Celtics snap Spurs hex

The four NBA titles in nine years that the San Antonio Spurs have enjoyed? That was supposed to happen in Boston.
Tim Duncan was supposed to be the next great player to carry on the Celtics' tradition. He was the player that would have restored Celtic Pride to what it was during The Bird Era in the 1980s. His effortless skill had every team in the league wishing that the No. 1 pick in the 1997 draft was theirs. 
Boston did everything it could to acquire that pick. The Celtics were a bad team in a league dominated by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. They had no hope for the future, a pathetic team sinking slowly into irrelevance. Duncan was going to be the shot of adrenalin that the team and the city needed to care about basketball again and Rick Pitino, Boston's new head coach and team president, would be the man to assemble a supporting cast and guide the Celtics back to respectability.
But a funny thing happened on the way to rebuilding. The Celtics didn't win the lottery despite having the league's worst record, the Spurs selected Duncan and Boston took two players, Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer, who lasted a combined total of three seasons with the Celtics. Pitino was gone after four excruciating years, leaving the team he promised to turn around in complete shambles.
Fast forward to Sunday at the TD Banknorth Garden. The Celtics finally exorcised the Duncan demons with a 98-90 win over the Spurs, the first time that Duncan has tasted defeat in Boston during his 10-year career. San Antonio had won 17 straight games against the Celtics, a painful streak that served as a constant reminder of just how close Boston had come to changing its fortunes a decade ago. 
Times have changed for the Celtics thanks to offseason trades for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, but one of the familiar faces carried Boston on Sunday. Paul Pierce picked up the slack for the injured Garnett by pouring in 35 points and Rajon Rondo proved how important a great point guard is to a championship team by dominating San Antonio to the tune of 12 assists and 11 rebounds. Think Tony Parker might have been a little tougher for Rondo to beat on? Rondo feasted on Jacque Vaughn and disgruntled Damon Stoudemire instead. 
No, this doesn't mean that Boston is ready to topple the Spurs and win Banner 17. And no, it doesn't mean that Rondo is ready to become one of the best point guards in the league. And no, finally, it doesn't mean that the Celtics can beat elite teams without Garnett on a consistent basis. They don't have the depth to do that. It just felt good to watch Boston finally turn the page on a constant reminder of how far the once-proud franchise had fallen. Maybe the Celtics really are ready to reclaim some of their lost pride.