July 31st Will Forever Be One Of The Greatest Days In The History Of Boston Sports
Brian Babineau. Getty Images.Unless you find yourself on the edge of your seat waiting for news about the restricted free agency of Peyton Watson or where the hell Jonathan Kuminga may finally end up for his new basketball home, you could say we are in the dog days of the NBA Calendar. NBA Summer League is over, free agency is 99.9% over, all the big names have made their decisions, it's brutal out there in the NBA news streets right now.
Which means there's never been a better time to dip our collective toes in the beauty of nostalgia, and it just so happens that with today being July 31st, it's a nice reminder that this may be one of the most important and influential days in Boston sports history.
We'll start with one of the biggest moments in Celtics franchise history. Not to make you feel old as shit or anything, but on this day 19 years ago (sigh), our lives were changed forever.
To this day, I think we all remember exactly where we were when we heard the life-changing news that KEVIN GARNETT was coming to Boston. At that time, the Celts had lost out on the Durant sweepstakes and then surprisingly had traded for Ray Allen about a month earlier in late June. When that trade happened, it was a bit confusing because while Ray Allen was fucking awesome, it felt like an odd trade to make without additional moves coming. That additional move? Arguably one of the greatest PF's to ever play the game of basketball.
In the blink of an eye, not only had the Celts gone from the worst team in the league to a new Superteam that would later help shape how NBA rosters were built during that era, but they immediately became the best team in the NBA and eventual Champions. I'm not sure it gets any better than that. Being able to watch Kevin Garnett as a Celtic is easily one of the best things to ever happen to my life, and I am confident I am not alone there.
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To say KG changed everything would be a gigantic understatement. In the 2 seasons prior to KG arriving, the Celtics went a combined 57-107, missing the playoffs both years. They lost 18 in a row in 2006-07. Paul Pierce was on the verge of demanding a trade. Things were dark for such a historic franchise.
Since July 31st, 2007? No team in the entire NBA has won more games than the Boston Celtics (957). No team has won more playoff games than the Boston Celtics (144). They are 1 of just 4 teams to have multiple titles over the last 19 years. From not making the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, since that 2007-08 season, the Celts have missed the playoffs a total of one (1) time, and that came 13 years ago. In case you were curious, that's the longest current consecutive playoff streak in the NBA.
Now you may be saying, what the hell does Kevin Garnett have to do with how the Celtics performed in the decade following his being traded to the Nets? Well, everything.
KG revived the championship culture and mindset that was lost in the post-Bird era. After the hell Rick Pitino put this entire fanbase through in the late 90s when this team couldn't win 35 games, to the cock tease that was the Pierce/Walker duo of the early 2000s, it was KG's arrival that brought true Celtics Basketball back to life. That's just an undeniable fact. Let's also not forget what eventually came of that KG trade in 2013. If KG never comes to Boston in 2007, we are not blessed with one of the greatest duos not just in Celtics history, but NBA history
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(we are not talking about what has now happened in the summer of 2026, thank you for understanding)
So in a way, July 31st 2007 is essentially responsible for not one, but two Celtics championships and nearly 2 decades of being the winningest (?) team in the entire NBA (fact, not opinion).
Giphy Images.But the significance of July 31st doesn't stop there.
If we switch over to baseball and the Sox, they too pulled off a trade on July 31st, 2007. You may remember that as the day they brought in Eric Gagne from the Texas Rangers. At the time, that was a pretty big move with Gagne slated to slide into the setup role in front of Papelbon. He was a former 3x All Star and Cy Young winner and was fairly lights out to start that year for the Rangers (2.16 ERA).
Now, full disclosure, Eric Gagne's Red Sox tenure was complete dogshit. I mean, you want to talk about a guy not really living up to his hype/role, it's hard to find a better example. In 20 regular season appearances that year, Gagne had a 6.75 ERA. In the playoffs, he finished with a 6.23 ERA in his 5 appearances. Again, he was complete dogshit.
But you know what else happened in 2007?
While Eric Gagne most DEFINITELY did not have the same impact on the Sox title as KG had on the Celtics title, my brain does think of both players whenever we get to July 31st, which then leads my brain to thinking of each team winning their title that year, so when I think of the importance of July 31st when it comes to Boston sports, both apply. Who knows what happens if they both don't pull off those trades on this day 19 years ago? I sure as shit know the Celts don't have the 19-year run we've been fortunate to have experienced. Hell, they're still probably looking for their first title since 1986.
So shoutout July 31st. Sure, to some you may be a random day in the middle of summer where there's not much going on in the sports world, but to Boston fans? It's a day that changed our collective lives forever.