Will Celtics take Baby steps toward another championship?

It is funny how history tends to repeat itself; sports are very cyclical, and in time what is old is new again. For any Celtics fan 25 years or older, watching the new Big Three age seems eerily familiar, for it was less than 20 years ago that we as fans began watching the slow decline of the original “Big Three.” The one positive that came from the Celtics stars’ slow decline was the emergence of Reggie Lewis. Lewis, a late first-round draft pick in 1987, was a scorer loaded with “potential.” By year two, Celtics legend Larry Bird missed nearly the entire season due to injuries, which led the way for Lewis’s emergence into stardom, averaging over 18 points per game in Bird’s absence. Soon Lewis would become an All-Star and the new cornerstone of the then 16-time World Champions.Twenty years after Lewis’ emergence, history is once again repeating itself. Celtics star Kevin Garnett has missed significant time for the first time in his 14-year career, making room for the emergence of Glen Davis. “Big Baby,” a former second-round draft pick of the Seattle SuperSonics, has proven to be one of Danny Ainge’s best acquisitions to date. With Garnett out for the playoffs, it has been Baby that has taken the torch, averaging over 15 points and 8 rebounds per game, including Sunday night’s game-winning jumper. Davis’ former coach at LSU, John Brady, saw the writing on the wall a long time ago.”He has had his naysayers, but he has proved everybody wrong,” Brady said. “The great thing about Glen is that he wanted to play in the NBA so bad, and he worked and worked at the opportunity. He’s blessed by the situation he was drafted into; with three Hall of Fame players, I think that has helped him become the player he is now.”Davis himself keeps it pretty simple, saying, “I’m an emotional guy. I love the game of basketball.”It is that combination of the right player with the right skills and the right teammates emerging at the right time that has given this Celtics postseason new life. Moving forward, the new Big Three will unfortunately continue to age and decline and, while they may still be All-Star caliber players, the Celtics as a whole will need new stars to continue their winning ways. Davis will enter this off-season as a restricted free agent, and make no mistake about it, Big Baby is on the verge of earning a big paycheck. It is unfortunate but true: In a few years, the new Big Three will once again be the old Big Three, and the Celtics’ next championship run could be riding on the wide shoulders of a man named Baby.