Garden rocking with rafter effects
The Celtics opened their 2008-09 season last night with a loud and loving celebration of basketball in Boston, a blowout that surely defined the term "hoopla."
Tears streaming down his face, captain Paul Pierce led his teammates in raising the Celtics' 17th championship banner to the rafters of TD Banknorth Garden, nestling the flag between the 1986 banner and the one bearing the franchise's retired numbers.
The packed house, which rose for the national anthem and remained standing for the half-hour of hullabaloo and hubbub, roared for every pull on the ropes as the banner was hoisted.
It was an extraordinary event. Even as the October afternoon faded into evening, a double rainbow touched down on the roof of the Garden, a celestial touch for the team that brought Boston a pot of gold last spring.
The building was bathed in green light while raucous fans streamed in. As television technicians set up their equipment and ushers took their stations in the stands, the Celtics and Cavaliers took the parquet to warm up. The crowd filtered into the arena carrying their swag: green T-shirts emblazoned with a "2008 TipOff" logo. For many, it was green on green, as they put their new Celtic shirts over the replica uniform shirts they were wearing.
Danny Ainge, newly anointed as president of basketball operations, was courtside, wreathed in a smile he just couldn't put down.
The arena was filled by 7:30, and the fans couldn't wait for the 7:38 start of the ceremony; when the Jumbotron showed Kevin Garnett stretching in the hallway outside the locker room, the cheering started. It grew louder as the rest of the Celtics joined Garnett, formed a circle, and began jumping up and down. The cheers became roars as the team ran onto the court.
Boston College basketball star Ayla Brown sang the national anthem, with the nation's colors presented by the Otis Air National Guard honor guard. A video played on the huge screen, and the players watched as intently as the fans while their championship season was played back in a stream of highlights.
Then came the NBA championship trophy, carried by John Havlicek, leading a team of Celtics legends that included Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn, Satch Sanders, JoJo White, M.L. Carr, and Cedric Maxwell. "We Are the Champions" blasted through the Garden's sound system. When Havlicek reached the court, he handed off the trophy to Pierce, who clutched it and began to weep.
NBA commissioner David Stern and Celtics owners Wyc Grousbeck, Steve Pagliuca, and Paul Epstein took the stage to present the first jewelry for the team in 22 years. First, the executives, trainers, and coaches, who had been presented with their rings earlier in the day, came onto the court to be congratulated. Then came coach Doc Rivers, earning a thunderous cheer.
Rivers shook hands with the owners, placed the jewelry on the ring finger of his left hand, then stole a quick look at it as he joined the other coaches.
Then came the players, each one looking over the coveted ring as it was placed in his hand. It is, after all, all about the ring.
The vitals on the Celtics' 17th championship ring: It's a quarter-pound hunk of white gold, with three emeralds forming a shamrock embedded in a field of 92 diamonds. And there is a special touch: Each bears Red Auerbach's signature engraved on the inside.
On one side of the ring are Banner No. 17, the Celtics logo, and the motto "Ubuntu," a South African term adopted by the team last year that translates, roughly, to "I am, because we are." On the other side is the player's name and the number 17.
Leon Powe was called first, and then came Glen Davis, Gabe Pruitt, Sam Cassell, Tony Allen (who slipped the ring on his finger in a flash, as if it might get away if he didn't immediately claim ownership), Brian Scalabrine, Eddie House, Scot Pollard, Kendrick Perkins, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and then, as the cheers crescendoed, Pierce, who walked onto the court to the chant of "M-V-P!"
Pierce held his ring between his thumb and finger and raised it in the air, saluting the fans.
The banner was next, and as the team lifted it into place, what seemed to be a million dollars worth of digital cameras and cellphones were lifted by the audience, flashes popping as the fans claimed their own mementos.
After the starting lineups were introduced, Pierce took the floor and addressed the crowd.
"Sometimes you don't know if this day will ever come," he said. "Dreams do come true."
Barbara Matson can be reached at matson@globe.com. 