All For One—once Again

THE CELTICS' BIG THREE, VERSION 2.0, of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce had been reduced to Two and a Half Men against the Cleveland Cavaliers, only Charlie Sheen wasn't involved and this was no laughing matter.

Allen had looked older than his years (32) in the conference semifinals: sluggish on defense and unsure of his jumper (.328 field goal percentage for a 9.3 scoring average). In Boston's Game 1 win over Cleveland he failed to score a point, something that in Allen's 907 previous regular-season and playoff games had happened only once—when he was a rookie.

But with the Celtics and the Pistons tied at two wins each in the Eastern Conference finals, Allen's game returned to life. Call it the resurrection of Jesus Shuttlesworth. Though Garnett had 33 points and Kendrick Perkins had an 18-and-16 night, it was Allen's 29 that sparked the win. He scored 21 in the second half and, of his five three-pointers on the night, two came on consecutive possessions midway through the third quarter—on Rajon Rondo's 10th and 11th assists of the night—to start an 11-2 run. But Allen's biggest shot was from just inside the arc. With the Celtics up by one with 1:02 to play and three seconds on the shot clock, Allen rolled off a (possibly moving) screen from Garnett and swished a corner jump shot to provide the crucial edge.

It helped Allen to have confident teammates insist that he keep shooting, never mind the slump. Garnett couldn't repeat the personal pep talk he gave his teammate—"too many cuss words," Garnett said. Explained Allen dryly, "Well, you all know he's so intense." When asked how breaking his slump felt, the night's star preserved the team-first party line that the Big Three had been touting since Garnett's introductory press conference, in which he sat not alone, but flanked by Allen and Pierce. "Just winning gives me the greatest joy, regardless of what I've done," Allen said.

In the first two rounds Boston had followed a simple script: win at home, advance in seven games and give thanks for the NBA's best regular-season record. That pattern dissolved when Detroit beat them at the TD Banknorth Garden in Game 2—though that was quickly negated with a road win in Game 3. Just as a third Game 7 looked inevitable when Boston fell behind the Pistons by 10 with 10:29 to play in Game 6, the Celtics put together their best quarter of basketball. Garnett and Pierce scored 20 of the team's 29 points in the final frame, including the Truth's hoop-and-harm three-point play with 5:25 remaining to give the Celtics the lead for good in their 89-81 series-clinching win. "This was the best game we played, the best fourth quarter we played all playoffs long," said Pierce.

Until that moment, Allen, Garnett and Pierce, with their 25 All-Star appearances, would all have been starters on an active team of Best Players Never to Have Made an NBA Finals. After the clinching Game 6 win, Pierce sat next to Garnett at the press conference in the bowels of The Palace of Auburn Hills and reflected on advancing to the Finals, which, a year ago, seemed unimaginable. "I'm just happy to be in this position, still with the Boston Celtics," said Pierce, whose number 34 seems all but assured to be raised to the Garden's rafters upon his retirement. "Without these guys, hey, where would I be?"