More Celtics Ramblings

I must say, last night, the Celtics put on a clinic. I'm the son of a die-hard Celtics fan who raised me to love them all the same, and I've been attending Celtics games for longer than I can remember, and I honestly cannot remember going to a game and seeing the Celts completely and utterly destroy their opponent quite like the Celtics did last night. And I remember going to games in 1986, when the C's went 50-1 at home (regular season and playoffs). I saw those legendary teams of the 80s, and I don't remember and ass-whooping like that. The final score doesn't tell the whole story. The Celtics left the court at the half to a rousing standing ovation, ahead 77-38. They were ahead by more points than they allowed! They shot 31-43 (72%) from the floor! They had 19 assists at the half! They broke 100 points through 3 quarters and, mercifully, called off the dogs.

And that wasn't against a bad team either. The Nuggets finished 6th in the West last year (which means they were about the 6th most talented team in the league) and they have Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony & reigning defensive player of the year (and fellow UMass alum - hoo-ra!) Marcus Camby on their team. They have Kenyon Martin back from injury. They have a very good coach in George Karl. Granted they were coming off a tough loss to the Knicks the previous night, but they got their asses kicked. And why? Because the Celtics might actually be BETTER than envisioned.

One of the main detractors for crowning the Celtics as the East's team to beat after some ballsy off-season moves by Danny Ainge, was that it was going to take time for all these new players to develop a chemistry with each other, and that after the Big Trio (I refuse to call them the Big Three - it's like sacrelige), the talent dropoff was too great. Turns out, the chemistry is there, and the rest of the guys aren't so bad. Training camp in Europe was the best thing for this group, as they were taken away from their normal elements and were put "on an island" together overseas. Since this team apparently has some really likeable and personal guys on the team, and they all share a common goal, it appears the chemistry developed quicker than expected. Anyone who knocked Rajon Rondo, Eddie House, James Posey, Kendrick Perkins, Tony Allen & Brian Scalabrine (the cult-hero at home games) as not being good enough are being proven wrong. Rondo is a terror on defense and I believe he can D-up any opposing point guard. Perk, Posey & TA are all proving to be defensive stalwarts, and are getting and making open shots. House can shoot the lights out. And Scal will hustle with the best of them, hit the open 3-ball and cheer on the team with the best of them.

Further evidence of their "Ubuntu" - whenever someone hit the floor either after diving for a loose ball or after taking a hard foul, at least 2 teammates (if not all 4) were there to help him up. Even more evidence: the way they were passing the ball last night - this team consistently made the extra pass (yes, that extra pass that your high school coach always wanted the team to make) last night that led to layup after layup after dunk after dunk. KG was on the receiving end of two alley-oops, both coming after the aggressive Celtics defense was able to get a quick steal before the Nuggets could get across halfcourt. Pierce made two of the best passes I've ever seen him make; both led to dunks for Perk and one of them was a behind-the-back, no-look pass he threw after catching a pass while cutting through the lane. Another sequence started with a BIG rejection of Martin by Perk, which Ray Allen picked up the loose ball and tore up court, before hitting KG for the dunk underneath. This team gets it and this team wants it. Pierce's & Rivers' post-game comments both mentioned getting better. I said it before and I'll say it again, look out NBA. The Celtics are back.

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