by Christina Pomoni

Created on: December 31, 2008   Last Updated: January 04, 2009

Since the glory days of Larry Bird, Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale there hasn't been much to celebrate about in the Boston Garden. However, Boston Celtics won the NBA championship in 2008 having the impressive 66-19 record in regular season and the home court advantage throughout the playoffs and they go into 2009 as defending world champions.

After a disastrous season in 2006-2007 with a gloomy record of 2-22 from December 2006 to February 2007 mainly due to the severe injuries of Paul Pierce and Tony Allen, Boston Celtics returned to glory in 2008. With the acquisition of Kevin Garnett from Minnesota Timberwolves and Ray Allen from Seattle Supersonics, Paul Pierce joined forces and led the Celtics to the same glory days of the 1980s when Larry Bird was the superstar of team anchored by Carr, Archibald, Parrish and McHale.

In the 2008 NBA Playoffs, the Celtics played first against Atlanta Hawks, the eighth-seeded team of the championship. At Boston Garden, the Celtics were overriding and left no doubt about their potential and their urge to reach the NBA finals although it took them seven games to surpass Atlanta's resistance. Then, the Celtics met Cleveland Cavaliers and James LeBron. Again, it took them seven games to beat Cleveland and move on to the Eastern Conference Finals where Detroit Pistons were ready to stop Boston's run. And indeed, in the second game at Boston Garden, the Celtics were defeated but they bounced back at Detroit in the third game and it took them six games to overcome the resistance of Detroit and meet Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA finals.

In the 2008 NBA finals, the Celtics played six games with Los Angeles Lakers. Although Paul Pierce got a knee injury in the first game at Boston Garden, the Celtics won 98-88. In game 2, they won 108-102. In game 3, Los Angeles won at Staples Centre 87-81. In the fourth game, the Celtics made the most impressive comeback in the history of NBA finals being down by 20-points and winning by 97-91. Los Angeles won the fifth game 103-98 and then at Boston Garden, the Celtics were once again astonishing and finished off Los Angeles with a 13192 victory at game 6. That victory named Paul Pierce the NBA Finals MVP and gave to Boston Celtics their 17th NBA championship after 22 years.

Led by Head Coach Doc Rivers, new assistant coach and master of defence Tom Thibodeau and a generous mix of veteran and rookies, the Celtics proved that defence wins championships. Now it remains to be seen if with the Big Three,

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