It’s hard not to be intense when Kevin Garnett is on your team. For the 07-08 Celtics, that fire extended beyond the court and into every waking moment they spent together.
Episode 6 of NBC Sports Boston’s “Anything is Podable” goes behind-the-scenes with the members of the world champion Celtics to get a never-before-heard glimpse into the games and competitions that brought them all closer together.
“Everything is about competition and we, as a staff, understood that early,” said Doc Rivers. “For practices, if there was no score, it was a bad practice. All you had to do was put a winner and a loser and the practice went from here to here. It was just that type of group.”
Whether it was on road trips, at practice, or in the weight room, everything about the team revolved around competition and an innate desire to win.
“Everything was competitive,” stated Rajon Rondo. “The boxing gloves came out in the weight room.”
As is the case with every great team, the bonding off the court was essential to finding success on it. Anything that could possibly be turned into a competition, was.
Arm wrestling? Check.
Boston Celtics
Push-upsYou bet.
On a road trip in Miami, Paul Pierce challenged Glen Davis to eat a large piece of bread in under one minute.
“Have you ever tried to eat a piece of bread like that?” Davis asked. “It gets dry. You can’t swallow it. It sounds easy, but people don’t know how dry bread is...I almost like choked and died.”
“You’re talking about a guy who loved to eat,” Pierce joked.
“I couldn’t do it,” Davis responded.
Competition off the court breeds competition on the court and, while the talent helped, little games like the ones played on road trips were vital to the Celtics achieving their ultimate goal.
Anything is Podable is a ten-part series diving into the story of the 2008 Celtics and their championship season, with exclusive, never-before-heard interviews with team executives, former players, and media members.
Narrated by Kyle Draper, it’s the perfect way for Celtics fans to pass time this offseason and get excited for 2018-19, a season in which the Celtics have as good a chance at raising their 18th championship banner as they’ve had since that magical 2008 season.
Fans can subscribe to the podcast through the link below and check out the other nine episodes for a look at this exclusive series.