Sixteen years ago, the Boston Celtics defeated the rival Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals to end a 22-year drought and bring Banner 17 to Boston. It was a dominant season on the court and, by the sound of it, a memorable one off of it.
Several members of the 2008 C's joined the latest episode of the Celtics Talk Podcast to reminisce about the good old days. Eddie House, Kendrick Perkins, Leon Powe, Tony Allen, and James Posey shared some of their favorite memories from the championship campaign.
Perkins went first, and his answer didn't disappoint.
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"The plane rides," Perkins said. "I was telling somebody this the other day. Our plane rides were like the club. It was a dice game going on over here, two booray tables going on, KG (Kevin Garnett) had the boombox. At the time we were jamming to Rick Ross. (Head coach) Doc (Rivers) feeling some type of way but he really can't control it. ...
"Ya'll remember those season ticket holders that used to be able to fly on the plane when we go on the long road trips? Remember they had to go have a meeting with them and say, 'Listen, this plane ride is going to be something ya'll haven't experienced. You're going to hear certain words, just ignore it. You're going to see certain things, it's just part of it. There's nothing we can do about it.' Like, people got on our plane, they had to adapt. It wasn't no, 'We shutting up' or nothing to that nature. If you was trying to go to sleep or take a nap, then damn it, you needed to catch a commercial flight 'cause you wasn't doing it on our plane. It was the best rides. We were mad when we had 45-minute flights. Real talk."
Perkins believes the wild plane rides were the key to the '08 C's forming their "Ubuntu" team chemistry.
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"I thought with all that we had going on, that was the biggest part of camaraderie," he added. "We knew when somebody was acting funny. When somebody was in their feelings, we knew on the plane ride when someone was feeling some type of way whether it was something that happened in practice or something that happened in the film room or even in the game. So the plane ride was the truth-teller on all situations involving what we had going on in that 2008 season."
The Celtics will look to hang an 18th banner after taking on the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals. Game 1 is set for Thursday night at TD Garden.
Also in the episode:
- The rest of the panel's favorite moments from the 2008 season.
- How Eddie recruited Posey to the Celtics.
- How should the Garden crowd react to Kyrie Irving?
- How this Finals series impacts the legacies of the stars.