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Beantown Has Gone Green Again

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 9, 2008

BOSTON - For Brian Shaw, these were the true sights and sounds of Boston.

Celtics flags everywhere. Fans shouting at the Lakers' bus, most of them decked out in green. Even the driver taking the team to the arena was wearing a Celtics hat.

That was missing in recent years, and so were wins on the basketball court. But with the Celtics back in the NBA Finals, the city has regained a part of its identity.
Beantown has gone green again.

"I'm sure that everybody feels like the team is back where it belongs and things are the way that they are supposed to be," Shaw said.

Shaw began his career with the Celtics, ended it with the Lakers, and is now an assistant on Phil Jackson's staff. Los Angeles was trying to even the series Sunday night in Game 2 before if shifted to the West Coast.

Shaw was drafted in 1988, the year after the Celtics lost to the Lakers in their last finals appearance. He was traded to Miami in 1992, and later realized that some of the fans left town, too.

"I know that there were games we played here in recent years that wasn't sold out, which was different," Shaw said. "The years that I was here it was always sold out.

"I know a couple of years ago the fans here were chanting 'MVP!' when Kobe put on a show here, that would have never ever happened before. So I think that the culture kind of changed. I'm sure that it's coming back now to the way it was."

Long before the Red Sox and Patriots became the dominant teams in their sports, it was up to the Celtics to bring titles home to Boston. They often delivered, winning 16 of them, tops in the NBA.

PIERCE OK FOR GAME 2: Celtics forward Paul Pierce was ready to go for Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Pierce took part in Sunday morning's shootaround at the team's practice facility and showed no ill-effects of the right knee sprain that sent him to the locker room in a wheelchair during Game 1.

For results of Sunday night's late Game 2,

go to Keyword: Sports.

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