{"id":867840,"date":"2026-08-25T12:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T12:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/867840\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T12:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T12:16:16","slug":"banner-years-2008-stars-sacrifice-and-a-long-awaited-return-to-the-promised-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/867840\/","title":{"rendered":"Banner Years: 2008, Stars, Sacrifice and a Long-Awaited Return to the Promised Land"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s History Month at CelticsBlog, celebrating all 18 banners hanging in the rafters. Today we look back at the team to bring the water back to the Garden, the utterly dominant yet humanely vulnerable 2008 Boston Celtics.<\/p>\n

NBA history spans 80 seasons, and as CelticsBlog readers well know, the Boston Celtics have won a league-high 18 championships. This month, we are recapping each of those title years.<\/p>\n

Five Olympics, five World Cups, 8,000 sleepless nights. A lot can happen in 22 years. For many a Celtics fan, the gap between 1986 and 2008 felt like an eternity. A franchise so renowned for its pedigree, with a fanbase so addicted to victory, had been starved of it for over two decades. It seemed that Bostonians, local and spiritual, had spent all their basketball capital to watch the most beautiful basketball ever put to the hardwood in 1986; what awaited was tragedy, disappointment and the feeling that Lucky the Leprechaun was never to witness the Green lifting the gold at the end of the rainbow again.<\/p>\n

In 2007, spectators at TD Garden were subjected to the second-worst season in the history of the franchise at 24-58, all in the hopes of landing a top-two pick in the draft. Boston had been rescued by an ascendant rookie talent 28 years prior. Wyc Grousbeck, Paul Pierce, and anyone else who bled green hoped that one of Kevin Durant or Greg Oden would don the shamrocks to do the same once more.<\/p>\n

Despite having the second-best odds at the number one pick, the Celtics slipped to fifth when the lottery balls fell as they did. It seemed purgatory wasn\u2019t ready to let go of the Celtics just yet. Danny Ainge, former Celtics player and now GM, had to take matters into his own hands.<\/p>\n

Assembling the Big Three:<\/p>\n

June 28th, 2007. Draft Night.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd with the 5th pick, in the 2007 NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics select\u2026 Jeff Green, from Georgetown University!\u201d And immediately traded both him and Wally Szczerbiak to the Seattle SuperSonics for Ray Allen and Glen Davis.<\/p>\n

\"LOS<\/a><\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES, CA – JUNE 12: Assistant coach Tom Thibodeau and Ray Allen #20 of the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Four of the 2008 NBA Finals on June 12, 2008 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright: 2008 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler\/NBAE via Getty Images) NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Purgatory no more, the Boston front office made a declaration that they were not content to languish in the doldrums of the Eastern Conference. Commentators, analysts and fans at the time were confused. Allen was coming off a 26.4 PPG season and his fourth consecutive All-Star selection \u2014 Ray could play. But Allen had just undergone surgery on both ankles. 2008 would be his age-32 season. Had Boston given up the 5th pick simply to become respectable, not revered?<\/p>\n

Adrian Wojnarowski chastised the front office. \u201cNo vision, no plan.\u201d Michael Wilbon described the Celtics as \u201cwandering aimlessly philosophically.\u201d For many, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Al Jefferson looked more like a playoff team than a championship one. If only they could acquire a \u201cBig Ticket\u201d item\u2026<\/p>\n

A month later, with the help of franchise legend and Minnesota Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale, Boston landed former MVP and NBA superstar Kevin Garnett. The skies had cleared. Over the course of a summer, Danny Ainge turned lottery heartbreak into perhaps the most formidable big three of the 2000s.<\/p>\n

\"WALTHAM,<\/a><\/p>\n

WALTHAM, MA – SEPTEMBER 10: Kevin Garnett #5, Paul Pierce #34 and Ray Allen #20 of the Boston Celtics pose during a portrait session at the Boston Celtics practice facility September 10, 2007 in Waltham, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2007 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler\/NBAE via Getty Images) NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

A Regular Season for the Record Books:<\/p>\n

Accompanied by sophomore starting point guard Rajon Rondo and a supporting cast featuring James Posey, Kendrick Perkins, Eddie House and Tony Allen, Boston had already surpassed its previous season\u2019s win total by New Year\u2019s Day. Through 30 games, the Celtics sat at 27-3, tied for the best 30-game start to an NBA season in history.<\/p>\n

Pierce, Allen and Garnett blended seamlessly, each sacrificing shots and touches in pursuit of Banner 17. Highlights included a 16-0 start against the Western Conference, a 6-0 sweep of the Texas Triangle and a near-franchise record dismantling of the Knicks, 104-59! No, they didn\u2019t turn the shot clock off for this game; this is what happens when Nate Robinson leads you into battle against KG & Co.<\/p>\n

The individual accolades followed. Kevin Garnett won the only Defensive Player of the Year award of his career after spearheading a Celtics defense that posted a league-best 98.9 defensive rating. His willingness to sacrifice offensive production for the good of the team may have hurt his MVP case, but he still finished third in a fiercely contested race behind Chris Paul and eventual winner and future Finals rival, Kobe Bryant. Paul Pierce made All-NBA Third Team, while all three members of the Big Three were selected as All-Stars. Even Doc Rivers got in on the act, coaching the Eastern Conference All-Stars 20 years after appearing in the game as a player in 1988.<\/p>\n

By season\u2019s end, the Celtics had completed the largest single-season turnaround in NBA history: 24-58 in 2006-07 to 66-16 in 2007-08. A 42-win improvement transformed Boston from lottery hopefuls into championship favorites in the space of a year.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear. Boston went 31-10 on the road during the regular season. A tour of terror; no other franchise touched thirty plus wins away from home. Then something very strange happened. The best road team in basketball underwent mitosis, splitting into a swaggering, confident and imperious home team and a cursed, nervous and jumpy away team.<\/p>\n

Their first-round opponent was Atlanta, a 37-45 Hawks team making its first postseason appearance in nine years. Boston had swept the regular-season series and wasted little time asserting itself at home, winning Games 1 and 2 by 23 and 19 points respectively. Then the series travelled south.<\/p>\n

Atlanta won Game 3. Then Game 4. Boston returned home and comfortably won Game 5, only to lose again in Atlanta three nights later. Through six games, neither team had won on the road. A Celtics team that had lost just ten times away from home across the entire regular season had now lost three times in six days to an Atlanta team starring Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and a rookie Al Horford. I haven\u2019t checked, but something tells me SI\u2019s writers at the time didn\u2019t have the two Big Threes ranked particularly close.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Game 7 was back in Boston. That swaggering buzzsaw from the regular season returned and any possibility of drama was quickly curtailed. All season long, Kevin Garnett had been the centerpiece of a progressive defensive scheme concocted by assistant coach Tom Thibodeau (whatever happened to him?). No game serves as a better microcosm for the C\u2019s defensive dominance. They held Atlanta to just 26 first-half points. A second-half procession ensued and Boston escaped the first round having beaten Atlanta 99-65. The defending Eastern Conference champions and LeBron James were up next.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, the pattern continued.<\/p>\n

Boston won Games 1 and 2 at home, limiting Cleveland to 72 and 73 points. The Cavaliers responded with two victories in Ohio. Boston took Game 5 at the Garden; Cleveland answered in Game 6. Twelve playoff games had been played and the Celtics were now a perfect 6-0 at home and an inexplicable 0-6 on the road. Once again, their season would be decided by a Game 7 in Boston.<\/p>\n

The Atlanta Hawks were a distant memory. Boston had done well throughout the second-round series to hold LeBron to 23.7 PPG through the first six games, but tension was palpable. Having seen James carry Cleveland past Detroit the season prior with a heroic 48-point Game 5 performance, including the Cavaliers\u2019 final 25 points and 29 of their final 30, staff and squad alike knew that he was capable of ending their season.<\/p>\n

Cue Paul Pierce and LeBron James in one of the great Game 7 duels in NBA history. James scored 45 points; Pierce answered with 41. Together they accounted for 86 of the 189 points scored in the game. Every time Boston threatened to pull away, LeBron dragged Cleveland back into contention. Every time Cleveland closed the gap, Pierce had an answer. With Boston nursing a three-point lead in the final seconds, Pierce even received a little help from the Garden rims, watching his first free throw bounce high off the iron before eventually dropping through. Pierce\u2019s heroics saw Boston emerge winners, 97-92.<\/p>\n

The game, and this series, should serve as a reminder of how blessed Bostonians were to watch Paul Pierce for 15 seasons. Nowadays, he\u2019s a colorful character on broadcasts and whose social media posts are at times as embarrassing as the 2007 season, but KG summed up that night perfectly: \u201cTonight was basically get the ball to Paul Pierce and get the hell out of the way. Ain\u2019t no need to ask me no questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Somewhat ironically, the Eastern Conference Finals matchup against the Detroit Pistons, the yardstick by which all Eastern Conference contenders were measured in the 2000s, was the shortest of Boston\u2019s playoff series in the lead-up to the 2008 Finals.<\/p>\n

We often talk about teams built to take down champions in the league today. Daryl Morey\u2019s Rockets in the late 2010s were constructed with Golden State specifically in mind. Tim Connelly\u2019s double-big Timberwolves were built to combat the Denver starting five that looked set to control the 2020s after their title win in 2023.<\/p>\n

Looking back, it seems Boston took Detroit\u2019s formula and improved upon it. Both teams could field starting fives without a defensive weak link, allowing them to dominate on that side of the ball. A team-first, as opposed to star-first, mentality saw the scoring burden shared amongst stars rather than the offense relying upon one savior. Both franchises had incredible movement shooters in Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton. Paul Pierce and former Celtic draftee Chauncey Billups thrived as each team\u2019s de facto closer. The difference between the two was found in the frontcourt.<\/p>\n

Detroit\u2019s trade for Rasheed Wallace in 2004 was one of the best of the 2000s. A versatile big man who could stretch the floor, guard one-on-one and pair with a bruising defensive savant in the paint in Ben Wallace. The Wallaces walled off the paint together and had just enough on offense to hold it down. In Kevin Garnett, rather fittingly, Boston had acquired a player who could replicate the impact of each of Detroit\u2019s frontcourt stars all in one.<\/p>\n

The game to remember from the series was undoubtedly Game 6. Having split the first four, with each team winning once on the road, Boston grabbed Game 5 to set up a closeout game in Motor City. Three quarters in, it seemed as though another Game 7 was in the offing as Detroit carried a 68-60 advantage into the fourth at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Then Boston\u2019s season-long identity finally travelled with them.<\/p>\n

The start of the fourth saw Detroit increase its lead to double digits before Boston finally recaptured the defensive form it had shown throughout the regular season. The Celtics erased the deficit with an 18-4 run, turning a 70-60 Detroit lead into a 78-74 Boston advantage. Pierce took control, scoring 12 of his team-high 27 points over the final 7:35, dragging himself to the charity stripe repeatedly down the stretch. On the other side of the ball, defensive specialist James Posey took on an expanded role in place of Ray Allen as Boston held Detroit to a measly 13 points in the fourth, emerging victorious, 89-81.<\/p>\n

\"AUBURN<\/a><\/p>\n

AUBURN HILLS, MI – MAY 30: Paul Pierce #34 of the Boston Celtics shoots against Antonio McDyess #24 the Detroit Pistons in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2008 NBA Playoffs on May 30, 2008 at the Palace at Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and\/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2008 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant\/NBAE via Getty Images) NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

During the Detroit series, Garnett shone for Boston. Taking on a greater offensive burden than he had during the regular season, KG scored a series-high 22.8 PPG against the Pistons whilst continuing to captain that incredible defence. Garnett was the cheat code that helped close the book on Detroit\u2019s reign as the East\u2019s defining contender, preceding a marked decline in Motor City hoops that would last until Cade Cunningham arrived well over a decade later.<\/p>\n

After needing 14 games to escape the first two rounds, Boston had finally learned how to win away from the Garden when it mattered most. The Celtics were Eastern Conference champions for the first time since 1987.<\/p>\n

And waiting for them on the other side was Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

The Finals and the return of the glory days<\/p>\n

By the time the Finals rolled around, the odds had flipped. A team that had looked so dominant during the regular season had shown real vulnerability navigating the East. Boston had taken twenty games to reach the Finals, whereas Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol\u2019s Lakers had blitzed the West, dropping only three on their journey to the ultimate showdown. The mood around the matchup reflected it. Bill Simmons admitted, \u201cWe\u2019ve never battled anyone quite like Kobe in his prime.\u201d Sporting News\u2019 Stan McNeal cut to the heart of the national consensus: \u201cTeam with the best player wins.\u201d Nine out of ten ESPN experts picked Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Coming into the playoffs, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen hadn\u2019t made a postseason appearance since 2005, whilst KG had sat out since his MVP season in 2004. Perhaps there were fears that Boston\u2019s star trio no longer had the legs for a hundred-game season. Bryant, meanwhile, was the league\u2019s MVP and had just dismantled the defending champion Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. San Antonio possessed the third-best defense in basketball that season; Kobe still averaged an efficient 29.2 PPG to send them home in five.<\/p>\n

Parity has defined much of the NBA since Kevin Durant left Golden State, but back then Jordan\u2019s specter still loomed large over the league. More often than not, the best player eventually separated himself from the pack and ended the season with the Larry O\u2019Brien Trophy in hand. Bryant, Gasol, Pierce, Garnett and Allen all entered the series chasing something different, but for Boston the stakes felt especially personal. Simmons argued that three players had the most to gain historically from a title: Kobe, Pierce and Garnett, with KG facing the greatest scrutiny if Boston fell short.<\/p>\n

There was still a compelling case for the Celtics. Bob Ryan picked Boston in six, arguing that the series would be decided by which team imposed its identity more forcefully: Los Angeles with its pace and scoring, or Boston with a defense comfortable dragging games into the 80s. As Ryan later put it when explaining why so much of the national media favored LA: \u201cThey have the best player.\u201d Boston\u2019s answer was that it might have the better team.<\/p>\n

Boston dominated the possession game in the opener, killing LA on the glass and drawing fouls at will. In a game that ended 98-88 in Boston\u2019s favor, all three of the Big Three showed up, with Allen scoring 19, Pierce 22 and Garnett 24. Ticket grabbed thirteen rebounds, four offensive, setting a trend that would hold throughout the Finals. The Lakers defended with a lack of finesse, allowing Boston thirty-five attempts at the line. Meanwhile, Kobe\u2019s long-awaited return to the Finals was a disappointment. He shot LA out of the game, going 9-for-26 and ending the night with 24. Perhaps Bob Ryan knew what he was talking about.<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 starting five returned to form in their second TD Garden game. Kobe scored an efficient 30, laying on eight assists in the process, while Pau Gasol scored an efficient seventeen and held his own on the glass against Garnett and Perkins. This one was decided by the benches.<\/p>\n

Boston went into maximum Powe-verdrive\u2026<\/p>\n

Leon Powe had the game of his life on the largest of stages. A fifteen-minute blur comprised of thirteen, yes, thirteen, trips to the free-throw line, as well as six of Powe\u2019s seven shot attempts dropping. Rack attack after rack attack set the Garden alight, and rewatching the highlights, it\u2019s clear to see Leon trying to keep his cool for the cameras whilst knowing he was on fire. One man with split allegiances on the night was Bill Walton. The legendary Celtic got to watch Boston emerge victorious at the expense of his son Luke, who was manhandled by Powe on the night. The Lakers\u2019 bench failed to show up and, heading back to LA, Boston found themselves in a familiar spot.<\/p>\n

Treat yourself to four minutes of a man on fire.<\/p>\n

Probably the low point of the series. The Lakers captured their first win of the Finals, 87-81, and Boston couldn\u2019t get anything going on offence. Pierce failed the proverbial polygraph, leaving the Truth at home for the night. His worst game of the postseason saw him go 2-for-14 from the field. KG wasn\u2019t much better, shooting 26% from the field, meaning Ray Allen\u2019s efficient twenty-five was lost to time without the support of his co-stars.<\/p>\n

Kobe had the quintessential Kobe game: 36 points, 60% from the field, one assist. It was Sasha Vujacic\u2019s turn to play bench hero, scoring twenty as a reserve.<\/p>\n

Was momentum about to shift?<\/p>\n

Game Four is often where series are won and lost. If LA were to tie the series, they\u2019d have another game at Staples Center and, knowing the Celtics\u2019 struggles on the road, there\u2019d be a good chance they could carry a 3-2 lead back to the East Coast, giving the Lakers two chances to close out what would be a famous triumph over their bitterest of rivals. Boston had to get over its away-from-home struggles once and for all.<\/p>\n

An eighteen-point deficit at the end of the second quarter was not what the doctor ordered. For the first time in the series, the Lakers gained the upper hand on the interior. Lamar Odom went a perfect 7-for-7 from the field. Odom and Pau were the driving force behind the Lakers\u2019 ten-rebound advantage at halftime.<\/p>\n

With the series and season hanging in the balance, a halftime demand was made. We hunger for star-on-star matchups these days; they\u2019ve become rarer with the heavy-switching nature of modern NBA defence. Paul Pierce reportedly demanded to guard Kobe Bryant. Determination coursed through the Celtics dressing room and they emerged from the depths of Staples ready for war in the second half.<\/p>\n

Doc Rivers granted Pierce\u2019s request. He picked up Kobe in the second half. James Posey and Eddie House were huge in the third and the Celtics ripped off a 21-3 run to drag themselves back into the game. After scoring 35 points in the first quarter, the Lakers managed just 15 in the third. By the start of the fourth, Boston had cut an eighteen-point halftime deficit to two.<\/p>\n

The comeback was completed in the fourth. Pierce\u2019s halftime demand to Rivers, \u201cI\u2019m going to guard Kobe. Let me guard him,\u201d proved prophetic; Bryant finished just 6-for-19 as Boston took its first lead of the night with under four minutes remaining. Rivers stuck with House and Posey, spreading the floor and trusting a smaller lineup. Boston wrestled control away from LA, flipping the first-half script and finally taking the lead with 3:48 to go.<\/p>\n

Pierce had been Boston\u2019s closer throughout the postseason, but Ray Allen, who played all forty-eight minutes on the night, took the reins to finish the Lakers. Sports Illustrated\u2019s Ian Thomsen described Allen making \u201cthree sensational drives to puncture Bryant\u2019s hopes,\u201d the last of which saw him blow past Sasha Vujacic along the baseline for a left-handed layup that effectively ended the contest. Bill Simmons struggled to decide whether he had witnessed \u201cthe greatest comeback in Celtics history or the greatest collapse in Lakers history. Maybe a little of both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boston had trailed by 24. They won 97-91.<\/p>\n

A series that looked destined to be tied at two was suddenly 3-1 Celtics.<\/p>\n

A 38-point eruption from Los Angeles native Pierce wasn\u2019t enough to secure Banner 17 at Staples Center, as the Lakers took Game 5 103-98. Pierce had spoken at length about his desperation to win a championship in the city that raised him but, on the night, LA prevailed. Boston repeatedly threatened in the fourth, but the Lakers held on to send the series back east.<\/p>\n

Game 6 was less a contest than a coronation. Kobe Bryant opened with eleven first-quarter points, but Boston still led 24-20 before the defense swallowed Los Angeles whole. The Celtics won the second quarter 34-15, held the Lakers to 29% shooting in the first half and carried a 58-35 lead into the break. Paul Pierce had already dished nine assists. Kevin Garnett was bullying Pau Gasol inside. Rajon Rondo was everywhere. Phil Jackson admitted afterwards that Boston had simply \u201coverran us.\u201d The tone, he said, had been established when Garnett knocked Gasol down in the lane early. There would be no coming back this time.<\/p>\n

The beating only worsened. Rondo produced the finest game of his young career, finishing with 21 points, eight assists and six of Boston\u2019s Finals-record 18 steals. Ray Allen buried seven threes on his way to 26 points; Garnett matched him with 26 and fourteen rebounds. Pierce added seventeen points and ten assists. Chad Finn of Boston.com called it a \u201cpublic evisceration,\u201d and there was little hyperbole involved. With 4:01 remaining, Pierce, Allen and Garnett checked out together, embracing Doc Rivers before taking their seats and watching the final minutes of a journey they had begun less than a year earlier.<\/p>\n

The 39-point margin was the largest ever in a championship-clinching game. Twenty-two years after Boston last reached the summit, Pierce was Finals MVP, Ray and KG were champions and Banner 17 was heading for the rafters. Garnett, almost incoherent with emotion in the aftermath, screamed three words that would follow this team forever:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything is possible!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BOSTON<\/a><\/p>\n

BOSTON – JUNE 17: Kevin Garnett #5 of the Boston Celtics celebrates after defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Six of the 2008 NBA Finals on June 17, 2008 at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Celtics won 131-92 to capture the NBA Championship. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright: 2008 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler\/NBAE via Getty Images) NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Legacies and what could have been:<\/p>\n

The final game of the season reflected the regular-season dominance while masking the postseason struggle. As banners were hung and songs were sung on the streets of Boston, fans let out a collective sigh of relief. The longest championship wait in the history of the NBA\u2019s most successful franchise had come to an end.<\/p>\n

Danny Ainge had further cemented his place in Celtics history. Two years after the passing of Red Auerbach, Ainge had assembled a team capable of standing alongside some of the very best Red had ever built. At +11.4, the 2008 Celtics have the seventh-best regular-season net rating of all time. Only Jordan\u2019s 1996 and 1997 Bulls had posted a better mark prior to 2008, making the immediate success of Boston\u2019s newly assembled Big Three somewhat unprecedented.<\/p>\n

Contrastingly, the Celtics endured the longest route to a championship in NBA history. No champion has ever played more postseason games: 26 of a possible 28 en route to glory. We know about the team\u2019s road struggles and the pressure that came with restoring a great franchise to its former glory. With the weight of expectation finally lifted and Rajon Rondo blossoming into a star in his own right, Celtics fans couldn\u2019t have been blamed for expecting a run that might rank alongside the teams of the 1980s.<\/p>\n

With a 27-2 start in 2008-09, it seemed Boston had solved basketball. The champions had somehow bettered their incredible opening from the season prior, but Kevin Garnett\u2019s knee injury derailed their repeat hopes. Boston would return to the Finals in 2010 and come agonisingly close to Banner 18, but this group would never again recapture the overwhelming regular-season dominance of its first year together.<\/p>\n

As we know, Garnett and Pierce eventually played their part in Banner 18 after all. Their trade to the Brooklyn Nets became pivotal in creating Boston\u2019s next great team. So, when you\u2019re watching Jayson Tatum this year; when we draft the next great Celtic with one of those Philadelphia picks acquired in the Jaylen Brown trade\u2026 remember the Big Three, and remember the sweet satisfaction that came with climbing the mountain once more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s History Month at CelticsBlog, celebrating all 18 banners hanging in the rafters. Today we look back at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,430393,2878,590,85],"class_list":["post-867840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boston-celtics-history","tag-celticsblog","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}