Boston green party

Posted By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted 26 mins ago

's streets will be crowded again today with screaming fans celebrating a championship -but this time they'll be wearing green.

Mayor Tom Menino announced plans yesterday for a "rolling rally" at 11 a. m. to celebrate the Boston Celtics' win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. The parade will start at the TD Banknorth Garden and wind its way through downtown to Copley Square.

Sixteen Second World War-era amphibious "duck boats" will carry the Celtics players, owners and staff. The team's dancers, former Celtics greats and championship trophies from previous years will ride on two flatbed trucks.

City officials urged the hundreds of thousands of fans expected to attend the parade to use public transportation, with streets around the route closed to traffic beginning at 9:30 a. m.

The city has held five other championship parades since 2002 -three when the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl and two when the Boston Red Sox won the World Series. The last one was on Oct. 30, after the Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies. Celtics fans haven't had much to cheer since 1986, the final time Larry Bird and Boston won the NBA championship. That all changed Tuesday night, when Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen helped secure the franchise's 17th championship.

"We're a city of champions," Menino said. "We are 'Title Town.'" Carried by ear-splitting chants of "Beat L. A." early and cries of "Seven-teen"

Tuesday night in the closing seconds by their adoring crowd, which included Boston legends Bill Russell and John Havlicek, the Celtics concluded a shocking rebound of a season with a stunning blowout over the Lakers in Game 6.

With the outcome assured, Boston fans sang into the night as if they were in a pub on nearby Canal Street. They serenaded the newest champs in this city of champs, and taunted Kobe Bryant and his Lakers, who drowned in a green-and-white wave for 48 minutes. Garnett scored 26 points with 14 rebounds, Allen scored 26 and Pierce, the finals MVP, added 17 as the Celtics, a 24-win team a year ago, wrapped up their first title since 1986.