The Big Three: Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and the Rebirth of the Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics have been no strangers to NBA success, their all-time record 17 NBA championships matched by the Los Angeles Lakers in the abbreviated 2019–20 season. Many of these titles came early in the 1950s and 1960s. Two more titles came during the 1970s, and the Celts’ original Big Three of Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale earned three more in the 1980s. Then came leaner years until the Big Three of this book—big men Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and sharpshooting Ray Allen—led Boston to the 2008 title. Sportswriter Holley (Belichick and Brady), of course, concentrates on that magical season and the next few years that the Big Three remained together, but he bookends this discourse with copious inside information on how General Manager and former player Danny Ainge and other Boston executives manipulated bringing this team and coach Doc Rivers together and, after all had departed, have orchestrated a largely successful rebuilding process. Holley also offers insight into the Celts’ main challenge in 2008: the Cleveland Cavaliers led by superstar LeBron James.