Love him or hate him ; you have to admit, Ainge is a winner. He definately knows how to pull a rabbit out of his hat. Boston is rapidly becoming the sports capital of the world. It must be the Celtic pride and the Patriot spirit. Way to go Boston, and congrats to Ainge.

Thank goodness Paul Pierce finally put Danny Ainge under fire 12 months ago by saying that he better start doing his job or else he would demand a trade. Ainge had no other choice but to actually start trying to build a team. After he was given pressure, he got on the phone, pleaded and begged Seattle for Ray Allen, and then did a little kiss up with Kevin Mchale and pulled KG out of Minnesota. So things like this can happen. I just wish D-Will would threaten Kevin O'connor and Larry Miller and see them under pressure make some deals.

1. Danny Ainge has friends in the media?
2. How silly and pathetic the mighty West must feel. See what happens when a TEAM actually plays defense. Congratulations Boston. I hope this team stays together for a long time and motivates others to learn how to play defense.
3. The best stat of game 6. Sam Cassell DNP Coach's (sic) Decision (Don't ask me why Yahoo wants to say Coach Is Decision) Anyway, maybe Mr. Cassell was too stoned to play. (Message to Danny Ainge; trade Cassell to Golden State for 13 fish dinners at fishermans' wharf. Hurry before the price of Cheetos goes up again in Boston, as it does every year during the off-season)

Way to put Ainge in the headline. Always good to hear about any BYU alumni and their successes.

What a great victory!! Way to go Ainge and the Celtics!!

Awesome. Don't forget the Red Sox. It's a good time to be a sports fan in New England.

If you think the Lakers were the best team in the West this year, you didn't watch many games. Yes, they put a run together in the playoffs, with a lot of help from the league (can you say "Kobe-19 FT attempts per game?" Good, I knew you could!). Notice that in the Finals, the refs stopped giving Kobe 19-20 FT attempts per game and the Lakers lost 4-1. The Celtics had the best record in the league, but that was based mainly on playing pathetic teams from the East four times each. The Spurs, Jazz, and a healthy Rockets team were all solid teams with good defenses that would have performed much better against the Celtics than the Lakers without Kobe's special treatment. Kudos to Ainge for putting that team together, and kudos to the Celtics for convincing the league to level the playing field in the fouls department. But don't spout off about how this proves the West was overrated or the East underrated. The Celtics were the only team in the East that would have made the playoffs if they were all in the West.

Of course he has Utah friends -- all of those BYU fans who remember his playing years. Ute fans would obviously still despise him since he beat Utah like a drum his last three seasons at BYU:)

Cut Ainge a break here! Danny is a winner and has proven it in every facet of his life. Yeah, he agrees that he is sometimes over-competitive, but all the sports greats have that zeal and drive that seems to offend some while garnishing overwhelming success at the same time. Ainge continues to surround himself with winners and my guess he will fiercely compete in whatever venue he is participating. It's simply his instinctive nature! He can't help it!

Congrats to Boston for a well played series. Total opposite shame on you to LA for showing the world how to collapse and being the embarrassment of the NBA.

YES! DANNY AINGE IS A WINNER!

I ONLY WISH MR. MILLER WOULD HAVE NOT GIVEN IN TO THE MOST OVER-HYPED PLAYER IN THE HISTORY OF THE NBA (CARL MALONE) AND MADE DANNY A PART OF THE BACKCOURT WITH JOHN STOCKTON AND THE JAZZ PROBABLY WOULD HAVE A CHAMPIONSHIP BANNER!!!

LARRY MILLER WOULD BE WISE TO DO ALL HE CAN TO MAKE AINGE A PART OF HIS TEAM TO BUILD A CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM AS AN EXECUTIVE--- HE DID IN BOSTON !!! AS A PLAYER AND A MANAGER!!

Chill with the all caps! It's giving me a headache...

It's not surprising the Ainge was instrumental in returning the Celtics to their rightful place as NBA champions.

Danny has always been a winner.

If Coach Sloan could get all of the Jazz players to play with the tenacity of a Danny Ainge, the Jazz would be celebrating a championship next year.

The pieces are there, this edition of the Jazz just needs to learn how to compete to win every game, like Ainge did.

In the days before the 3-pointer, Ainge had ONE game in his college career, early in his Freshman year, in which he didn't score in double figures.

"Coach's Decision" is correct. The "'s" in this case is a possessive, meaning decision of the coach, not (as you seem to think) a contraction. Unfortunately, too many people on these boards do not seem to understand the difference between possessives, plurals, and (in this case) contractions.

Hey Eye Dee Ten Tee,

That apostrophe in "coach's" isn't a contraction or short for "coach is" it is used to show ownership. As in the coach made the decision.

I officiated Danny in high school basketball when he was in Eugene OR. He was something to watch then, as he was in baseball. I caught a few of those also. Then, at the Y, he was the best college hoops plater in the nation. Grasp that FACT. If he wasn't so good, ther Celtics would not have spent a bundle to buy his contract from Toronto, and then keep him. That team of Celts, with Bird and Walton, were the best passing team around. There were stars, but they were a team. You do not see that much anymore, just a bunch of inner-city thugs and whiners (Lakers). The Europeans are getting more in numbers, they play TEAM ball. Love 'ya, Danial Ray.

Kobie just could not share the lime-light with Shaq. And his dream of becomming the lakers only "Superstar" has come true. Congrats to Kobie, you got what you deserved!!

The NBA finals are like the Energizer Bunny...the just keep going, and going, and going...

But congrats to Danny-boy!

I hate Boston. Always have. Always will.

I hated Danny Ainge When he played for Boston. He always looked like he was about to cry.

Did I mention I hate Boston?

And so it goes. I will my eat Crow with dignity.

Please pass the salt.

Whoa. Hold on. If I wanted an english lesson...Yikes! Give it a rest.

Congrats to the Celtics. The Jazz were one of the few teams to beat them on their home court. But then got whooped by New York...go figure. I think the Jazz matched up better with the Celts and could have given them a run for the title but they couldn't get by LA. LA deserved to be there, they won fair and square. Kobe wasn't the only player that scored and rebounded in that series. Gasol and Odom took it to the hole every opportunity they had. Too many conspiracy theories running through these comments. Need more facts and debate. The Jazz are young and will be good into the future with a few additions in the off-season. O'Connor has sprung some good deals and will again.

Kobie sure got it alright. Some humble pie!

The NBA is all about business and not making waves, and Ainge is smart enought to know that. KG is on the downhill slide of his career and had no help on the court to make the Bucks a winner. He wanted out. He still had value, as we have seen, so a trade was made. And maybe down the road McHale will see some be benefits from the trade, maybe not.

Not sure why the Ray Allen trade happened.

Sometimes things fall into place and sometimes they don't. Who could have guessed the events that took place so the Jazz could sign Boozer, Memo, and move up in the Draft to get Williams.

If Detroit hadn't made the decision to go after and get Wallace, Memo probably would still be a piston. Bet they wished they still had Memo but they thought Wallace would help them get the ring, and It didn't workout.
The ball does make some interesting bounces.

Imagine where the Jazz could have gone if the refs had made the same kind of calls in our series as they did in the Boston series.

How sweet it is. 22 years is a long time.

And after 22 years it is still lunch-pail vs showtime.

The best decision the Danny made was one year ago. I remember the Celtics coming here to play the Jazz. I remember the headlines went something like this," Will Doc Survive another day?" Rumors were strong that he would get fired that day in Salt Lake City. At the end of the year Danny decided to give Doc another year, and everyone scratched their heads, including me. Doc was amazing this year. He put defense back into basketball. Danny.... you job for keeping him, I bet a lot of people thought you were crazy....

The picture of Ainge being embraced, head rubbed and pointed to last night, by Pierce, Allen, and Garnett sais it all.

Ainge was the mastermind in bringing back Boston's glory.

Red Auerbach knew it, when he, (as some said at the time), "wasted" a pick on Ainge, because Ainge said he was playing baseball. Red knew what he wanted.

And Red also knew it, when he insisted that the owners hire Ainge to rebuild and manage the team.

Two common threads here, Ainge and Auerbach.

The new ownership stated a few years ago, Danny, "you bring us a championship and we will retire your number 44".

Get ready critics, because, it's Well deserved!

The fabulous sports babe once said "after the idiot coach traded Ainge, Boston never won another championship", even though they still had the big 3.

Until now.

So to all you UofU fans, Clyde Drexler, DAve Fox, who still thinks Danny bit Tree Rollins finger, and all the critics of Danny over the years,
SCOREBOARD, READ IT AND WEEP.

And to Phil Jackson, who Danny lost to twice in the finals with Portland and Phoenix,

one word Phil, CARMA!

Danny is class.

ajarizona

To all of the idiots who are taking pot shots at Ainge:

If it were not for Danny Ainge not a soul in the rest of the United States would know where Utah was or what it stood for. We New Englanders love the guy and and hated the day he got traded for a lousy back-up center. We finally got him back to run things and our Celtics are playing much like the teams of old.

PS to Laker fans: It is true that the Celts have now won 17 championships but the only ones we count are the 8 we won from the Lakers. :-)

So, Detroit lost to the Celtics and Flip was fired. Is Phil next? Wouldn't that be sweet. I hate Kobe and hate Phil even more. Hmmm. Two tries without Shaq and no ring. Couldn't be happier.
I hope the Jazz stop losing to the bad teams and show who is really the best team in the West along with the home court advantage that comes from showing up every night. On the road or at home. Thank yiou Celtics!

Rise and shout Danny is out a wizard is he doing what he loves and take it another notch bam!bam!
Auhrebach must be lighting up another ghampion cigar.

My family have been big Ainge fans for years. We loved him at Boston, were very proud when he walked away from coaching Phoenix to spend time with his family and are proud of him for what he has put together in Boston. Way To Go Boston!!!

We used to see a sports "page" in the papers. Then came the sports "section." Now sports has grown to consume the front page. Give us a break! This is tripe, not news.

Everyone knows that Ainge played pro basketball and football. But it is not as well known that as a 6'5" receiver in hs he could have gone anywhere he wanted to in football too. And if he had put it all aside for golf he probably could have gone pro in that too. I wonder if after being an exec for a few more years he will want to get back on the sideline. He was a very good coach and would be even better after time as an analyst and now an exec. I could see him someday playing a dual role like a Don Nelson did with Dallas.

Last season's non-BCS darling, Hawaii, is ranked 81st in the Rivals.com pre-season rankings.

Utah State is ranked 118 (out of 120, OUCH!)
UNLV - 105
SDSU - 102
Colorado St - 96
Air Force - 88
New Mexico - 56
Washington - 51

BYU, Utah, TCU, Wyoming, Michigan, Oregon St, and UCLA are all still waiting to appear in the countdown.

Last season's final poll:
BYU (11-2) - 13
Utah (9-4) - 24
Michigan (9-4) - 19
Oregon St (9-4) - 22
UCLA (6-7) - 47
Washington (4-9) - 67
Utah St (2-10) - 116

Danny Ainge was a superb player and he is a classy person as well--couldn't be happier for him and the Celtics. The Celts really underlined the fact that the main reason the Lakers were in the finals was the "perfume" referee jobs Bryant got all the way through the playoffs--especially in the Jazz series! Kobe's a great player, no doubt, but great players should be treated the same as everyone else in the league.

btw my Big Three for the Celts will always be Bill Russell, Sam Jones, and Bob Cousy!!! Yeah, it's a different game nowadays, but these three (3) are stars for the ages.

I laughed when the media reported the player from G'Town being impressed with the Jazz's history. What history? The Celtics have history, the Lakers have history, the Pistons have history and the Bulls have history. The Jazz has history for choking in the finals. Malone is the most overrated Finals player ever. It's too bad Stockton didn't have a real man playing with him who wasn't afraid of the Worm. Then the Jazz might have a banner...oh wait, they have those little conference banners.

In a league where preferential treatment is supposedly the norm why would Kobe get 19-20 FTs a game vs. the Jazz but not against Boston?

This is where you need to take your bias for the Jazz out of the equation and look at the situation objectively. Kobe didn't get to the line against the Celts simply because they defended him better. Pure and simple. There's no other way to look at it. The Jazz inability to defend Kobe makes them inferior until they learn to contain him. The Celtics did it, so it is possible. Don't blame the refs for your team being the 4th best in the west.

Congrats to Boston. Impressive season and championship.

But let's be real...this Celtic team is not built for the long haul. This is a one-and-done championship. There will not be a repeat.

Another year will not be kind to Celtics. Pierce and Garnett will return, but Allen and Cassell are old and tired. Expect a new champion next year--from the West.

The Celtics beat the Lakers by 39, they came back and caught the Lakers sleeping in Game 4 and proved they are the best team in the NBA. No doubt about it. It was a long, long wait, but to see the Celtics absolutely hammer the Lakers the way they did made it all worth while. Maybe Kobe should have paid more attention to the game instead of talking to the Garden fans. Way to go, Celtics!

How did you find your way here? Took at least three clicks... You can stop at any time. Here are the step-by step instructions:

1-Don't click on the link!

The D-News has excellent sports coverage. Brad Rock, Doug Robinson, Tim Buckley, Dick Harmon, Loren Jorgensen, Jody Gennessey and yes, even the died-in-the-wool Utes, Facer, Sorensen & Hamilton are a great team and are clearly the best print sports journalist in the market.

"Kobe didn't get to the line against the Celts simply because they defended him better"

This may only be partially true. Don't forget the playoff rigging accusations that came out during the Celtics-Lakers series.

The VERY NEXT GAME, Kobe's free throw numbers dropped dramatically from the first game in Los Angeles.

Game 1: Celtics 98-88, Kobe FT 6-6
Game 2: Celtics 108-102, Kobe FT 7-7
Game 3: Lakers 87-81, Kobe FT 11-18
(letter from Tim Donaghy sent June 10, reported in the news June 11)
Game 4: Celtics 97-91, Kobe FT 5-6
Game 5: Lakers 103-98, Kobe FT 5-7
Game 6: Celtics 131-92, Kobe FT 5-5

Coincidence! Maybe.

Or could the NBA have sent out a directive to the officials to carefully avoid any appearance of preferential treatment during the remainder of the series?

Without the playoff rigging accusations, would Kobe have continued to get preferential treatment in LA to ensure at least a 6- and probably 7-game series?

We'll never know.

The Jazz do need to learn how to play better defense if they're going to win on the road to improve their seeding and improve their chances of success in the playoffs.

Jimmy thinks that if Utah could trade and get Turriaf then draft Plaisted that Utah would bring home a championship.

Magnus hopes Jimmy was joking.

While the grammar lesson was appretiated...

I have to admit, I'm not a big Laker fan and I did enjoy watching turnover after turnover by Bryant as Phil's team kept sinking. Boston's D was solid. I liked that the ref's let them play more.

Just one thought though: It was amazing how many open three-balls Allen made in the 2nd half right in front of Jackson's face. The coach showed absolutely no emotion on each one. I got to hand it to him...I probably would have let a few choice words fly at the responsible defender; or at the very least drop my head in my hands as I dreamed about some remote carribean get-a-way.

I'm just glad that in the heat of the moment some idiot didn't light a cigar, a la Red Auerbach, and hand it to Ainge for a "gotcha" photo op.

Jimmy's been locked up in the closet too long smelling his sneakers.

Having been an Ainge fan from his first day at BYU and a former Boston area resident and fan of the Celtics since the Bill Russell days... I'm very happy for another Championship. Great team Ainge put together. It isn't done by accident as some dope suggested. It takes years and a lot of doing to get the right players together.

Yes, LHM made a mistake when he didn't bring Danny to the Jazz. That would have been the piece to bring Championships to the Jazz. Ainge was even better than Hornacek, proved by the fact that the Suns traded Horny to Philadelphia because they were able to get Danny from Portland when LHM blew the chance to get him.

There is probably no way Miller could get Ainge to replace O'Conner, even if he wanted to, but it obviously would be a smart move. O'Conner is good but Danny is great.

Danny Ainge, one of the greatest sports figures ever to play in Utah, one more great achievement.

Danny,
When your teams is playing the lakers and you can win by 50, do it!!

I'm a Blazers fan and some of my best memories of them are of the years that Aigne wore a Blazers uniform. I still see him leaving the team as the beginning of the end for them.

Speaking of idiots (Ainge Fan): "If it were not for Danny Ainge not a soul in the rest of the United States would know where Utah was or what it stood for." You've got to be kidding. Ainge hasn't hurt the state of Utah at all, but it's not because of him that Utah is known - try the LDS church and the beautiful mountains and the skiing, but please don't narrow it down to Ainge. Great person (even though I am a U of U diehard fan and really didn't care for Ainge), I'm a big enough person to give credit where credit is due.

And to you, jazz fan: You can't be much of a Jazz fan if you can't even spell Malone's name correctly (it's K, not C).

I think comments on the Celtic victory should be just that instead of hanging out all your dirty laundry about Miller, Malone, every other human being in the world and other teams in the NBA.

Have a great day.

The Lakers were totally lost on defense and had NO offense. Danny Ainge should be appointed mayor for putting this fabulous team together! I felt sorry for Koby....NO HELP from a pathetic team. The general manager of the Lakers should be fired and Ainge given a ticket parade!

Great job Ainge