It’s been there the entire season, quietly hanging above the practice court as a constant reminder of the ultimate goal.

There are no words on it. No pictures, either. But the empty canvas tells the story of a team on a quest for greatness.

“I look at it every day,” Paul Pierce told WEEI.com. “Every day.”

At the start of the season, 18 banners hung above the court at the Boston Celtics’ practice facility. All but one had world championships printed on them. But the last one, the one placed on a wall to itself next to the 2008 banner, was blank.

Yet the message on it was clear.

It represented the Celtics’ championship mission and served as a reminder the entire season.

“Just going to the gym, you know what you’re playing for,” said Ray Allen. “Based on our ability to be together and do our jobs, we can put writing on it. That banner’s going to sit there but the better we are, we can stamp that banner.”

The Celtics were introduced to the banner before the start of the 2009-10 season. They were coming off a postseason cut short by injuries, both disappointing and frustrating as the window of opportunity began to shrink on a veteran team.

But with the return of Kevin Garnett, the continued development of Rajon Rondo and the revamped bench, among other factors, the Celtics believed they had the potential to attain the ultimate title for the second time in three years. That confidence was addressed from Day 1.

“I think Doc [Rivers] from the first day brought the team in and said this is why we’re here, this is what we’re trying to achieve, and we’re not a team that’s trying to feel its way throughout the season and see what happens,” one player recalled. “This is our goal and that’s going to make us different from any other teams.”

Rivers wanted his team to understand the significance of the banner, although it was not meant to be a part of everyday discussion. The point was to become inspired, not infatuated.

“It’s there, they know it’s there,” Rivers said. “We’ll look up there every once and a while. I want them to know it’s there. But other than that, I don’t talk about it that much.”

Rivers didn’t need to say much because the Celtics are no strangers to silent reminders. In 2008, a spotlight shined in a vacant space next to the 1986 world championship banner. That spot is no longer empty, just as the players hope the banner will not be empty after June.

“It means a lot to us,” said Glen Davis. “I think especially to the whole team, just knowing that we can write our own banner. There’s something special about that.”

The Celtics seemed to be on that path at the beginning of the season when they got off to a 23-5 start. The team was thriving with Garnett back from knee surgery and the starting five seemed stronger than ever. The reserves were also deep with the additions of Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels.

But then injuries hit, and one by one key players were sidelined. The momentum began to slow down, communication wavered and domination was lost. The group that once looked poised to reclaim the Eastern Conference lost to the worst team in the NBA and finished the regular season with an uninspired 27-27 stretch.

As the Celtics battled through inconsistencies, the banner remained. It was one of the only constants throughout the season.

“At certain points [we talked about it]. We had to continue to remind ourselves this is why we’re here, this is what we’re trying to achieve,” said Shelden Williams. “The conversations we had with the team, a lot of the veteran guys kind of brought it up and said, ’This is what we’re trying to do, this is what we’re trying to accomplish, and we’re not doing it right now. Our head is somewhere else and we have to go ahead and everybody get on the same page,’ and that’s something we weren’t doing at those times.”

That all changed when the Celtics entered the playoffs with a blank slate. They have tabulated a 12-5 record through the first three rounds and are headed to the NBA Finals playing their best basketball of the season. Now there are only four wins separating them from their 18th banner, and its significance has been magnified in the final stretch.
 
“It means that there’s a lot of work left to do.” said Pierce. “Our goal at the beginning of the year was to put some writing in there. So we’ve still got some work left to do.”

As the Celtics hit the practice court to map out their game plan to win it all, the banner that hangs high above the floor doesn’t seem so far away anymore.

“I looked at it like [wow], we’re close to it,” said Kendrick Perkins. “That’s how I looked at it, we’re close to it.”