When I was growing up, one of the rare reasons to stay up late was for the Celtics playing in the playoffs. Back then, the Celtics had one of the all-time great teams, a dynasty starring Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Bill Walton.... they were incredible, and yes, even more than the Red Sox or Patriots, I loved watching the Celts. I loved watching them play the Lakers, was thrilled when they won, and crushed when they lost. The team was incredible, the rivalry was incredible.

Then, there were 20 years of atrocious teams. Bird's back went out, Mchale retired, Parish left. Len Bias, a promising high draft pick, died of an overdose. Reggie Lewis died after a routine workout, from a rare congenital heart defect. We lost in the draft lottery that would have won us Tim Duncan. Rick Pitino came on as coach, pushed the famous Red Auerbach (who coached/managed the team through its 16 (!) titles) to the side, and drove the team into the ground.

This year, the best bad thing that could happen to ushappened. Instead of the #1 or #2 picks in the draft, which would have landed us one of two high-probability future superstars around which we could build a team to be competitive in 2-5 years, we instead ended up with the 5th pick, Paul Pierce, a few mediocre older players, and a host of young, unrefined talent. Another long rebuilding process looked inevitable, and brought with it no promise of success.

Two trades later, we ended up with Kevin Garnett, one of the premier offensive players in the league, and one of the all-time premier defensive players, for a ton of our young guys. We traded the 5th pick in the draft for Ray Allen, an all-star shooter. We drafted well, kept a few of our younger guys, waited patiently for Rajon Rondo to develop into an excellent point guard, and all of a sudden, there was hope again.

Hope of a championship? Maybe not... I mean, we had a team with 3 middle-aged (for basketball) legitimate stars, an unproven-though-talented point guard, and a few promising big men.

82 games later, we set the record for greatest turnaround in NBA history. From a 24-win season to a 66-win season in one year. We beat teams by over 10 points a game, on average (an absurd number, historically.) We had stifling team defense, which usually takes years to develop. Rondo turned from a talented, raw kid into a premier point guard. The three superstars, who had generated some wonder as to whether they could play unselfishly, always dish the ball to the open man, play selfless defense, and are the first to their feet when the reserves are on the court, cheering on the rest of the team. We clinched the top seed in the playoffs (and home court advantage throughout) over a week ago. The reserves have contributed - a team that was thought to be no more than 6 deep has had 11 players contributing regularly, playing their roles at a level that many veteran teams never achieve.

CSN has been running a couple of commercials that really capture the feeling of anticipation that the trio of Pierce, Garnett, and Allen brought to town. The second one gives me chills.

So as I'm writing this, I'm watching the end of the first quarter of the Celtics-Hawks game, and the reason I'm writing it is because, as I was watching them enter the court, having their names announced over the loudspeaker, and hearing the announcer exhort the crowd to make some noise... I felt shivers up my spine. I watched the odd game over the years, but the teams were so poor, so badly managed, so hopeless, that there was really no reason to...

Tonight, it's different. For the first time in 2 decades, I can sit back, enjoy the NBA playoffs, and remember how much I love this team.