Setting Sail in 2009

So we are two games into the 2009-2010 season, and the Boston Celtics have already made plenty of noise out of the gate.  In the season opener, Boston travelled to Cleveland and beat the Cavaliers in their own building for the first time in a long time, and in the process exposing a huge weakness in Cleveland's team defense (forcing Shaq to defend the pick & roll, duh).  One night later in the Celtics' home opener, Boston absolutely drubbed the Charlotte Bobcats, declawing them en route to a 92-59 victory.  

In both victories, the Celtics showed two things.  Thing number 1: this team has a nasty streak unlike any team I've seen in a long time.  Thing number 2: this year's Celtics are versatile on offense to an absurd level.  This year Boston will make every team in the league pick their poison and then kill them with it.  Care to clog the middle and defend the paint hard?  Well that's just fine, the Celtics will gladly trot Pierce, Eddie House, Sheed, KG and Ray Allen out there to drop long range bombs on your head all day and all night.  Feel like playing tight coverage on all those shooters?  That's fine too, because then the Celtics can replace House with Rondo and cut you to ribbons in the paint.  If you want to stop the little man, you'll have to collapse that defense which leaves one of the other four guys open (oops!).  Care to go big?  The Celtics can play that game too with Kendrick Perkins and a taller, tougher line-up.  

The bottom line is that the Celtics are stacked at every position this year, and are equipped to play and beat almost any style of basketball.  This is rare indeed, and it bodes well for the Celtics this year.  When a team is so versatile that they can play and combat every style, they become that much tougher to beat on a nightly basis and within the context of a seven game series.  Simply put, Boston is poised to dominate this season and has the potential to barn-storm their way to an 18th NBA title.

Now, of course, the caveat.  The Celtics need to stay healthy for any of this to happen.  With any NBA team, that's one hell of an if, but with these aging Celtics, it is a dark specter that will loom over this entire year.  Hopefully, the additions of Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels can stem the tide a bit by providing some much needed rest for the Celtic veterans, and hopefully both Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins will be able to step up and carry a bit more of the load this year to disperse the stress from the rest of Boston's starters.  If those things can happen, then the Celtics should be in great shape to make another championship run come May.  If not, then it seems as though I'm going to have to try not to vomit while the Lakers repeat and we're subjected to another tidal wave of "Kobe is the greatest player" stories (yuck).   

Tonight, Boston faces Chicago at home, which should actually be a good test for the Celtics.  Thus far they've beaten two slower paced teams with ease, but this Bulls team is young, athletic and largely the same crew that gave Boston problems last Spring in round one.  If these Celtics, who are not, by the way, the same group that struggled last spring against the youthful Bulls, can handle Chicago tonight, I will feel a lot better about our chances against any and all comers.  If the celtics lose at home, then we have some thinking and soul searching to do.  Just so y'all know, I plan on drinking heavily, which is to say I'm  betting on Boston tonight.

Happy Halloween!

The Old Me is Locked in the Basement

In case you were wondering, I'm  still shaking my head at Paul Pierce for his boneheaded foul out during the last game, I can't believe that a player with a basketball IQ as high as his and a solid track record of mental toughness could have such a breakdown and totally forget the larger context of the game in which he's playing.  It was simply unbelievable, and based on that play alone, the Celtics deserve to be under pressure for tonight's game seven against the young and hungry Chicago Bulls.

Speaking of young and hungry, how about the point guard play in this series?  Derrick Rose has already put his name in the same category as the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar after scoring 36 and handing out 11 dimes in his playoff debut, and now Boston's Rajon Rondo is poised to climb to new heights and insert his name into an exclusive statistical pantheon of legendary pro-ballers.  Through six games of this series, Rondo is averaging a triple-double (that's achieving double figures in three different statistical categories in a single game, points/assists/rebounds in this and most cases), contributing 21.5 points, 11.7 assists and 10 rebounds a game against the Bulls.  Although he didn't shoot well in game six and had his last good look blocked by Rose in the closing seconds of triple overtime, this statistical achievement is truly bananas.

If Rondo does finish this playoff series averaging a triple-double, he'll be only one of two active players to do so (the other being Jason Kidd, who has done it twice) and become only the sixth player ever to accomplish such a feat.  Even if Rondo gets his rebounds and doesn't record a single assist or a point tonight, he'll join Oscar Robertson, Fat Lever, Jason Kidd, Magic Johnson and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history to average a triple-double for a playoff series.  To say that this is elite company is an understatement, considering this list contains arguably the two greatest point guards ever (Magic and the Big O) and three of the top ten all time players (the aforementioned guards and Wilt the Stilt)and, as much as it pains me to say this, the best active point guard in the game (and likely one of the ten or fifteen best ever) in Jason Kidd.  Put simply, Rondo has been playing out of his mind for six straight games and has been the Celtics MVP, despite killer crunch time performances from Paul Pierce, vastly improved play from Glen Davis and 51 from Ray Allen in the last game.  

Aside from the sheer jaw-dropping awesomeness of this statistical achievement, it makes me wonder just how good the Celtics can be in the coming seasons with Rondo playing this kind of take-no-prisoners nasty basketball that would make Isiah Thomas blush all the time.  Two weeks ago, I would have told you that the Celtics' championship window was almost shut after the failed rehabilitation of Kevin Garnett's knee and the lack of bench behind Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, however now I believe that the celtics can continue to contend for titles as long as Rajon Rondo is their point guard and as long as the NBA's rules on hand checking don't change too much.  I can see a bright future for the Celtics with Rondo at the center of it all, shouldering more of the load and lessening the responsibilities of Ray Allen, KG and Paul Pierce.  

As Rondo matures and grows as a player and inevitably commands more attention and conformity to his style, I can easily see the Celtics becoming an unstoppable force of dribble drives, tough finishes and open perimeter shots for Boston's aging but still effective Big 3.  Win or lose, this series has been huge for his development as a player and has shown everyone in the basketball world what this kid can do when the burden to succeed is on his small but strong shoulders.  After the game tonight and into the offseason we'll explore this topic more, but for now I just thought I'd share this small nugget of wisdom with y'all.  

By the way, do you think the Phoenix Suns are kicking themselves for shipping Rondo to the Celtics on draft night for Cleveland's 2007 first rounder in what was essentially a salary dump?  I bet they are, though that pick was used to draft Rudy Fernandez, because they sold him to Portland for cash.  Say it with me now, "D'oh!"

Win or lose I'll have more coming in the next couple of days about the Celtics, until then keep cheering for the Green & White!