The term Big Three has gotten overused and it always seemed strange to me as I remember the 80’s Celts not for the Big 3 but for the Starting Five. ESPN Boston (hattip C’s Hub) has this little note about the New Starting Five:

As a group, those starters are 94-25 together. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is easily the best record of any starting five with at least 50 starts over the past three years. The next best unit is the now-defunct Pistons five of Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince,Antonio McDyess and the Celtics’ own Rasheed Wallace. In fact, this group is establishing itself among the best in franchise history. Need proof? When in the starting lineup together, Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish went 138-38, according to Elias data. That’s a .784 win percentage — lower than the .790 percentage of the current group.

This of course reminds me of another 80’s Celtics term, “Not to be Denied”.