The Boston Celtics ended their 16-year championship drought on Monday to bring the elusive Banner 18 to TD Garden. Their title-clinching victory came on the anniversary of the 2008 Celtics defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.
Naturally, the 2024 Celtics winning it all has sparked debate over whether this year's team could take down the 2008 champions in a seven-game series. NBC Sports Boston's Phil Perry and '08 C's guard Eddie House started that debate earlier this month, but House preferred to revisit the conversation when the 2024 Celtics finished the job.
Well, the job is finished, so what does House think of the hypothetical series now? His answer on Wednesday's Early Edition probably won't surprise you.
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"I mean, who bets against themself? Do you guys roll dice? Do you guys gamble? Have you ever had the dice and was like, 'OK, I'm not gonna hit my point'? No, you never do that," House said. "You're going to always bet on yourself. And so, I believe that we would get it done because I do believe in our team, number one.
"I think we had a mix of everything that you needed. And not only the toughness and intangibles that we could all talk about, but we had 3-point shooting. We just didn't shoot them at the clip that the (2024) Celtics are. But if you asked us to shoot that many 3s, are you telling me that Ray Allen couldn't shoot more 3s and be more productive than any 3-point shooter on this team? You telling me that I couldn't be more productive than any 3-point shooter on this team?"
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In addition to beyond the arc, House believes the '08 Celtics would have the defensive edge over the '24 C's.
"I think our defense was a little bit more locked down than this defense," he added. "I think we're more consistent on a night-in, night-out basis of knowing what you're gonna get, and it was defense. We hung our hat on defense and so whatever came from our defense, our offense flourished from that. But it all started with our defense and I wasn't a great on-ball defender, but I was a great team defender. I was serviceable on-ball and I thought that everybody was locked in.
"They got one, so at the end of the day -- and I hate to do that because I love this team. I love all of those guys and love everything that they did, the coaching staff and everything. So I hate to have that conversation. But I mean, come on, who bets against themself?"
Perhaps it's recency bias, but the general public seems to agree with Perry that the 2024 Celtics would handle the 2008 team. In our Early Edition poll, 53 percent of respondents took the '24 team in a series against the '08 group.
Others on the Early Edition panel -- Mike Giardi and our Tom E. Curran -- took House's side in the debate.
There are solid arguments to be made on both sides. Both squads are among the most dominant Celtics teams in franchise history. This year's group set countless records en route to its title, and the 2008 team was stacked from top to bottom with Hall of Famers and elite role players.
So, which championship team has the edge? We'll unfortunately never know, but it's fun to dream.