BOSTON – Two days after the Boston Celtics clinched the NBA title, they were feted in a motorcade that paralyzed Beantown for over three hours as thousands of fans lined the city’s busiest streets to celebrate the team’s first title in 22 years.
The players, coaches, owners and staff were perched on more than a dozen amphibian vehicles from Boston Duck Tours while two flatbed trucks carried the Celtics dancers, former players and championship trophies from past years.
Before the season started, Celtics coach Doc Rivers took the Big Three – Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen – on a city tour aboard a duck boat which is as popular in Boston as the New State House (built in 1795 with a dome covered in 23.5 carat gold leaf) and the Paul Revere House (built in 1680, it is the oldest house in downtown and was where the fabled silversmith – the midnight rider warning that the British were coming in 1775 - lived).
The parade started in front of the Celtics home building, the TD Banknorth Garden, and ended at Copley Square.
A spectator, Filipino basketball coach Eric Banes, said the crowd got too unruly that the players never got down from their duck boats to mingle with the fans.
Banes arrived from Manila as Celtics assistant coach Kevin Eastman’s guest to attend a series of clinics, seminars and conferences related to skills development and strength and conditioning.
Banes was formerly an assistant coach for the La Salle Zobel high school basketball team. He now provides specialized one-on-one-training for junior players in Alabang.
“I flew to Boston on my own,” said Banes. “I came here last year and met coach Kevin. There is so much technology to learn and I hope to be able to teach every lesson back home. My plan is to set up clinics in Manila and Cebu with Niño Cinco after my training in the US.”
Banes was at the Garden when the Celtics swamped the Los Angeles Lakers, 131-92, in Game 6 to clinch the NBA championship last Tuesday. It was the second largest margin of victory in an NBA Finals game, next only to Chicago’s 42-point blowout of Utah in 1998. However, it was the largest margin of victory in a title clincher.
Making good use of his time, Banes was at the National Strength and Conditioning Association meeting at the University of Connecticut last June 13-14 and attended the Institute of Performance and Fitness in Andover, Massachusetts, under the guidance of Celtics strength and conditioning coach Walter Norton.
“My schedule was coordinated by coach Kevin and Mike Boyle, a strength and conditioning coach associated with pro basketball, football and baseball players and Olympians,” Banes went on. “It’s an internship review program.”
Banes is scheduled to attend the Steve Nash Academy for the top 20 American high school point guards in New Jersey on June 25-28 and the LeBron James US Skills Academy for the top 80 prep stars in Akron, Ohio, on July 5-9.
There are other camps to be conducted by Amare Stoudemire for power forwards in Phoenix, Vince Carter for small forwards in Orlando and Paul Pierce for two guards in Santa Ana, California for the high school stars before they all congregate for the culminating James Academy.
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A touching sidelight to the Finals story was Celtics star Ray Allen’s devotion to his 17-month-old son Walker.
Before Game 5 of the Finals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Allen’s son was hospitalized and later diagnosed with diabetes. Allen played that night and rushed to his son’s side right after the final buzzer. He finished with 16 points, including 3-of-8 triples, as the Celtics lost a 103-98 decision to the Lakers last Sunday.
Allen, 32, didn’t join his teammates on the flight back to Boston. His teammates went through a four-hour flight delay and arrived in Boston early Monday evening. Allen flew in Tuesday morning the day of Game 6 and brought his son to the hospital.
Allen was in uniform for the tip-off and wound up with 26 points, including 7-of-9 treys. The next day, he joined Kevin Garnett in showing off the NBA championship trophy at David Letterman’s show in New York.
“We found out before Game 5 that he was going to be admitted to the hospital and they did blood work and they found out that he was diabetic,” Allen told Letterman. “I didn’t know what to think. At first, it was a shock and it hurt us, seeing him in the hospital after the game, seeing him connected to tubes. As a parent, it bothered me tremendously but you know, now, we’re on the right track and we’re definitely going to take care of him for the rest of his life. That day, I really put it all in perspective and you know, we’re playing in one of the biggest games of our careers and I thought about him in the hospital and I said, well, where are my priorities at this moment. You know what, I want to be with these guys but the little fella’s whom I want to be with most.”
Allen was born in a US Air Force Base and is the third of five children (his father Walter, mother Flo and sisters Kim and Kristie all played semi-pro basketball). His brother John played high school football. His parents are estranged. He has three children - daughter Tierra, Walter Ray and Walker.