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 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.

Jeff Van Gundy Hates Flopping More Than Even Me

Preach Gundy! Preach! This has bothered me for years. I hate flopping, I hate it so much, that as a life long Celtics fan, I've still never completely warmed up to Paul Pierce...because of the flopping. Hell, I went out of my way to write an opus to Antoine Walker and supplied probably half a dozen reasons why I loved him more than Pierce, and that guy was a loser...but he didn't flop. I've accepted Pierce, the guy helped bring us a championship, and he does seem to truly care about being a Celtic, but I'll never love his style of play when his go-to move is a pump-fake flop at the foul line.

The Gundy nailed it here, absolutely nailed it. If the office actually cared about cleaning up flopping they'd have some kind of punishment in place. You don't want it to be a judgement call from the ref? That's fine. Make all game tape reviewable after the game and fine players for obvious flops that drew incorrect calls from the refs...$5k for your first five offenses (it's low but if you've only flopped 5 times in a season, you're probably not a serial flopper), 15k for your next 5, 25k from there on out. That'll turn around this trend real fast. 

But the league doesn't, because it doesn't care. I might not go as far to say they're encouraging it, I don't think that's the case, but I do think they've turned a blind eye towards the problem, and it's about time someone called the league out on it.

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.