The Boston Celtics are an American professional basketball team based in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the
league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of the original eight NBA
teams to survive the league's first decade, the team is owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC.
The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which they share with the National Hockey
League (NHL)'s Boston Bruins. The franchise is the most successful in NBA history, with 17
championships, which accounts for 23.9 percent of all NBA championships since the league's
founding.[7]
The Celtics have a notable rivalry with the Los Angeles Lakers, and have played the Lakers a record
12 times in the NBA Finals (including their most recent appearances in 2008 and 2010), of which the
Celtics have won 9. Four Celtics players (Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Dave Cowens and Larry Bird)
have won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for an NBA record total of 10 MVP awards.[8] Both
the nickname "Celtics" and their mascot "Lucky the Leprechaun" are a nod to Boston's historically
large Irish population.[9]
After winning 16 championships throughout the 20th century, the Celtics, after struggling through the
1990s, rose again to win a championship in 2008 with the help of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce,
and Ray Allen in what was known as the new "Big Three" era, following the original "Big Three" era
that featured Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish, which combined to win the 1981, 1984,
and 1986championships.
Following the win in 2008, general manager Danny Ainge began a rebuilding process with the help
of head coach Brad Stevens, who led the Celtics to a return to the playoffs from 2015. During
the following season, the Celtics clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference, and eventually
reached the Conference Finals prior to losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games.
In the off-season of 2017, via some trades and free agency, Danny Ainge rebuilt the roster into a
championship caliber team and creating another “Big Three” era consisting of Kyrie Irving, Gordon
Hayward, & Al Horford. By the end of the season, they finished second in the standings in the east.
On the season opener, Gordon Hayward got a season ending injury by dislocating his ankle and
fracturing his tibia. Kyrie Irving went down in March and had to get a knee surgery. Therefore, the
Celtics went into the playoffs with only one member of the “Big Three” and managed to reach the
eastern conference finals taking the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games. The Celtics lost 87-79 in
game 7 eliminating them from reaching the finals.