Celtics clinch NBA title with total team effort

BOSTON -- Paul Pierce was brought to tears. Kevin Garnett was downright giddy. Ray Allen couldn't stop smiling. Doc Rivers, of course, kept it all together.

This was way before the game ended. When you win the clinching game in The Finals as convincingly as the Boston Celtics did against the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday night, you begin the celebrating early. Like with 4:01 left. That's when Pierce, Garnett and Allen walked off the floor Tuesday night and into a big group hug.

They're probably still hugging. They have plenty to hug about and celebrate. The first championship for all three. The 17th for the Celtics, the first in 22 years. An 82-win season. A 13-1 playoff record at home. And one of the most lopsided clinching victories you'll ever see: 131-92.

Let Garnett explain the feeling of winning a championship after a dozen years of trying, and 10 months of carrying the expectations of a city that has now won five major pro championships in five years. "It's like that bully that you go to school every day and you know when you get out of your mom's or dad's car, he's sitting there waiting to pat your pockets and mess with you," said Garnett, smiling but composed in his post-game press conference. "Then one day you say, this is going to stop today. You walk in and as soon as he pats your pocket, you lay his (rear) out and you see the expression on his face, and you're sort of kind of shook because you know, what, you just knocked the bully out and you don't know how he's going to come back. The next morning when you come in and he's not there, it's like a sigh of relief. It's like getting rid of the bully. I knocked his (rear) clean out. That's what it feels like."

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Congratulations to the Celtics...

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