Celtics coach Doc Rivers gets a Gatorade shower from Paul Pierce as Boston wins its 17th NBA title with a 131-92 rout over the Lakers in Game Six of the Finals last night at TD Banknorth Garden.

AP / Elise Amendola

BOSTON — Raise another banner.

Put it right up there in the rafters of the Garden.

Put it right there with the 16 others, a visible reminder that, once again, the Celtics are NBA royalty.

Put it up there so it can be there forever, a visible reminder of what this incredible team did in this amazing season, this season that became a Celtics’ fantasy come to life.

All titles are to be treasured, of course, but this one should be treasured more than most. This was not some title in the middle of a dynasty, just another in a long string of them like it once had been, back there in the late 1950s and early ’60s when the Celtics were in their zenith as one of the greatest teams in the history of American sport.

This was the first title in 22 years, and it came just one year after winning only 24 games, a franchise that seemed to have become little more than a peripheral one on the New England sports scene, buried beneath the unbelievable popularity of the Red Sox and the Patriots.

This was a franchise that was going to add a 17th championship banner?

Just one year ago that seemed like little more than a pipe dream, a basketball fairy tale.

Last night was this city’s best basketball moment in over two decades, a night when this team joined this franchise’s other great teams, and these players got their slice of immortality.

Paul Pierce who will now be forever recognized as one of the all-time great Celtics. Paul Pierce who we have watched grow up, until he finally found his moment, his time.

Kevin Garnett who came in here and changed the culture, came in here and became a great leader, and last night got his championship ring, the ultimate prize for his great career.

Ray Allen, who made a lot of jump shots in a lot of cities before he came in here and made the ones that counted the most, he, too, getting the ring he had to come to Boston to find.

All of them.

And Doc Rivers, too, this coach who was booed a year ago.

They all got their redemption last night.

And the best thing about last night?

It wasn’t even close.

Midway through the second quarter the Celtics pulled away, fueled by their great defense and their great intensity, as if they saw the title right there for the taking and they were going to grab it. As if this franchise had waited too long, and now the long wait was over.

By halftime, they were up 21, and the question that seemed to sweep through the Garden was could the Lakers charter out of here back to L.A. before the half was over?

You know they wanted to.

For there was only one question left as the second half started: Did the Lakers have one more run in them, or had Game Five in L.A. been their farewell to the season, their trip across the country little more than a funeral procession for their season?

They did not.

With six minutes left in the third quarter the Celtics were up an amazing 30 points?

And after that?

It was just a matter of watching the minutes fall off the clock, countdown to a coronation.

And with a just a little under four minutes left, the Garden in pandemonium, in a scene that long will be remembered, there was Pierce, Garnett, and Rivers all hugging each other, these three men who have all found a certain basketball redemption in this season of their lives.

And when it was finally over, over, after all the hugs and all the cheers, there were the Celtics with the biggest turnaround in NBA history, this basketball fairy tale that we all saw play out right in front of our eyes. There were the Celtics in a wonderful night in New England sports history.

There were the Celtics winning their first NBA title in 22 years, this same team that only won 24 a year ago, back when too few people seem to care about them, back when their glory days seemed so rooted in the past, as gone as Larry Bird.

There were the Celtics back to the very top of the NBA once again.

breynold@projo.com