Banner 17 will be raised in Boston!

Boston Celtics win 2008 NBA Finals thanks to Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, Leon Powe, James Posey, Eddie House, PJ Brown, Sam Cassel, Tony Allen, Glen \"Big Baby\" Davis, and Scal

It was one of the most hard fought runs at the title in years. The displays of guts and desire that the Boston Celtics put forth in the past month and a half is unrivaled in my opinion. Being a basketball fan it is easy to get caught up in the win to win nature of the playoffs, but when you stop and look back at what we all witnessed, it really was something special.

This team was went from being the most dominant in the NBA to being nearly eliminated by the up-and-coming Atlanta Hawks in the span of 15 days. They looked like a team too content with its regular season record, and had a coach who was over thinking every move. The next series was no different, again pushed to the brink of elimination. Until game 7 that is. When Paul Pierce and Lebron James put on that show ( The AgroKrag team was there live ) I knew that this was going to be an intense run through the rest of the playoffs. The Celtics were a team reborn, they were like a middle aged couple rediscovering each other after a term of complacency.

Amazingly with those first two series behind them the task seemed to get easier, Detroit never looked like a team that had a prayer in that series. Then came the Lakers…this series marks the first time in my life that I have watched a game more than one time. I watched game 4 (the 24 point comeback) live and was so dumbfounded that we won, that it took 2 subsequent viewings for it to set in fully. The DVD set that will inevitably come out should serve as a companion piece to the most inspirational of sports movies. Paul Pierce in my opinion solidified his position in both Celtics Lore and the NBA Hall of Fame.

Since the team gave up so much of themselves to bring a title not only to themselves but to a town that has managed to write off all championship-less teams in the past few years, I decided to pay tribute. This isn’t for the fans (particularly the fair-weather Garnett jersey clad fans), this was created for the Players. Whether this will be seen by any of them is a big question mark, but that is no different than what they did on the court. They played regardless of knowing I was watching, so I painted regardless of them watching, it is what we do.

Go Celtics! and thank you for inspiring a legion of fans with the heart you showed all season long.

-Jesse Rand (The AgroKrag Team)

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