Fansided

30 luckiest sports franchises

By David Austin Bumpus

OAKLAND, CA - DECEMBER 24: Andrew Luck
OAKLAND, CA - DECEMBER 24: Andrew Luck /
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Boston Celtics player Paul Pierce (R) is guarded by LA Lakers forward Ron Artest (L) before the Celtics won 103-94 in game two of the NBA finals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on June 6, 2010. The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers are not only seeking their 16th NBA championship but also redemption after a humbling loss to the Boston Celtics in the 2008 NBA finals. The Lakers still have the bitter after taste of their humiliating finals loss two years ago. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
Boston Celtics player Paul Pierce (R) is guarded by LA Lakers forward Ron Artest (L) before the Celtics won 103-94 in game two of the NBA finals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on June 6, 2010. The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers are not only seeking their 16th NBA championship but also redemption after a humbling loss to the Boston Celtics in the 2008 NBA finals. The Lakers still have the bitter after taste of their humiliating finals loss two years ago. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) /

22. Boston Celtics

It wouldn’t be a list of the luckiest sports franchises of all-time if you didn’t have a team with a literal leprechaun as their mascot, so of course the Boston Celtics found their way onto this list.

With the dawn of a new era where super-teams are the new norm in the NBA, you have to travel back to the team that did it first and were lucky enough to not have much competition against them. The Celtics landing Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in 2007 from the Minnesota Timberwolves and Seattle Supersonics respectively were two of the biggest moves in franchise history, and they had them both in the same summer to join Paul Pierce in Boston.

In their first year as the Boston Three Party, the team defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2008 NBA Finals, and proved their dominance quickly as a group. They made it to one more NBA Finals as a group, but never had the pleasure of having a fully healthy lineup with the Big Three around after their 2008 title.

Injuries to Kevin Garnett in 2009 and Kendrick Perkins in 2010, and a trade of Perkins to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2010-2011 season all hindered their full potential as a group, and the team eventually fell apart slowly over the next few seasons.

The Celtics were ironically incredibly unlikely towards the later end of their run with the Big Three on their roster, but they did get their one title in the 2000’s out of the group, so it may have been worth it in the end. However, it took some serious good fortune to land the talent they did in 2007, and they shot up with a super-team before other franchises even figured out that they could do it themselves.

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