Celtics Win, NBA Season Ends, York Misses Basketball Already, KG Goes Crazy, Big Baby Shirtless, Scalabrine Talks Some Trash, I love 2008.

 

It’s over.

 

The Boston Celtics have done what a lot of experts said they couldn’t or wouldn’t, what I thought they probably would and what they haven’t done in 22 years. Win an NBA Championship.

I feel like they all must have read my game 6 preview…otherwise how do you explain Big Baby getting some minutes, Rondo playing like he has superhuman speed and agility, Paul Pierce staying focused and STILL getting 20 points even though his shots weren’t falling for an entire half, Kevin Garnett hitting seemingly every shot he took, Ray Allen setting a record for 3′s in a Finals game and the Celtics absolutely dismantling the LA Lakers?

Oh…right…This is EXACTLY the team they were ALL SEASON LONG.

Let it also be known that we saw exactly 0 series upsets in these NBA Finals. The team with the better record won every single series. The Finals were no different.

Let is ALSO be known that if you had to rank the top 5 teams in the NBA for 2007-08, they would HAVE to be:

1) Boston Celtics

2) Detroit Pistons

3) LA Lakers

4) San Antonio Spurs

5) New Orleans Hornets

I suspect we might start hearing a whole lot less about the (L)Eastern Conference being shitty come 08-09. Particularly if The Heat stay healthy, Beasley is as good as advertised, the Magic make improvements, the Bulls get stronger, the Cavs get SOMEONE else, The Hawks play defense and the Raptors get better. Granted these are a lot of “ifs”.

But this isn’t about the Eastern Conference. This is about the Celtics.

One team that won it all because of team unity and chemistry and amazing defense.

 

 

 

 

Paul Pierce has cemented his place in Celtics history. Pierce essentially carried the Celtics through the playoffs when Ray Allen and KG were struggling. He was The Captain and The Truth. I think in Boston we have felt for years that Pierce has never really received the respect that he has deserved. He is a complete player. He is a leader. He can take over a game when they need him to.

 

Paul Pierce will finally get some of the love that goes along with not only being a champion, but being one of the best.

Before the 2008 Finals most people would never have considered Pierce to be one of the top 25 players in the NBA. Right now? I don’t know how you could NOT put him in the top 25.

In the Playoffs this season (the best 16 teams) there were only a few guys who showed signs of being able to carry their team through tough times. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Manu, Joe Johnson (who LOOKED like one of the best guys in the NBA in the Atlanta/Boston series). I’m having trouble thinking of anyone else who single handedly carried their team through any portion of the Finals or who just completely took over multiple games. Please let me know if I missed anyone.

Anyway, if you argue that the absolute best players in the NBA make it to the Playoffs (a slippery slope that is essentially what GOT Pierce ignored or forgotten about for so long), Pierce would HAVE TO be the alpha dog of that list this season (Chris Paul would be 2nd only because he didn’t end up winning it all).

I’m not trying to argue that Paul Pierce is the best player in the league. However, if you want to talk about the top 25 in the league based on their performances, Pierce now HAS TO be in that discussion.

Let’s just remember that Mr. T Mobile himself, Dwayne Wade, got that respect from corporations and the NBA how? Oh yeah, by CARRYING the Heat to a championship. It’s been disappointing how injured he has been lately too, because he is one guy I really respect and enjoy watching.

Maybe next season Charles Barkley can be harassing Paul Pierce is all I’m saying…

“GET ME THEM SOCKS!”

 

 

 

 

You know who I never want to hear “he’s not good enough in the clutch” about again?

 

Yeah, he’s holding the trophy above with young Greg Oden.

(Oh…that’s Bill Russell? Could have fooled me.)

Kevin Garnett was INSANE in the post-game interview. The guy was clearly still in 30,000th gear and honestly had the look of someone who was exhausted in every way possible, who had not slept in weeks and who was emotionally overjoyed. He even told Michelle she looked good! (everyone knows that’s Doc’s job. Also, on a Michele Tafoya related rant, ever notice how Paul Pierce calls her “baby” after every interview? It is hilarious. It sort of makes me wonder if they all talk about her in the locker room after games. I can just imagine them being like “Did you see Michele tonight? She looked fine. Yeah, I’d totally hit that.” etc. )

Kevin Garnett was breathing fire and spitting venom in game 6 (just as I predicted and hoped he would). He was making hard fall aways look easy, he was making jumpers over Pau Gasol’s ugly head look like he was wide open. That shot he took in the second quarter after he got fouled, the line drive off the glass? Amazing).

 

 

 

Doc Rivers proved EVERYONE wrong.

 

He might have made some mistakes; he might have made some strange instinctive decisions. But there is no doubt in my mind at all that Doc Rivers wanted nothing more than to win it all and the fact that he is so loved by his team just shows that there is definitely a lot more to him than meets the eye in some situations.

You can play the “well, the Celtics have 3 probable Hall of Famers, Doc didn’t need to do all that much to get them to perform” card. Fine. If you want to play it that way, that’s fine.

But what Doc DID do was:

1) Stick with a Sophomore Point Guard who EVERYBODY had questions about last season that sometimes looks like he IS the future of the Celtics.

2) Keep the respect of ALL his players even while not keeping a consistent rotation or guaranteeing any set amount of playing time for anyone. Try to imagine Stephon Marbury or Vince Carter or Shawn Marion playing on a team like that. What’s that? You can’t? Simply due to the horrific egos? Really? Oh. Ok. Cool.

3) Doc sold EVERYONE on the ubuntu concept. And it was beautiful to watch. This was a team that did EVERYTHING right even when they were doing things horribly wrong.

4) Develop the younger players by playing them when they were hot. Big Baby carried the Celtics through a regular season win in Detroit. Leon Powe carried the Celtics through a series of wins while KG was injured. There were ALWAYS young guys stepping up (even Gabe Pruitt got a little playing time at the end of the season).

Doc Rivers seems like a brilliant player manager (similar to Terry Francona) because he protects his young players and lets them develop and he lets his proven veterans be who they are. I really think that this type of balance, regardless of everything else, can result in great things.

And Paul Pierce with the Gatorade? Priceless. Even though The Truth has a sponsorship deal with POWERade. And speaking of POWERade, there has NEVER been a situation where one of your spokesmen getting a DUI (and generally being an asshole) has resulted in GOOD FORTUNE for a company. Before the playoffs began there were ads for POWERade all over Boston with Shawn Merriman, Ryan Howard and Carmello Anthony. After CMel got arrested? He was dropped from the ads, they changed the POWERade liquid color from blue to yellow and photo shopped Paul Pierce in CMel’s place. Bang, PERFECT! Also, why would you choose Carmello Anthony to begin with? The guy just seems like a giant asshole. I’ve never spent any time conversing with him, but I get a really bad impression based on what I’ve seen. He seems like he’s striving to be this generation’s Stephon Marbury, a guy who has a shitload of talent but cares more about himself than his team or doing what it takes to win or maybe he cares about both of those things but his ego and personality get in the way. That is why I say he should go to the Knicks. He can put up a double double every night, never have to worry about going to the playoffs and he won’t have to be a cancer to any team that is actually trying to improve.

End tangent.

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett were on Letterman together. I think this was kind of a great idea (having two members of the Celtics as opposed to any single member) and they both did a really nice job. Ray Allen just comes off as the nicest guy in the world. I don’t know how you could possibly NOT like him as a person.

 

Me? I’ve always loved Ray Allen. Even when Bill Simmons was shitting on Danny Ainge last Summer when the Celts acquired him in exchange for their first rounder and some parts (Delonte, Wally – that ended up playing AGAINST the Celtics on Cleveland in the playoffs…it was a strange season…) because he (and not JUST him, but almost EVERYONE in the sports media) thought that Ray Ray was all done before the season even started.

They were wrong.

Ray Allen is just amazing. He’s a natural shooter. He can drive to the basket (just ask Sasha RayAllen’sBitch) and he has excellent ball handling skills.

Additionally, by all accounts, Ray Allen IS a great guy. he always conducts himself professionally. He is a sharp dresser. He is a surprisingly good actor and he can ball.

I loved Ray Allen when he was in Milwaukee, I loved him in Seattle (especially when he said that Kobe was a selfish bastard) and I was very excited when I heard he was coming to Boston. I think even without KG, the Celtics would have definitely been a playoff team with Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Al Jefferson. They probably would not have gotten past the second round with that lineup, but who knows (and while we’re talking about Al Jefferson, there is a guy who might be destined to play amazingly for years and be on a bad team. Maybe McHale can trade him back to the Celtics for Sam Cassell straight up…?) 

 

 

 

 

The parade was…Well, look at the pictures.

 

Leon Powe got a great reaction. Big Baby had his shirt off. Everybody had a cigar. It was incredible.

When Ray Allen came by, everybody was chanting “Shut-tles-worth!”.

Doc looked as happy as a father on the day of his son’s wedding.

It’s amazing how things can change so quickly. And yes, this was a trade-era championship. Yes, the Celtics did bring in all stars and yes, them winning a championship had A LOT to do with re-building in the off season.

But so what?

The Celtics had to move a lot of young guys with a lot of potential to get to this point. Danny Ainge still  had to make some swift free agent acquisitions even after the new three had come together. And furthermore, you can have all the stars in the world on your roster (look at the Karl Malone Lakers) but if they don’t click, if it doesn’t come together and if they aren’t all on the same page, you still aren’t going to win a championship (ahem, 2000′s Yankees).

Furthermore, the reason why these trades were so risky is that this team is clearly a time-sensitive team.

Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce will almost definitely all be retired by 2015 (if not 2014, 13, 12 or 11) and in addition, its not like guys in the NBA are age-proof. You get older. Your body cannot do a lot of the things it used to. They all have a couple years of prime basketball left (maybe 4 for Pierce, 2 for Ray and 3 for KG). If they didn’t win soon, they probably never would.

And another great side effect of having three legitimate All Stars on one team is that it makes EVERYONE around them not only play better as a player but also act better as a teammate.

Rajon Rondo was a big question mark coming into this season. After game 6 of the Finals? He looked like he could be quickly becoming one of the top 10 point guards in the NBA (qualifier: he still needs to improve his jumper and get some more range shooting, drive to the basket more fearlessly to get easy buckets and/or to draw fouls [imagine if Rondo got to the line 10 times a game? Paul Pierce needs to teach him how to tactfully take a soft hit and make it look like he got shanked] and improve his awareness [sometimes he throws it away or misses an open man]. But with all of that said, Rondo steals like Rickey Henderson, Rebounds like he’s 6’10″ and runs like he’s Chad Johnson. He’s got a lot of potential and I don’t think hanging out with three future Hall of Famers is going to make him any worse.

Big Baby was rookie. And even though he would make some mistakes, its clear that he has a lot of intensity, the determination to become a better player (the guy has lost like 60 lbs. since college) and the fearlessness of a proven veteran (even if he doesn’t always have the skill  of one).

Leon Powe is the same age as me. He looks like he’s in his 30′s. He’s fearless. He works hard. And he has a presence that let’s you know there ARE nights when he can carry the team (OFF THE BENCH MIND YOU!).

Tony Allen is kind of a fifty-fifty guy. He’s sometimes a great defender. Sometimes a liability on offense. Sometimes amazing. Sometimes not so good. If he can develop some consistency, he could be a solid bench option.

Kendrick Perkins…He is a legit big man. He pushes and shoves, rebounds like a beast and even hits the occasional spot up shot that seems  surprising even though it shouldn’t be. The guy can play Center.

And outside of the young guys, the veterans they brought in, Posey, House, PJ Brown, even Scott Pollard at the beginning of the season, all played quality basketball.

Posey MUST BE RE-SIGNED. The Celtics need that toughness. There is no better sub for Paul Pierce in the NBA. James Posey just imposes his will on guys defensively AND can shoot and aside from those two great elements, he’s just a bastard on the court. The guy will shove anyone after a whistle or play for that extra second. He’d the type of guy I would HATE if he were playing against my team, but on my team, he’s one of my favorites.

Eddie House should also be re-signed. He is a lights out shooter who stepped up big in certain crunch-time situations for the Celtics all year long. Remember that game in Charlotte the day after Thanksgiving where he somehow tipped and stole an inbound pass, got it to Ray Allen and Ray Ray hit the game winner with nothing left on the clock? Yeah. That’s what Eddie can do. He might not be the best ball handler, but he is a solid defender and always an offensive threat on the court.

Sam Cassell should probably not be resigned. He’s well past the wrong side of 30 and even though he hit a few nice shots for the Celtics, nothing was life-altering enough to make me think that they couldn’t live without him. However, I will give Sam credit for a few things, first, the guy is a three time champion, he always plays hard (even if it isn’t always great play) and he is never afraid to take big shots (even when he misses). The greatest thing about having Sam on the Celtics this season was definitely that he was on the bench with the guys to keep them intense and tell them how to play championship basketball. The guy is a natural coach. He seems to be someone who, even if he didn’t contribute so much on the court this post-season, he can definitely (and DID definitely) help any team on the bench. For these reasons, I think that the Celtics should shrewdly offer him an assistant coaching job for next season. Don’t let him go on bad terms. Give him a chance to continue to help the team in a great capacity. He clearly gets people pumped up and he LOVES to talk. I wouldn’t want to lose that element. Maybe Sam will decide that going out with a ring would be the perfect book-end to coming in with a ring (which he did in Houston in 1964…I mean…).

I don’t expect PJ Brown to play another season. Even though he did save the Celtics from the Cavs. He was more than they could have asked for in the playoffs. I think that PJ should probably ride off into the sunset with his championship ring (but if he wants to come back, shit, I’d take him!).

Scott Pollard is probably gone.

Brian Scalabrine doesn’t seem to be part of the long-term plan. But I will say that Scal had the funniest post-game interview following game 6. He really does seem like a good guy. If he goes I will certainly miss chanting “SCAL-A-BRIN-E” at the end of games to convince Doc to let him play a couple of minutes (which he did. Doc always gives the fans what they want when the Celtics are up by double digits and it is late in the fourth in the regular season).

 

 

 

After the parade I was a little let down. 

 

Another season of NBA basketball has ended.

And even though I have never in my life been able to watch and comprehend a Celtics team playing as well as this one did and I wanted them to win it all, part of me hope this season would never end.

Don’t get me wrong, a major part of me wanted to be able to go to sleep before 1:00 a.m. every night during the Playoffs (David Stern is a giant piece of garbage. By the way, during the Larry O’Brien trophy presentation when everyone was booing him [rightfully so] he said ‘oh, you’re saying Truth’, I would have tried to start a “No-One-Likes-You” chant, the only thing I fault the Game 6 crowd for NOT doing).

THIS is an exciting league again…and I’m not just saying that because the team I root for won it all.

Next year:

The Portland Trailblazers SHOULD be a force. That is a team of young, big, talented, hungry guys. Brandon Roy is just plain exciting. Greg Oden could be amazing. They should be something really special.

The New Orleans Hornets WILL BE even better. If that team makes any type of off season pick ups, they can improve. Chris Paul is just a phenom.

The Suns and Mavs will adjust somewhat and we’ll get to see if they start to get old or if start to grow. The Suns are the single team this season that absolutely embarrassed the Celtics (February 22nd). Both teams still have some really talented guys.

The Golden State drama will play out and we’ll see what happens. I love Baron Davis and I hope he sticks with them.

The Heat and Bulls could both be exponentially better next season. Both teams were NOT expected to be complete non-factors in 2007-08. I think both will rebound and would not be surprised to see both of them in the playoffs next year.

The Wizards were the only team that consistently flustered the Celtics and we will wait and see what happens with Gilbert Arenas, but they have some really good players.

The 76ers will continue to grow. Andre Igudola looks like someone who could be something special.

The Hawks made a nice run at the Celtics. If they get their act together, they could be a solid team all year. They have a lot of talent.

The Pistons are probably going to make some kind of deal. But if they retain the core of players they have (most of it) they’ll be in really good shape again. Did I ever mention that Rodney Stuckey is going to be HUGE?

The Magic have Dwight Howard. That guy is a monster. And they have Ron Jeremy coaching. What could go wrong?

The Lakers will probably win 60 games next season if Kobe returns and stays healthy along with a healthy Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in the Finals again next season.

The Spurs are still the Spurs. Until Tim Duncan retires, they will be the Spurs. Even when Tim Duncan retires, they’ll still have a great point guard and Manu (who is somehow amazing almost all of the time).

The Raptors will attempt to sign every foreign-born free agent on the market.

The Sonics will hopefully stay in Seattle where they belong. And Kevin Durant will hopefully continue to improve and be one of the most exciting young players in the league.

Next season, I predict that the Celtics have the best record in the East, The Lakers have the best record in the west, the Timberwolves, Grizzlies, Kings, Bucks, Sonics and Knicks finish near the bottom and viewership improves substantially (but not because of ANYTHING David Stern does).

It is an exciting time for the NBA.

The best TEAM won this year.

And now I have to watch baseball for four months.

 

 

 

 

 

NBA Finals Game 4 Earth Shattering Jesus Shuttlesworth Kobe Bryant Is Turd International Lakers Fail Cry Jack Cry!

I’m sorry that my title is a long nonsensical run-on sentence but I woke up this morning in a glass cage of emotion.

Last night was the type of game that comes along only a few times in a lifetime for your team…maybe a few times in a lifetime period.

The Celtics looked pathetic in the first quarter. A bunch of my Friends came over to watch the game and my friend Bombs was so enraged that some of them took up a count of how many times he said “give me a f-ing break!!!”. He was over 30 before halftime.

To top it all off, Rondo looked even less confident than usual (probably due to his ankle issue) and Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett weren’t at my apartment but they also weren’t really at the Staples Center, so I was a little upset.

Also, Mike Breen pulled out the “This one will be a good old fashioned blow out!” card around 7 minutes into the first quarter. I feel like there should be some laws to sports broadcasting on national television:

1) Don’t ever say anything that will both enrage the fans of one team and make you look completely moronic at the same time (I know, the Celtics were down 20 in the first. Fine. But it is the NBA FINALS! Its not like the Lakers got a 20 point lead on The Miami Heat in the first quarter. Then it might be all right to say ‘this might be a blowout’. Butseriously? I mean, I didn’t think the Celtics were wining that game, but I KNEW they would NEVER allow ANY TEAM to beat them by more than 15. Not the way they’ve been playing the last couple of rounds anyway).

2) NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER compare someone to Dr. J, MJ, Kareem, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson…etc. during a game (OR AFTER A GAME FOR THAT MATTER) while they are still young and playing. Its easy to judge Kareem’s place in history because he is retired and has completed a full body of work. Ditto for everyone else I named. But come on! I love Leon Powe just as much (if not a lot more) than the next guy. But he doesn’t look like Dr. J. Ever.

3) Do not be afraid to show some emotion every once in a while. That Ray Allen lay up….that could have been a call for the ages. He broke free and nailed a game winning layup. And they had nothing to say about it.

4) Don’t keep saying “THE CELTICS ARE ON THE VERGE OF THE GREATEST COMEBACK IN NBA FINALS HISTORY!”. That would be like saying “JON LESTER IS ON THE VERGE OF A NO HITTER”. EVERYONE CAN TELL WITHOUT YOU SAYING IT! If you want to show a little flash along the bottom of the screen, fine. But its just annoying otherwise. And Terribly bad luck. I blame the 2003 Red Sox collapse entirely on Joe Buck.

Anyway, the game looked horrible. Things were uncomfortable, I didn’t even have a seat on the couch (in my own apartment!) and the Celtics got outscored 35-14 in the first 12 minutes.

And then things started to come together.

In the second half the Lakers only scored 33 points (how you hold a team to less points AT HOME in the final 24 minutes of a game than you gave up in the first 12 minutes is beyond me). The Celtics went wild. Doc Rivers seemed to know exactly what to do the whole way (7 minute Sam Cassell stint in the first half notwithstanding).

Leon Powe played 7 minutes and notched 5 rebounds and 3 points.

The Celtics were an incredible 7-7 from the paint in the third quarter. Shot selection got them back into the game.

And then somehow defensive execution went way up.

Do you ever feel like Kendrick Perkins is either incredibly good (10% of the time) or incredibly unproductive (as in, commits too many fouls and doesn’t move well enough in the post to put up points like he should)?

When the Celtics went small, I knew they had a small chance.

Eddie House is an emotional player. James Posey is an emotional player. Those two guys have been playing side by side all season long. You can’t tell me that the Lakers have a “deeper bench” as I read from so many ESPN columnists last week. The Celtics easily have the deepest bench int he NBA. They get quality performances out of almost everybody on a consistent basis (Sam Cassell’s dead body aside).

And the way Ray Allen played at the end of the game?

First of all, that lay up where he switched hands and shot it on the way down? Absurd. And when he took Sasha Vujacic one on one to effectively end the game? Ray Allen and the Arm Sock have become Jesus Shuttlesworth. That arm sock is like a fountain of youth or something. He hasn’t played like this most of the season  the way he’s taking it to the hole and makingguys look bad. Unbelievable. The way Ray Allen carried the Celtics at the end of the game…it erases any negative things you’ve ever thought about Ray Allen int he clutch. He threw a spear through Kobe Bryant’s heart.

This Celtics team is unstoppable. They truly want it. They love and respect one another and they play like they have been together far longer than a mere 106 games (shit, 47 and 44 games for PJ Brown and Sam Cassell, whom I think does a great job cheering on the guys and getting them pumped up on the bench).

Kobe Bryant WILL LOSE either game 5 or 6 for his team because he is the antithesis of the Boston Celtics. In the words of the Get Up Kids “one star player doesn’t save the team”. Kobe WILL take somewhere between 30 and 50 shots in one of the next two games as soon as he gets pissed at his teammates and decides that they suck. And when he does that, the Celtics will see right through him and shut him down hard. Even if he scores 70 points, the Celtics will win the game 95-85.  Mark my words. He’s too selfish not to be the Achilles heel of this Lakers team.

During the last six minutes of the game, I kept reminding everyone to knock on the floor whenever Mike Breen tried to jinx the Celtics. We didn’t get up and celebrate or say ANYTHING until after the final buzzer. And when it went off we all stood up and hugged just like the Celtics.

This is a team that I feel absolutely privileged to root for. I have never felt so close to any of the Boston sports teams I’ve followed my entire life. They get it. They aren’t assholes. They aren’t me-first-crybabies (even when it might be understandable for them to be, ahem, the Cassell instead of Eddie House situation). They aren’t soft guys who are afraid of doing things the hard way. They aren’t guys who mentally check out when they go down big. They aren’t arrogant pricks who think they’ve already won.

This whole season has been about one thing. This Celtics team plays and conducts itself exactly the way that you are taught to act when you’re growing up. They share, they don’t hold grudges, they care for one another, they help each other out, they want what’s best for everyone not just themselves, they can take constructive criticism, they stand up for one another and they don’t give up when things aren’t going their way.

And they’re closer now than a lot of people thought they would ever be.

Greatest Comeback In NBA Finals History.

I can’t write much now. 

But Ray Allen, how he played in the 4th quarter completely reverses any negative thing anyone has said about him all playoffs. He was a murderer. He ripped Kobe Bryant’s heart out and made Sasha Vujacic (or however the shit you spell it) eat it.

Full review tomorrow.

But this is only the second time in my life that one of my teams has done something that even I can’t believe. The Celtics are insane.

I TOLD YOU LEON! DIDN’T I SAY LEON? WHAT!!!!

Leon Powe says “Yeah, York was right about me all along. The Lakers don’t play defense. I can push them around and muscle my way to the hoop. You know I’m from Oakland, right? This Lakers team is like the International Passport at IHOP, you don’t know whats coming out or where it came from.”

Game 2 of the NBA Finals was big in a few ways for the Celtics. They got the win. They played really hard for 3 and 1/3 quarters. Paul Pierce is either made of adrenaline or the knee thing really isn’t that big of a deal. Ray Allen and the arm sock of unquestionable glory were present again. Rajon Rondo had some insane assists and rebounds. They had an above average shot selection all night. I could go on…

But by far, the best thing that happened to the Celtics on Sunday night was the fact that they managed to surrender 41 points in the final 12 minutes.

These Lakers are not stupid, they’re not slow and they aren’t going to roll over and die.

An almost-choke should be enough to make the entire team think twice before they get stars in their eyes. It was a win, but the Celtics still have a lot to work on. And almost choking should give them the momentum they need to come out with in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Allow me to also point out that the Celtics won on Sunday without heavy offensive assistance fro KG.

Garnett was relatively quiet on the offensive end. True, Pierce was golden and Ray Allen and KG were effective, but there is going to come a game where the Celtics need KG to get 30 or more points. It will happen. Especially if Paul Pierce does become hampered by the knee strain.

Now, I’m not saying KG didn’t play a good game last night, a double double with a handful of assists is nothing to sneeze at.

But he missed some shots that he usually hits.

And the Celtics will need him to step up big in LA.

One more note about Leon Powe, that guy needs to play 10 minutes a game. He just HAS TO. I’ve said in the past he and Posey are the only two guys I have absolute confidence in coming off the bench. PJ Brown is great once in a while. But he fouls a lot and he doesn’t always bring the same type of energy Leon does.

Maybe Eddie House will make a surprise appearance in Game 3. After all, ET did not really show up last night. And when Eddie gets some big shots, it just makes the whole Celtics team incredibly happy. He’s definitely a big emotional leader off the bench.

The Lakers can complain about the lack of free throws they had. Sure. But it wasn’t like the Celtics weren’t committing fouls. They just didn’t commit a lot of shooting fouls. And I can’t really think of more than a couple of instances that a shooting foul could have been called against them when it wasn’t.

Game 3 will be good. Another night I’ll go to sleep around 1:00 a.m. and roll into work the next morning.

 

 

The Truth Hurts…A Lot.

 

Why is Tony Allen carrying Paul Pierce? Doesn’t Tony have a foot injury? Is this safe?!?!

It was the third quarter of Game 1, right at the point where a game can go either way. And Paul Pierce somehow bangs into Perk and it looks like the Celtics are over.

Next play, Kendrick Perkins goes down with an even nastier looking ankle injury. They’re dropping like flies. And Sam Cassell is on the court. Great.

How this game didn’t turn into a 40-0 Lakers run followed by a series sweep is beyond me. It had all the makings of the Bengals/Steelers in 2006. Star player gets hurt. Momentum dies. Team falls apart. Season over.

But somehow that didn’t happen.

 

Shades of Larry happened.

Paul Pierce moved decently and put the Celtics back in the lead. He played his heart out and is clearly trying to earn his place in Celtics lore for generations.

The arm sock was in full effect for Ray Allen and he was knocking them down for the third straight game.

KG was playing the right kind of selfish basketball in the first half. Maybe he’s learning. Maybe he’s listening.

Leon Powe brought in the wow factor off the bench. Sam Cassell even put up some points (though he did it int his game, the whole, “I’m gonna run and shoot right away” thing isn’t the right way and will eventually end up turning out like it did in previous rounds).

The defense looked strong. Ray Allen’s feud with Kobe Bryant might be the most important factor of the finals. Ray was playing inspired defense.

The Pierce and Perkins injuries worry me some though.

I would say Perkins is someone the Celtics can make up for with a solid rotation of Leon Powe, Big Baby and PJ Brown. If Doc stays on top of that rotation and keeps guys fresh I think the three of them can make up for Perkins’ rebound production.

One thing the Celtics will have trouble doing though will be scoring without Paul Pierce. If James Posey has to start a couple of games, sure, worse things have happened, as Posey is serviceable and as long as he has his head in the game, he can hit shots with similar range (he would need to drive to the basket more) and play defense just as well.

If Pierce is out, they need Eddie House to come off the bench and make some shots. I know, Eddie doesn’t exactly inspire anyone’s confidence with his “I run way faster than I can dribble” ball handling skills. But the Lakers are not the Pistons. Their defense isn’t the stuff that dreams are made of. Their offense is.

If Pierce has to miss game 2, I think the Celtics can have someone step up big. It would be a great time for Leon Powe and Glen Davis to come up big. I think, even without Pierce, the Celtics can win game 2.

But winning on the road, when you have to grind it out, when the games will all inevitably come down to the wire? That’s where Pierce’s scoring and poise will be needed.

I hope it’s just a tweaked muscle. Something he can ice up really good, rub with icy hot, get a cortisone shot in and play on with ease.

If not, we’ll get to see how a team that plays true team basketball can step up without its leader.

Lakers Prepare For 18-1dom

 

Paul Pierce can be absolutely brilliant from time to time.

Game 7 against Cleveland he blew up at the right time.

Game 6 against Detroit he held his ground after a terrible offensive foul call (that easily COULD HAVE been a 4 point play) and piled it on in the 4th quarter.

Against the Lakers, I get the feeling Boston is going to need some shovels. They will have to dig in and grind it out like they did against Detroit in games 5 and 6 every single game.

I agree with Bill Simmons’ sentiment about wanting to be the “Nobody Thought We Could Do It” team. Nobody wants to be the “everybody knew we could do it” team.

If there is one good thing that came from the Patriots falling apart in the Superbowl, its the term “18-1″. No, not in the way people use it to taunt Patriot’s fans.

I have adopted the term to mean “when an entity’s extreme overconfidence in its inevitable success leads to its ultimate downfall”. Used in a sentence “man, I totally thought I was gonna bang that girl but it seemed like she knew I knew it and she started acting all weird. I pulled a total 18-1″. Or maybe “I’m a straight A student so i didn’t think I should bother trying to study for the SAT but when I got my score back it was a 790. 18-1.” It just seems fitting in certain situations.

The Patriots lost the Superbowl because they didn’t execute, Bill Belichick mysteriously decided to make the strangest play calls ever and they just seemed to be way out of gas.

Leading up to the Superbowl, everyone in this area of the country had already been celebrating like the Patriots won it already. People were already calling Belichick the greatest coach of all time, Tom Brady better than Joe Montana. The hype machine went crazy. And people started to BELIEVE the hype machine.

The Giants catch some luck, the Patriots eat some shit and the Superbowl is over.

I felt like I might have been the only person who was a nervous wreck going into the Superbowl. The Patriots had squeaked by for weeks. The Giants had all the momentum in the world, they didn’t peak early in the season, they played hard all year and came into the Superbowl knowing they could win even though no one else did.

And now I present to you, the 2008 Los Angeles Lakers.

A team that has the MVP. A Legendary coach. Some older guys who have been around. Some younger guys who don’t know their place yet. A high price player they bought to win (for almost nothing). A fan base that has already crowned them.

Does any of that sound familiar at all??????

The 2007-08 Lakers are the same team as the 2007-08 New England Patriots.

The Celtics and the Giants…well…lets see…

A coach who everyone laughs at due to his general badness most of the time and inability to get it done, a series of veteran players who have a chance to step up like they have never had before in their entire career, a couple of young guys in crucial positions who can make or break the team, role players GALORE (David Tyree anyone?).

I’m just hoping for the sake of my stomach that the Celtics sweep (yikes!).

But the key seems to be Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Those guys need it. Arm sock and all.

And then when the Lakers are walking off the court in LA after the Celtics win it in 5, the crowd can chant “18-1″, “18-1″ at the new chokers.

I’m dreaming hard here…

 

In The NBA Finals.

The Celtics did something special tonight. 

Yes, they beat the Pistons in 6 games (twice on the road!), yes, they are headed to the NBA Finals for the first time in over 20 years, yes, they are playing against the LA Lakers, yes, they went from being in the basement of the NBA to going to the finals in one season and yes, it will be the first finals appearance for most of the team (including Paul Pierce, KG and Ray Allen). 

All great.

But the best thing they did on May 30th was prove that they can still grow and that there is still time.

The entire playoffs have made journalists and sports fans all over the world wonder “what is wrong with the Celtics” and yes, they technically never trailed in any series, but it took them 7 games to euthanize an athletic but overachieving Atlanta Hawks team, another 7 games to finish off the Cleveland Lebron’s (in a series a lot of Boston assumed would be the end) and now, against their greatest opposition of the playoffs they manage to win not one but two games on the road, clinch the series on the road and come from behind a 10 point deficit? 

If you would have told me the Boston Celtics could have beaten the Pistons in six games, twice on the road and come from behind to clinch on the road anytime after game six of the Atlanta series, I would have told you you were crazy.

Coming into the playoffs I had nothing but the utmost confidence in this Celtics team. They had role players, they had veterans they had guys who could step up on any given night and for he most part Doc Rivers kept it simple and keeping it simple carried them through a 66 win season.

But something happened around game 3 in round 1…

The Celtics got the fear.

The “win or go home” fear that they had not played against all season. The “win or go home” fear that Pierce, Ray and KG had never experienced together before (and Rondo had NEVER experienced). The “win or go home” fear that seemed to make something so perfect in the regular season seem like an aberration or a mirage.

Suddenly guys were turning the ball over for no good reason or looking to constantly make an extra pass rather than taking a shot. The defense looked weak. The bench wasn’t performing to their potential. Doc started making bizarre substitutions, Ray Allen got ice cold, Sam Cassell rolled over and died and every game felt like 9 hours (as opposed to the 4 hours they actually are).

Atlanta was a struggle where the Celtics played horribly on the road for 3 games. in game 2 they gave up big leads and when the crowd got into it Ray Allen got that look of mortification that means a team is going to lose unless someone steps up big time…and there were no takers.

Cleveland continued the pattern of making the Celts look piss poor on the road by forcing mistakes, playing defense and making people afraid. Until game 6 in Cleveland.

I knew game 6 was a turning point as I was watching it. The Celtics got the lead early int he game and they played with intensity and didn’t seem to give up. They didn’t decide to lose, they decided to play until the final buzzer.

In the end,t hey lost, there was a horrible horrible horrible foul called against Paul Pierce that essentially blew the game for them, but I was confident in a game 7 victory in that series because it was the first time all playoffs that a team pushed hard against the Celtics and they fought back.

I even texted my buddy Sean a famous line from “White Men Can’t Jump” after the game; “Sometimes when you win, you actually lose and sometimes when you lose you actually win and sometimes when you win or lose you actually tie and sometimes when you tie you actually win or lose”. 

It was true of that game. The Celtics lost game 6 in Cleveland, but the unity was getting stronger. The team looked ready to fight. Like Lebron’s amazing play had awoken them from the late season doldrums.

Against Detroit, they lost a tough one at home. I was in the fourth row that night miserable as hell and trying to figure out some way that they could pull out the series against the Pistons. All though a lot of the Celtics fans had left early or were clearing out by the time the game ended, I stayed behind and watched them walk off. KG looked like someone had just broken his heart. And I heard someone yell “Its OK Kevin, you’ll kill them in Detroit”. 

As much as I tried to sell myself on that, I had trouble. Saturday night rolled around and I had convinced myself the Celtics could make it a close game if they came out with intensity. And did they ever.

Game 4 of the series was kind of confusing. It was the type of home game most teams usually have in the playoffs where they get up early, discourage the away team, get the crowd into it and destroy them. Except even in game 4, the Celtics had chances to steal it that just didn’t pan out. They got down, the crowd was in it, the Pistons were working hard and Mike Breen was ready to give McNugget the Eastern Conference trophy. Yet, the Celtics still fought back to a degree. They didn’t win…but they didn’t just roll over and die like they did int heir first 5 games on the road in the playoffs.

Game 5 the Celtics held on and won. Sure,t hey could have played better, yes, the Pistons defense disrupted their flow and lead to some awful looks and even worse turnovers. But Ray Allen was back, arm sock and all, and the Celtics stuck it out.

Tonight I had a feeling. I knew they could put the Pistons away. Even when they were down 10, I said to Kyley “they still have one great run left and Paul Pierce will explode”. Hell, I predicted it on the blog earlier in the day.

The Celtics fought back from behind, on the road, with KG in foul trouble. No, it wasn’t perfect (ahem, Rondo…PLEASE JUST TAKE A SHOT ON THE FASTBREAK!!! WHAT WAS SHEED GONNA DO? FOUL YOU AND GET FOULED OUT?!?!?!), but they found a way to win.

They are growing in the Playoffs.

The Lakers may be tough but the Celtics are still growing.

And I don’t think a week off and some time to prepare will do them any harm.

Game 5

I find it nearly impossible to bring myself to give half a damn about how the Red Sox are doing while the Celtics are in the Playoffs.

This is a dilemma I have only had once in my life before (2002) and at that point, the Red Sox were not really the powerhouse they are now and the Celtics seemed like a major reach that year. The Antoine/Pierce years were fun. I’ll remember them as a fun team. But that’s mostly it.

I expect better from these Celtics. They should have won game 5 114 to 101. Forced shots, terrible ball handling and not spreading the defense.

Rasheed Wallace gets my “Where did that come from?” award. Apparently he decided he was sick of playing n the paint and prefers to jack up shots from downtown. On a typical night he would probably only hit 2 or 3 of them. Insane.

Perkins was a beast to start but it was clear he started running out of gas at the end. If he play like he did in the first half every night, the Celtics should easily go all the way. That’s a major ‘if’.

Ray Allen looks like he’s finally back. Maybe in part due to the AI style arm sock. He should not leave home without it.

Remember when Britney Spears wore an Arm Sock during one of the Superbowls? That was before the kids and substance abuse problems but after the breast implants.

Guys like Justin Timberlake. it makes very little sense but somehow we’ve all accepted it. Everyone should hate him. He was in a shitty boy band, he dated Britney Spears back when people thought she was hot and he’s a millionaire. But he still seems to be generally tolerated among the male community. Amazing.

KG hit some big free throws at the end of the game, and all though he still over-passed, he didn’t completely disappear (as he has a reputation of doing).

Where the shit was Paul Pierce last night? I expect a 62 point game from him on Friday. I can’t think of a good reason why the Pistons defense makes him look so bad. It sickens me. He’s turned the ball over A LOT in this series. It just seems like the double team is kryptonite to him. He never finds the open man. Even more infuriating is how he occasionally takes it to the basket and scores easily, or at least gets an easy look and in spite of this he still settles for bad shots more often than not. Tayshaun “I weigh 100 lbs.” Prince can’t be stifling him like Lebron did. He needs a breakout game.

WHERE IS LEON POWE??????????

I defend Doc Rivers a lot more than most people do. Maybe not defend, but, I guess I give him the benefit of the doubt a lot. Especially this season. If there is one thing the playoffs have taught me, its that he is completely unreliable as a Head Coach. He’s made some insane decisions (Tony Allen in Game 2? REALLY?) and doesn’t stick to a rotation at all and ends up hurting the team by not playing guys who can be a factor. Lately he has been totally smitten with PJ Brown. Fine. PJ has hit some clutch shots for the Celtics. Great. But he’s like the 7th most used player this round (only behind Posey). In the Regular season, Leon Powe was a constant spark plug. he NEEDS playing time. ITS KILLING ME. Big Baby matches up decently against the Stones as well and he has gotten some playing time. But Doc either sticks withguys too long (Big Baby playing too many minutes) or doesn’t stick with them long enough (Leon Powe). I don’t understand why Leon Powe doesn’t get 6 minutes a game. I don’t think he is that muchof a liability (not any more-so than Eddie House, Sam Cassell, Tony Allen or Big Baby…all of which have played more than him the last two rounds).

BRING BACK LEON POWE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!