BOSTON -- Scot Pollard bounded out of the crowd
like a contestant on "The Price is Right" to receive his ring. Tony
Allen and Kevin Garnett slipped on theirs immediately. Ray Allen
flashed his for the in-house camera. And Paul Pierce was openly
weeping the whole time. <!-- START 'inlineAds : default' FILE:
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In an electric and emotional pregame ceremony, the Boston
Celtics received their championship rings from NBA Commissioner
David Stern and Celtics managing partner and CEO Wyc Grousbeck at
the TD BankNorth Garden in front of a standing room only crowd who
stood for the whole ceremony.
No one in the house seemed to mind the Celtics opening night
opponents, the Cleveland Cavaliers, sought sanctuary in the safety
of their locker room.
"I didn't know they were invited," Celtics coach Doc Rivers
joked before the game.
If the Cavs did check out the ceremony, they would have seen
Celtics legend John Havlicek, accompanied by Celtics legends Bob
Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn, Satch Sanders, Jo Jo White, M.L. Carr and
Cedric Maxwell, cart out the Larry O'Brien and hand it off to a
teary-eyed Pierce, who then hoisted the trophy for the 18,624 fans
in the stands to see.
Before the game, Commissioner Stern noted that he enjoys opening
night ring ceremonies. He can understand why players would have
such emotions.
"Because in this game, you have players say they're playing for
the ring," Stern said. "And here you are, a part of fulfilling the
goal of every player.
"Once they have it, they have a sense of fulfillment they've
never had before."
So, as the camera flashes from the stands punctuated the
darkened arena, the players' basketball lives flashed before their
eyes as they stepped forward to receive their rings.
"I'm always welcome in places when I come with hardware," Stern
said.
And it's hardware that would have the other 29 teams green with
envy. The ring's stats are as impressive as the Celtics' 66-16
record last season. The ring is made of 14-karat white gold. The
top of the ring has an emerald shamrock of three heart-shaped 8mm
emeralds and three emeralds on the stem. The shamrock itself is
surrounded by 64 diamonds and the bezel has 20 more. On one side,
the ring has "Banner 17" to commemorate the Celtics NBA-record 17th
title and on the other side, "Ubuntu,", the Zulu word, when loosely
translated means "A person is a person only through other people",
which Celtics coach Doc Rivers introduced as the team's mantra. For
a nice final touch, Red Auerbach's name is inscribed on the inside.
In total, the ring has a combined 92 diamonds and emeralds and has
9-carats of gemstones.
These rings aren't for wearing, they're for wowing. Still, that
didn't prevent Doc Rivers, the coaching staff, Tony Allen and Kevin
Garnett from trying them out as soon as they got them. And upon
receiving his, Pierce, who made his own place among the Celtic
pantheon with his MVP performance in The Finals, wept even more.
Then, he and his teammates marched to the other end of the court to
raise Boston's 17th banner to the rafters, closing the ceremony and
closing out another chapter in the Celtics illustrious history.
Five minutes later, the tears were dried and the emotions were
set aside. The Celtics and the Cavs tipped off the 2008-09 season
and the quest begins anew.
