The long-awaited Banner 17 was raised at the home of the Boston Celtics only after a championship drought of 22 years and two blockbuster trades in the summer of 2007. The Celtics first acquired Ray Allen and a draft pick from Seattle for Wally Szerbiak, Delonte West, and Boston's 5th Overall pick in the NBA Draft. Then on July 31, 2007, the Celtics acquired former MVP and perennial All-Star Kevin Garnett for Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, a 2009 first round draft pick (top three protected) and a return of Minnesota's conditional first round draft pick. Although the trades gutted the roster, Boston was able to assemble a "Big Three" in Garnett, Allen, and All-Star Paul Pierce.
The Boston Celtics would finish the 2007-08 season with the best record in the NBA, 66-16, and after a challenging first round series with the Atlanta Hawks, they advanced to the Eastern Conference crown and faced the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2008 NBA Finals. Factoring in the Lakers strong playoff run to the Finals and the Celtics problems of even reaching the Finals with two 7-game series, the Lakers were favored to beat a seemingly tired Boston team, even with Boston holding homecourt advantage. The first games of the series started with the Celtics once again dominating at home. Game 1 saw Paul Pierce suffer a knee injury early in the game only to come back and make 70 percent of his attempted field goals, resulting in a 98–88 Celtics win. In Game 2, Boston nearly lost a 24-point lead only to win 108–102. The Lakers returned to Staples Center and won Game 3, 87–81. When Los Angeles took a 24-point lead in the second quarter of Game 4 the Celtics appeared to be losing control of the series. Led by a bench that outscored the Lakers bench by 20 points, the Celtics took over Game 4 with a victory, the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history.
Although the Los Angeles Lakers won Game 5, 103–98, the series went back to Boston for Game 6, and the Celtics finished off Los Angeles with a 131–92 victory, claiming the most lopsided win in a NBA Finals game since the Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz by 42 points in the 1998 NBA Finals, and the all-time largest margin of victory in a deciding game. Paul Pierce was named NBA Finals MVP.
The Celtics had won their record 17th NBA championship, a championship 22 years in the making. Banner 17 would be the first new NBA Championship banner to be raised to the rafters in the new TD Banknorth Garden.
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