Paul Pierce Believes 2008 Celtics Could Have Been Dynasty

Every Boston fan knows the history of the 2008 Celtics championship run, but let’s recap it anyway.

The season before, the Celtics finished with an abysmal 24-58 record — second-worst in franchise history. Star Paul Pierce suffered a stress reaction in his left foot causing the small forward to miss seven weeks of the season.

With Pierce sidelined, the Celtics won just three of their next 42 games, including a franchise-record 18-game losing streak.

Instead of making a selection with the fifth overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft, then-general manager Danny Ainge sent the pick along with Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak to the Seattle SuperSonics for Ray Allen.

Ainge wasn’t done.

He then traded Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Theo Ratliff, Gerald Green and Sebastian Telfair for 2004 MVP Kevin Garnett.

Along with Pierce, Allen and Garnett were coined the new “Big 3” in Boston, and it worked. The trio, along with Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, and Sam Cassell, won Banner 17 for the Celtics in their first year together. Pierce claimed to have the perfect reason why Boston was able to put it together so quickly.

“I think we were just old and desperate,” Pierce told Colin Cowherd on “The Herd” on Thursday. “All of us had been to All-Star games, we had money. What else was left? I mean we were old.”

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All three stars were at least 30 years old and had achieved personal accolades throughout their careers, but a championship was missing, and it all began with a ride on a Duck Boat with Doc Rivers.

“We road the Duck Boat around the city so people could see us,” Pierce recalled. “Everyone was waving at us, and KG was like, ‘Do you think we could win this year?’ Doc said, ‘We gotta win this year.'”

Boston finished the season 66-16 and went on to defeat their storied rivals — Los Angeles Lakers in six games to capture the NBA title.

Even though it can take years for players to bond and build chemistry with each other, Pierce said the four of them knew they really only had a three-year window because of their ages.

“Thank God we won it the first year because Kevin got hurt (the next year),” Pierce said. “Then we went back to the Finals in 2010, but as you know, we weren’t the healthiest team. But it was a good run for the shorter period of time. If we had got together a little younger, like four or five years earlier, we could have been sitting on a dynasty.”

Why did it work in Boston?

“We just left our egos at the door,” Pierce said.

Much like the 2008 team, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown witnessed president of basketball operations Brad Stevens make offseason moves by bringing in Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday to compliment the Celtics’ roster which will hopefully capture the first title for Boston in 16 years.