The Suns still are a thrill ride, still among the NBA elite. But they have lost their spot on the marquee.
It's the year of green, and the Boston Celtics are the latest basketball craze.
"We had to get through a lot of and a lot of pain to get to this point, believe me," said Danny Ainge, the Celtics' executive director of basketball operations.
Now, there's no reason to be offended by this apparent shift in national sentiment. The Suns' frenetic style of basketball still is immensely popular, even though Grant Hill shooting three-pointers can't be all that good for ratings.
It's simply that the magnetic attraction of a storied franchise finally waking up is powerful, compelling stuff.
Remember, the Celtics bring more to the table than most teams. They bring ghosts, echoes and a mul ude of fans who have been hiding under shamrocks for nearly two decades, since Len Bias died and Michael Jordan took over the league.
"The energy and the excitement in Boston is unbelievable," Ainge said. "People are talking about the Celtics during the World Series, even as the Patriots are running the table. We're back on the map."
Yes, the Celtics are 6-0, the last unbeaten team left. It's just what the NBA needed in a time of public-relations crisis over officiating.
Face it. The Celtics are like the Yankees, a team whose championship banners set the bar for everybody else. They are also like the Green Bay Packers. When they are good and relevant, it's great for league business. Why, surely you remember the choice we all had to make back in the day, the one between Larry's Celtics and Magic's Lakers.
This story gets even better because of the irrepressible Ainge, always brash, always bold, always a talking point wherever he goes. And in the past few years, Bostonians began to turn on him.
Though promisingly successful as head coach of the Suns (before abruptly leaving his post), Ainge's stewardship of the Celtics seemed haphazard and going nowhere. There also were well-publicized rifts with forward Antoine Walker and former coach Jim O'Brien, and until this season, the bottom line was a mess:
Since taking the job in May 2003, Ainge's teams have won 36, 45, 33 and 24 games.
But the late, great Red Auerbach never stopped believing in the former Celtics and Suns star, and it all came together this past summer, when Ainge wrapped up Executive of the Year honors before the season began.
With Paul Pierce screaming for help in the background, Ainge pulled off a trade for veteran sharpshooter Ray Allen. He bartered with the Suns over Shawn Marion, whose agent reportedly nixed the deal, one that could have brought Kevin Garnett to Phoenix. And then Ainge landed Garnett himself, sending tremors through the NBA and instantly electrifying basketball fans in Beantown, who gorged on the idea of Ainge fleecing Kevin McHale (former Celtics star now running the Timberwolves) and receiving a congratulatory call from Larry Bird (now working for the Pacers).
"You know, I just love the sports world," Ainge said. "I've been involved in it my whole life, and I knew coming into Boston that if we weren't prepared to win that there were going to be some tough times ahead for me, my coach, ownership, for everybody. But there are some things you can't tell the fans. You can't always give them all the information on what the plan is. I'm just glad that management and ownership was able to stay on the same page through all of this, through the media criticism and criticism from the fans."
Now Ainge is threatening to become as popular in Boston as Curt Schilling. Ainge has three great players who have bought into this Kelly green dream team, the rebirth of a great franchise. After all, the trio of Garnett, Pierce and Allen has won nothing of consequence in the NBA. Each of the three has been on more All-Star teams than playoff teams, and none has been to the NBA Finals without a ticket.
Yet put them together, throw in a dose of bench/comic relief from Eddie House, and the Celtics have gone from a team that hasn't won a playoff series since 2003 to a championship contender overnight. It has been the perfect storm in the perfect city, and with the recent troubles that have befallen the Knicks and the 76ers, it's nice that the East Coast finally has a heavyweight basketball team for which to cheer.
"It's done more than we even expected, and we expected a lot," Ainge said. "The Celtics have such a rich tradition, and there are so many people over the globe who grew up being Celtics fans and kind of lost interest in the team. We have rekindled that spirit."
In the process, they have taken away some of the Suns' shine, some of their national sentiment. And given Ainge's ties to both organizations, it would be only fitting if these teams could meet in June, for a le that really mattered.
"We'd love to play anybody in the Finals," Ainge said.
We know the feeling.
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