It had been a long and winding road for the Boston Celtics and their fans.
No team should have to endure 22 years of futility, heartache, and unmistakable tragedy, especially if they are the most decorated and honored franchise in the history of their league.
There was once a time in which Celtics fans thought it was their birthright to at the very least contend for an NBA title year after year.
Once the Celtics had raised their 16th championship banner to the rafters of the grand old lady on Causeway Street known as the Boston Garden back in 1986, few could have predicted the free fall that followed.
The agonizing period of misfortune included everything from career-ending injuries to catastrophic deaths that confounded basketball fans for a score and two years.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. Before 1986, the longest the Celtics had gone without winning an NBA title was 5 years. The gap between championships in this instance was a little over quadruple the time.
So you can imagine how happy the Celtics and their legions of fans were last night when Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnet held the Larry O'Brien trophy high over their heads. It was nothing more than redemption for a long and frustrating past.
Back in 1986, no Celtic fan ever thought they could have suffered through a time period of more pain than sitting through "Howard the Duck", the undisputed movie bomb of that year. Trust me when I tell you though, nothing was more painful thsn this.
A few months after their 16th championship, it appeared that the Celtics were going to be unstoppable.
They had just a kid out of Maryland, Bias was his name, and several scouts were comparing him to Michael Jordan.
If their projections were accurate, the Celtics would be perennial championship contenders for years to come.
However, an unfortunate thing happened the night he was drafted. He went to a party and tried some cocaine, he apparently had so much of it that it caused his heart to stop, killing him instantly at the age of 20.
Len Bias's death not only killed the chances for a greart NBA career, but it also served as a harbinger of things to come for the team that drafted him.
The period of doom did not start off that bad, the Celtics were defeated in the NBA Finals in 1987, and the Eastern Conference Finals in 1988. However, after that, everything started to unravel.
In the early 1990's, the Celtics were disseminated by injuries. Larry Bird missed a lot of time with various knee and shoulder ailments, and Kevin McHale and Robert were not as dominant as in year's past. The Celtics were still a good enough team to make the playoffs, but they often would exit in the first round.
Then, just as it appeared that a young man from Northeastern University named Reggie Lewis was about to replace the retired Larry Bird as the team's offensive and spiritual leader, he dropped dead of a heart attack at the all too young age of 27.
The next couple of years were dreadful. The Celrics signed a way past his prime Dominique Wilkins in 1994 to spruce up their defense.
Although "Nique" was still decent enough to carry the Celts to the postseason, he was no longer the flashy and gifted player he was with the Hawks. Predictably, the Celtics were dominated by the young, upstarted Orlando Magic and quietly excited in the first round.
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