The Big Three by Michael Holley

Author:Michael Holley [Holley, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2020-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

GROUNDED

Wyc Grousbeck’s phone conversation couldn’t have been more perfect, both for what it was and what it symbolized.

He’d gotten to sleep close to four a.m., with the championship trophy next to his bed. Then the house phone rang a few hours later, at seven.

“This is the White House calling. Please hold for President Bush.”

Before that congratulatory call from the president, who mentioned the Big Three and Ubuntu, Grousbeck had asked himself about the dream season that they’d just experienced. It hadn’t been a dream due to any flukiness. The Celtics had the talent to match any team in the league and a unified purpose that far exceeded that talent and everyone else’s.

That was both the beauty and difficulty of winning. How often does everything intertwine so perfectly that one morning you awaken to your reflection in a championship trophy as you talk hoops with the president?

The entire season, from the press conference in July to the final blowout in June, had been one in which everything went in their favor. There were no upsets, no frayed relationships, no regrets over building a team around three veteran players in their thirties. That was something to both celebrate and put into perspective.

Of course, to complete the circle that Doc Rivers began to draw on a duck boat ride, the celebration came first.

It was the Celtics’ turn now to parade through the old city and finally see how it was transformed into a sprawling festival. Grousbeck was so excited about it that he asked Daryl Morey, one of the first people he hired six years ago, to join the parade with him. Morey was grateful but pointed out that it would look bad for the Houston Rockets’ general manager to be parading with the Celtics. They’d have a bunch of questions when it was over, for sure. They’d be the same questions that the Patriots asked in their first three citywide parties and ones the Red Sox asked in their two. For the sixth time, with blaring horns, confetti, and duck boats shaking from jumping players and thumping bass, the questions remained relevant. And often unanswerable.

Where did all these people come from? Did they shoehorn themselves into already narrow streets? How did they seem to travel in sets, endless dozens, waving from Boston Common all the way to Copley Square? Were they employees in these places? Is that how they got to the perfect buildings at precise heights for winning views of the route?

This was the sports city that was always there, but one you couldn’t fully access until you’d found a way to be the best in your sport. That was Paul Pierce and his girlfriend, Julie—today, the king and queen of the NBA.

For the league, Pierce clutched his NBA Finals MVP trophy in one hand. For Boston, teeming with sports scholars and historians, he held a cigar. On this day, local cigar shops reported that their sales were up. It was what Red Auerbach would have smoked if he had been there, so everyone in Boston understood Pierce’s message when he lit up and enjoyed the ride.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.