It’s virtually impossible not to root
for these Boston Celtics. Less than
two years after trading future Hall of Famers Paul Pierce and Kevin
Garnett in an effort to rebuild with young talent, the Celtics are headed back to the postseason after just a
one-year hiatus.
The 2014-15 season was presumed kaput
after the Celtics dealt point guard Rajon
Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks—waving
goodbye to the final piece of their 2008 NBA championship team and an integral
player of their 2010 Eastern Conference championship squad. The Celtics were
9-14 at the time of the move. They would lose nine of their next 12 contests
before the team shipped Jeff Green—the
purported best player on the roster following the Rondo deal—to the Memphis Grizzlies. All hope seemed lost
and talk of tanking for a lottery pick amplified. It was supposedly a forgone
conclusion the Celtics would be watching the playoffs from their couches for a
second straight year.
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| The Rajon Rondo trade did not sit well with Celtics fans at first. (AP/G.J. McCarthy) |
But something magical occurred after
the Celtics traded Green. Spearheaded by head coach Brad Stevens, the Celtics
rallied around one another and started playing spirited team basketball and along
the way victories materialized. Then came the trade deadline deal for
sparkplug Isaiah Thomas, the small-statured guard who the Celtics acquired from
Phoenix. Behind Thomas—a legit candidate for sixth man of the year—the Celtics embarked
on an improbable push to the postseason that became a reality following the Brooklyn Nets’ blowout loss at the hands of the Chicago Bulls on Monday night.
The Celtics are 27-19 since the
Green trade and stand at 39-42 overall with the season-finale slated for
Wednesday night against the Milwaukee
Bucks. An even more welcoming sight for the Celtics—they are 15-6 with Thomas
in the lineup. And the most telling stat of all in Boston’s turnaround: the team has
posted the second-best record in the Eastern Conference since Feb. 2, with only
the Cleveland Cavaliers recording a
better winning percentage in that time span.
Speaking of the Cavs, the Celtics
are set to duel LeBron James and Co.
in the first-round of the 2015 playoffs. The matchup was clinched following the
Celtics’ thrilling 95-93 win over the playoff-bound Toronto Raptors. The victory was highlighted by a game-winning jumper with .8 seconds left from Jae Crowder—the key cog acquired in the Rondo
deal that appeared profoundly lopsided in the Mavs’ favor at the time of the
exchange. In hitting that ridiculous fall-away jump shot from the right corner,
Crowder and the C’s made sure they would play the star-studded Cavs when the
playoffs open this weekend.
The Cavaliers will be the favorites
versus the upstart Celtics. Heavy
favorites. With a Big Three of James, Kyrie
Irving and Kevin Love, the
Cavaliers begin the postseason as the Las Vegas favorites to win the title. And
why not? The team has been rolling ever since the midseason trades that brought
J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov
to the championship-starved city of Cleveland. Smith has become a three-point
machine for the Cavs, who can space the court better than any team in the East.
Shumpert has become a key bench player, thriving in perimeter defense and
adding the occasional trey when called upon. Mozgov, meanwhile, has provided
the Cavs a much-needed rim protector and a solid finisher in the paint who has corralled
seven rebounds per contest since his arrival.
By looking at the starting lineups’
head-to-head matchups, it’s easy to see why the Cavs are expected to cruise
right past the young and experienced Celtics. The Celtics can’t come close to
measuring up in the forward battles. James versus Evan Turner and Love against Brandon
Bass are unfair fights, to put it gently. At center, Mozgov is more of a
force in the middle currently than Tyler
Zeller, albeit the former University of North Carolina standout has excelled in his first year in Boston. Irving, a three-time All-Star and the 2012 Rookie
of the Year, has the clear advantage over defensive-minded rookie Marcus Smart at point guard. The only
matchup that one can argue favors the Celtics lies at shooting guard, where Avery Bradley goes up against Smith.
Bradley, an improved mid-range jump shooter and one of the elite perimeter
defenders in the league, has a much better overall game than Smith. But keep in
mind, Smith is playing in an ideal role for his talents. Smith won’t spend much
time inside the three-point line as the offense only calls for his services as
an outside shooter, meaning he can save more energy on the defensive side.
How big of underdogs will the Celtics
be, given all these one-sided matchups among the starters? Even with a clear
advantage in coaching for Boston as Stevens has done a much better job than David Blatt (in terms of wins/expectations)
with less talent, it will be hard-pressed to find experts predicting a series that
lasts longer than five games. In actuality, most pundits are likely to forecast
a Cavs sweep over the Celtics, who even after winning seven of their last
eight, remain under .500 before their Wednesday night tilt in Milwaukee.
The C’s chances in this series may
as well be one in a million. Yes, cue the famous Lloyd Christmas line from Dumb and Dumber.
A series-victory over
the Cavs would not just be the greatest stunner in NBA playoff history, but
rather the greatest upset in sports
history. It would top the feat by Appalachian State of the FCS (formerly
Division 1-AA), who conquered previously No. 5 ranked Michigan at the Big House
in 2007. It would be a bigger upset than the New York Giants’ victory over the
previously unbeaten New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. And it would even triumph
the ‘Miracle on Ice’ that featured United States amateur and collegiate hockey players
defeat the Soviet Union—who consisted of military players (thus making them non-professionals in hockey and eligible for the Olympics) that in reality
practiced yearlong together—in the 1980 Winter Olympic Games.
How could the Celtics eliminating the
Cavs be a greater magnitude of an upset than the ‘Miracle on Ice’? Two reasons. One, Boston
was a supposed bottom-five team in the NBA before the year started. ESPN’s Fall Forecast had the Celtics going 26-56, Bleacher Report projected a 21-61 season,
while no CBS Sports expert predicted the Celtics to win more than 27 games. And
keep in mind, those predictions came before
Rondo and Green, Boston’s expected two core players for the impending
season, were traded. Second of all, this is a best-of-seven series, meaning the
Celtics have to defeat the Cavs four separate times to advance. No disrespect
to the heroics of Appalachian State, the Giants or the U.S. men’s hockey squad,
but it would be hard to envision any of those teams achieving their respective
upsets in a best-of-seven setup.
My prediction: Cavs in five. And bear
in mind, my forecast is partially clouded by my rooting interest. As a Celtics
fan, I would be thrilled to see a long series, but it just doesn't seem physically possible. But the Celtics have proven me wrong all season. Maybe they could do
it one last time. Again, Lloyd Christmas mentality for Celtics Nation.
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