Bill Russell was beaming. John Havlicek got as much air time as a fan as he did as an iconic member of a basketball dynasty. Tom Heinsohn stood watching proudly, as did Jo Jo White.
It was Celtic pride at its fullest, the reminiscences of a bygone era during the celebration of the current one.
And of all the franchises in the history of the NBA, none do history better than the newly crowned champions.
"You know you're a Celtic when the other players come up to you and they congratulate you to be here,"
said Kevin Garnett, who embraced the team's history in his first season in Boston. "They explain the tradition to be here. It's like coming into a frat. They let you know right away that it's about tradition here and it's about the team."
Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all contributed to that legacy when they gave the Celtics the 17th championship in franchise history with a 131-92 demolition of the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
"They don't hang up any other banners but championship ones, and now I'm a part of it,"
said Pierce. "And just all the years talking to Bill and John, (Bob) Cousy, finally I feel like we've come out of that shadow now and created our own. Now we can stand up and look them eye to eye and say, hey, we accomplished it, too."
But this team is not like any of the Celtic teams that went before it. Back in the day, the legendary Red Auerbach would simply re-tool from era to era, seamlessly shifting from the Russell-Havlicek era to Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.
There was never the kind of bold move current general manager Danny Ainge made last summer when he traded for Garnett and Ray Allen in a gigantic leap of faith that put three stars – including the incumbent Paul Pierce – together for a wild ride that culminated in Tuesday's Game 6 clincher.
The task now is to see whether this Big Three can match the other great Celtic teams for continued dominance.
Garnett will be 31 years old and in his 14th year when next season begins, Pierce will be 31 and Allen 33. Free agents Eddie House, Tony Allen and Sam Cassell may or may not be back and James Posey can opt out of the final year of his contract if he wants.
With so much salary tied up in Garnett, Pierce and Allen (combined they'll be paid about $60 million next season), the general manager will be hard-pressed to find a group of backups who can give Boston what it got from its bench this year.
But if the next group embraces the past like this one did, the Celtics may be around the top of the East, and the league, for a while.
"It's so much motivation coming in here every day with the banners on the wall and seeing the explayers come in and watching you practice,"
said Garnett, by far the most emotional of the three stars in the aftermath of Tuesday's ridiculously easy victory. "There's so much responsibility putting this jersey on that I don't really think you guys understand how much responsibility it is to come in here to carry tradition, Celtic pride."
"It's a lot of pressure, but when you lean on each other and you actually diversify throughout a group of 15 or 13 guys, it's no problem. Really, I know it sounds kind of old fashioned, but it's real talk,"
he added.
"As soon as you come through the doors and you see those banners and see the jerseys and the pictures, you know that you're around something special, and it is different."
