Can You Believe the Boston Celtics?
Written by RandolphC, Thursday June 03 2010
Who thought the Boston Celtics couldn’t hit a switch for the playoffs? Did anyone believe the Celts could make the regular season insignificant and play like a different team when the stakes were higher? Put your hand up if you thought the aging veteran team needed more than just a little green pill to get them to perform. Yeah, me too.
I have no one to blame but myself for losing faith in the team I called the best in the East after the Rasheed Wallace signing. The Celtics were 27-27 from December 27 to the end of the regular season, punctuating a very inconsistent and frustrating regular season.
It’s hard to believe a team is championship-caliber when they have difficulties playing at home. Boston was just 24-17 at the TD Garden, not the mark of a quality team. Included in that record were losses to the New York Knicks, Washington Wizards (sans Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, and Antawn Jamison), and a humiliating loss to the New Jersey Nets, the worst team in the league. Imagining the Celtics playing into June was hard with such blemishes on the record.
The finish made the 23-5 start to the regular season a distant memory. Back then they confirmed my belief as Wallace played well, free agent addition Marquis Daniels contributed, and Boston dominated. Wins included a season-opening defeat of Cleveland on the road and crushing the visiting Utah Jazz. This was the team everyone expected for the whole year, but injuries knocked Boston off course.
The team wasn’t the same even as the players returned to the court. Kevin Garnett looked slow. Paul Pierce didn’t hit his shots. Daniels lost his spot in the rotation to Tony Allen. Fans saw it as a sign of the team showing its age. No one believed coach Doc Rivers when he said that he liked his team’s chances when they’re healthy. We misunderstood the definition of healthy – it’s one thing to be able to play, but it’s another thing to play when fully recovered.
Through the season, Rivers ran the team with a bigger purpose in mind. He realized his Celtics wouldn’t catch Cleveland or Orlando in the standings. Winning regular season games wasn’t the goal. A top-four playoff seed was all Rivers wanted for his team. So he rested players during the regular season. It cost the team a few wins here and there, but if it was the difference between entering the playoffs with nicks and bruises versus zero aches and pains, Rivers chose the latter.
And like the heavy sleeper jolted by an alarm with the volume set at eleven, the Celtics sprung to life in the playoffs. Disinterested by the regular season, Boston immediately focused on winning a championship by winning when the games really mattered.
Down went Miami in five. Then they knocked off the league MVP-led best team in the league Cleveland Cavaliers, followed by the Defensive Player of the Year-led Orlando Magic. Both teams went down convincingly in six games.
One obstacle remains, and it’s their long time rival, the Los Angeles Lakers. The winners of the last two championships are both looking for their kind of revenge: Boston wants to reclaim the title they failed to defend when injuries to Garnett and reserve forward Leon Powe derailed their chance to repeat. The Lakers want to return the favor after losing the title to Boston in 2008, validating their ’09 championship to the doubters by going through the Celtics.
Few, if anyone, expected Boston to get past the two teams with the league’s best record. But here they are. Even crazier, I think the Celtics will win the series in six games. Yeah, I practically can’t believe it either.
Read Randolph Charlotin's New England Patriots blog at www.randolphc.com. Send any questions or comments to talktome@randolphc.com.
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6 comments
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The day after, I avoided all media, but it seems they're taking the high road, pointing out the Celts' propensity to give up leads during the regular season. I won't argue that or the lack of aggressiveness from the Celts, but when you're not getting calls, you start believing you won't so it's not worth it to drive to the rim. I will keep calling it as I see it: Lakers were assisted. +20 at the FT line isn't "how the game was called." They let them play in the first half but became ticky-tack for LA in the 2nd half.
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I just posted about the C's losing and the unbalanced calls.... are they talking alot about that in Boston?
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Game 7 was a crime. I give the Lakers enough credit for dominating the boards, second chance points, and playing lock-down defense in the second half. But for the refs to put them at the line 20 more times than the Celts was garbage. NBA wants their new Michael and they've annoited Kobe as it. The only question left is will the league get him to six or even seven titles to give the impression that the NBA is doing great in this new era.
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just game 1 on LA's court, let's see what adjustments are made... also, I like Gasol's comments that KG is done, good bulletin board material...
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Hopefully exactly like that Russell-led '69 team. Last night was U-G-L-Y!
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kind of like russell's celtics