The Moment of Truth

After losing Game 4 Monday night, Kevin Garnett and the Celtics find themselves down 3-1 to the Heat, needing a miracle to get back in the series. We're about to find out if they can pull it off. 

Despite dominating the Eastern Conference for the past four seasons, winning the 2008 NBA Title and reaching the NBA Finals last season, the Boston Celtics are about to play their most important game of the 21st century on Wednesday night.

The importance of Game 5 in Miami lies not only in its do-or-die nature. Sure, after losing 98-90 in overtime Monday night, the championship-or-bust Celtics now trail the Eastern Conference Semifinal series 3-1, forcing a must win scenario Wednesday night against the Heat. But what really makes Game 5 so significant is because it means so much more in the grand scheme of things.

Simply put, this could be the Celtics' last legitimate shot at winning a title during the Big Three era.

When Danny Ainge went out and traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the summer of 2007, he made the ultimate gamble. In pairing KG and Ray with the incumbent star, Paul Pierce, Ainge put his ultimate faith in the Big Three to restore basketball pride in the city of Boston.

Almost instantly, everything clicked and the Big Three hoisted Banner 17 in 2008, ending a 21 year championship drought. Since then, they reached the Conference finals despite playing without an injured KG, then lost in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Lakers. All the while, they have recorded at least 50 wins every season and played at a consistently elite level unrivaled league-wide.

For Celtics fans to beg and plead for another title from the Big Three would be asking too much. We've already been blessed enough.

Whether we like to admit it or not, the game of basketball is a young man's sport. The amount of energy needed to compete and succeed at the highest level is beyond calculation. This is exactly the reason why the Heat have been able to put a stranglehold on the series thus far.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and, to a lesser degree, Chris Bosh, have been performing at the peak of their games and simply outrun, outshot, outrebounded and outdefended the aging Celtics. The only game the Celtics have won in the series came in Game 3 when Rajon Rondo single-handedly (literally) beat the Heat.

So far, youth has trumped experience.

In the end, Game 5 Wednesday night will be the single most important game the Big Three will ever play together. We know all too well that Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are already well into the final chapter of the brilliant careers. This could very well be their final shot at another title together in Boston.

And, if the Celtics lose, all the talking heads and nay-sayers will say the window of opportunity is officially over for Boston. That the Big Three can no longer get it done. That the Celtics dynasty is over.

But if they win, it just might be the beginning of something great. The beginning of an epic comeback ignited by a trio of battle-tested veterans that everyone said were too old. Too slow. Unable to keep up with new young guns in the league.

Kevin Millar famously said, "Don't let us win tonight" before Game Four of the ALCS against the Yankees in 2004. He wasn't worrying about coming all the way back from an 0-3 hole. He was just focusing on one game. One game to keep the Red Sox season alive. One game at a time.

On Wednesday night, we will learn how the final chapter of the Big Three's legacy unfolds. They will either step up and begin one of the greatest comebacks of all time. Or they will fold against the Heat and bear witness to the literal and metaphorical end of their reign.

The moment of truth is now officially upon us.

Don't let the Boston Celtics win Wednesday night.