Ray Allen started his NBA career on a high note, establishing himself as one of the most deadly shooters in the league. When his NBA career began in 1996, Allen showed he could be a top star for any team. That showed in his stints with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Seattle Supersonics.
However, in 2007, the UConn product took on a different role. Then, with the Sonics, Ray-Ray was traded to the Boston Celtics by the Sonics. He was an essential addition then, and in the same year, the Cs acquired Kevin Garnett.
Role change for Ray-Ray
Allen and Garnett would join forces with Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo to form a dangerous core, immediately aiming for a title they did win in the same season. After missing out in 2009, Allen and the Celtics would reach the finals again in 2010. Once again, the Celtics had to face the Los Angeles Lakers, a team hungry for back-to-back titles. It was a classic matchup between the two rival squads that went the full route.
Allen took on the inevitable task of limiting Kobe Bryant's scoring in that series. Aware that shutting down the "Black Mamba would be almost impossible, the All-Star guard did the next best thing, forcing Kobe into tough shots in hopes of tiring him out.
"Some guys in the NBA, and Kobe was one of them; it's impossible to keep him from taking those shots and not missing….I tried to get him as tired as much I could because he was guarding me as well," Allen stated in an interview .
This was aside from the expected offense from the California native. Allen needed to provide the outside artillery. In that final, he owned a 43.1% shooting clip from the field and 38.6% from the three-point region.
Painful results
Despite his efforts, the Lakers were simply too tough to overcome. In Game 7, LA came from behind to win 83-79. The Celtics were left sulking, and Allen was visibly distraught at the outcome of that run.
"This is probably one of the hardest feelings I've felt in my lifetime," Allen said after that Finals loss via UPI .
Hearing Allen take that loss hard was understandable. He gave it his all in the series. In Game 2 of that series, the 6-foot-5 guard would set a record for most three-pointers in an NBA Finals game by going 8 of 11 at the time. Ray-Ray held that record for eight years before Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors set a new mark in the 2018 Finals between the Dubs and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Allen would leave the Cs in 2012 to join the Miami Heat. Although he was offered more money to re-sign in Bean Town, Ray wasn't keen on being relegated to the bench with Celtics head coach Doc Rivers shifting to a Rondo-focused approach. The jump to the Heat would pay off for Allen who ended up winning his second NBA ring in 2013.
Related: "This was a Godsend for me, I needed to hear this" - How an article motivated Ray Allen to become an All-Star
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