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Posts from the ‘Celtics’ Category

Jun 3

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Celtics-Lakers XII: Who’s Hungrier?

By now you’ve read and heard every possible breakdown of the Celtics, the Lakers, the matchups, the coaches, the benches, the trainers … hell there was probably an ESPN the Ocho feature on the water boys, given the hype of this NBA Finals.

Among the facts, figures, Xs, Os and historical nuggets …

The Celtics return the same starting five that undressed the Lakers two years ago.  Kevin Garnett isn’t the same player he was around this time in ’08 (more on that to come); Ray Allen is still Jesus Shuttlesworth; Paul Pierce is still capable of being the best player in the world on any night; Kendrick Perkins can shut down any big man in the league one-on-one; Rajon Rondo — the weak link of the ’08 squad that got benched midway through the Finals — is currently the best point guard in the NBA.

The Lakers return a new, better and stronger starting five than they did in Round I vs. the Celtics.  Kobe remains in his prime; Derek Fisher can always knock down daggers; Pau Gasol is tougher, more mature and more fluid in the triangle offense; Andrew Bynum, though hobbled, is at least playing this time; Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza are a wash in production but Artest has a history of defending Pierce that makes him more valuable than Ariza was.

As opposed to ’08, the Lakers have home-court advantage and are 8-0 at Staples Center in these playoffs and 28-3 over the last three postseasons. They played the Celtics twice in that 31-game stretch and went 1-1.

The Celtics are 5-3 on the road this postseason, winning twice apiece in Cleveland and Orlando (who were a combined 76-13 at home this year).

As was the case in ’08, the Lakers (15 titles) are trying to get within striking distance of the Celtics (17) while the Green want to bury them while the closing window of the Big Three remains open.

There are more individual legacies on the line than any Finals since the Magic-Bird days.

The Celtics, who are the third-lowest seed (No. 4) to make it to the Finals since the league went to a 16-team format in 1984, arrive having disposed of the teams with the two best records in the league.

Kobe didn’t trust his teammates enough in ’08, but they gained championship experience last year and are a far tougher and more physical team as presently constructed. Which leads to …

X-Factor No. 1 – The Physical Factor

There is no doubt Gasol is a bigger and more physical presence than he was, not to mention a better overall player. Bynum’s size is an asset and Artest brings that bit of nasty and other bit crazy that the team lacked in ’08. Surrounding Kobe — no one has ever disputed his singular toughness and tenacity — is indeed a wholly different cast for The Rematch. But …

The Lakers are still a Western Conference team and for the better part of a decade the West has featured an up-and-down, run-and-gun style of basketball. Ever since the redux of the Bad Boy Pistons smacked the Lakers in the mouth in 2004 and unseated the Shaq-Kobe dynasty, the give-me-your-lunch-money teams (Detroit, Miami, Cleveland, Orlando, Boston) have all resided in the East. It’s no coincidence that until last year, the Spurs were the only outfit to prevail out of the West since LA.

When you look at the teams the Lakers have gone through to get here, backyard brawls aren’t what come to mind when characterizing the series’. The Thunder were a young upstart, full of energy and buoyed by a rambunctious home crowd. Hardened they were not. The Jazz were decimated by injuries and, fully aware of the Laker punching bag they had been in recent past, rather willingly said uncle so they could start their summer vacations. The Suns — who have been known to be as rough as flannel sheets — dug down and banged admirably with a drastically undersized group. Who knows what happens if Artest doesn’t put back Kobe’s airball at the buzzer in Game 5?

So give the Lakers their due. They have grown and toughened since that ignominious defeat on the fabled parquet. But is that enough?

While the Lakers were busy taking care of the likes of Oklahoma City and Phoenix out west, the Celtics were taking the best shot each of the two biggest menaces in the game today had to throw at them. In succession. Pierce barely made it through the six-game bout with Lebron while Dwight Howard literally turned the Eastern Conference finals into an MMA event on hardwood.

To expect Los Angeles to match the physical intensity of a team that got knocked down by the two biggest bullies in the school yard only to rise up like nothing had ever happened, well that’s something we’ll all need to see to believe. That’s something that will take a more deep-seated will to win, a more lasting and insatiable hunger.

X-Factor No. 2 – The Hunger Factor

It’s impossible to argue against Kobe’s drive to win another ring, to match Magic with five and be within one of joining Michael Jordan with six. It’s no secret the Black Mamba wants to go down as the greatest of all time.

Yet he stubbornly underplays the tradition he’s a part of, the history he’s trying to make. Call it focusing on the goal at hand if you want, but that reeks of rationalization. The weight of that Lakers jersey got noticeably heavier after ’08, and it was a kind of force that couldn’t be lifted last year, when the Celtics were too hobbled to make it back to the ball.

Kobe is surrounded by legends — from Magic to Kareem to Worthy to Cooper — who all have something in common: they beat their hated rivals. For Kobe to barely acknowledge the history and rivalry between the two teams has got to be telling. Even if he surpasses Magic and meets MJ with six rings, his legacy will include a giant asterisk if he ends up losing twice to Boston. Magic knows this. Laker fans know it. And most importantly, Kobe knows it.

Then you have the Celtics, and the Big Three. Pierce was asked after the Cleveland series how it felt to best Lebron. His response in a nutshell: “We didn’t come to training camp this year saying ‘let’s beat the Cleveland Cavaliers’. Our goal is to win championships.”

You can be certain Pierce too feels the weight and burden of history. He may have gotten his one, but he knows very well that all the great Celtic teams and players before him won multiple championships. The expectation to excel above and beyond greatness is merely a byproduct of the town he’s called home for his professional life. Daunting as it may be, it’s something he embraces.

Same goes for Ray Allen, who is 1A next to Kobe in terms of dedication to the craft and care for his body. How hungry is he to head up a few more floors (wink wink) in the Celtics Pantheon? He talked about running into Jordan after the Celtics won in ’08. MJ told him they were lucky, that anyone could win one. He challenged him to win another and then come see him.

Then there’s Garnett. The man who was discounted after so many thousands of ferocious NBA minutes and a knee injury combined to give him a dose of reality. The truth is, if he hadn’t had Bill Russell — in addition to Doc Rivers — in his corner, he probably wouldn’t have been able to turn back the clock like he did vs. Miami and Cleveland.

Garnett reveres Russell, would probably jump off the Tobin Bridge if Russell told him he would respect him more for it. The two have formed an immensely close bond over the last few years, with the pupil gaining a wealth of knowledge from the exemplar.

Time was, an aging and underperforming Celtics contingent rallied for one last hurrah under the tutelage of a player-coach who already boasted a ring for all ten of his fingers. It was 31 years ago the Russell-led 1968-69 Celtics drove the most painful stake yet through the hearts of the then Wilt Chamberlain-led Lakers, beating Los Angeles in Game 7 at The Forum.

Kobe may want this one like he’s never wanted anything before, but this is KG’s last hurrah.

Celtics-Lakers XII. Here we go again. Again.

Celtics in seven.

May 14

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Goodnight Cleveland, Good Luck Orlando

Kevin Garnett, dapper and introspective as usual, was fielding questions at the podium approximately thirty minutes after the Celtics had unceremoniously ended the Cavaliers’ season in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Just as a reporter from the New York Times identified himself and proceeded into what would eventually become a long-winded question about how gratifying it was to have defied the odds, Garnett cut him off.

“There’s a lot of people in this room, boy,” he said, surveying the landscape from corner to corner. “Man! Lot of people in this room.

“I haven’t seen this many people since, uh, ’08. Mmm. It’s aight.”

He then turned his head down for a moment, but the smirk that had found its way across his face couldn’t be hidden. He was, after all, alluding to the horde of reporters from New York and elsewhere that certainly hadn’t been dispatched during the Celtics’ dismantling of the Heat, nor at any earlier point in the Cavs series.

The reason was simple. Outside of Boston, no one anywhere had given the Celtics a chance in this series, so why would rags from around the country dip into already strained budgets to chronicle merely the second speed bump en route to the King’s coronation?

Even when the Celtics tied the series at 2-2, the national sentiment was fairly universal: Lebron would take back control in Cleveland and most likely finish off the aging ex-champs in Beantown.

Whoops.

Suddenly “Summer of Lebron” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, eh? But let’s leave all (ahem) Spring of Lebron dissection to that mass of scribes KG was marveling at, because the King is surely all they will be concerned with for some time.

The Celtics, meanwhile, still have unfinished business. The few talking heads who actually still care about the remainder of the NBA tournament are once again writing the Celtics off in their Eastern Conference finals clash with the Magic (eight of the 10 on the panel of ESPN Experts – all of whom picked Cleveland, by the way – are siding with Orlando).

On the one hand, it’s hard to fault them. Orlando has torn a path of destruction through the playoffs to this point, winning all eight of its games by an average of more than 17 points. Throw in a six-game winning streak to end the regular season and the Magic haven’t tasted defeat since losing in San Antonio back on April 2. Impressive would be an understatement.

On the other hand, it’s borderline ludicrous how short a memory the media can have. After going 27-27 over the final two-thirds of the regular season, the Celtics are 8-3 in the playoffs. They throttled the Heat, holding Miami to 87.6 points per game while winning the series 4-1. The only game they dropped required an otherworldly performance from Dwyane Wade (46 points, 30 in the second half), not to mention a total collapse in the last 150 seconds that included five consecutive missed free throws (three by Ray Allen).

Then there was the Cleveland series. The Celtics led Game 1 for 35 1/2 of the first 36 minutes – until a Lebron bucket gave the Cavs the lead at the end of the third quarter – and trailed by no more than four points throughout the final frame before failing to execute down the stretch. They went wire-to-wire in Game 2 to snatch back home-court advantage, then submitted a no-show in Game 3 as Cleveland returned the favor.

They trailed for the first six minutes of Game 4 and 17 of the first 18 minutes of Game 5.

Other than that? 137 seconds.

For those who desire not to do the math, that means the Celtics were playing from ahead for 85 percent of Games 4-6. Dominant would be an understatement.

And these weren’t the Hawks, people.

Onto the Magic. It seems the same folks who fail to appreciate how the Celtics completely crushed the NBA’s best team also appear to have forgotten that Boston and Orlando played a postseason series but a year ago. The Celtics led it 3-2 and were up in the fourth quarter of Game 6 before succumbing to a deeper and better Orlando team that eventually dispatched of Cleveland and fell to the Lakers in the Finals.

Kevin Garnett was in a suit for that series and Brian Scalabrine was relied upon to play big minutes and hit big shots. Consider the last line of the previous paragraph and then digest that fact for a moment.

Now consider this: Dwight Howard discovered in that grueling seven-game affair in ’09 that Kendrick Perkins was his kryptonite. Perkins was strong enough to muscle him out of the paint and agile enough to cut off his driving lanes. For seven games, Perk held Howard in check on the offensive end, as Superman averaged a mere 16.4 points per game (he averaged 25.8 vs. Cleveland), with a good deal of the damage being done when Perkins was on the bench with foul trouble.

And this: Above all, what gave the Magic the edge in that series, particularly in close games late, was their ability to allow 6-10 Hedo Turkoglu to run the point, with 6-10 Rashard Lewis and 6-6 Mikael Pietrus occupying the corners and Howard in the paint. The Celtics couldn’t sag off any of the former three to double Howard, because all were dead-eye three-point shooters. It was a matchup nightmare.

That was with Turkoglu and without Garnett, mind you. An argument can be made that the Magic are better with Vince Carter this postseason than they were with Turkoglu last. It’s close, but debatable.

No one in their right mind can say the Celtics aren’t night-and-day different from last year with Garnett back, playing the way he is. It’s neither close nor debatable.

So let those talking heads use their big platforms to once again dismiss a team that is now 6-0 in playoff series’ with its core intact.

I’ll use a much smaller platform to say poof! The Celtics will make the Magic disappear in six.

Apr 16

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Time for Celtics to Put Up or Tap Out

Seven months on the hardwood, an uninspired 50 wins, fistfuls of maddening losses and countless wait-til-the-playoffs sound bytes – that about sums up the 2010 Celtics, no?

The team that began the season by bustin’ ass and takin’ names en route to a 23-5 start only to lose its drive, swagger, passion – who really knows? – somewhere along the way is at last where it wants to be: armed and intact for the postseason.

If it’s indeed possible to flip the proverbial switch, the time is now for the Celtics.

We are, after all, talking about a squad that has been the definition of pedestrian since its torrid start – 27 up, 27 down, garnished with a recurring touch of indifference.  The way Boston played since Christmas, it’s a surprise David Stern didn’t change the marketing slogan of his league to, “With the exception of its most storied franchise, NBA Cares”, lest he be forced to answer a question with a lie.

But all that matters not now, for the season is new and the one and only thing  the Celtics have said they needed for a run at No. 18 – good health – they actually have.  The road is surely daunting, and that’s meant to be interpreted in a quite literal sense, as the Celtics will have to go into and through Cleveland then Atlanta or Orlando – against whom they were a combined 3-9 in the regular season – before again hitting the road for the NBA Finals.

Then again, only Dallas (27-14) had a better record away from home than the Celtics (26-15) – who were pretty blah in their own digs to begin with – so you can be sure they’re not fazed by the prospect of do-or-die games in an opponent’s building.

Maybe that’s what they’ve wanted all along.  When they won the title in ’08 they owned a suffocating home-court advantage (combined 48-7 between the regular season and playoffs), and followed that up with a cumulative 40-9 mark last year, the bulk of that damage being done sans KG.

Even without its leader, that team was a force, spilled its guts on a nightly basis in defense of the crown it had worked so doggedly to capture.  By the time the playoffs rolled around and an utterly decimated Green contingent was trotting out a starting five that included Glen Davis and a bench that featured Brian Scalabrine, the fact they actually led their second-round series with the Magic 3-2 before running out of gas was in itself a minor miracle.

But the recurring caveat – beginning with Garnett and culminating with Leon Powe – was they had a rallying cry, a chip on their shoulder, a unifying cause to keep them fighting even though the end game was predetermined.  Cut off an arm?  We still got another!  Hit us in the mouth? That all ya got!

If the events of the ’10 season are to make any sense, follow something resembling an understandable narrative, it’s this: the team – and the Big Three in particular – was crushed that it didn’t have a realistic shot at becoming the first repeat champs since Shaq and Kobe’s Lakers.  So they came out like gangbusters this year and mopped the floor with pretty much everyone they encountered, displaying the same tenacity and verve that had defined them for the past two seasons.

Then, in a span of two weeks smack in the middle of the holidays, Paul Pierce suffered a small tear of the meniscus in his knee that required minor surgery and Garnett hyperextended his super-delicate right knee.  From that point on, the Celtics were no longer the Celtics.  They lacked their typical defensive intensity, lost games to lowly teams, gave away more than a few fourth-quarter leads, and all of it was cloaked in that facade of indifference.  It was then that the wait-til-the-playoffs talk started.

It was almost as if the Pierce and Garnett injuries were a wake-up call to hit the snooze button.  The Big Three only needed to turn on ESPN to hear about their aging legs and excessive mileage on their NBA odometers.  They realized that if they continued to wage the battle on a nightly basis, the war would once again be lost before it had even begun.

I come to this conclusion because – apart from Rasheed Wallace, who has been conspicuously absent from this column for what are probably obvious reasons – the indifference and spottiness that has characterized this Celtics team is simply too out of character to accept at face value.  Because they do care, they are repulsed by failure.  We have seen too much for too long to believe otherwise.

But after dealing with some minor adversity they came to the conclusion – consciously or otherwise – that in order to reach the promised land again, maintaining their edge or gaining home-court advantage was not the bridge there this time around, so they powered down to neutral and coasted through the last two-thirds of the season.

They might have taken their licks – from the fans, media and even each other – but as opposed to last year, they’re not licking any serious wounds heading into the playoffs, which is crucial.

The question now becomes can they flip that switch back on.  Time shall tell.

May 15

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In Game 7s, Mental Toughness Prevails

One more win and it all becomes house money.

One more victory in a seventh and decisive game, and this Celtics squad will have officially logged one of the gutsiest NBA title defenses you’ll ever see from a team unable to go back-to-back.

One more series-clinching triumph on the fabled parquet and the ’09 Celtics will stand proudly next to the ’87 outfit that so nearly and improbably repeated as champions.

While there’s a big difference between falling in the NBA Finals (as the ’87 Celtics did, to the Lakers in six) and the conference finals (as the ’09 Celtics likely will, to the Lebrons), it is undeniably remarkable how these champs have worn the crown.

To date they’ve won seven postseason games with an eight-man rotation.  The first guy off the bench has been Brian Scalabrine, Boston’s own Jackie Moon.  The energizer is Eddie House, who allegedly only gets extended minutes from his coach when he’s ready to play defense (bet he’s been hearing that one since middle school).  And then there’s the x-factor, Stephon Marbury, the guy Doc Rivers once said — to a cascade of jeers — would win his team a playoff game.

As fabulous as the starting five has been (we’ll get to Glen “Big Baby” Davis and the rest of the Fab-Five in a moment), there’s no doubt that the Green stand on the brink of another conference finals appearance thanks in part to the contributions of this unlikely triumvirate coming off the pine.

On more than one occasion in the Orlando series Scalabrine has drained huge shots to give the Celtics life.  House’s  Game 2 outburst was so decisive and executed with such precision even Jason Bourne would have been impressed.

As for Marbury, well let’s just say Doc’s comments proved prescient.  With the season on life support in a building that was already collectively dead, Steph saved the day with his 12-point onslaught in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter of Game 5.  When the Celtics and the New Garden were unconscious, Starbury was their epinephrine.

Take a minute to digest all that.

Okay, good.

Now there’s no doubt that trio has helped propel the Celtics to where they are today, but as we know,  Game 7s are when the stars must come out and seize the moment.

Orlando can say all it wants, but the fact is the Magic are not adequately prepared for what they’re going to find waiting for them at TD Banknorth Garden come Sunday night.

Dwight Howard was fantastic in Game 6, backed up his talk, but Kendrick Perkins has played him to as close of a stalemate as is possible against an All-NBA first teamer and Defensive Player of the Year.  Perk is too strong to be bullied by Superman and possesses a better repertoire of low post moves.

After an electric first-round performance from Boston’s backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen, Rondo has been inconsistent and Allen has been nonexistent (save for one go-ahead trey in Game 5) vs. Orlando.  The marked edge in guard play the Celtics were supposed to have in this series has still not registered.

If I were Courtney Lee or J.J. Redick — two guys with a combined four years of experience — I would be disconcerted, to say the least, at the prospect of trying to hold down Jesus Shuttlesworth in the biggest game of my life.  And I would be downright frightened when taking into account that Allen has misfired on 31 of his 36 three-point attempts this series.

Trying to defend Ray in a long series is like playing Russian roulette: It’s not a matter of if, but when.

Ask any Celtic — considering they are most suited to answer such questions — what it takes to prevail in a Game 7, and they will tell you it’s as much a mental excursion as it is a physical test.

Big Baby has been in a groove since the beginning of the playoffs.  Shedding baby steps in favor of a quantum leap, Davis has upped his level of play exponentially in the postseason.  However it was in Game 4 that it all came together — the union of the mental and the physical — for Baby.

He came out struggling and picked up an early foul.  Early in the second quarter he turned the ball over then committed a dumb foul, which forced Rivers to pull him out.  In a sequence partly caught on the television broadcast, Davis proceeded to let out a slew of f-bombs before finding his way to the end of the bench, where he continued to mutter obscenities to himself, utterly incensed.

It’s well known how Kevin Garnett has become the mentor for Davis.  Between watching him perform throughout the playoffs and then seeing his tirade after that series of inexcusably poor plays, you started to sense that the man is channeling the exemplar.

Instead of a prolonged emotional breakdown from Baby, he instead directed his anger inward and gathered himself, then came back to hit a go-ahead jumper with 32 seconds remaining before sinking a buzzer-beating dagger for the win that tied the series at two.

Those are the kind of moments that transpire in a drawn out series, moments when one team unleashes a temporary blow that mushrooms into the psychological advantage necessary to snuff out an opponent’s season.  In the Chicago series that happened when the Celtics dismantled the Bulls on their home floor in Game 3.  The series may have turned epic, but the mental battle turned in favor of the Celtics after that game.

The same can be said of Game 4 of this series.  The Magic had it won, had the play they wanted in crunch time, executed it to perfection.  Stan Van Gundy correctly decided he was not going to let Paul Pierce beat him.  Pierce felt the double team coming and correctly decided to put the fate of HIS team in the hands of someone not named Ray.

Once Baby’s shot fell through the nylon, the mental edge swung back to the Celtics.

It took a second consecutive collapse from Orlando, some infighting and an admirable bounce-back performance in Game 6, but that all merely postponed the inevitable.  All that really mattered was the Celtics stole back home court in Game 4, along with a sizable chunk of Orlando’s mojo.

Game 5 was painful, for sure, but I guarantee you when crunch time comes on Sunday and the ante gets upped, that lost opportunity at Amway Arena is going to find its way into the subconscious of the Magic and the champs will pounce on them for the knockout blow.

When it’s all over and the Celtics are giving their postgame press conferences, you won’t have to listen too closely to pick up the gist of their explanation for how and why they improved to 4-0 in Game 7s in the last two years: mental toughness.

It’s then that they will pack up their belongings — along with that mental toughness — and head to Cleveland, where Lebron and a big pot of house money will be awaiting them.

May 1

Celtics-Bulls VI: Battle of the Century

I left my friend’s place after Game 6 of Celtics-Bulls last night, exhausted and in a malaise.  My memory of what had just transpired — usually crystal clear — was so clouded and fragmented, my thoughts so blurred, that I had trouble finding a subway station I’ve used countless times.

After making the 30-minute journey back home — during which I must have looked like a zombie to strangers around me — I watched highlights of the game.  Actually strike that, highlights of the battle.  Because let’s face it, this war of attrition was the closest mind-body struggle between two adversaries one will ever see outside of the ring.

There was Rondo and Hinrich’s undercard.  The blood gushing from Pierce’s nose.   Ray’s 51 (FIFTY-ONE) on the scorecard.  Miller’s revenge.  Salmons’ onslaught.  Baby’s fadeaway.  The ice in Ray’s veins.  Pierce’s almost-steal and knockout of the challenger.  Noah’s indescribable flurry to stagger the champs.  Rose’s KOS (knockout swat).

I watched all this for a second and third time, and tried to gather my thoughts.  Wasn’t happening.  Tried to sleep.  Nope.

I turned on the TV, and what happened to be on HBO?  A documentary of the “Thrilla in Manila” between Ali and Frazier.  It was an intense and jarring recounting of possibly the greatest fight ever.   It was also the only suitable way to give some perspective to a mind-blowing basketball game.

It’s often too easy to get swept up in The Moment, and everyone — from players to media to fans — is predisposed to this phenomenon from time to time.  It’s human nature: When we witness something extraordinary, precedents and past-happenings become puny in comparison.  Typically though, upon reflection, the grandeur of an amazing occurrence in sports gets reduced once The Moment has passed, nerves have settled, and rational thought has reentered the equation.

Let’s not mince words: Ali-Frazier III has stood the test of time as a seminal moment in sports that will never be matched.  Just seeing Frazier, Frazier’s son, Ali’s team, writers and historians chronicling this epic fight, you can sense that wherever they were on that day in 1975, they have remained since in spirit.

For 14 rounds in sweltering heat, two of the world’s finest fighters waged a war that nearly killed them both.  There is no more telling quote than from Frazier, who when asked if he would have risked his life to go out for the 15th and final round, said, “Yeah.”

When the documentary ended, it was just after two in the morning, and I was finally lucid.  I realized that Ali-Frazier comparisons get thrown around FAR too generously, and that there will never be a sporting event — in boxing or otherwise — than could garner such a comparison.

But as a metaphorical script?  That’s a different story.  That’s where Celtics-Bulls VI steps in.

Early in the fourth quarter Chicago went on a run, unleashing a series of blows that had the champs staggering (similar to Frazier’s middle-round assault on Ali).  The Celtics took the Bulls’ punches, and returned in kind, with a crowd-silencing 18-0 run that turned a 10-point deficit into an 8-point lead (akin to Ali’s blistering sustained attack in rounds 12 to 14).

Naturally there are inconsistencies, no more significant than the fact that the champs lost the game whereas the champ won/survived the fight.

But a series of plays in the last minute of the third overtime truly gave this basketball game the feel of a heavyweight bout — epitomizing the desperate chaos that ensues in the waning seconds of a final round.

With the game tied at 123, Pierce jumped a pass and knocked the ball into the backcourt, seemingly destined for some series-clinching thunder.  But he stumbled at midcourt and the ball careened out of bounds, giving it back to the Bulls.

Then, after a defensive stand, Pierce had the ball back in his hands at the top of the key.  He went to drive left, and feeling the double team coming, tried to whip a pass to Brian Scalabrine in the corner.

It was then that Joakim Noah let loose the proverbial final combination: First he intercepted the ball and tapped it towards center court.  Next he picked it up and dribbled the rest of the floor — trailed by an exhausted Pierce the entire way.  By the time Pierce caught up to the rumbling seven-footer, he had thrown down a tremendous flush and drawn the sixth and final foul on the C’s captain.  He nailed the free throw to boot, putting the finishing touches on the finishing barrage.

So here we are, six games, seven overtimes and one epic script into a bona fide first-round heavyweight basketball bout.

Game 7 is Saturday in Boston, a game that will double as the most significant affair ever contested at such an early juncture of the never-ending tournament that is the NBA playoffs.

Everyone who’s anyone will be there for the epic finale.  Maybe even Kevin Garnett.

And I’m thinking he may not be in a suit.

Apr 24

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Boston Ramblings

Heady times in Boston once again.

The Red Sox and Yankees are set to tango at Fenway in their inaugural ’09 series beginning Friday. The Patriots will be on the clock Saturday, as the 2009 NFL Draft fires up. And once the Celtics take care of the Bulls, both the Green and Bruins will be appearing in their respective conference semifinals for the first time since 1992.

A few thoughts about each…

AM I THE only one yearning for an infusion of hate into Sox-Yanks? Isn’t that what made this whole thing the preeminent ongoing sports drama, way back when?

You ask any Red Sox or Yankees fan what they remember most clearly about the rivalry in recent past — apart from The Comeback — and a Boston fan will say Varitek’s Glove in A-Rod’s Face, while a New York fan will recount Pedro’s Body Slam of Zimmer.  These enduring images characterized and defined the rivalry, made it drop-everything, must-see television 19 or 26 times annually.  ESPN and Fox salivated all over it.  Passionate followers cleared their schedules and did everything they could to score the hottest ticket in town.  Casual fans tuned in because, hell, anything could happen.  No matter who you were, Red Sox-Yankees always found a way to find you.

Nowadays?  The media outlets aren’t nearly as enthralled, which is largely a reflection of popular sentiment.  And quite frankly, it’s because they have barely anything to hype.  The big storyline going into this weekend surrounds Joba Chamberlain and David Ortiz.  Joba, who has thrown at Kevin Youkilis on a few occasions, was called out by Big Papi, if you can even classify it as such.  Ortiz basically said that since Joba has shown head-hunting proclivities, he’s going to find it difficult to gain respect throughout the league.  (His comments contained almost as much vitriol as a certain drive-by argument…)

Would it be that out of line if Big Papi had said something just a tad more incendiary, to you know, send a message? I for one would love to see Joba hurl some chin music at Ortiz, watch Papi step out of the box and tell Joba to watch his corn-fed behind, then blast one into the center field bleachers.

IT’S PRETTY MUCH impossible to predict what the Patriots will do come draft day, which is why it’s so much fun tossing around various conspiracy theories.  Using the last two drafts as indicators, there’s truly no telling what Bill Belichick is up to.

Two years ago, the Randy Moss-to-New England rumors had come and gone before the draft, yet Belichick pulled a cat of out a hat in New York and in came Moss for (even at the time) a laughable fourth-round pick.  And a year ago, clearly deviating from his track record of only selecting linemen high in the first round, Belichick traded down from the seventh to tenth overall pick and selected linebacker Jerod Mayo.

While the possibility of Julius Peppers becoming a Patriot has been declared dead for all intents and purposes, it is for that very reason that it could still be alive.  When Peter King reports that New England is looking to trade its first-round and a second-round pick to move into the low top 10, but professes to have little idea as to why, the theories are free to fly.

All that’s for sure are the following facts: 1) New England was initially offering a second-round pick for Peppers, which was not enough, 2) Having shored up their secondary (signing Shawn Springs and Leigh Bodden) and running game (Fred Taylor), the outside linebacker position is the Patriots’ only glaring weakness, 3) A low top 10 pick is an excellent bargaining chip, given the caliber of talent available there, as well as the slightly smaller financial obligation necessary to sign the player.

If Peter King doesn’t have a bead on what the Patriots will do, it’s legitimately anyone’s guess.  But that’s what makes following Belichick’s moves on draft day so intriguing.

THE CELTICS WERE the champs again on Thursday night in Chicago.  After a pair of scintillating games at the Garden that could have gone either way, Paul Pierce took command of Game 3 from the outset and the Celtics defense suffocated the suddenly overmatched Bulls all night.

Even with Kevin Garnett on the bench in a suit, it was a vintage performance from the Green on the defensive end, as they held Chicago to under 41 percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers.  For the first time in the series, Pierce played like the best player on the court.  And Rajon Rondo, who battled to a stalemate with Derrick Rose in Boston, took decisive control of the point guard showdown, racking up 20 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals.

This series may still be extended — Chicago was 28-13 at home before Thursday — but for the Bulls, there’s ultimately no recovering from such a colossal beatdown in their own building.  Especially against the champs.

I HAVE NEVER written about the Bruins, because 1) I don’t know enough about hockey to throw my weight around, and 2) the Bruins have done nothing but disappoint for a very long time.  They infamously blew a 3-1 series lead against Montreal as the No. 1 seed in 2004, then attempted to reverse the script last year as the underdog, before falling to the Habs in seven.

All I remember from last year’s playoffs was how a few choice Boston crackpots decided to beat up visiting Montreal fans leaving the Garden.  It was an unnecessary and classless thing to do, though it paled in comparison to the disgraceful act staged by Canadiens fans before Game 3 Monday in Montreal: booing the American national anthem.

It was fitting that the Bruins proceeded to snuff out Montreal’s season with a pair of systematic thrashings, while formalizing a tidy four-game sweep in which Boston outscored the Habs 17-6.   I can officially say I’m back on the bandwagon, and am eagerly anticipating the Bruins’ projected second-round matchup with the New York Rangers.

To bring this rambling column full circle:  Maybe a little Bruins-Rangers is just what the doctored ordered for a suffering Boston-New York rivalry.

(Unless of course Joba decides to throw one behind Big Papi Friday night.)

Apr 17

Celtics Ticket-less for Playoffs

Tom Brady might be sitting courtside at TD Banknorth Garden on Saturday — when the Celtics officially begin their title defense — but unlike last postseason, he will not be the most important guy in street clothes next to the Celtics bench.

Unfortunately, that honor will go to the Big Ticket.

What many feared last month after Kevin Garnett’s brief and unsuccessful return from a knee strain is now a bitter reality: The MVP of the Celtics, Mr. Anything’s Possible himself, is out indefinitely.

We have all witnessed how the fire burns inside this unparalleled athlete. We saw him spill his guts every night for 12 years in Minnesota. We were awed when he brought his act to Boston and did the same over a surreal 97-game stretch last season; a series of extended encores punctuated by a world championship. And we were grateful when a long-suffering basketball town was returned to its rightful perch atop the hoops world.

Now, with 14 years and well over a thousand games under his belt, it appears his heart and passion for the game have proven to be more enduring than the knees entrusted with carrying all that extra weight, literal and otherwise.

There are still no reports of structural damage in his injured right knee, just a career’s worth of wear and tear of the highest degree. (Seems like the term “wear and tear” grossly understates the matter, no?) He hasn’t been officially ruled out of the entire playoffs, but it’s probably wise to keep expectations at a minimum going forward.

It’s tough not to be down at this point. When KG was healthy, the defending champs — spurred by an historic 27-2 start — were the story of the league.

Yet not long after that run, the main plot of 2008-09 season shifted away from the Celtics and towards Lebron and Kobe, Cleveland and LA.  Garnett went down, the Cavs were unbeatable at home (falling only to LA), and the Lakers had wrapped up the West before MLK Day.

While Cavs-Lakers was accordingly billed as the surest Finals since, well Lakers-Celtics, and would’ve had a good chance of happening even if KG was healthy, it’s a damned shame the Green won’t get a real shot at defending their crown. Anyone who tells you Cavs-Celtics would have been a foregone conclusion with Garnett back is full of it.

Garnett’s loss is a striking blow to a team that wore the championship belt and bullseye all year, battled multiple injuries throughout, integrated new players, and still emerged with 62 victories. It was an admirable first chapter to the team’s first title defense since 1987. Now, with the end game pretty much determined, all that’s left to see is how it concludes.

I don’t think it’s optimistic to believe the Celtics will fulfill their end of the bargain and give Lebron the rematch he’s wanted — albeit under different circumstances.

This team has dealt with a ton of adversity.  In addition to Garnett being sidelined for 25 games, key reserves Leon Powe (12 games), Tony Allen (36 games) and Brian Scalabrine (43 games) all missed significant time.  That enabled Glen Davis to grow into his skin, and helped accelerate the transition for newcomers Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury.

Add to that Rajon Rondo’s emergence as an elite point guard and Kendrick Perkins’  continued development (both enter the playoffs as unquestionably better players than last year), and there is a solid and experienced supporting cast around the now Big Two, who are not to be forgotten.

Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are among the proudest players in the game, and will make it their personal mission to carry this team as far as they can.  Even with rings — and Pierce with a Finals MVP — both can vividly recall the days when they were some combination of underestimated and underappreciated.

Allen has been channeling Jesus Shuttlesworth since last year’s Eastern Conference finals.  He will take it up a notch.

As for Pierce, let’s just say a lot of people didn’t take him seriously last year when he proclaimed he was the best player in the world.  He may have overstepped a bit, but after manning up and dismissing Lebron and Kobe on the biggest stage, his point held water.

For the two most important months of the 2007-08 season, Paul Pierce was the best player in the world.  He’s always relished having something to prove, the greats always do.  Now he does (again).

The Celtics likely won’t make it back to the promised land without their leader, but that doesn’t change the fact that the belt is theirs until somebody rips it off them.

Knowing this team and its coach, knowing Allen and the reigning Finals MVP, I wouldn’t bank on anyone not named Lebron or Kobe taking the honors.

Feb 26

Garnett and Marbury: Déjà Vu for the Celts?

I’m an optimist.   Prefer to glean the positives from what might otherwise be construed as a negative situation.

I can’t help it.  Optimism is entrenched in my sports psyche.  It’s the reason I grew up believing every year was THE year for the Red Sox, the reason I stayed sane in New York post-XLII.

So while many view Kevin Garnett’s (temporary) absence and Stephon Marbury’s (probable) arrival as possible death blows to Boston’s chances of a repeat, I see a pair of blessings in disguise — reinforced by a recurring sense of déjà vu.

The knee injury Garnett sustained in a Feb. 19 game at Utah sent shock waves through Celtics nation, and justifiably so.  The fact that he injured the knee on a non-contact maneuver — in this case, going up for an alley-oop — was a major cause for concern.  Ligament and tendon damage can often result from slightly mistimed lateral or vertical movements.  Fortunately he merely strained a muscle behind the knee, an injury he could have played through.  And he tried to.

Needless to say Danny Ainge did not allow that to happen and the team is taking no chances going forward, which means the Big Ticket will likely sit out another eight or so games in addition to the pair he’s already missed.  Does this scenario sound familiar?  It should, as the same thing happened around the same time last year.  On Jan. 25 Garnett strained an abdominal muscle and missed nine games between Jan. 27 and Feb. 19. The Celtics won seven of them.

He returned healthier and refreshed.  You know the rest.

It’s well documented how KG only has one speed: turbo.  To him cruise control is synonymous with being stuck in the breakdown lane.  When you consider that even with the respite he still played 97 games last year (second only to the 100 games he played in 2003-04), it might have been wise to shelf him for a period of time regardless.  That his freakish body has again sounded a faint warning bell might indeed be that blessing in disguise.  It surely was last year.

Unless he reaggravates the injury down the stretch (which would be quite a pessimistic way of looking at things), this mandated down time will end up paying great dividends when the Celtics embark on what’s sure to be another deep playoff run.

As for Marbury, call him what you want — bad teammate, enigma, self-centered, classless — and the New York media certainly has, but the man really has everything to gain from joining the Celtics.  The Celtics, in turn, have pretty much nothing to lose.  If he works out, super.  If not, they can cut ties while assuming minimal financial loss.

Remember Sam Cassell?

While Cassell’s career accomplishments overshadow Marbury’s, speaking purely from a style of play and team chemistry standpoint the two are mirror images of one another.  In their heyday both players were All-Star caliber, shoot-first point guards with a surplus of hubris.

Last March Cassell came into a close-knit and role-defined locker room, ball(s)-in-hand.  The fear was his ego and chucking mentality would be injurious.  After hitting some big shots in the regular season and again in the first round against Atlanta, the chucking became a problem against Cleveland and Cassell played sparingly for the remainder of the playoffs.  He did not, however, threaten the team chemistry.  In that regard he put his ego aside in the name of winning a ring.

Cassell — at age 38 — had nothing to prove except that he could become an auxiliary piece on a championship team.

Marbury, on the other hand, is playing for a lot more.  He wants to win his first playoff series en route to his first title.  At 32, he has a golden opportunity to lock up a final big contract.  A successful run with Boston and he’ll be in position for one last substantial payday.

Above all, maybe, he wants to stick it to New York.  To the front office he believes treated him unfairly.  To the teammates he thinks tossed him under the bus.  To the fans who turned on him.  And to the media, which has been unrelenting with its venom-injected headlines and protracted condemnations of the man they once deemed “Starbury”.

He has a beef to settle with New York, and what better place to do it than the one place that despises anything and everything “New Yaaawk”?

Irony would have it that the Celtics and Knicks have developed one of the coldest rivalries in the league, if you can call it that.  (A rivalry, that is.)  The teams nearly came to blows last season when Quentin Richardson and Paul Pierce were ejected from a game at Madison Square Garden.  Afterwards Richardson fanned the flames with some choice postgame remarks.  They have yet to make amends.

Richardson has had no qualms about voicing his opinion on the Marbury matter as well. This past November he ripped Marbury after the disgruntled star refused to play when the team was shorthanded and calling for his services.

In response to the incident, Knicks president Donnie Walsh formally banished Marbury from the team on Dec. 1.  Add it up and seems like the enemy of Stephon Marbury’s enemy is about to become his new friend.  That should immediately help the chemistry-building process with the Celtics.

Given all that, who really thinks the guy is going to ride into Boston on his high horse and reprise his role as a defiant, obstinate distraction?  Not I.

But take that with a grain of salt.

I am, after all, a self-professed optimist.

Jan 26

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Celtics Maintaining Pace

Here we are, just past the midway point of the 2008-09 NBA season and the Celtics are on an identical pace with last year’s 66-win championship team. For the second straight campaign, at the 46-game mark the Green have 37 wins to show for.

Time to put to rest all those burning questions about the New Three’s drive and desire to repeat, wouldn’t ya say?

Sure, they have experienced peaks and valleys that are atypical of a team defending a title. The peak was an 18-game winning streak. The valley — a stretch during which they dropped seven of nine, including four straight — had many asserting the Celtics were suddenly not just mortal, but beatable.

Take a more detailed look at the circumstances surrounding both the streak and the lull and it becomes glaringly apparent that this team has few concerns going forward (other than the race with Cleveland for home court, but that’s a story for another day…). Consider the following points.

1) The Celtics tied for the fifth-longest winning streak in NBA history by winning 18 games in a row. Of the six other teams that won at least 18 straight, not a single one did so in the year of a title defense. In fact, other than the Rockets (who won 22 consecutive games last year), every other team on that list enjoyed its historic winning streak during a championship season. It’s one thing to be that dominant over an extended stretch that ultimately ends with a ring; it’s a whole other thing to do it the year after winning a ring, considering every opposing team has your name circled in red on its schedule.

2) The bad run began on Christmas Day in Los Angeles, which marked the first time the Celtics and Lakers squared off since Boston routed LA in six games in last June’s NBA Finals. The game was unequivocally a must-win for the Lakers — particularly given that they were (interestingly?) awarded home court. Another loss to the Celtics in front of a national audience would have been catastrophic for LA.

3) Naturally, playing the Lakers on Christmas was important to the Celtics as well, and after letting the game slip away in the final 90 seconds it was clear they left Tinseltown lacking their usual heightened focus. That their next three games were all on the west coast didn’t help things. A holiday swing out west is always tough. A 1-3 trip after an 18-game unbeaten streak should be chalked up as rigors of the business, not general cause for alarm.

4) When all was said and done, the Celtics were forced to play nine games in 16 days through the heart of the holiday season, bookending the Lakers game with a January 9 showdown in Cleveland, which they lost handily. Of those nine games, all but two were on the road, culminating with three games in four days at the end. Exhaustion can even set in on a warrior like Kevin Garnett.

5) Look at how they’ve responded over the two weeks since the Cavs game: Eight wins in a row with an average margin of victory over 16 points; home-and-home sweeps of Toronto and New Jersey; road victories in Miami and Orlando; a pair of beatings in Boston of the Suns and Mavericks. The recurring theme throughout those contests has been a return of the defensive intensity that defined the team in its trek to a 17th title and beyond.

Between an arduous slate of games over the holidays and a general lack of any legitimate down time thus far — the Celtics have played four more games than Cleveland, and three more than the Lakers and Magic — the champs have not been afforded any breaks from the schedule makers, which makes their current body of work all the more remarkable.

Despite not having someone locked into the role of sixth man like James Posey was last year, Doc Rivers has again managed to stay true to his promise of keeping the stars fresh for the playoffs, as Garnett (32.5 minutes per game), Paul Pierce (36.5) and Ray Allen (36.3) are all right around their average minutes from last year.

Eddie House, Leon Powe and Glen Davis have become interchangeable parts off the bench (depending on matchups), and the rotation has worked well. Additional reinforcements could also be on the way. If the Knicks can negotiate a buyout with Stephon Marbury, there’s a good chance the former All-Star will end up in green. Marbury or not, it’s widely anticipated that Danny Ainge will bring in a veteran to provide more depth and experience for the playoffs.

Bottom line is halfway through the season the Celtics are still the team to beat and will remain so for the duration. They are a cool 35-2 in games on either side of the slump and are as healthy, hungry and happy as ever.

What more can you ask for?

Jun 19

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17 for Them … and One for Us

One day long after Russell and the Cooz and Hondo have joined Red, Reggie and D.J. upstairs, one day when Bird too is talked about in the past tense and TD Banknorth Garden is referred to as “the old house”, I’ll look back on this day. Maybe I’ll be bouncing a grandkid on my lap. Maybe I’ll be perched on a park bench talking to anyone who’ll listen. But I’ll have a story. A story worth telling. One worth hearing. And I’ll recount it as if it were yesterday…

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If one non-defensive play in Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals typified the champs it came in the second quarter with the Celtics leading 32-29. Paul Pierce drove and missed a four-footer; Glen Davis grabbed the rebound and went back up with authority but missed. Pierce beat everyone to the ensuing board and after gaining control of the ball kicked it out to Eddie House for a corner trey, which he struck off the back of the iron. James Posey hustled after the long board, hauled it in and threw it back up top for a reset. He went on to assume his place in the left corner, and on cue, received the ball on a crisp rotation from House and buried a three.

All told it was a 34-second possession for the Celtics, a possession that not only defined their stranglehold on the ’08 Finals but underscored what had been the m.o. of the champs from the word go: An undying total team commitment to hustle. From Player 1 (Pierce) to Player 6 (Posey) to Player 11 (Big Baby) — on coach Doc Rivers’ very loosely interpreted depth chart — the focus and dedication was there from the beginning and was highlighted by one microcosmic play that effectively marked the end. The 35-29 spread that resulted from that play would prove to be the closest the Lakers would ever get in what became the most lopsided clinching game in NBA Finals history.

The Lakers as a team were overmatched, which in light of Game 6 was an understatement. And while it would be difficult to find anyone who would dispute that Pierce was the best player in the series (he was the unanimous MVP on all nine ballots), you need look no further than the end of Game 5 for confirmation of said fact. A day after mounting the greatest comeback in Finals history the Celtics had staged yet another furious rally in the fourth quarter of Game 5, cutting a 14-point LA lead to two in the final minute. Much of the damage had been inflicted by Pierce, who through his trademark herky-jerky drives was getting to the basket with such consistency and ease that he had the entire Lakers team on its heels — literally.

As Paul crossed midcourt, ball in hand with the Celtics trailing 97-95, Kobe Bryant — the best player to lace em up since the best of all-time hung em up — waited in his defensive stance. When Pierce went to make his move Kobe darted behind him and back-tapped the ball away from a stunned Pierce. Lamar Odom scooped up the loose ball and threw a lob to Kobe — whose momentum had carried him into the backcourt — and Bryant threw down a two-handed slam that unofficially sent the series back to Boston for Game 6.

Dig a little deeper and you might be perplexed. For Kobe to make such a calculated gamble (back taps are successful about 25 percent of the time and fatal the other 75 percent because failed ones turn into five-on-four situations) with the lead meant only one thing: He knew he couldn’t stop Pierce.

Kobe couldn’t handle the Truth blowing by him for a game-tying or series-clinching bucket on his floor, in his town.

So he gambled (something, by the way, one Michael Jordan only did recreationally off the court). And while the gamble paid off (think going all in preflop in Texas Hold’Em with a pair of twos), Kobe showed his hand. He, the three-time champ and league MVP, needed one man-em-up defensive stand to seal the game and send the Lakers back to Beantown. But he chose not to man up Pierce, who had already dropped 38 in his house and was sniffing 40, 41, and most significantly, 17. Instead he resorted to a playground maneuver reserved for crafty old guys whose knees no longer permit them to get into a crouch and shuffle their feet.

That was the moment I knew it was over, even if it was actually the moment when we found out it was not. But it didn’t matter because Kobe had already given up. Not on his teammates, he had pretty much given up on them after Game 2. By virtue of that desperation play in a non-desperation situation Kobe essentially made it known he had come as far as he could, that there was a player in green who wanted it more than he did and could back it up on the court. And there wasn’t anything the MVP could do about it except roll the dice.

Of course Paul’s performance in itself was MVP-worthy. But it was validated by the best player in the world when he simply yielded to a colleague performing at a higher level. I never thought I’d view a turnover as a watershed moment in defining the greatness of someone I considered to be one of my heroes, but 40 years from now I’ll remember Game 5 of the ’08 Finals as the night Paul Pierce lost the game yet still owned LA.

I’ll also recall the Posey trey in Game 6, how on that 34-second possession the Celtics threw the final knockout blows by refusing to cede the ball, the game, the opportunity. The series ended then and there. The party began while the game turned into an up and down affair with one team playing its best ball in 22 years and another looking a lot like the Washington Generals. Like all vacations, the one that spanned the last two and a half quarters of the 2008 season didn’t last long enough.

Celtics 131

Lakers 92

I wasn’t ready for any of it. The score, the green confetti, the chills. But then I watched them react to it, and the crowd in turn to them, and it started to make sense. Nobody was prepared for it. For about an hour after the Celtics won their 17th championship the Garden was an uncensored window into the reactive mechanisms of a delirious team and its loyal followers.

First Pierce — apparently forgetting what sport he was playing — snuck up behind Doc Rivers and emptied a Gatorade cooler over the head of the (genuinely) surprised coach. The result was a few gallons of fruit punch splashing onto a parquet historically known to be covered in cigar ashes in similar moments. That prompted play-by-play guy Mike Breen to let us know that we’d be having “one more timeout.”

Let’s not forget about the crowd, which likely became the first fan contingent to get a “Dee-fense” chant going during the Larry O’Brien trophy presentation. These folks have always known the game of basketball, and when Doc Rivers responded to a question about how the whole thing got started by saying “defense”, they knew it was an appropriate final laudatory chorus for the champs.

Then there was Kevin Garnett. KG. The literal beating heart of the champs. On the verge of collapsing and nearly in convulsions while being propped up by Leon Powe, who assured him, “I got you, I got you”, Garnett had transformed into a half paralyzed, blissful wreck of a man.

When Michele Tafoya pulled him aside — with confetti already starting to dot the floor — and asked him what it meant to finally be an NBA champion, KG was speechless. He stood still for a few seconds, intense as ever, trying to harness millions of thoughts and emotions, before rearing back and bellowing “Anything’s possible!!! Anything’s possibllllllllllllle!!!”. By the time he gathered himself he was foaming at the mouth and letting out an exuberant and passionate train of thought, half screaming, half whimpering, wholly fulfilling.

As soon as he finished he found his mentor waiting for him a few hardwood squares away. Bill Russell embraced Garnett, the greatest champion to ever compete in athletics and one of the most emotionally drained champions you’ll ever see.

One-to-seventeen, they were all accounted for in that embrace.

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By the time I’m on that park bench or at a birthday party in outer space for my 10-year old grandkid the Celtics may very well have won another 17 titles. Or perhaps not. Maybe they’ll go into a 22-year drought beginning with the 2037 season. Scores more or zero more, I’ll remember only one like it was yesterday. That’s number 17. The one that connected the old generation to the new. The one that gave life to the tradition after years upon years of retold stories of unseen glories.

Thanks to the 2008 Celtics, one day that job — the duty of adding a personalized link to the most storied basketball chain for the benefit of a younger and possibly less fortunate Green generation — will finally be mine.

 

 

 

 

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