Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics won their 17th championship on Tuesday night and I was a little melancholy about it. Don't get me wrong - I was ecstatic that the Celtics beat the Lakers like a drum. Ecstatic!

It's just that I had to watch the game from my hotel room in Pennsylvania. Alone.

I received text messages from friends out at bars going nuts. I was alone in my hotel room just a little ticked off each time my phone beeped with a new message. I didn't even get to watch the victory parade due to work. Let's just say that I feel more than a little disconnected from the victory.

I guess that makes me a little sad if truth be told.

So where does this Celtics team stand in the pantheon of past Celtics Champions? Bob Ryan had a great piece examining just that question. Far be it for me to argue with Bob Ryan but I admit that I was surprised that he ranked this year's team as the second best Celtics team ever.

I think this team reminds me more of the 1983 Celtics than the 1986 team that is often called the best team in basketball history.

That 1983 team had some older guys. Robert Parish was 30, Dennis Johnson was 29 and Cedric Maxwell was 28. Of course Larry Bird and Kevin McHale we just entering their primes at 27 and 26-years old respectively. That team, however, had role players who were tough and reliable coming off the bench. Players like Quinn Buckner, ML Carr and Gerald Henderson. That team also beat the Lakers in the Finals with the signature play of the series being Kevin McHale clotheslining Kurt Rambis. (Those two have not spoken since that play - that's old school). The Celtics were tougher and had more heart than their Lakers' counterparts and they have rings to prove it.

Likewise this year's Celtics team won because they had more toughness and heart than the Lakers. The team may be slightly older than the 1983 vintage (with Allen 32, Garnett 31, and Pierce 30) but they also had those role players coming off the bench like Leon Powe, Eddie House and James Posey.

I just hope I can get to enjoy the next championship a little more.