It’s been 12 years since Ray Allen crossed enemy lines by fleeing on the Boston Celtics to join LeBron James and the Miami Heat, leaving 2008 championship brothers Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett behind to end of the “Big Three.”
Garnett initially wanted no part of acknowledging Allen’s existence, going as far as ignoring Allen’s friendly greeting during Boston’s first matchup with Miami during the opening week of 2012. Allen’s beloved status in Beantown turned sour, he won a second championship with the Heat and set off into the sunset while the Celtics pulled the plug on Pierce and Garnett and faced their inevitable — and temporarily painful — rebuild. But… the past is the past, and the TD Garden rejoiced in beginning the chase for Banner 19 and even welcomed Allen back in open arms.
“I think, for the most part, time has passed, and it’s that idea of thought that as you age, you make amends with your past follies and you forgive old enemies,” Allen told Heavy Sports. “And I’m at the age now where I don’t want to have any issues with anybody, because I just want to live life and be happy.”
Allen — alongside Pierce, Garnett, Cedric Maxwell and Bob Cousy — was honored moments before the reigning champs received their rings and raised Banner 18 to its rightful place in the TD Garden rafters. It was a sentimental moment to see the trio responsible for the organization’s 17th Larry O’Brien Trophy and nearly 18th — Boston lost to Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals (by four points) — stand side by side to celebrate the Joe Mazzulla-coached Celtics.
When Pierce’s No. 34 was retired in 2018, Allen wasn’t in attendance while speculated enemies Garnett and Rajon Rondo were. It didn’t help clean up the presumed bad blood existing amongst the 2008 squad, but in hindsight, one could argue that Allen’s flip from Boston to Miami played an inadvertent role in Banner 18.
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Once Allen joined Miami, it became clear that Pierce and Garnett weren’t enough. The Celtics got bounced in the first round of the NBA playoffs by Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks — in six games — giving then-general manager Danny Ainge enough cause to clean house. Ainge traded Pierce and Garnett to the Brooklyn Nets for a five-player, three-draft pick package, giving Boston the rights to draft Jaylen Brown in 2016 and Jayson Tatum in 2017. It also prompted then-head coach Doc Rivers to dodge the rebuild and join the “Lob City” Los Angeles Clippers, paving the way for Brad Stevens to take over — eight years before being promoted to president of basketball operations.
The ending to Allen’s time in Boston, although controversial and hard to accept for the many Celtics die-hards, never took away from 2008. Now 49 years of age, Allen isn’t consumed by the past animosity that lasted years in the city he once called home and helped cement his Hall of Fame career.
“I think more than anything, it’s for the fans,” Allen explained, per Heavy Sports. “Because when you look at a group like, say, Boyz II Men, one guy went, but everybody wants to see that original group together. People selfishly want to go back to those days and remember them for what they were and what they brought to them.”
Allen added: “You know, when you win a championship, that’s a forever thing. And to be able to come here and to celebrate and sit courtside with Paul and Kevin. … The whole game, we talked about things we did, players we played against, teams we played against. That’s what it’s all about.”
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As long as Tatum and Brown handle business, again, Allen could be back next year for another banner-raising ceremony on the parquet.
Featured image via Bob DeChiara/Imagn Images
