Thank You Celtics

Five years ago, in the summer of 2007, the Boston Celtics were mired in the worst stretch in their franchise history. Not only had they gone 21 years without a championship banner, but they had also had one of the worst seasons any Celtics team had ever endured. After desperately tanking the 2006-2007 season in order to have a shot at one of two potentially franchise altering players (Greg Oden and Kevin Durant), the Celtics entered the lottery with the second best chance to win the #1 overall pick. For a team that had missed out on the best power forward ever exactly 10 years earlier despite having the best odds, many Celtics fans figured this time around would be retribution for having Tim Duncan slip from their grasp. Naturally, they ended up with the #5 overall pick (or as it's better known, the moment where I almost became a 13 year old alcoholic). Just another unlucky moment in a long string of unlucky moments that started with the death of Len Bias two days after he was drafted in 1986. At the time, I was devastated. Even though I was only in middle school I understood the gravity of the situation. The fifth pick meant no Oden or Durant. It meant that Paul Pierce would likely be traded. It meant that the Celtics were looking at another 10 seasons of mediocrity.

Except things didn't turn out that way.

You see, after the Celtics lost the lottery in 2007, they decided to accelerate the process of building a championship contender rather than starting from scratch again. You all know the story by now: The C's dealt for Ray Allen, the greatest three-point shooter of all time, then swung a massive blockbuster trade for perennial All-Star and former MVP forward Kevin Garnett, forming a Hall of Fame trio with Paul Pierce reminiscent of legendary Celtics teams featuring the names Bird, Parish and McHale. The New Big Three swept us off our feet, simultaneously changing the culture of the Celtics from a consistent loser to a organization where winning was the only thing that mattered while posting the second best regular season record in Celtics history en route to raising a 17th championship banner with a victory over the hated Los Angeles Lakers that summer. In one whirlwind season, the Celtics went from rebuilding for another decade to champions. In effect, Garnett, Pierce, and Allen saved basketball in Boston.

From there, the Celtics battled through bad breaks (Garnett injuring his knee in 2009, Perkins injuring HIS knee in the 2010 Finals, Rondo's elbow bending in half the wrong way in 2011, the multitude of injuries in 2012) to have a highly successful five year run. One championship, two Finals appearances, three trips to the conference finals, and innumerable memories, some of which I've had the fortune to experience firsthand. Through it all, one thing remained constant: These guys cared. And that's what made it such a special experience. When they won, you felt elated because you knew how much pain and effort and work that this team put in day out. When they came up short, you felt the biting venom of defeat with them for those same reasons. By this season, we had become so familiar with them that we knew when Paul Pierce was going to take an irrational shot that had no business going through the net, and yet we weren't surprised when it (almost inevitably) did. We watched Ray Allen weave in in out of screens so much that we had a better idea of where he was going than most defenders did. We saw so many moments where Kevin Garnett raised the intensity level to new heights that we didn't understand why other teams never could quite seem to match it. This Celtics team became part of us.

Last night, as the Celtics were in the final stages of losing Game 7 to Miami, I had a strange epiphany. Most of the time the Celtics losing Game 7 of a series in which they led 3-2 and had a chance to close out their opponents at home (and subsequently no-showed at said game when I was in attendance) would send me into a deep depression for weeks where I would disappear from society, grow a beard, and start drinking milk on the sidewalk during hot summer days. But the amazing thing is, I wasn't sad, at least not for the conventional reason of "My team lost a huge game that would have gotten them to their respective sport's championship round." I was able to come to grips pretty quickly with the fact that the Celtics older legs finally ran out of gas and LeBron James is really good at basketball. Instead, I was sad because that was the last time that the Celtics' New Big Three would compete for a championship. It was the last chance for three players who forever changed the fortunes of the franchise to go to the NBA Finals together. Ray Allen's post-game press conference said it all.(Hold on, I'm in a glass case of emotion. And yes, that's two Anchorman references in one paragraph. Don't act like you're not impressed.) This was it, their last stand, their swan song, and even though they couldn't put away the Heat, they still showed the heart of a champion.

Considering all they've already done, that was more than enough for me.

Thank you Celtics.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Running Diary of Game 1?

Miami. Boston. Eastern Conference Finals. Possible last playoff series for the Big 3. Am I going to try and do running diaries of every game? Yes. Will it be excruciating when Miami wins this series in 5 and I've decided to chronicle every moment? Yes. The things I do during summer vacation. Anyways, to the game! Let's get this show on the road.

8:30 It's game time! But not really, because God forbid anything starts on time.

8:35 I leave the room for two minutes and in that time my dad has come in, changed the channel, and fallen asleep forcing me to extract the remote from his grasp Mission Impossible style. Fortunately the game hasn't started yet and I haven't missed anything.

8:41 LeBron scores the first basket. Not a great start, but it's too early for me to begin hitting the alcohol.

8:43 Ray Allen airballs a leaner then doesn't get back on defense leading to a layup on the other end for Wade. Looking crippled as ever I see.

8:48 Nice dime by Rondo to KG for a bucket to tie the score at 5. With Bosh out Garnett is going to have a huge size advantage in this series over Miami's big men, and if he doesn't take advantage it will be a clean sweep for the Heat.

8:51 10-5 Miami at the midway point of the first quarter. The Celtics are shooting 18% from the field so far. Something tells me that's not going to cut it.

8:55 Allen bricks a wide open three. If I had a dollar for every time I've seen that this postseason, I wouldn't be eating worms at baseball practice for $30. But that's another story for another time.

9:01 I know the Celtics' game is slowing it down and grinding it out and Miami is the team that likes to play up tempo and get out in transition, but part of me wonders if it would be better if the C's made a concerted effort to get on the break and get some easier buckets instead of trying to win every game 78-75.

9:02 Mike Breen just brought up how Tommy Heinsohn compared Greg Steimsma during a broadcast early in the season. I thought all tapes of that had comment had been destroyed by the ghost of Red Auerbach.

9:06 Miami leads 21-11 after one quarter of play. Boston looking a little (understatement alert!) sluggish to start, shooting only 25% for the quarter. Meanwhile LeBron has 13 points on 6/9 shooting. So far the Heat are getting to the rim at will and getting a lot of easy looks at the rim.

9:11 The Heat have gone EXTREMELY small here to start the 2nd quarter, with Chalmers, Wade, Miller, James, and Haslem. Garnett has to cover Mike Miller, and he promptly drains a three over the Big Ticket to make the score 24-14. Yikes.

9:14 Another three for Miller. Time out Celtics. This game is going to a dark, dark place.

9:18 ESPN just cut to a highlight package of last night's Spurs-Thunder game which consisted of a layup by Parker, a layup by Ginobili, and a wide open three pointer by Stephen Jackson. Honestly, it's not going to matter who wins the Eastern Conference this year, nobody is beating the Spurs right now. They are locked in.

9:21 DOOLING WITH A THREE! EVERYBODY FLEX! GET EXCITED!

9:27 Rondo flies in for an offensive rebound and putback and then KG gets called for a bogus technical because David Stern has apparently decided the fix is in.

9:29 After Rondo hits an elbow jumper Lebron hits a little hook over Pierce. This could be a huge postseason legacy-wise for James assuming he can lead the Heat to a title. More on that later.

9:33: Both teams are trading buckets right now. Give the Celtics credit, they're hanging in there, even though the Heat have managed to keep them at arms length.

9:34 Mike Miller fouls Ray Allen on a three pointer, followed by Allen promptly missing 2 of 3 from the line. He's 3/7 shooting free throws tonight. I didn't even know that was possible.

9:35 Another bogus technical, this time on Doc. I guess the referees thought the game was getting a little too close. Fortunately Mario Chalmers missed the foul shot and and Mike Miller reverted back to form with a traveling so no harm was done. 2:58 left in the half, Heat by 5.

9:43 Lucasfilm totally used a mold of Joel Anthony's head for the crystal skulls in the fourth Indiana Jones movie.

9:45 Rondo picks his way through the defense and flicks a pass out to Pierce for an easy three pointer. Boston only trailing by 2 now.

9:47 Miami up 48-46 at the half. Impressions so far: Boston stepped it up big time after an exceptionally shitty first half. They could very well steal this game. Hopefully they go to KG more. He's had his way down low and in the mid-range so far. Also, LeBron James is very good at basketball (He has 17/4/3) which brings me to my LeBron rant that I promised you earlier.

From a legacy standpoint, this has the chance to be an absolutely massive postseason for the 3 time MVP. If the dominoes fall his way, LeBron will have beaten his biggest rival from his draft class and his foil since high school (Carmelo Anthony)in Round 1, led the Heat (banged up without Chris Bosh) out of a 2-1 hole against a very game Pacers team (including a ridiculous 40/18/9 in a vital Game 4) in Round 2, beaten Boston (the team that has been a seemingly constant obstacle for James the last 4 seasons) and their future Hall of Fame small forward Paul Pierce, who also happens to be the 2nd best player at that position over the last decade in the Eastern Conference Finals, AND then in the Finals he and his team will have either beaten Oklahoma City and defeated his greatest challenger to his MVP trophy (Durant) or beaten the most consistently great team of the last 15 years during what may be their best season ever in the Spurs. As of right now if the Heat win the Finals that would be the scenario. It also would mean we'd be tortured by ESPN's typical LeBron overkill for the next 12 months but that's besides the point.

10:03 The officials reviewed a made basket by Joel Anthony and rightly decided that it was still on his finger tips as the shot clock expired, so we'll begin the second half tied at 46.

10:06 At halftime I said the Celtics should go to Garnett more in the second half. He promptly missed his first two shots of the half and missed them badly. The lesson, as always, is that I am an idiot.

10:10 Rondo misses another layup and Battier nails a three. I love Rondo and everything he does for the Celtics, but he can be so frustrating sometimes.

10:13 Timeout Celtics after back to back easy layups by James and Wade. 9-2 run by Miami, they lead by 7. Celtics can't win with consecutive defensive lapses like that.

10:20 A third ridiculous technical (Rondo this time). I'm speechless.

10:22 Rondo does his patented ball fake layup move which shakes Shane "Past His Prime" Battier but then gets annihilated by a killer weak side block from LeBron "Very Much In His Prime" James. I think I might cry.

10:28 Pierce gets destroyed on his way to the hoop. No call. Somebody get Donaghy on the phone, see if he knows anything about this.

10:32 Miami ends the quarter on a 10-3 run to take control of this one 72-61. LeBron has 27 points and 8 boards. I am feeling physically ill.

10:38 Dooling takes a three and misses it horribly. The Avery Bradley injury is looming larger and larger with each passing minute that A. Ray Allen is hobbling around being a defensive liability and shooting line drives at the rim and B. Keyon Dooling is getting anything resembling significant playing time.

10:44 The Celtics are back down to about 35% shooting. That might have been passable against Philadelphia, but the Sixers, unlike the Heat, suck a bag of dicks.

10:49 Finally the Celtics switch to a zone, or as it's better known, the defense that gives Miami fits every time it's utilized. Of course right as I type that Wade crosses over, splits the zone, steps back and kisses an incredible 15 footer off the glass. 82-67 Miami.

10:55 Bad news for the Celtics: LeBron and Wade have decided to take over on both sides of the ball. This comeback is looking less and less likely.

10:58 Jeff Van Gundy hit the nail on the head. Far too many offensive boards for the Heat, who are a small team to begin with. Nobody on the Celtics boxes out, and I hate to sound like a dude who belongs on Social Security, but if you don't box out and get bodies on bodies and protect the defensive glass, it puts a ton of strain on your defense.

11:05 Marquis Daniels is in the game in the fourth quarter. Doc has given up on this one.

11:07 Final horn sounds, Miami takes Game 1 93-79. LeBron with 31/13, KG with 23/10, and Ray Allen went 1-7 from the field.

Final thoughts:
I saw a lot of tweets and Facebook statuses complaining about the referees. While the three technical fouls were, for lack of a better term, straight up retarded, it wasn't the refs who shot 39.5% from the field, 52.4% from the line and got outrebounded by 15. Chalk it up to tired legs from the quick turnaround between Game 7 of the Philly series and Game 1 of this series if you want, but the fact of the matter is the Celtics need to play better if they want to even think about winning a game in this Conference Finals, let alone the entire series. Miami looked efficient, aggressive, and just overall better. Hopefully the Celtics can flip the script and grab Game 2, otherwise this series could be over in a hurry.