The Boston Celtics' "Big Three" have played like the Boston Celtics' "Big Three" of old over the course of the last month or so. In fact, they've played so well that some NBA analysts believe they might be able to shock the world and win the Eastern Conference this season (for the record, we'll admit that they've looked good recently, but we still think they'll be lucky to make it out of the first round). However, now comes the news that the "Big Three" was almost dismantled at the NBA trade deadline.
According to a Yahoo! Sports report, the Celts had a deal in place that would have sent Ray Allen to the Memphis Grizzlies last month in exchange for O.J. Mayo and a draft pick. This wasn't just some last-minute deal that they tried to get done, either. It actually got so far along that Celtics coach Doc Rivers called Allen and told him he'd been traded…before backtracking a little while later and calling to tell him that the deal was off. In a separate deal, the Celtics also attempted to trade Paul Pierce to the New Jersey Nets for the expiring contract of Mehmet Okur and a lottery pick. But, that deal never got finished, either, and the "Big Three" survived quite the scare.
How will that affect them now that the news is public? Well, it didn't affect them at all when the news was still private and they've been playing about as well as they have all season recently. But, this does tell us that this is definitely the last hurrah for the "Big Three." So, don't look for them to go down without a fight.
[via Yahoo! Sports]
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