Garnett, Pierce, Allen
In the summer of 2007, Boston’s much maligned general manager Danny Ainge pulled off two massive trades. He first acquired shooting guard extraordinaire Ray Allen. A month later, he traded for Kevin Garnett, and laid the seeds to the Celtics best team since the days of Bird, McHale and Parish. The two stars were added to long suffering Celtics’ hero Paul Pierce, who had spent nine years with the Celtics. In the trio’s first year together, Boston won 66 games and beat the Lakers in the NBA Finals.
Garnett was selected the Defensive Player of the Year, and his shutdown defending greatly complimented the shooting of Pierce and Allen. A 62-win season followed, but Boston was upended in the playoffs by Orlando. Boston returned to the finals in 2010, but the Lakers got revenged on their archrivals, winning the title in seven. The big 3 spent two more seasons together, but couldn’t reach the finals. Allen left in 2012 for Miami, ending the Celtics terrific trio.