Boston guard Eddie House celebrates after the Celtics beat the Lakers 97-91 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night.

AP / Mark J. Terrill

Thursday night was the 2008 version of “Havlicek Stole The Ball,” one of those games that will live forever in New England sports history, passed down through the generations like some wonderful family secret.

The night the Celtics came back from being down 24 points to beat the hated Lakers in Los Angeles.

The night the Celtics had the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history to take control of this best-of-seven series, three games to one.

The night this Celtics team staked its claim to a new generation, one that said that this is a franchise whose glory days are no longer all in the past, no longer just about memories and old game tapes from some other time.

It is what Adam Vinatieri’s field goal in the snow on a cold January night in Foxboro in 2002 did for the Patriots, the freeze-frame moment that came to say that things were never going to be the same again for the New England Patriots.

It’s what David Ortiz did for the Red Sox in the fall of 2004 with his dramatic extra-innings home run against the Yankees in the playoffs, the signature moment that said that maybe this year will be different, maybe this year history is going to finally change, curses finally broken, the birth of a new era.

It’s what all those moments did for New England sports history, the iconic memories that have become our sports heritage.

Consider “Havlicek Stole The Ball.”

Is there a sports fan in New England who hasn’t seen the grainy old newsreel of John Havlicek stealing the ball on an out-of-bounds pass against Philadelphia in a playoff game in 1965, tipping it to Sam Jones, who dribbles out the clock as fans start running all over the parquet floor in the old Boston Garden, complete with Johnny Most screaming, “Havlicek stole the ball … Havlicek stole the ball,” words that long ago became part of New England sports history?

It’s hard to imagine one.

And that’s what Thursday night was, as the Celtics kept crawling back from their 24-point deficit, inch by inch, point by point, until finally they were all the way back. Until they and the Lakers, the two best teams in basketball, were locked in a great finish, the game, and probably the series, hanging in the balance. Until the Celtics made the plays in the closing minutes, and the Lakers did not, and the Celtics had won their biggest game since the ’80s.

And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

For too long now the Celtics have been about memories.

You almost have to be pushing 60 to remember back to the late ’50s and ’60s when the Celtics became the best team in all of basketball, back when the names were Cousy and Russell and Heinsohn, and there was nothing better in New England sports than the Celtics winning titles in the spring, the championship banners going up in the rafters of the Garden like some museum hanging another masterpiece.

And you almost have to be middle aged to remember the Bird era in the ’80s, back when the Celtics and Lakers series were almost like basketball holy wars, cultural clashes as well as basketball games.

That’s what had happened to the Celtics, the feeling that if the Red Sox and Patriots were all about now, the Celtics were all about the past, about as relevant as disco. Then they went out last year and won only 24 games, all this in the same sports marketplace as the Sox and the Pats.

Is it any wonder why no one seemed to care?

This year had changed that, of course.

The well-publicized acquisitions of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett created interest, no question about it. Their great start added more. And when they finished the regular season with 66 wins, an amazing 42 more than they had the year before, the biggest turnaround in NBA history, there was no question the Celtics were back on the radar screen.

Still, there were some reservations, as if we weren’t going to surrender our hearts all at once, as if we still had doubts, if for no other reason than it had been a long time since the Celtics had been to the finals, never mind won an NBA title.

Especially when they struggled in the first round of the playoffs against the young Hawks, having to go seven games to win. Then again, in the second round, seven more games with the Cavaliers.

Now it’s all changed.

Now the Celtics are as hot as Obama, having been reborn in these NBA Finals. Thursday night was the ultimate symbol of that.

It’s more than that they now lead this series 3-1 and are now one game away from their 17th NBA title, the most in NBA history. And it’s more than that they have now captivated everyone’s attention in ways that were unimaginable a year ago.

It’s that they’ve given a new generation their own “Havlicek Stole The Ball” moment, one of those games that will live forever in New England sports history, passed down through the generations like some wonderful family secret.

breynold@projo.com