Or does it?
Eight months after the Celtics launched their historic campaign for redemption with a preseason opener in the Eternal City, they are NBA champions.
The franchise’s 17th championship banner - an NBA record - will adorn the rafters on Causeway Street, and Pierce, upon further reflection, will take a view of the Garden’s ceiling over Michelangelo’s fresco any day.
For the Celtics and generations of fans, it doesn’t get any better than this.
From the wild streets of Rome, where a tiny car crashed into Glen “Big Baby” Davis and the driver jumped out to make sure his vehicle was OK, Boston’s Shamrocked Wonders steamrolled back to NBA supremacy, ultimately pancaking the Lakers in a six-game championship series rich with memorable moments.
All hail the triumvirate: Pierce, Garnett, and Allen. For a combined 32 seasons, they had strived in vain to call themselves champions until Celtics mastermind Danny Ainge, channeling the late, great Red Auerbach, gave them a chance to do it together.
In a season of milestones, none sweeter for long-suffering fans than the Celtics cathartically clinching the title Tuesday on Legends Way, the New Big Three wasted little time after their Roman holiday sending a message to the league and silencing the skeptics.
Would they let their egos get in the way of greatness? Not these paisans.
Would they respect Doc Rivers enough for him to prove he could coach with the best? Check.
Would they help a few relatively unproven bench players become vital members of a championship-caliber team? Affirmative.
Together they wrote history, orchestrating the NBA’s greatest one-year turnaround by remaking a tottering team that staggered to a 24-58 finish the previous season into a 66-16 supershredder.
The new Celtics made basketball at the Garden fun again. They also made their alumni proud by preventing Lakers coach Phil Jackson from capturing his 10th NBA title, which would have eclipsed Auerbach.
