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.

Celtics v. Heat Game 6 Wrap Up: Unmitigated Disaster

Cue to the 22 Second Mark...That was the Celtics last night.

Open shot after open shot, after open shot. All led to brick, after brick, after brick. This wasn't about the refs, this wasn't even about Lebron, who was brilliant (seriously, that's as good as a game as an individual can have. The amount of "OH MY GODDD's from the Maestro last night was off the charts. I chose to express myself through explitives). This was about the C's coming out flat. 

They didn't run, they didn't shoot, they didn't pass. And it was team wide. Pierce took a few shots that I swear never got about the rim, just clanking underneath the front of the rim. Pietrus was back to his usual self, though the fans in my section must've all been newbies because they all for some reason anticipated a make whenever he chucked up a three...newsflash guys, he sucks. Allen was a non-factor. Rondo had the best game on the team and even he didn't play particularly well. Didn't help that he had absolutely no one to run with. Bass, actually Bass played ok. He shot well enough, but we didn't see much of him late. And then there's KG....Apparently Coach Olestra reads my blogs because they fronted him from the first quarter on and he was a shadow of himself as a result. No in-game adjustment for Doc on that, which is shocking. 

So now they're heading back to MIA in a do or die. I still take the C's, but that's only because I'm a homer.

Celtics vs. Heat Game 5 Wrap Up: Good Job, Good Effort

Sums it up, right?  

You guys all watched the game, there's not to much to talk about here. One team had a game plan, one team showed up looking like they were looking for some run on an open court at Basketball City. Albeit a very talented open court, but open court all the same. 

The usual story lines, knocking Lebron or D-Wade for a subpar effort weren't there last night, both played some excellent basketball for stretches and both had solid over all games. Problem was, they went back to the alternating possessions style of basketball that just isn't going to work against a smart defensive team. The benefit of having two of the top five or so players in the world is all but negated if they're going to take turns playing iso-ball while the other one stands in a corner or on the weakside block. Doesn't take much to guard a stationary target, you know?

And that goes right to the coaching. I don't think I'm as hard on Coach Olestra as others, but I think, at this point, it's warranted. Doc has coached circles around him this series. Where Doc has a beautiful set play out of a timeout, Olestra has a pick for Dwayne or Lebron and a bunch of free styling. Where Doc has defensive plans to slow and confuse the Heat, Olestra has watched Boston dump the ball deep to KG for three and a half straight games now, and done nothing about it. (Don't even ask, what is he supposed to do? It's easy. You front. You front KG and you pressure the ball. Miami is doing the exact opposite. They are not fronting and they are sagging off Rondo. A recipe for disaster when you're giving up size inside). 

Just look at the Celtics defensive schemes in the 3rd and 4th quarter. At one point they were seamlessly changing from zone to man-to-man every other minute. I don't care how talented an offensive player you are, that is going to disrupt your flow, and it did. First time the Celts won a third quarter this series as far as I can remember. 

And where was Lebron? The guy didn't have a single shot from 7:30 left in the 4th until 10 seconds left. That's inexcusable...and I'm talking again about Coach Olestra here. Call a goddamn timeout and run a set piece for Lebron. You know he's reluctant in close games late, it's your job to get him involved. You have literally the best player on earth on your roster and you can't find a way for him to get an easy bucket out of a timeout? For real? And you're an NBA coach you say? I don't buy it. 

The Heat lost last night for the same, but opposite reasons the Celtics won. Coaching, effort, and urgency. 

Game 6 Thursday, bring it home boys.

WOOPS

This Guy Badly Needs a New Twitter Handle

Absolute glutton for punishment. 

You've gotta be a serious sadomasichist or have some serious thick skin to rock that Twitter handle. And honestly, they guy doesn't look like either, so I'm assuming he's foreign.

Probably has no idea why his @ mentions are blowing up daily with some serious hate tweets:

Celts, Heat Game Four Wrap Up: Crying to Referees in Transition

Suck on that Lebron. Serious question, how soon after the game did Lebron call David Stern to cry about fouling out? I mean did you see his post game interview, just sat there and point blank said "I don't foul out, I don't foul out, I don't foul out." Bron-Bron or one of his boys was probably blowing up the commish's Blackberry for hours after the game, crying like a little bitch that the Heat had to play these last two games straight up with no advantage from the refs.

I mean, that was the difference between the two games, Rondo said it as matter of factly as he could:

It's as simple as that. When there isn't an advantage one way or the other (and mind you that's not me saying the ref's were good this game, they sucked, but they sucked somewhat equally at least) the Celts are the better team. Which is unfathomable considering that in the absence of Avery Bradley, Keyon Dooling and Marquise Daniels are getting serious minutes, but it's absolutely true.

You can see it in the first half. The Celtics are the superior team. They've laid the wood to Miami in 3 out of the 4 games in the first half. Yes they're giving it right back up in the 3rd quarter every game, but I'd contend that's more of a old legs vs new legs issue. When both teams are fresh and right out the gate, the Celts are dominant. Dominant. If this was little league the C's would have mercy ruled the Heat in games 2 thru 4 at the half time buzzer. It's been amazing to watch.

And yet, I still can't get over game 2. That non-call for Rondo still just sticks right in my craw. Simply put, Rondo gets that call, Boston's up 3-1 and Lebron's out shopping for fresh underwear after pissing through every pair he owns...Kinda like he did last night, you know, when he passed the ball to Udonis Freaking Haslem for the last shot of regulation.

Just like Coach Olestra drew it up I'm sure.

Celtics Lose Game 6 and Half of their Players to Injuries

Boston - PHILADELPHIA -- The Celtics are not expected to have Avery Bradley for the rest of the season because of a left shoulder injury. A source close to Bradley told the Globe that the percentile is in the "high 90s" that Bradley will be shut down and will perhaps need surgery. The source said that it's "highly likely" Bradley's left shoulder would pop out again -- it has popped out twice in the series against the Philadelphia 76ers -- and playing further would put him at risk of "serious structural damage."

And I thought last nights loss sucked...

I'd flat be lying if I told you I was optimistic about Saturday and Game 7. The Celts last night looked very much like a team who's injuries and age were catching up with them. This is a team that battled like absolute (over used cliche alert) warriors from the All-Star break on. A team that legitimately only goes 6-7 men deep, plus two rotating scrubs that Doc likes to insert at his whim. And last night, it looked like it was all finally taking its toll. Please note I'm not knocking anyone right now, they've played great and have done better than anyone expected in late January/early February. I'm just coming to grips with a sad reality.

KG looked like he was back to being old. The fountain of youth that he tapped for a few weeks appears to have run dry. Guys he absolutely torched the first few games of this series he couldn't even get his shot off on. He just seemed a step slow, and couldn't get the ball off against smaller guys in the post, never a good sign. To his credit he was the only guy knocking down shots in the 4th, but still, they're not going to win based on KG 18 footers. 

Pierce is running on fumes. I've never seen him front rim as many shots as he has this series. The ball has no arc, he's not getting his usual step back spacing, and his already old man, herky-jerky game, has looked even slower. This is a guy who just needs some rest. 

Ray Allen is a guy valiantly trying on one leg, mainly because the C's are without the aforementioned Bradley. He's playing *way* more minutes than he's capable of right now and he's being exposed as a result. Watching him attempt to guard these younger sixers is just depressing at this point. 

Rondo - Listless performance. I don't know if its because his running mates were off, or if he missed one of his scheduled naps before the game, but something just wasn't right last night. Lack of aggressiveness, his usually crisp passes found the hands of the sixers far too often, and he seemed gun shy to take the elbow extended jumpshot that he'd made his home as of late. They're gonna need a prototypical Rondo game Saturday to have any shot of advancing. I'm saying one of his 14 pts, 11 rebounds, 18 assists, type of games. 

Marquise Daniels - What's he doing here, you ask? My thoughts exactly. But Doc decided last night, "you know what, a cold Marquise Daniels, who hasn't played in two games, might be able to slow down their best scorer." He couldn't. Not that I want to be too hard on Doc, at this point I gotta believe Danny Ainge is gonna be camped out at Basketball City these next two days looking for a two-guard to sign to a 10 day contract. 

But we'll see, we'll see what they got this Saturday. If this game wasn't at home I'd give them about a 30% chance of victory, but they've played very well at home as of late...I'm gonna give them a 75% chance of victory, but also begin to prepare myself for a crushing loss anyway.

May 1st, 2012 - The Day Paul Pierce Finally Won Me Over

What a freaking game by the C's, huh? First of all, I'm shocked this whole highlight wasn't just Pierce replays, apparently between dominating the 1st quarter and absolutely owning the 4th quarter the other 9 guys on the court played around for a bit. Could have fooled me. 

In what was an absolute snoozer of a game Pierce might have finally attained a very, very rare accomplishment for Boston athletes...he unconditionally won CW over. There's very few athletes in my time as a Boston sports fan that I can say that about. It's certainly not in the double digits.

Believe me, that's a huge deal. 14 or so seasons, a championship, a slew of all-star appearances, that fantastic series against Lebron and Cleveland a few seasons ago...didn't do it. I know, that's wicked odd, almost sacrilege, but its true. I've written about it before, most notably here, but growing up I was an Antoine guy. I know that's indefensible now, I won't get into it again, this is about Pierce today. 

For years Pierce was just a guy with a sour-puss on his face, the ugliest set of basketball skills I've ever seen, and the guy who owns the patent on the worst crunch time offensive set of all time (elbow extended fades with the clock running down)...He hasn't always been the easiest guy to root for, there's just not much for a fan to latch onto and say "that's why I love Paul Pierce." Today, he's still very much that guy. The crunch time offense still flows through his aesthetically unpleasing offensive selections, he's a flopper, his best offensive move is the pump fake, he never appears to run at more than a 7.2 on the treadmill, and the scowl is still there when things aren't going his way...and yet, he produces. 

He's softened me the past few years and last night finally cemented it. I finally believe that he actually gives a shit about what it means to be a Celtic.  That's an odd, maybe unfair, and completely selfish thing to say as a fan, but its The Truth (pun completely intended). 

The C's could have flopped last night, Pierce could have just given his usual effort, KG would have attempted to pick up the slack, but it wouldn't have been enough in the absence of Rondo. The Celts would have been down 0-2 and we'd have spent the today and the next two days wondering if the current Big 4's run was up. If the warriors had finally run out of fight. 

Nope. Pierce wouldn't let it happen, he put in a game for the ages from the opening tip til the final buzzer. He turned back the clock at least 4 years. That was an aging start with too much pride to let his team go out like that. He may not be able to do that every night, but he still has enough left in the tank to turn it up when the team needs him, when the fans need him, when the Celtic franchise needs him. He gets it.

When he talks about loving being a Celtic in his usual monotone, I'll buy into it now. I won't think it's lip service, I won't foolishly hold on to his early career surly demeanor as his true feelings toward the team, the franchise, the fans, and the game. 

I may be the last one on, but I'm now full on the Pierce bandwagon. Sorry it took me so long.

Mickael Pietrus and the Celtics Wrap Up the Atlantic Division Once Again

Big Gold Fish must be something lost in translation from French or Haitian or French Guianan or whatever Micaekl is. But we get what you're saying Mickael, and your enthusiasm is off the charts. We may not completely understand you (frankly, I'm not sure anyone does) but we appreciate it anyway. 

Have at it bud. 

PS: I'm kinda shocked that a quick google search couldn't produce any 2012 Atlantic Division Champs shirts, I'd have thought Modells had those things ready to go...Mom's buying 10 year old and younger kids Division champ's apparel as a thoughtful yet misguided gift is basically a cottage industry at this point, someone really fell asleep at the switch here.

Sox Fans Pulse Check: Abandon All Hope

Someone should tell Bobby the Rangers got 14 more runs to go.

For Chrissakes guys, pull your shit together huh? When I decided to do Sox Fans Pulse Checks this season I figured I'd have one, maybe two per week to write, not an every day emotional roller coaster...I mean, what the hell was that last night? 18-3? What are we the fucking Kansas City Royals? Shit.

Was Jon Lester serious last night? You're the ace, you were staked a 2-0 lead in the first inning, come on man! And don't even get me started on Melancon...Christ that guy sucks, he doesn't even belong in AAA, nevermind the bigs....Check out this stat line from last night:

0 Innings Pitched Folks...Melancon officially pitched as many innings as myself and all my readers combined last night, the difference? All six batters he faced ended up scoring. This guy has been the definition of terrible thus far. Bobby V, if you're taking notes, this is the guy you should be thrashing in the media. The guy that doesn't look like he's given two shits about how his performances pan out whatsoever since getting here, the guy flat out sucks.

I don't know what to make of this team now, they start out 1-5, rip off 3 straight against the D-Rays, and now drop two in a row. There's absolutely no continuity here and it's weighing heavily on my blood pressure.

Not that the Celtics and Rondo were helping me out in the coronary department last night either:

In some bizarre twist of irony I shit my pants at the exact moment I thought I was watchign the Celts season go down the shitter. Doc, please just sit Rondo these next few games, seeding be damned. Rondo going out with any kind of lingering back pains is worst case scenario for this team.

So yea, great night for the Boston sports scene.

Mickael Pietrus Begging for Twitter Followers

All I got was Follow Me on Twitter.

Umm, sorry Mickael, it doesn't really work that way. I ask people to follow me all the time, even have that handy little button over there on the right, still doesn't matter...Maybe talking like a still very concussed man on video helps though?

PS: Your name is a pain in the ass to spell, all the double vowels and what not. 

Celtics Down Lebron and El Heat Once Again

 

Twice in 10 days! Someone go ask Stephen A Smith if this one counted against the Heat? He's gotta be running out of excuses for Lebron and Co by now, right? I mean this one was at home, and the C's controlled it, basically tip-buzzer. 

And another thing...all those old "Chris Bosh is a young KG" comparisons from a few years back when everyone still thought Bosh had real talent, is there anyone we can contact to get those expunged from the Internet for good? It's just embarrassing that those comparisons even exist at this point. Bostrich might be one of the least useful players on the planet on that Heat team. Hell, Tommy Heinson's comparisons of Greg Steimsma (I don't even know if that's how you spell his name) to Bill Russell hold more weight than the old comparisons of Bosh to KG. That's how far he's fallen.  I honestly can't wait for the playoffs to start and that's something I would have never said about this Celts team 2 months ago. 

In other Boston sports news, the Sox lost again, and I'm one step closer to the ledge

Miami Heat Lose Yet Another Prime Time Matchup, Media Yet Again Makes Excuses for Them

Real question, is Stephen A that delusional? Or in Stephen A-bonics "IS STEphen A THat DELusionAL? 

And I'm not complaining from a Boston perspective, I'm glad he gave the team it's props. They're now leading their division and have the second best record in basketball since the All-Star break. They're still old as hell and a fairly flawed team with some real weaknesses, but if anything this proves they've got a punchers chance in the playoffs. You know they'll go down swinging, and if they catch a team, like say, the Heat, by surprise, they could knock 'em out. 

Which is why I think Stephen A, and all the media types who keep defending Miami for these show down losses need a bit of a dose of reality. In the past month they've played the Lakers, the Pacers, Orlando, Chicago, Oklahoma and now Boston, a combined 8 times...They're 2-6. TWO AND SIX! And no one says anything about it, just "oh, the game meant more to the opposing team than it did the Heat."

BULLSHIT.  This is a team that comes into every big matchup with a media circus, wondering how they'll respond. They've stepped up twice. Once in overtime against the Pacers at home, and once at home against Orlando...Hell, that loss to Chicago was while Rose was out...The talent disparity is already huge between Chicago and Miami, but take away Rose? That should be like playing just another middling eastern conference team for Miami, but they couldn't do it. 

Once or twice is excusable, but not showing up 6x in a month, that's a pattern. Four of those losses were by double digits, by an average of 15 points per game...That's not exactly paining a picture of an elite team putting up a fight on a night by night basis. 

And the argument that it doesn't mean anything, that they're just treading water, doesn't really hold weight either. Coming into last month they were in contention for the 1 seed, now? It's all but gone. And trust me, in a seven game series against the Bulls, they want that home court advantage. Not to mention the fact that no other team in the league would get this much leeway...its a shortened season, every game counts more now than in any previous season. In the blink of an eye we're going to be into the playoffs, and they're going to be a team that went 10-7 in the last month when they should have been rounding into form for the playoffs, including 6 losses to playoff caliber teams (one to the Jazz for good measure). 

So yes, Stephen A, these games do mean something, and should mean something to Miami. What you're seeing is a team that gets down and quits. A team with no fight once another team imposes their will on them. A team of quitters who very much look like they're being led by a guy who's never been able to overcome adversity in his career. They're front runners who can't handle playing from behind, and that's a huge problem come playoff time.

But great analysis Stevie.