Ray Allen was part of the Big 3 that brought a title to the Boston Celtics in 2008. He averaged 15.5 points per game in those playoffs, shooting 39.6 percent from three, helping knock off the hated Lakers and Kobe Bryant. It made him part of Boston lore.
Then in 2012 he left, joining LeBron James and the Miami Heat — Boston’s biggest rival. Allen has said that he was offered less money and a smaller role by Boston so he went where he felt wanted, but that’s not how his Celtics’ teammates viewed it, they felt betrayed. While Allen and Paul Pierce have said they patched things up, the bad blood between those Celtics and Allen is still there.
When Allen enters the Hall of Fame this weekend, five years after he walked away from the game, he doesn’t expect to hear from those teammates, Allen told Shams Charania of The Athletic.“No, I don’t expect to (hear from them),” Allen said...
“I talked to Paul a year ago today, and we patched it out. So much was made about my decision, and they were upset with me because I left for Miami. But it will never change what went on between us in 2008.”
Any communication with KG, Rondo, Glen Davis?
“Nope.”
Allen had the most famous moment of his career in Miami when he hit “The Shot” at the end of Game 6 of the NBA Finals against San Antonio to force overtime, where the Heat went on to win, then eventually take Game 7.
Allen witnessed the yellow ropes and championship trophy being carted to the court with under a minute left in Game 6.
“It hurt,” Allen told The Athletic. “It hurt so bad. I was angry. I was so pissed because the game wasn’t over with yet.”
Allen isn’t going into the Hall as a member of a specific team, that was his choice. He was drafted by the Bucks, played a season in Seattle, and went on to win rings in Miami and Boston, his career touched a lot of corners of the NBA. Maybe there is some bad blood still, but Allen doesn’t look back with regrets or wishes that things were different.
He goes into the Hall of Fame as the game’s all-time leading three-point shooter, and that — along with his pure stroke — is the stuff of legend.