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Thousands throng Boston for Celtics parade

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-20 10:59

BOSTON - Green and white confetti rained on Boston on Thursday as thousands of people jammed the streets for a parade to celebrate the Celtics' 17th championship win and first NBA title in 22 years.

Boston Celtics Paul Pierce holds up his MVP trophy during the Celtics' NBA championship victory parade through the streets of Boston, Massachusetts June 19, 2008. The Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers on June 17 to win the NBA basketball championship. [Agencies]

Aboard amphibious "duck boat" tour buses with confetti blowing on a bright spring morning, the Celtics basked in the cheers of supporters who lined the streets behind steel barriers from the TD Banknorth Garden to Copley Square.

Team captain Paul Pierce puffed on a cigar while holding aloft his trophy as Most Valuable Player in the National Basketball Association Finals championship run that ended on Tuesday with a powerful 131-92 rout of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The team's 'Big Three' -- Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett -- waved to a sea of fans dressed in green -- from t-shirts to jackets, baseball hats, green golf shirts, green-painted faces and even white-and-green wigs.

The so-called "rolling rally" was Boston's sixth championship celebration in seven years following recent successes of the Red Sox baseball team and the New England Patriots in the National Football League.

"We're going to do it again next year," shouted Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck as he gripped the championship banner that will soon hang from the Garden's rafters.

The win marked a revival of the storied but tarnished Celtics franchise and capped one of the NBA's most dramatic turnarounds following an embarrassing 2007 when the Celtics won an Eastern Conference-worst 24 regular-season games.

By acquiring Garnett and Allen, they became title contenders, winning 66 regular-season games and reviving "Celtics pride" in the sports-mad and once-predominantly Irish-Catholic city that still lionizes Celtics' legends of the past -- Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.

Screaming fans held up signs reading "Sweet 17", "We beat LA" and "NBA champions" as Garnett punched the air with one hand, smoked a cigar and held up the NBA championship's Larry O'Brien trophy. Cheerleaders danced with green pom poms.

The team's 289 lb (131 kg) center Glen "Big Baby" Davis peeled off his shirt, swinging it in the air before going topless, playing air guitar and shouting "what's going on" as the crowd roared.