Ruminating on the Celtics
Posted by Evan Brunell on February 19, 2011
I was lucky enough to attend the Celtics/Lakers game last Thursday, February 10 and witness Ray Allen breaking the all time three-point record previously held by Reggie Miller.
While the game was ultimately lost behind Kobe Bryant sinking ridiculous shots in the fourth quarter, it was still a special time to be a Celtics fan in attendance. The crowd was extremely raucous — as loud as it could get, which is all the more impressive given I was also at Game 4 of the NBA Finals between L.A. and Boston in early 2010. The highlight of that game was Nate Robinson and “Big Baby” Glen Davis becoming “Shrek and Donkey.” Baby slobbered his way toward 18 points and Robinson was all too happy to jump on Davis’ back.
When Allen broke the record, there was a sustained standing ovation that just showed even after one ring and one Eastern Conference championship in three years, Celtic fans are hungry for more and have fallen in such deep love with this team, it’s irrelevant that the group has only been together going on four years now. After years of pain with the C’s becoming irrelevant, the Pats an afterthought and the Red Sox breaking hearts, the Celtics were the last to join the reversal of fortunes the other two Boston teams experienced. (And throw in the Bruins, too, who have been among the best NHL teams of the last few seasons.)
As mentioned, however, the Lakers downed the Celtics and did so by a score of 92-86. Those that bet on Boston winning given the NBA spread of -3 1/2 points given to the home team, however, came away with no cash. Boston simply fell apart late and ran out of gas much like they did during the pivotal Game 7 of the Finals in 2010. But unlike last year, when the lack of depth caught up to the C’s, it’s hard to fault Boston for falling apart at the seams with Delonte West, Shaquille O’Neal, Jermaine Davis and Semir Erden all out and Kendrick Perkins still relatively new to the season.
When Boston is healthy, they can hang with the best of them. In speaking to people who have followed the team as far back as the 1960s, the general consensus is this is the best club they have seen since the glory days of the 80s. That’s rather impressive, given the 2008 Celtics won a title behind the same core five… and now those players are years older. That just goes to show you how important the bench is, and while Shaq isn’t the Shaq of old and still refuses to scale back his stupid fouls, he greatly impacts a game while Erden is making remarkable strides despite having to learn the NBA game, English language and American culture all at once.
A re-match with the Lakers in the Finals would be positively electric. Both the Celtics and Lakers have won one Finals series apiece against each other, so you could consider this the rubber match. But there’s more at stake: the Lakers would be seeking a threepeat while Boston will try to even up the total number of rings each respective team has won in the last few years, although Boston still has an overall lead of 17 rings to LA’s 16, but if you don’t count the rings from Minnesota and the BAA (and you could make a case for that), the Lakers “only” have 11 rings.
Obviously, as a Celtics fan, you can guess what I’m hoping happens. Yep, I want a re-match with L.A., only this time Boston coming out on top. But first, the Lakers have to get to the FInals, which will be more difficult. Yes, Boston will have to carve through the Bulls, Magic and Heat but the Lakers don’t have as good a club (at least, not as of this writing, but that could change).
Go Green!
