It is certainly possible that Allen, a free agent, will re-sign with the Celtics this offseason, which would mean Saturday's game was not his final one in a Boston uniform. In losing Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Miami Heat, the only thing that was guaranteed for Allen and the Celtics was that this run, specifically, was over.
As he sat at the podium in front of the assembled media, expertly dressed as always in a greenish-tan suit and paisley tie, Allen sounded like he was pondering the end of more than that. Asked what it was like playing with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce on the Celtics for the past five years, Allen departed from the cliched line about not having time to look back on those things now.
He sounded like he fully understood the magnitude of the moment. He even sounded a little ashamed.
"It's always been somewhat — intimidating," Allen said. "You walk into a building every day and you see the banners and the retired jerseys and it just always makes you work a little bit harder. It's been a privilege. When [John] Havlicek is in the building, when [Bob] Cousy is round, when Tommy [Heinsohn] is watching us every day and Bill Russell is at the games, those are like our big brothers.
"We know we have some big shoes to fill. There's a lot that we need to do to compare to what they've done, and we've definitely fallen short. But we've gone out trying to play as hard as we can every night."
Rajon Rondo was the engine of this Celtics team and Garnett was its heart, but Allen was the symbol of the team's resolve even in the face of its apparent fragility. He looked completely immobile at times in the playoffs on his painful right ankle but gritted his teeth, accept a shot or two and broke from his usual shooting routine to provide himself with the smallest relief from the pain.
He returned in Game 3 of the first round after missing almost a full month and never missed another game. When Avery Bradley's dislocated shoulder became too much to bear after Game 4 of the conference semifinals against the 76ers, Allen played more than 33 minutes in nine of the Celtics' final 10 games.
As it was with Garnett in 2009 and with Kendrick Perkins in 2010, when championship-level squads had their title hopes literally kneecapped, and with Rondo last year, when a dislocated elbow stole the Celtics' best player right when they had appeared to seize momentum from the Heat, so it was this season with Allen in what may have been the final run.
"I wish we could have had healthy runs," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "This team won a title, got to another one in a Game 7, where they had a shot to win, got to the Eastern Conference Finals and one game away on the road, all banged up. I don't know. Because of Kevin's injury [in 2009, when he missed the entire postseason with a sprained tendon and bone spurs in his right knee], I don't know if we could have gotten any more out of this group. I would have loved to have seen this team in this whole stretch where Kevin was injury-free."
Rivers, who is close with all of his players but particularly his three future Hall of Famers, allowed himself a moment to express his affection for the so-called "Big Three" for about the hundredth time since the trio came together in 2007.
"I know everybody will look at the Big Three individually: Kevin, Ray and Paul," Rivers said. "I'm never going to look at them individually. I'm going to look at them as a group, a collective. They all gave up seven-plus shots [per game] each. They gave up minutes. I asked them to play defense and move the ball and they all did it, and they're willing to do it for the betterment of the team. That's what we should focus on, how much they gave up to try to win. That's what I'll remember most about them."
If Allen ends up going, he goes with a ring and those memories. He also goes with significant discomfort from the bone spurs in his right ankle, for which surgery is his "first priority."
He would not — or could not — bring himself to say that Game 7 was the end for him as a Celtic, though. The end of every season, when it finishes with a loss, feels like it is "it," he said. Losing in the playoffs is the worst feeling, career-wise, he has ever had. But that is only because he has never before had to bid farewell to a team he grew to respect like few others.
"We've been through a lot," Allen said, humbly averting his eyes as the words came with more difficulty. "We won a lot of games. Up to this point, we fought hard to keep it together, so I think now there's so many emotions."
Allen paused.
"This one hit me hard."
He paused again, longer.
"We wanted it so bad."
He paused again. He looked like he wanted to say more but could not bring himself to say the words. The reporters wanted to ask another question, but nobody seemed to want to be the one to snap Allen out of his reverie. So for a long moment Allen just sat there, studying the tablecloth, with who knows what thoughts racing through his mind.
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