BOSTON — For Brian Shaw, these were the true sights and sounds of Boston.
Celtics flags everywhere. Fans shouting at the Lakers’ bus, most of them decked out in green. Even the driver taking the team to the arena was wearing a Celtics hat.
That was missing in recent years, and so were wins on the basketball court. But with the Celtics back in the NBA Finals, the city has regained a part of its identity.
Beantown has gone green again.
“I’m sure that everybody feels like the team is back where it belongs and things are the way that they are supposed to be,” Shaw said.
Shaw began his career with the Celtics, ended it with the Lakers, and is currently an assistant on Phil Jackson’s staff.
Shaw was drafted in 1988, the year after the Celtics lost to the Lakers in their last Finals appearance. He was traded to Miami in 1992, and later realized that some of the Boston fans left town, too.
“I know that there were games we played here in recent years that wasn’t sold out, which was different,” Shaw said. “The years that I was here, it was always sold out.
“I know a couple of years ago, the fans here were chanting ‘MVP!’ when Kobe put on a show here. That would have never ever happened before. I’m sure that it’s coming back now to the way it was.”
Long before the Red Sox and Patriots became the dominant teams in their sports, it was up to the Celtics to bring titles home to Boston. They often delivered, winning 16 of them.
But the last came in 1986, and in recent years the Celtics were even mocked, when they weren’t being ignored. Once the best in the NBA, they had to settle for being third-best in their own city.
“I know it’s been a struggle for the Celts, since the ’90s, getting fans interested, especially competing against the Red Sox and Patriots,” said Peter Colton, owner and manager of The Four’s, a sports bar across the street from the TD Banknorth Garden. “They’re kind of 1 and 2, so the Celts had to kind of compete with that. Now, they’re back up there.”
