The 2008 Celtics Documentary "Anything Is Possible" Was A 17/10
If you haven’t already, the first thing you need to do when you get home today is watch the 2008 Celtics Documentary that was on NBC Boston last night. This goes for Celtics fans, and overall NBA fans. I don’t care how you find a way to watch it, whether it’s on your DVR or you have to use your parent’s cable login. Find a way. It was tremendous, and while I loved it for obvious reasons anytime we get these sort of behind the scenes looks at NBA champions it’s must watch stuff. If you remember they also did a documentary on the ’86 Celtics, which was also incredible, but last night it was my generation’s turn. Watching this brought back feelings I didn’t know I could still feel, and it also reminded me how much I had forgotten about that magical run 10 years ago. Below are a couple of things that stood out to me.
Doc Rivers not caring about what the Celtics did on the plane
I don’t know if those who watched this last night caught this little nugget, but anyone who knows Doc’s history with team planes this was pretty funny. He talked about how he didn’t really give a shit what the Celtics did on their team plane, he wanted it to be a relaxing, fun place. Blast music, gamble, whatever. This made me laugh because if you remember, the reason Tim Duncan didn’t go to the Magic way back when was because Doc was being a jerk about significant others going on the plane. It seemed like he learned from his mistake.
Big Baby thinking Doc gave a shit about him
Big Baby talked about the huge performance he had during the year and how he was expecting Doc to really praise him. He responded by basically telling Big Baby not that he was proud of his effort, but to do it again. He wouldn’t really replicate that performance at any other point during the season, but it reminded me just how much shit Big Baby got while on this team. Remember KG made this dude cry.
I also enjoyed the story of him losing the arm wrestling match to KG. How embarrassing for him.
PJ Brown signing story
We all somewhat knew the details of how PJ ended up joining the team, but hearing him and Paul talk about the specifics were awesome. Pierce lit out of his mind in NO, probably talking a bunch of nonsense at PJ Brown’s house about how they were going to win a title if he joined and all this stuff. Hammered out of his mind. We know Pierce can turn up with the best of em.
But the fact that it was Ray Allen who came up to him the next night at that NBA Players event and was the calm, sober, collective Ray we all know and told him that while hammered, Pierce was telling the truth. That they really DID want him and he could really make a difference. It’s hard to stay mad at Ray knowing that without him there’s no way PJ Brown takes Pierce seriously, meaning the Celtics probably won’t win the title. That’s how important PJ Brown was. That jumper he made changed my life forever.
My favorite part was Brown’s quote about that shot. “Well….it’s going up baby so it’s do or die”.
Reminder that Perk’s voice is an all time voice
I can’t get enough of Perk’s voice. It’s incredible. We knew this going in, but every time we hear him talk, it has to be repeated how awesome he sounds. I’m pretty sure that’s in the Constitution. The slow southern drawl coming from a big ass dude like Perk will never not be amazing. To be honest they should release a directors cut of just Perk’s interview. I would watch that 1000x times.
Sweeping the Texas Triangle
I had actually forgotten about this part of that championship run. Nobody sweeps the Texas triangle, and without doing any sort of research I am going to assume that not many people have done it since. At least during the era when HOU/SA/DAL were all really good. These are the things that we as fans tend to forget over the years which is why I love these type of documentaries. It really helped remind all of us just how dominant this team was. While I remembered this team ending the Rocket’s 22 game winning streak, I didn’t remember the clutch Ray three against DAL with under a minute to go. Man Ray sure was nails.
Garnett going NUTS in the locker room post title
This was my favorite part. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be in that locker room when this celebration went down. You had poor Greg Dickerson getting champagne/beer bukkaked by Garnett, mixed with chaos from everyone else and Garnett was by far the most hyped. If I had the ability to travel back in time to one moment in history, I think it would have to be this one. So jealous of everyone that got to be in that room.
Pierce puking at the parade
Another story I don’t think I had heard before this documentary was Pierce puking while on his duckboat because he got sick hitting his cigar. I don’t know why I found this funny but I did. The entire city is going crazy, everyone loving life on their duckboats, and there was Pierce puking his brains out. I once had a friend in college that did this same thing. Took like 2 hits of his cigar and immediately got sick. I didn’t remember noticing Pierce was nowhere to be found for a stretch during the parade, so learning the back story was cool.
KG hugging Bill Russell
I’ve watched this clip maybe 10,000 times since that title and I can admit that as a man I teared up watching it on my TV. Such an incredible moment, hearing KG talk about how he finally had one of his own, the whole thing to this day makes me very emotional.
Honestly there are so many other great moments, I can’t recommend this enough. Given the depression many Celtics fans have been dealing with over the last couple of days, this could not have come at a better time. I’ll probably rewatch it again tonight, so feel free to comment here or hit me up on Twitter with some of your favorite parts about that documentary/season.
Wild that was 10 years ago already. Need more titles so we can all have these type of documentaries in the future. Imagine champion Yabu? Oh lordy.