Has what happened after 2008 left a bitter taste in your mouth about that era?

[guava_wrench]

Not in the slightest.

As if not doing the KG trade would have stopped the Lakers from winning 2. It probably would have meant 3-peat for Lakers.

Any what is the relevance of Miami? They aren't even a historical rival of ours.

And we were probably a bad Wallace back away from winning game 6 for a second title. He was tearing it up in the post and playing great defense until he could barely move.

[Fred Roberts]

KG should have had 2 or 3 and Bird should have had 5 and Brady should have had 5 or 6. Alas... we're lucky. Bruins should have won last year ....

[JohnBoy65]

I thought from the 09 season on it was a treat to watch a team like the Celtics. The battle with the bulls and the Magic in '09. Rasheed crying in the locker room saying he's going to give it all he's got because this could be 'the end'  in '10.  who could forget the way the celtics fought with pride against the heat after Rondo's injury. A great battle the next year after winning 3 straight against Miami in the ECF the following year. Even last year, going down 0-3 to NY, winning 2 and almost making a crazy comeback. We only won 1 title, but the fight in this team stayed the same for 5 years, and that, to me, is as impressive as anything.

[perks-a-beast]

Absolutely it left a bitter taste in my mouth and any Celtic fan that says otherwise is lying to themselves. We should have 19 banners hanging right now instead of 17...how could that not make you bitter?

But that's not to take away from how grateful I was as a fan for 2008. That was an amazing year and wouldn't trade those memories for anything. Will proudly remember that era until my final breaths...might even forgive Ray one day. MAYBE. 

 

[celts10]

I still think the 2011-12 season was the most memorable and heart-breaking out of all the non-Finals appearances the Big Three made. Why? Well, because it was the end!

Once their run began at the midway point of the season, I really think the team understood that this was their last stand together. There was so much uncertainty surrounding their contracts and careers at the end of that year and I think they all understood that. It really helped that we got a lot of luck that year with D-Rose going down in the playoffs. And then to go up 3-2 on Miami? With Ray Allen playing on bone spurs? And no Avery Bradley which would have helped us greatly? And despite all the guys we lost like Green, Wilcox, Jermaine O'Neal? Man…it was RIGHT there for the taking! Ugh…

Not to mention, a Finals appearance against the Thunder would have been very interesting to see. Perkins coming back to the Garden in the Finals against his own team? Heck, even facing Derek Fisher again who was our Lakers nemesis in the Finals previously? Durant and Westbrook against Pierce and Rondo? KG squaring off against Perk? Would have been great to watch!

[wahz]

Absolutely it left a bitter taste in my mouth and any Celtic fan that says otherwise is lying to themselves. We should have 19 banners hanging right now instead of 17...how could that not make you bitter?

But that's not to take away from how grateful I was as a fan for 2008. That was an amazing year and wouldn't trade those memories for anything. Will proudly remember that era until my final breaths...might even forgive Ray one day. MAYBE.

Apparently its you I who are clear about this and everyone else loved what happened AFTER the title.

This has gone on so long its absurd now. 6 and counting years soon and it will take awhile longer at best. We will have to have EVERYTHING go right to get a title by 2018 so its one more in ten after 08. But I think I loved the era? Oh ok.

As I said, the HOPE has to be that this era gave way to a better era but DA is going to have to nail draft picks, trades and free agents like never before.

[D.o.s.]

Absolutely it left a bitter taste in my mouth and any Celtic fan that says otherwise is lying to themselves. We should have 19 banners hanging right now instead of 17...how could that not make you bitter?

But that's not to take away from how grateful I was as a fan for 2008. That was an amazing year and wouldn't trade those memories for anything. Will proudly remember that era until my final breaths...might even forgive Ray one day. MAYBE.

Apparently its you I who are clear about this and everyone else loved what happened AFTER the title.

This has gone on so long its absurd now. 6 and counting years soon and it will take awhile longer at best. We will have to have EVERYTHING go right to get a title by 2018 so its one more in ten after 08. But I think I loved the era? Oh ok.

As I said, the HOPE has to be that this era gave way to a better era but DA is going to have to nail draft picks, trades and free agents like never before.

So did you guys just walk around perpetually peeved when all of the Boston teams were bottom-of-the-barrel awful in the 90's?

[Future Celtics Owner]

After Garnett got hurt I mentally blocked out a lot of our losses. It has gotten to the point that when my friends mention certain games I can not even recall any of it.

[Celtics4ever]

I enjoyed every second of it, having lived in the 90s with the Celtics.   We sucked for nigh 20 years.  It was nice to be a factor.   

Only people who have a bitter taste I would think are people too young to recall the Bird Era.  It was a good run all things considered.  Wasn't possible without Ainge.

[guava_wrench]

Absolutely it left a bitter taste in my mouth and any Celtic fan that says otherwise is lying to themselves. We should have 19 banners hanging right now instead of 17...how could that not make you bitter?

Nice projecting.

Some of us are better at handling disappointment. Lying to ourselves is not necessary.

'Should have 19 banners'? Really? We get to blame things that happened along the way but the Lakers can't blame the Bynum injury in 2008? That kind of reasoning makes you bitter? Perhaps having a broader perspective would help you cope.

[TitleMaster]

The problem is that every Celtics 'generation' had at least two titles.

Aside from the Russellian dynasty, the Cowens-Havlicek era had 2, and the Bird era, 3.

And if it weren't for Hondo's elbow in '73 and Cowen's ankle in '75, that first era could have been a quatro-peat.

Likewise, in the Bird era, Max's injury and Bird's shooting wrist were injured in '85. Thus, another three-peat was missed. BTW, I don't believe that '87 was winnable, despite all the chatter about McHale's ankle. The Lakers were fully loaded that year.

This is the reason why winning in 2010 was so important. That would have made the Pierce-KG-Ray-Rondo era into the Cowens-Hondo-Silas-JoJo redux. Instead, we sort of look more like the '04 Pistons.

[D.o.s.]

Hondo dislocated his shoulder in '73, I believe.

That '73 team is also the winningest basketball team to not win a championship. That could win you at least one trivia beer.

The more you know.

[Cman]

Not at all.

We knew it was a short window of oppty, DA kept it open 4 years rather than the 3 most people expected. We won it all in the first year, and the memories of that still make me happy, regardless of what happened in the following years.

We had very good teams for those years, and sniffed the championship. That may not happen again for decades, for all we know.

Thank you Danny, Doc, Paul, Kevin, Ray, Rajon, Kendrick, Leon, and others. It was good.

[wayupnorth]

Not at all.

We knew it was a short window of oppty, DA kept it open 4 years rather than the 3 most people expected. We won it all in the first year, and the memories of that still make me happy, regardless of what happened in the following years.

We had very good teams for those years, and sniffed the championship. That may not happen again for decades, for all we know.

Thank you Danny, Doc, Paul, Kevin, Ray, Rajon, Kendrick, Leon, and others. It was good.

Man I miss Powe Pimpin.

He was just a monster who would take what he wanted.

What a player

[KG_ended_Bias]

What really grinds my gears is that we had a chance to get both Al Jefferson & Gerald Green back & didn't explore it much. Danny Ainge didn't trust his own scouting & get these guys back for cheap. Big Al I believe would have given us a hometown discount being he went to Charlotte, And Gerald Green we could have gotten for a bag of Southwest airlines peanuts! If Al Jeff wasn't doable GG definitely was. A team of

Rondo
G.Green
SF (trade Jeff Green) to fit Big Al/2014 draft pick
Jared Sullinger
Al Jefferson

 That's a good looking contender going forward for the next 5 years. And we still have Avery Bradley & Kelly O.