Ray Allen

Taylor Snow

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame got a lot greener Saturday night, as four legendary members of the Boston Celtics were honored, each in a different capacity, as part of the 2021 enshrinement ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The class of 16 inductees was headlined by Paul Pierce and Bill Russell, the latter of whom was inducted as a coach after already being enshrined as a player in 1975.

Longtime Celtics color commentator Mike Gorman of NBC Sports Boston received the Curt Gowdy award for his role in electronic media over the last 40-plus years and was inducted into the Hall of Fame’s media wing.

Lastly, 2018 Hall-of-Fame inductee Ray Allen was recognized as one of three recipients of the 2021 Mannie Jackson - Basketball’s Human Spirit Award for his outstanding humanitarian efforts, particularly through his Ray of Hope Foundation.

Pierce soaked in every moment of the special night, greeting Celtics fans with high fives and selfies at the red-carpet ceremony before delivering a 15-minute speech in which he reflected upon his life and career.

“Never in my wildest dreams that I think I’d be a Hall-of-Famer,” Pierce began as he spoke to the sea of basketball legends seated before him. “The initial dream as a kid is to make it to the league; you don't really dream too far like, ‘I want to be a Hall of Famer,’ you don't say that as a kid. Now to be enshrined in basketball lore, it's more than I could have ever imagined.”

Pierce spent the first 15 seasons of a 19-year NBA career in Boston, where he earned 10 All-Star nods, four All-NBA selections, and a Finals MVP after leading the Celtics to their 17th championship in 2008. He remains among the franchise’s top 10 in just about every significant statistical category, ranking second in points scored, seventh in rebounds, fifth in assists, first in steals, fourth in blocks, first in 3-point field goals, and third in minutes played.

However, Pierce made it clear that his rise to the top of Boston’s legendary record books was not a product of natural athletic ability, but rather a result of hard work and dedication.

“The thing I want people to remember about me is, although I wasn’t the most athletic and I might not have been the most gifted, I competed every night,” he said. “That’s the one thing people can say about me. I may have played against guys that were more talented, more heralded than me, but the one thing you weren’t going to do was out-work me ... I judged my game on my effort. I knew if I gave 100 percent effort that day, no matter what my numbers were, I could hold my head high when I left that gym.”

Pierce should also be remembered for holding his head high even when the Celtics were going through some of their lowest of lows as a franchise. He stuck with the team through trying seasons, and eventually, his loyalty paid off.

Following a 24-win season in 2006-07, the Celtics front office formed a super team around Pierce by trading for future Hall-of-Famers in Allen and Kevin Garnett, the latter of whom served as Pierce’s presenter Saturday night. The star trio gelled immediately, as they pulled off the biggest single-season turnaround in NBA history in the form of a 66-win 2007-08 campaign, which led the C’s to their 17th NBA championship banner.

The highlight of Pierce’s career came at the conclusion of that title run when he was named Finals MVP after defeating his hometown Los Angeles Lakers. The Inglewood native still marvels over the irony of the storybook scenario, noting how his initial disdain for the Celtics turned into everlasting love and appreciation.

“Going into [the NBA], I hated [the Celtics] because I was a Laker fan,” he recalled. “But once I was able to join the family and be around legends such as Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn on a night-in, night-out basis, it was a dream come true. Because me being a historian of the game, I couldn’t ask for anything better … I couldn’t have asked for a better place to land.”

And Pierce couldn’t have asked for a better honor than to enter the Hall alongside the greatest legend of them all in Russell. The 11-time NBA champion became just the fifth person to be inducted as both a player and a coach, joining former teammates Tommy Heinsohn and Bill Sharman along with Lenny Wilkens and John Wooden.

Although his coaching career spanned only eight seasons, Russell’s legacy as a coach will last forever. In 1966, he became the first Black head coach in the history of U.S. professional sports. As if that feat wasn’t remarkable enough, the start of his coaching career also overlapped with the last three seasons of his playing career, the final two of which resulted in championship runs.

“Coaching the Celtics was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I had through my 13 years in the NBA,” Russell said in a pre-recorded speech that was shown Saturday night as he sat in the front row of the audience.

It was rewarding not just because of the championships that he won, but because it opened the door for other Black coaches after him, such as Doc Rivers.

“Bill Russell allowed the rest of the world to know that if you’re qualified to coach, you can coach,” Rivers, also in attendance, said in a pre-recorded interview. “Without Bill Russell, I’m probably not coaching.”

Russell’s willingness to break barriers and also be an outspoken civil rights activist transcended his remarkable career as an athlete. As his Hall-of-Fame presenter, Barack Obama, stated: “As tall as Bill Russell stands, his example and his legacy rise far, far higher.”

All four Celtics honorees established unique legacies from the examples they set, whether it was through their hard work and dedication on the court, on the sideline, in the announcers’ booth, and/or in the community. Paul Pierce, Bill Russell, Mike Gorman, and Ray Allen have each represented the city of Boston and the NBA in a Hall-of-Fame capacity, solidified by Saturday night’s enshrinement among basketball's greatest legends.

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Four Celtics Legends Honored at 2021 HOF Enshrinement

addByline("Taylor C. Snow", "Celtics.com", "taylorcsnow");

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – There were many illustrious moments that helped to shape Ray Allen’s Hall-of-Fame basketball career, but in his mind, there is one that stands high above all others: winning the 2008 NBA championship as a member of the Boston Celtics.

After donning his orange jacket Thursday afternoon at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Allen looked back on his time in Boston fondly, singling out the team’s banner season as the pinnacle of his career.

“It was incredible because I didn’t know what it took to win a title,” said Allen, who will join 12 others Friday evening to be officially enshrined into the Hall-of-Fame. “Up until that point I thought I knew what it took. We talked about winning a championship, all of us, every player in the league. But until you win one, you look back and say, ‘Wow, I actually never knew that it would have been that hard. I had no idea.”

Allen split 12 seasons between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Seattle SuperSonics aspiring to win a title, but it wasn’t until Year 13, when he joined Boston, that his dream was achieved.

The Celtics had just come off of a 24-58 season in 2006-07 when Allen and fellow All-Star Kevin Garnett arrived in Beantown. However, those two players, along with Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and a crew of believers turned the Celtics into a 66-16 team during the 2007-08 season, completing the biggest regular-season turnaround in NBA history.

“it was something that will always be memorable because the team was the worst (in the Eastern Conference) the year before, and we went all the way to first the next year,” said Allen. “It was something none of us could ever imagine.”

Allen went on to enjoy four more seasons in Boston, making another Finals appearance in 2010 and becoming the NBA’s king of 3-point makes, before joining the Miami Heat in the fall of 2012. His departure was difficult to handle for many in Celtics Nation, but the memories that he helped to create in Boston cannot be overlooked.

“People look at how I left, but I look at how I lived while I was there,” said Allen. “That, to me, was the most important time in my life because I had never won, and there I was able to win. And that is probably the most important thing that I want people to always remember, is the time that we spent together.”

The impact that Allen had on the Celtics organization is undeniable. His record-setting 3-point shot helped to carry the team to countless victories over the course of his tenure in green, and he will go down as one of the franchise’s greatest shooters of all time.

Allen averaged 16.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game during five seasons in Boston, while also making 2.2 3-pointers per contest at a 40.9 percent clip. The NBA’s all-time leader in long-distance makes ranks third on Boston’s career 3-point list with 798 made 3s, trailing only Paul Pierce (1,823) and Antoine Walker (937). On top of that, he holds the franchise record for career free-throw percentage with an extraordinary rate of 91.4 percent.

Allen’s greatest contribution, however, was his role in bringing Banner 17 to Boston. His clutch gene kicked in during the 2008 Finals, as he averaged 20.3 points per game while knocking down 52.4 percent of his 3-point attempts against the rival Los Angeles Lakers. Allen helped the Celtics finish off LA with a bang by scoring 26 points on a 7-of-9 effort from beyond the arc during Game 6, which clinched the title with a 131-92 win.

Brining that ’08 championship to Boston is an accomplishment that Allen, his teammates and all of Celtics Nation will cherish forever. Winning that title, in Allen’s mind, was the defining moment of his career, as it helped carve out his path into the Hall-of-Fame.

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Ray Allen Enters Hall, Looks Back Fondly on Time in Boston

Marc D'Amico

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BOSTON – “Everything changed the day Kevin arrived in Boston.”

Wyc Grousbeck, managing partner and co-owner of the Boston Celtics, couldn’t have said it any better than with those eight words.

Everything changed when Celtics general manager Danny Ainge struck gold by acquiring Kevin Garnett, a 10-time All-Star and former league Most Valuable Player, from the Minnesota Timberwolves on July 31, 2007.

Everything changed because Garnett wasn’t just an elite basketball player; he was also an elite leader, a man who shifted the culture of an entire organization in one fell swoop.

“Very few players can affect an organization like Kevin did here in Boston, both on and off the court,” Ainge said Friday, the day of Garnett’s retirement from the NBA.  “He led our team by example every day with his drive, his passion, and his relentless commitment to winning.”

Such characteristics shined bright from the moment Garnett stepped foot inside Boston’s practice facility.  Teammates listened.  Coaches listened.  Everyone listened when KG spoke.

And when he played?  Opponents were in for a long night.

Garnett joined forces with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to create the newest rendition of Boston’s “Big Three.”  The trio clicked in a fashion that no other trio had ever clicked before.  It didn’t take months for them to build an unbreakable bond; instead, it happened immediately.

Boston, behind MVP-level play from Garnett at both ends of the court, jumped out to a 29-3 start to the 2007-08 season.  It went on to win 66 of its 82 games during the regular season.

Less than 11 months after Garnett’s arrival and the creation of the new Big Three, the Celtics had captured their 17th world championship banner and restored Celtic Pride.  They did so by easily ousting the longtime nemesis Los Angeles Lakers in six games of the NBA Finals.

Garnett, Pierce and Allen were All-Stars that season.  KG took home Defensive Player of the Year honors, the first of any player in the franchise’s storied history to do so, and could have easily won league MVP honors as well.

All of this took place in conjunction with Garnett fully understanding his role on the team.  He was tasked with being Boston’s modern-day Bill Russell: a defensive captain and top rebounder.  Garnett gracefully accepted a reduced role – though still a substantial one – at the offensive end for the betterment of the team.

Still, Garnett put up impressive averages of 18.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game during his first season with the team.

“While always putting team ahead of individual,” Ainge said, “Kevin earned his place among the greatest players in Celtic and NBA history.”

Garnett’s arrival in Boston changed everything for the Celtics.  The lasting impact of his work ethic, his leadership and his team-first mentality still oozes from the walls of the team’s facility.  He was the driving force behind the restoration of Celtic Pride, and that pride has not waned since his exit from the team during the summer of 2013.

While the Big Ticket’s arrival in Boston changed everything for the Celtics, it also changed everything for the NBA.  Following Ainge’s acquisition of Garnett, teams began to understand that it would be nearly impossible to defeat a Celtics squad with a healthy Big Three unless it had a Big Three of its own to run onto the floor.  Thus, teams around the league began gearing up for an arms race to duplicate Boston’s recipe to success, and superteams have been born across the league ever since.

Today, Garnett announced his retirement from the NBA after 21 historic years of service, matching the longest career of any player who has ever passed through the NBA.  His playing days may be over, but more than nine years after that memorable 31st day of July in 2007, his impact continues to be felt in Boston and around this league.

Ray Allen

Four Celtics Legends Honored at 2021 HOF Enshrinement

Ray Allen Enters Hall, Looks Back Fondly on Time in Boston

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