I recently posted on my Facebook page that I was proud of the Celtics this year. I was then ridiculed for that opinion, that the Celtics are only about championships and that making the final 8 is mediocrity that should not be celebrated.
Man are Boston fans starting to sound like Yankees fans. I really enjoyed this Celtics team. As much as last year? No, but once KG went down, I knew Boston’s chance at a repeat was very near zero percent. The LeBrons were just too dangerous, and Orlando was emerging. Was game 7 of the Magic series disappointing? Of course it was, but the season was an overall success in my opinion, regardless of my taunters.
So here’s my ode to the Celtic players, one-by-one.
KG. He lost a little luster with his punkish behavior on the bench and not sitting with the team in Game 1 of the Chicago series. Come on dude. I know you’re crazy competitive, but what if Scalabrine had wanted to sit in the locker room? We would have booed him. Man-up, dude.
The Truth. His tank was empty by the end of the Orlando series, but man is he fun to watch. He carried the team into the playoffs and teamed with Ray to take down the feisty Bulls.
Ray. Shooters are always hit and miss, and because he was a little gimpy in the Orlando series, J.J. Reddick was able to guard him. Ouch. Still, his 51-point game and all those game-winning/tying shots will stick in my memory for a long time.
Rondo. He has morphed into an elite point guard. He’s now my favorite Celtic to watch, and even after the Old Three retire, I’m optimistic about the future.
Perkins. He’s another reason why I’m optimistic. Is Dwight Howard really an elite player? I don’t think so, not after watching him get pushed around by Perkins. Tim Duncan in his prime eats Perkins alive. What I really want to see less of from Perkins next year is his European-style whining.
Big Baby. He parlayed a decent playoff run into a free agent contract. I’m not a Big Baby fan. He’s soft on defense and rebounding, and he thinks he can get shots off against 7-footers, and usually gets blocked. He can get hot offensively, but he’s very expendable.
Leon Powe. I hope Powe comes back. He’s a very good rebounder, and he’s really maturing on both ends of the floor. But his talents are replaceable.
Eddie House. I even named my fantasy team after him (creatively Eddie’s House). I’m split with him. He provides a good offensive spark, but man he’s a waste on the defensive end. As long as they have a decent back-up PG, I’d be fine with him being liquid nitrogen off the bench.
Tony Allen. No reason to spend much time here: He ticks me off every time he’s on the floor.
Scalabrine. I actually like his game. I think he’s a good complement to our power big guys as a shooter. He’s soft defensively and on the boards, but he can help the second unit spread the floor, and I think he works well with Rando. I just never want to see him playing crunch-time minutes every again. Ever.
Starbury. What a disaster. He showed some flourishes of his previous offensive talents, but he’s a defensive liability, and he no longer creates for others like he used to. Good luck in Europe buddy.
Mikki Moore. He’s one of the better rebounders on the team, but two major problems: He has some other defensive shortcomings, and he average more than 7 fouls per 36 minutes. Yikes. Only good in the 10-12 spot on a team, and Doc showed how little confidence he has in the guy playing him only 6.6 minutes per game in the playoffs.
Thoughts on the Finals (through Game 2)
I think Orlando’s chances of winning the NBA title bounced away with Courtney Lee’s missed alley-oop at the end of regulation of Game 2. And though Turkoglu is doing a decent job on Kobe, the defense has trouble dealing with Gasol and Kobe at the same time.
I think the Lakers wrap this up in 5 or 6. Orlando had a good run, but the Lakers dynamic duo is just too much for them to handle.
No comments:
Post a Comment