Boston Celtics: How Did it get so bad with Ray Allen?
How did it get so bad between Ray Allen and Boston Celtics fans?
The moment Ray Allen left the Boston Celtics and joined the Miami Heat, you knew he would never have the same relationship with the franchise, and the fans in particular. We have clearly see the distance between Allen and the rest of that championship core, and you cannot deny the strain that is on their relationship.
When they talk about each other now, it feels like they are trying to keep the past behind them. There does not need to be any additional bad blood, but al the talk of reunions and whether or not Allen would be with them brought all kinds of attention to this.
The kind of relationship Allen has with the teammates is not something that the fans will ever really understand, but they can understand how they feel towards him. The fans have made it abundantly clear that they felt betrayed when he left, especially considering the Celtics were still looking to contend at the time.
Allen left the Celtics and joined the team they were trying to beat, and it is completely understandable for fans to be upset about that. When you look at where we are now, things have gotten way too far out of control.
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Allen was the one notable payer that was absent from Paul Pierce‘s jersey retirement, and we have been given insight into why. Allen congratulated Pierce on the retirement on Instagram, and Doc Rivers revealed that Allen did not attend because of that relationship with the fans.
Allen did not want to take anything away from Pierce, and he feared that his presence would bring a negative atmosphere, and that would not be fair to Pierce. In all honesty, you cannot deny his logic. Celtics fans have lambasted Allen for years now, and he is justified in thinking that any time his face was shown, there would be negative attention, and there is no need for that in Pierce’s ceremony.
What this indicates, however, is that we are beyond the point of repair. If there was ever a time for Allen to comeback and regain some of that intimacy with the players and the fans, it was that ceremony. If there was one time when the fans would not want to boo him, it would be while celebrating Pierce’s jersey retirement.
No one is going to deny the importance of Allen to that championship team, but his relationship with the fans of Boston are beyond repair. The fans treated him terribly because of what he did, but that is what Boston fans do. They will always be passionate, and sometimes there will be casualties.
When you combine the attitude of the fans with Allen’s approach, there is no reason to think they will ever get better. Allen seems to have accepted the fate that he is never going to be beloved by Celtics fans, and he wants to keep that distance.
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He reiterated that he will be a Celtic for life in that Instagram post, and he will forever be in the championship lore. That being said, as the fans pushed Allen away, he continued to retreat, and now that we have reached the point where he is going to miss out of Pierce’s jersey retirement, when currently active players and coaches made the trip, it is time to accept that Allen’s relationship with the fans will never change and is beyond repair.