It's Happening...

Fucking Myans, It's All Coming True

God damnit, God damnit, God damnit. A couple weeks ago I wrote about how after watching the Celts give it their all against the Heat, battling all season long, to come up just short, oddly didn't turn me into a hermit,  hiding in my shell to avoid all sports information...I wondered why that didn't happen despite the fact that it's happened every other time in history one of my teams loses...Well it was a bit of a delayed reaction because it's here now.

I want nothing to do with Sportscenter, I want to put a contract out on Stephen A Smith using that donation site the old bitch who got picked on the bus is getting filthy rich off of to raise the funds, and I hope Miami succumbs to an epic tidal wave and we all just forget about this moment in history.

It's the worst sporting day since the Pats lost the super bowl. The worst.

PS: Bosh 100% cries himself to sleep at night every time he sees Lebron and Wade riding that two seater golf cart together.

Double PS: The Douchiest team in memory would use the Douchiest musical act in memory:

Celtics vs. Heat, Game 7 Review: It Was a Damned Good Run

You know what? It's ok. Yes, I'm disappointed, and yes, watching these guys come off the court, their faces full with the painful realization that this might all be over was emotional to see. But it's ok. 

I'm not mad, I'm not upset, I don't feel like I got cheated as a fan. I don't have that coulda, woulda, shoulda feeling. I can't ever remember feeling like this after one of our teams suffered a major loss. There's always the standard routine of avoiding thinking/talking/watching/reading sports for a solid week or two after and then slowly dipping back in to the sports world, like the first time you get in a pool, testing it with your toes, then your foot, then up to your knees....I haven't done that this time. I've done quite the opposite. 

I've dived head first straight in. I didn't hesitate in watching Sportscenter the next day, didn't hesitate in reading the local sports sections or listening to the talk radio shows. In fact, I've actively sought out every column, highlight, bit of information I could find on these Celtics...Like I'm hoarding an era's worth of highlights and memories as fast as I can. 

I don't want to forget this team. I want to remember as much as I can about them, even in defeat. 

Despite the brutal game 6 loss, and the clincher in game 7 when they just didn't have enough, I want to remember these guys. I'm still proud of these guys. There was never a feeling that they quit, never a feeling that they didn't give a shit, never a feeling that the fans may have wanted this more than the players. That last one might be the most important. 

As fans, fair or unfair, we often project our wants, our hopes, or desires onto complete strangers and when they disappoint, we read their body language, read their effort, and decide if they gave everything that we'd give.  I don't have to do that here. I know they wanted it, and if I didn't know, I saw it on their faces when they came off the court Saturday. This meant everything to them. 

This was like your last game as 12 year old in little league. It's your first prolonged team experience as a kid, you'd played with all the other 12 year olds for three seasons, you'd gotten to know the 11 year olds, you're more or less comfortable with each other. You know who your team can depend on, and who you cant, you knew each others habits...You just knew each other, unlike other sports up until that point it wasn't a one and done, re-draft next year thing. And suddenly, it ends one summer. Off to the big fields with the bigger kids, new teammates, new coaches, new era. 

As a fan watching on the outside that's what this looked like to me. As pure a team in every sense as there ever has been, watching the seconds run down, realizing that for the first time in 5 years, they have no idea what's to come next...But strangely, that's what makes it ok for me.

It's not time, as a fan, to sit back and armchair coach, figure out how it could have gone down differently, and find someone to point blame at. It's time to appreciate what we just witnessed, what we just had, and what, I hope, is back next year. One of those rare sports teams that leaves an indelible memory with you, a team I fully believe I'll be judging all future Celtics teams against. A team I'll miss if that really was their last time together, but a team I'm immensely proud of for giving everything they had. 

Here's to the 2012 Boston Celtics. It was a damned good run.

If You Weren't Sure Before, Chris Bosh is Def the Odd Man Out in the Big 3

If this picture doesn't just define Bosh's role with the big three in Miami, I don't know what does. I mean look at it...

First off, they threw him at the very end of the bench. I don't know if that's his usual spot, or if its punishment for that 1970's clown suit he's wearing, but it says alot. By placing Bosh in that spot James and Wade effectively don't have to look at the Bostrich, at all. Just cast off, probably craning his bird neck all night long trying to get into whatever the guys on the bench were joking about. Poor guy. 

Secondly, look at his posture! Now look at James' posture. This is a man who DEFINITELY gets stuck with the middle seat on team flights. The guys on the Heat must pull straws to decide who gets to sit next to Bosh on flights. Just dominating the armrests and legroom from take off to landing while he insecurely cowers in the middle seat. 

Just look at him. James all comfy, elbows and legs spread wide, like he's taking a nice and relaxing shit on the toilet (the Heat backups actually were taking a shit on the court at that moment, so its nice symmetry really), while Bosh has to pull the always awkward and uncomfortable shoulder across your chest move and is clenching his legs together. It is the picture of uncomfortableness. He looks like a movie character who was just sexually abused and is afraid of human contact. 

Ladies and Gentelman, Chris Bosh...The Sexually Abused Character in a B Movie, and 1/3 of the Miami Big Three. 

For the Love of God Just Let Rondo Stay and Play in Peace

Boston.com - Rondomania in overtime. Rajon Rondo had his second triple-double in three games, finishing with 18 points, 20 assists and a career-high 17 rebounds, the Celtics ruined Harvard grad Jeremy Lin’s return to Boston with a 115-111 victory over the New York Knicks on Sunday. Rondo played a part in every Celtics point in overtime, collecting five points, five rebounds and two assists in the extra period.  It was Rondo’s fourth triple-double this season and the 17th of his career. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last player to record a triple-double with at least 17 in each category was Magic Johnson, who had 24 points, 17 assists and 17 rebounds on April 18, 1989. The last player to exceed Rondo’s performance in each category was Wilt Chamberlain, who had 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists on Feb. 2, 1968.

This is the guy the Celts brain trust is threatening to trade everytime Danny Ainge has an irregular bowel movement. Perhaps the most unique player in the league today. 

A guy that fills the stat sheet, free throw and outside side shooting aside. I mean, is that what he's being punished for? Because his jumpshot is a bit weak?  

A guy that makes everyone else around him better. Yea never going to carry a team by himself night in, night out, but few players are, ask Paul Pierce how the first 2/3rds of his career worked out.

A guy who has never backed down from the big games, who relishes prime time match ups, and a guy who's level of play has risen each time the playoffs come around? Why? Because he's a bit moody, a bit pissed off when things aren't going well? God forbid a guy gives a shit and shows emotion when things aren't going quite right, or gets pissed off, rightly so, when a key member of the team's core is shipped out of town in a panic move that made zero basketball sense at the time and looks even worse now.  

Or maybe he's always pissed off because since day one of the Big 3 era he's been questioned. 

Could he handle running a team with 3 surefire HOF'ers? Yep. Didn't matter, he'd still be the subject of trade rumors.  

Could he handle a full seasons load with nothing resembling a comptent backup? Yep. Didn't matter, he'd still be the subject of trade rumors.

Could he raise his game as the skills of the teams' aging stars declined? Yep. Doesn't matter, he's still the subject of trade rumors. 

Fact is this team needs Rondo. Now and going forward. Mind you, I say this with in reason. No one is ever untouchable, and if some GM comes reaching out with (forgive my Simmons' speak) a "god father" offer, you take it. But what you don't do is dangle your teams precocious, and most irreplaceable star over and over again, and expect him to be cool with everything.  

This is the guy you build around, this is the only guy you've got that you can build around. KG and Allen are done after this year, and a large part of me hopes both of them just ride off into the sunset. I'd take them back, but not for anything near what they're making now. The Celtics need that cash to start over and find the next wave of all-stars. KG, making $21 million this year, should be looking at a 50% pay cut for a two year extension. Allen, making $10 million, should prepare himself for something around $2-4 mill, tops. They're great complimentary players at this point in their careers, and capable of bringing it every few nights, but they're not winning any championships as a teams focal point. 

That money Ray and KG been so accustomed to collecting will be much better served chasing Dwight Howard...and if you want any chance of landing Dwight, a player of Rondo's youth and skill level on the roster is a must, unless Dwight is looking up and down the Celts lineup without Rondo and salivating about how they're going to own the 40+ league over at Basketball City. 

And in truth, Dwight, Rondo, and two years of Pierce guarantees Dwight as much of a chance as winning as any other destination does (assuming that is what he's interested in). And if Ray and KG come back for two years on the cheap, well now you're looking at the prohibitive favorites for '12'13, and '13-'14 seasons. Beyond 2014 you'll have two stars left, still very much in their prime, and BUCKETS of cash on hand. And you know who's available that year? Lebron James is (that really pains me, but there is no denying his talent). Dwayne Wade is. Chris Bosh is (gross, I know). Carmelo Anthony is. Blake Griffin is. That's a nice pool of stars, not to mention other young players that may develop and hit free agency by then.

Is it a bit of a pipe dream? Absolutely, but it's a winning pipe dream. And it's a much better plan than trading your most marketable free agent bait, watching your old timers flounder for a season or two more with no youth injection, and then spending the next decade languishing in the lottery hoping to get lucky and hit on one of the handful of players that come along every three or four years that change the path of your franchise. That idea sucks, and it's not what Boston Basketball should be about. 

If there's a bottom line to this long and rambling Celtics post that started out as an ode to Rondo, it's this: Rondo is absolutely vital to the Celtics not sucking for years to come after this season.  If we're not talking about an equally young, equally talented player, lets not talk at all. The road gets pretty murky for the Celts after this season but Rondo offers a chance to bridge today's success to tomorrow. I just hope Danny Ainge wakes up and sees that.