Assembling Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in Boston shook the NBA in multiple ways in 2007.
Garnett left the only pro team he had known, the Minnesota Timberwolves, for the Celtics. The trade of Allen began a purge in Seattle which led to the Sonics drafting Kevin Durant before the franchise was relocated to Oklahoma City. The moves transformed a floundering 24-win Celtics team into a 66-win team that won the first Celtics championship since 1986.
That group hit the accelerator from the start and never stopped. They won eight consecutive games, including a 20-point dismissal of the Wizards on opening night, to begin the season. By Jan. 12, 2008, they were 30-4. The Celtics steamed to the Eastern Conference’s best record before beating the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals. Garnett howled that “anything is possible” after the Celtics won.
This is the outlier for teams that went through a sudden assembly of big names. Boston’s roster was reconfigured with new, dominant parts, yet the group’s melding was immediate and exquisite. That is not the case so far for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014.
The Cavs come to Verizon Center on Friday night for a nationally televised game against the Wizards. Pierce’s longtime rival, LeBron James, went home to Cleveland last summer and summoned Kevin Love to join him and Kyrie Irving. After James dribbled the ball off his foot in the Cavs’ final possession Wednesday night, setting up a 92-90 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland does not yet rock. It is 5-5.
“Our situation was just totally different,” Pierce said of the Celtics. “The pieces of the puzzle fit together perfectly. The chemistry on and off the court. [When] we came together, [we] didn’t even think it was going to happen so quickly the way it did. In most cases it doesn’t.
“Cleveland, they got the great talent. Like I always say, great players always figure it out. When they got together in Miami, they figured it out. And Cleveland’s going to figure it out. Ninety-nine times out of 100, the great players do. I guess the one case is the Laker team with Dwight Howard and Kobe [Bryant]. Everybody kind of pegged them as champions, but, overall, when you get the great players of that caliber together they most of the time figure it out.”
Well noted is that James has been through this process before. He ended up in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh following a grandstanding press conference to deliver his decision to leave Cleveland. The Heat was 6-4 10 games into the 2010-11 season before winning 58 games. It reached the Finals, the first of four consecutive for the group, and lost to the Dallas Mavericks. Miami would win the next two titles.
Because of his frame, position and the prominence of his teams, Pierce has been tussling with James since the latter entered the league in 2003. Pierce is close to the final page of his career, while James has likely moved toward the final chapter of his after his return to Cleveland. They’ll part when Pierce retires in the coming years, yet remain linked. To Pierce, James is his biggest individual rival.
“If I had to pick one guy, it’d definitely be LeBron,” Pierce said.
In the past, Pierce has expressed his disdain for James. They have gone at it mercilessly on the floor. Thursday, Pierce said that his comments were misunderstood, to a degree.
“If I see LeBron walking down the street it’s not going to be no fistfight,” Pierce said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for him. The competitive nature of both of us being at the same position. Being on top teams. Gunning for the same trophy year in and year out and that’s where that comes in to play.
“It’s like fighting for the same girl. Why I want to be cool with that guy? But I’ve got total respect for him as a person. It’s just the things we go through are all on the court and that’s where we leave it.”
A swarm of media and fans are expected Friday night. Anticipation bubbling for a game is not new to Pierce. It’s also not something coach Randy Wittman is interested in thanks to his inkwell-in-the-desk level of old-school approach.
Wittman is coming off an evening where he was distressed by his team’s lack of maturity following negative plays. He called it becoming “emotionally hijacked” after a bad possession. Slumped shoulders, lowered heads, scrunched faces. That was what Wittman saw in spurts Wednesday night during a taut 105-102 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. He does not care about any hoopla attached to Friday night.
“You want to put your best foot forward every night, not because you are playing on the national stage,” Wittman said.
It was also suggested to Wittman that James is teaching some of his new teammates different things. His level of interest in that was the same.
“I don’t give a crap what he’s teaching them,” Wittman said. “He’s a hell of a player. What’s going on behind their closed doors, I don’t care. I know that, again, they’re a very good team.”
Pierce’s days of attempting to handle James alone are gone. Though, fortunately, the scheduled games between the two are not yet. Pierce is in Washington with his young backers at guard and James back in Cleveland trying to carry a city’s conscience in a career that has fluctuated from villain to rescuer.
“This could be a moment [Friday],” Pierce said.
It wouldn’t be the first one between the two.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
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