*IMPORTANT NOTE: The Superbowl was cancelled this year and I won't listen to anyone who tells me anything differently.
The Celtics have been on a roll lately, even if they are largely being ignored by the national media due to the football bias that exists in this country. A team that started out a disappointing 6-9 and had even the most loyal fans calling for Danny Ainge to make a big trade or for the team to "tank" for a better draft pick, now has fans talking championship. At the beginning of the season I wrote articles about Kevin Garnett being "done" and about how the Celtics should be looking to trade away the big 3 for value before they become untradeable. Unlike most writers I'll admit that I jumped the gun and called for change much too early.....my bad.
So what changed? Why are the Celtics now above .500 and seemingly on a roll? What I didn't account for at the beginning of the season was that maybe the guys weren't ready for the season to start. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were two of the most vocal players calling for the lockout to last the whole year, indicating that they probably weren't expecting the season to start as soon as it did and weren't in the kind of shape they needed to be. The lockout also eliminated the lengthy training camp that usually precedes the season, knocking it down to a two week preseason. Included in those two weeks was a free agent frenzy, the opening of the trade block, and two preseason games. On the surface the Celtics appeared to be bringing back the same team as last year, as all the starters were returning, but not so fast. Dig a little deeper and it's easy to see that this is a completely different team 6-12 than it was last year. The bench last year included Shaq, Big Baby, Nenad Krstic, Jeff Green, Von Wafer, Troy Murphy, and Carlos Arroyo. All of those guys played decent minutes at the end of the year. They are also all no longer on the bench. Last years bench has been replaced with Brandon Bass, Chris Wilcox, Greg Stiemsma, E'twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson, Mikel Pietrus, and Keyon Dooling. The only holdovers from last year are Avery Bradley, Marquis Daniels, and seldom used Sasha Pavlovic. That is a lot of turnover for one year. The Celtics being on a roll has as much to do with the players finally getting in shape as it does with the bench beginning to fit in with the starters.
Perhaps the biggest reason for the turnover has been the remarkable play of "The Truth" Paul Pierce. After a disastrous start to the season, missing the first three games with an injury and then playing poorly in the next few, he has really turned it on. Pierce earned player of the week honors for this past week after his great play. At 34 years old, Paul Pierce is playing the best of any of the big three and arguably the best of anyone in the Eastern Conference. Over his last three games he's averaged 23pts 6rebs and 6asts per game. Last month fans were using the trade machine to see if they could get someone like Josh Smith or Kevin Martin in Pierce trades......I think it's safe to say they're not anymore. On Tuesday, against the Bobcats, Paul Pierce will try to pass Larry Bird for 2nd place on the all time Celtics scoring list. Unless you're a big Celtics fan, I'm going to guess that you didn't know he was that high on the list. Pierce has been CRIMINALLY underrated and under-appreciated by Celtics fans since he came into the league. Passing Larry Legend is no small feat and if Pierce can stay somewhat productive for the next few years, he'll pass John Havlicek for first place on the Celtics all time scoring list. (Cool Authors Note: I'll be at the game on Tuesday to hopefully witness history)
To a lesser degree, Kevin Garnett has reinvented himself and seems rejuvenated. Doc Rivers has him on a strict 5-5-5 structure pertaining to his minutes, where Garnett plays five minutes then gets five minutes rest and then plays five etc. The emergence of Brandon Bass has allowed Garnett to get more rest this year, as well as the surprising health stability of Jermaine O'Neal. Ray Allen has been Ray Allen, shooting the ball at the highest percentages of his career and being as consistent as ever. The man doesn't age.
Don't write this team off yet, the Celtics are starting to get it rolling and have quietly risen to a top 5 defense in the league. The truth is that the offense is better and the defense is comparable to last year. I can only hope that the C's get to play Miami in the playoffs again, because this year is going to be different.
And Boston may not be getting a parade tomorrow, but keep late June open on Causeway Street because.........KG?
And really just a video that I found funny, KG explains how he learned to take a 3, which he's now 3/3 on in his last 3 games.
-Pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 19th and Wrestlemania is April 1st so at least we have that to look forward to in the near future.
-The Pride of South Portland, Charlie Furbush, begins his second season in the majors.
-I decided today that if Lebron James would just embrace the hate I could almost be ok with him winning a title. I just want him to accept that he's hated and encourage it, like a good wrestling heel would. Try to get crowds to boo him and just love it when it happens. It's too bad he's too much of a wimp.
-GISELE BUNDCHEN = YOKO ONO it's true and every Patriots fan knows it. She absolutely ruined Tom Brady. Since he married her he's endorsed Uggz, grown a Bieber haircut, moved to California, and seemingly lost his passion for the game.
Thanks for reading, be sure to go back and read all my other entries, leave a comment, become a fan of this page, Like Jake's on the Lake on facebook (yes he's my brother), and enjoy watching Paul Pierce pass Larry Legend.
-Josh
No comments:
Post a Comment