NBA History

The Magic of the Isaiah Thomas Era with the Celtics

I stumbled across this interview the other day. I don’t normally stop and play Isaiah Thomas videos. It’s not that I dislike IT (so the opposite), I’ve just been eager for the Celtics to get back to the NBA Finals.

This time I stopped and played Thomas in a Boston Celtics uniform, smiling ear to ear. It was clear it meant something to Isaiah to put on that uniform. That’s why I stopped and hit play… let’s face it, the pride and love of basketball in Boston by the leader of the team is obvious

That kind of fire and passion is a rare commodity.

Anyway…

Once watching the conversation with Isaiah Thomas in full, my mind drifted back to those 2 seasons that at the time I referred to as “fun” non contending, over achieving, scrappy seasons. What I really was saying was, “yeah, they cute but what did they win?”

That wasn’t fair to that team, or the fan base who embraced IT4 as if his last name was Russell, Auerbach, Bird or Heinsohn.

He was none of those iconic Boston sports figures, he was simply “the little guy.”

Only little in stature, Thomas’ basketball exploits during that 2 year run hadn’t been seen in Boston (accompanied by wins) since probably Larry Legend.

When i called them “fun” 4+/- years ago I wasn’t giving a fake news report. Hey, I believe IT4’s time in Boston might even have been before “fake news” ? was invented. The Isaiah years werent just fun… they were Extraordinary, they were years where the underdog, most often dismissed #Celtics defied odds and competed through round after round, two seasons in a row, and won! Through scrappy bully ball and hustle not seen since the Worm was diving into the stands with the Bad Boy Pistons.

That team, led by the smallest man in uniform on either team, personified and helped to re establish “Celtics basketball” and they defied so many odds stacked against them that thinking back on it all these years later, would have been an absurd assumption to make back then, unless the Boston Celtics mystique was alive and well again

 

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Nick Gelso

Pioneer and award-winning podcaster, Nick Gelso founded the CLNS Media Network in 2009. Spearheads the network’s sales, business development initiatives by day, while moonlighting as an NBA personality on game-nights at TD Garden in Boston.

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