Boston Celtics: Are They Still Contenders with the Big Three?

The question has been asked since the day they became "The Big Three."

How long can this last? 

Since July 31, 2007—the day that the Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett and just over a month after the day that they acquired Ray Allen—there has been an understanding that it wouldn't last forever. "It" was of course the span of time that the "Big Three" of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce could play as a unit, remain healthy and compete at the highest level in the NBA.  

Is that time approaching? Is it here already?

Allen is 36, Garnett is 35 and Pierce is 34. No one is crippled or unable to play basketball but there's no question that both Allen and Garnett have in all likelihood already played the best basketball of their careers. 

Paul Pierce is still an elite player but for how much longer? 

If this feels familiar to Celtics fans, it's likely because this has happened before. It was about 20 years ago that the last "Big Three" in Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale began to really slow down. In 1986 they won the NBA Finals, in 1987 they lost in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals and in 1988 they lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Detroit Pistons. 

The downward trend would continue. Bird would retire in 1992, McHale followed suit after the end of the 1993 season. Parish would leave Boston as a free agent the following year and a long period of struggles would plague the Celtics' franchise until the arrival of the current "Big Three" in summer of 2007. 

Celtics fans don't want to go through another prolonged period of subpar play. The trick to keeping the Celtics run of success going is to figure out when the current Big Three have run their course. 

With both Allen and Garnett becoming free agents after the upcoming season, the Celtics will have an opportunity to make dramatic changes to the roster. The impending free agency doesn't just mean more money to spend on free agents in the next offseason, it also means more freedom to spin big trade deadline deals this coming season. 

Either way it does appear that the clock isn't just ticking—it's running out on the current makeup of the Boston Celtics. The odds of them both returning for the 2012-2013 season seem quite low. 

With perhaps just one year left together as a nightly starting unit, do these three players have one more run left in them? 

The dynamics of the lockout may actually help the Celtics provided the season is eventually salvaged. A shortened regular season would favor experienced teams with veteran players. Not only would these teams not need as much time to learn new plays and sets, but the shorter regular season would mean that the older veterans would enter the playoffs with more gas left in the tank than in a normal 82-game season. 

The Heat are still trying to figure out their concept of "team" following last year's finals loss. The Bulls are still young and as of now lacking a real threat from the shooting guard position. The Knicks are also a team trying to gel on both offense and defense. No team in the east returns as much experienced talent as the Boston Celtics. 

The Boston Celtics and The Big Three can still contend—but probably for only one more season. A season which has yet to begin, I might add.