out of here. So kind of, but it wasn't them broken LeBron. It was that front office and just no support. It was the front office that didn't get Amari Stoudemire at mid season because, oh, we can't part with JJ Hickson. Can't do that. You can't give up JJ Hickson. Did you see what he did the rest of his career? Yeah. He was painfully mid. He did nothing. He had a few jams for us. I love JJ when he was with us, but like he went to Mari. Come on now. So the Celtics get back to the NBA finals in 2010. They're playing the Lakers again. Rematch of 2008. This was a great series with some real high points. The Lakers took game one. Celtics took game two in LA Ray Allen drops 32. One thing that's so funny about this series though, game three, coming back to Boston series, tied one, one Ray Allen, who just went off for 32 in game two scores, two points on Oh 13 shooting. I can't believe that. Like Ray Allen, you think of a guy who's efficient, hits a wide open three or something. Oh, of 13. Really? Oh, of eight from three to also another thing that caught my eye about this series. Uh, after game two, no team scored over 100 points again. I mean, in game six, the Celtics had 67 points. Can you imagine that in the modern NBA scoring 67 points? Not in half an entire game. Boy, this is like classic early 2010s playoffs right here. Yeah, this was like the end of that era. The Kobe, the KG era before it was LeBron and Steph. Like this finals was the end of that, like 2000s era. It really does feel like that. And honestly, like I like messed up big time on the best playoff games in the 2010s. Cause I completely left game seven off of that list. Cause I completely forgot it was in the 2010s. Like this series did not feel like a 2010s NBA finals. This felt like the last gasp of the 2000s. And one thing we got to mention, did the Celtics win the title? If big Kendrick Perkins is in the middle. I mean, with the amount of offensive rebounds, the Lakers guy, it's not the worst take ever, to be honest. Okay. Look, I'm not going to act like the Celtics weren't adversely affected by missing Kendrick Perkins in the middle. That being said, the fact that some people were really saying, does this championship by the Lakers deserve an asterisk because the Celtics were missing what their fifth best player. But he's big perk. He would have shut down Gasol. This game seven though, it was a complete all timer. Like this was a great game. The Celtics actually led for most of the game before the Lakers kind of pulled away down the stretch. Ron Artest of course hits that iconic three blows a kiss to everyone. Great game. Awesome game. After they lost the Lakers, they hung around for a while, but they kept running into the heat. They kept running to LeBron. Oh wow. Shocker. LeBron actually has some good players for teammates. The Celtics never beat him in the NBA playoffs ever. I mean, they came close, came close to 2012 before LeBron beat them by himself in game six, but they never really got back to championship contention. Ray Allen left in 2012 and by the next off season, Pearson Garnett were on their way to Brooklyn. The funniest thing about this, not that I'm thinking about it, LeBron literally broke them. He beat them. He took Ray Allen, one of the members of the big three and literally broke them. I really needed LeBron to go on one of what is his YouTube series called? Like the shop uninterrupted or whatever. I really need him to go on that. Someone asked him about the Celtics and him being, well, we broke the Celtics. Get out of here with that. We broke the Celtics. The legacy of this team though. Look, I'll say it again because I've already said it once and I feel like I need to say it again or else people are going to get mad. This is a good basketball team. They won 66 games. They won a title, but they act like they were a dynasty. Brian Scalabrini said they were the best defensive team of all time. Get out of here. The aforementioned KG claims of we broke LeBron. Paul Pierce just saying whatever dumb shit he normally says. The endless reunions these guys have. They had a reunion in 2017. Kendrick Perkins tweeted they had a reunion in 2019. They had a little mini reunion at halftime of a game in 2022. Like guys, you won one championship. You don't see the 04 Pistons having reunions. You don't see the 2011 Mavericks having reunions. I mean, Doc Rivers literally is still employed because of this season alone. Not anymore. You're not. And let's be real. Tibbs carried that coaching staff in that defense. Oh, I don't care. Tibbs carried. I'm just sick and tired of hearing about this team. It's been 15 years. Enough is enough. We're done hearing about them straight up. I feel like every off season for years after they were all retired, I had to see at least one news story talking about how the 08 Celtics still didn't like Ray Allen. Just every single off season, one after the other. Finally, it's going away. They had a nice little reunion where they all hugged it out in the middle of, you know, TD Garden at KG's Jersey retirement. But good Lord, every off season, it felt like I had to hear from KG or Pierce or Rondo, especially like, no, we're not cool with Ray. Guys, give it up. Rondo had a reunion party for this team and they didn't invite him. Like I get it. He kind of did them dirty leaving to the heat after the heat just beat them. But we wanted to bench him. Yeah. And at the same time, Ray Allen's like, might as well go get another ring, hit an iconic shot. Like, can you really blame him for doing that? Just smart to be honest. Kind of fake. Very fake. Yeah. Some would argue who has more rings, Ray Allen or them? That's a great question. That's all you got to say. With a very easy answer, might I add. Yeah. In the end though, this team just needs to stop milking this championship. Like if any team deserves to milk a championship, it's number one, it's the 2004, actually no, number two is the 2004 Pistons. Number one is the 2011 Mavericks. Have they ever done a reunion? Ever? Maybe, but we never hear Dirk like acting like they were amazing or we broke LeBron. We never hear about those Pistons saying we broke Kobe and Shaq. Those teams deserve the reunions. Even the Raptors, I know the Warriors were injured, but that team never gets brought up. Like, just chill. It's been 15 years. You won your one title. It's time to give it up. That's the video guys. What do you think of the 08 Boston Celtics? I'd love to hear what you have to say in the comments section down below. If you enjoyed the video, consider leaving it a like as it really does help us out. 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