Cassell Links Allen, KG To Past Playoff Runs, But Celtics Have More Depth, Talent

Couper Moorhead
Celtics.com Correspondent
April 20, 2008

There's a story that might have swam around some fishing nets when Sam Cassell signed with the Boston Celtics. It's a story of threes, and he ties it all together.

Much of the talk from the team in previous days has been about the start of the playoff journey, and amidst all the postseason chatter it's easy to forget that some of them have been in this position as teammates before.

Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell celebrate after beating the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2004 NBA Playoffs. Sam and KG went to the Western Conference Finals before being eliminated by a loader Los Angeles Lakers team just one step away from the NBA Finals.

In 2000-01, Ray Allen and Sam Cassell were part of a Big Three in Milwaukee with Glenn Robinson. That squad won 52 games en route to a No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference before losing in seven games to the Philadelphia 76ers in the Conference Finals.

Seven years later, with the No. 8 Atlanta Hawks coming to town behind a lineup stacked with young talent and a veteran point guard in Mike Bibby, Allen isn't changing his approach.

"Whether it was me or the guys around me everybody pretty much took an approach to come in and do what you need to do for yourself and do what you need to do for your team," he said.

Within two years, each piece of that Bucks core was traded. Allen went to the Seattle Supersonics and Cassell joined Kevin Garnett in Minnesota alongside Latrell Sprewell. That team was also a No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with 58 wins, but lost in six to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Conference Finals.

The parallels are clear. Cassell is back playing the backup point guard role -- this time to Rajon Rondo -- just as he did at the beginning of his career for Kenny Smith on the '94 and '95 Houston Rockets' championship teams behind Hakeem Olajuwon.

That's three teams that went at least three rounds deep. And compared to the one team that won it all, the '08 Celtics run a different course in the same direction.

After Thursday's practice, Cassell said this Celtics team has the most talent of any he's been on.

"By far," Cassell said. "We didn't have the best talent in Houston. We had the best chemistry. Guys understood their roles and cherished their roles. Same as right here."

Garnett shared a similar sentiment about the team he and Cassell have shared since March 4.

"This is the deepest I've been on," Garnett said. "A team where the guys are not only experienced but know how to play the game. [The] difference is this team has a lot more confidence than the teams I played on, one through twelve, one through thirteen, fourteen, fifteen guys; it's about all our hard work.

"This team is more, 'we're going to go out here and show you versus tell you.'" Garnett added.

So, while Cassell links together his old Big Threes, serving as the degree of separation for the new trio, it's clear that history is history and any near misses in the past are not important because, in Garnett's words, it's about the Celtics now.