When I turned on “Celtics City” to watch the final episode of the HBO documentary on Monday night, it felt like I was about to watch something that was going to end too soon.
Not just because I’ve been enjoying it, but because another Celtics chapter is still being written. The Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown Era of the Celtics is still happening. They were going to be featured in the documentary on Monday and then host the Magic in the playoffs on Tuesday.
As I pressed play, I thought maybe they should have waited at least a year before releasing this so the 2024-25 season could be included. The documentary felt unfinished because reality was unfinished.
I was wrong.
Maybe it would have dawned on me sooner if I binged it. But I’ve enjoyed watching one at a time, week to week. It’s allowed me to reflect about each one a little bit, not just about the basketball, but about Boston’s imperfect and still ongoing evolution that set the backdrop throughout.
But what I finally recognized, as the filmmakers wrapped up the nine-episode show, was that they weren’t simply creating a video history of one of the most successful franchises in sports history. There’s a good reason it wasn’t just called “18 Banners.”
It should have been called “Celtics Dynasty,” which would have worked, but there might have been a negative connection to the Patriots documentary with a similar name.
Or “Celtics Family.” That would have been a little hokey and probably wouldn’t have scored as well with test audiences. But it would have effectively captured the spirit of the story they told and how they told it.
But seen in its entirety, “Celtics City” was like watching the progression and succession of a royal family. From Bob Cousy to Jayson Tatum.
What made the series work, and for that matter, has made the franchise work is that Bill Russell is still part of what the Celtics are today decades after his career ended.
Russell mentored and inspired Kevin Garnett and Jaylen Brown as players, as leaders and as citizens.
Tatum looks at Paul Pierce, who, like him, went from a Lakers fan to a Celtics icon, as a big brother and Larry Bird as the standard to pursue.
Red Auerbach’s successes and a rare mistake motivated Danny Ainge, who helped mold Brad Stevens.
Neither Len Bias nor Reggie Lewis won a championship in Boston, but the two men, who tragically each died young, are still held dear in a familial way. Even the disappointing end to the Celtics’ Ubuntu era felt like family strife among estranged siblings.
Every Celtics success is rooted in its lineage. It’s why Ray Allen, who chose to leave, still considers himself a Celtic. And why Danny Ainge, who is running another NBA team now, does too. Doc Rivers smoked a cigar in Red’s memory in 2008 and Jaylen Brown did again last year.
Their failures are connected too. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce understand the same sense of loss and what might have been from 2010 that Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish did in 1987.
The game has changed and the world has changed, but the Boston players of the past and present see themselves in each other.
Celtics City captured all of that warmly in its final minutes. The documentarians deftly wove in the championship moments and the celebrations of not just the 2024 NBA Finals, but of all who came before.
FILE – In this May 3, 1968 file photo, Boston Celtics general manager Red Auerbach hugs Bill Russell, left, and John Havlicek, right, in Los Angeles, (AP Photo/File)AP
It was a kind of video ceremony showing the on-court moment when Brown, Tatum, Al Horford, Jrue Holiday, and their wave of teammates were initiated into the ranks of Celtics champions and became equals with those who came before them.
Twenty years from now, when future Celtics fans settle in to watch “Celtics City,” they might wonder what happened in 2025.
But I imagine that they, like I did, will feel satisfied as the final credits roll.
