The levy held. The floodwaters were averted. The Celtics were 2-0.
I feel compelled to report something that happened that “Night to Remember”. By coincidence, there is a book about the Titanic of that title.
I haven’t seen what I’m about to relate anywhere in Celtic Nation and it’s worth one article anyway.
The Celtics emphatically beat down the Lakers – absolutely no doubt about it. No longer would Ray, Paul, and Kevin be called into question for their heart, their brains, their basketball IQ, their clutchness. The bully was beaten back. Three large monkeys were seen jumping off of their backs and jumping onto three Lakers backs. Those buggers are hard to get rid of.
The national experts including the PHDs of number crunchers like Chad Ford, and John Hollinger all picked LA to win. The two mentioned had the Lakers in 6.
Okay. Okay. I know you have already heard that.
But here is something you haven’t heard or seen in print that I know of, anyway.
I can’t tell you how many times, before the 6th game, that I heard that the Celtics “had better win tonight because we don’t want a game 7 against this team.”
Multiple times from multiple people – all east coast people.
And here is something else I don’t think is in print anywhere on the east coast anyway. Most people weren’t sure the game was locked up until the lead was ridiculous.
Doc Rivers kept the three stars in until the 4 minute mark and everyone was darn glad of it. It wasn’t just for ‘celebrating with the guys that brought the team there’ either, though they will tell you that. It was simple. Neither team proved they could hold a lead in this series.
I even was wondering if the lead was safe in the 3rd quarter. When it hit 30 I relaxed. But that is amazing in and of itself. When the Celtics letdown..or let up, they can lose 24 points in 7 minutes.
It is not that the Lakers were ever considered the better team by those who uttered those thoughts. I don’t think anyone who followed this Celtic team regularly thought the Lakers would
win this series. Not one.
But the Celtics game 2 meltdown was not forgotten. A 24 point lead disappeared in 6 minutes. For those whose memories have gotten worse than their grandmothers’, that was an astounding feeling, too. Watching the Lakers get within 2 points, a single basket, right near the end, made the following thought embrace my entire being…”My God, they might lose this game.”
The Celtic team was one basket away from being the Lakers, instead of beating the Lakers. We all know the good guys finally put a stop to it and pulled out a win in a game that had no business whatsoever being that close. But that game was not forgotten.
Neither was the idea that a game 7 with Kobe Bryant would not be a given win for this Green Juggernaut. No one wanted it.
As Cassius said, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”
Or in this case, our stars’ selves.
“We’re happy because we won, but we definitely learned a lesson,” Pierce said after game two.
Still one might wonder if they truly did. They’ve given up other leads this post season. It is not like this was the first time. A careless Rondo or Pierce showboat pass that gets picked off. Defenders not getting out to the guard 3 point shooters as quickly. Hasty Celtic perimeter shots that don’t go in. Suddenly, a beaten team gets life.
Here are my thoughts on both situations:
1) If the Celtics lost game 2 after being up by 24 – would they have lost the series? Would their collective confidence have disappeared into the Bermuda (Laker) triangle of that devastating letdown?
My answer is not yes, but isn’t a definite no either. It seems that this team is it’s own worst enemy at times. Too cocky with a lead. They seemed to get better and better against the odds as the play-offs wore on. But they almost needed to know that every basket counted for them to perform at the top of their abilities.
2) What if they sent it the reserves earlier in game 6? Would the Lakers have made a run and a game out of it?. Probably. That’s how it has gone in this series. Paul Pierce said at half time that the Celtics would not let the lead disappear in the 2nd half. They would come out with even more energy than the first half. They did this time. The Green Machine opened up the throttle and ran right over the Lakers. The Kobes wilted quickly. The Celtic starters and bench were not to be denied on this night. But I couldn’t help but think how large of a lead would be ‘safe’ for far too long into the final game.
You see, there was a tipping point in game 2 when the Celtics were a basket away from approaching the rest of the series in a completely different light. They could have been even at 1-1 going into LA.
If you think I’m now going to say that would changed who the winner was – I’m not. I don’t even think that the Celtics would have lost this series if that game 2 meltdown occurred. This Celtic team is that good. I think they would have probably won the first game in LA, to be honest. They would have regained their home court advantage. This team is that good when it is focused.
But boy, there were times that they didn’t make it easy on us watching those games, did they?
Thanks for the thrills, but thanks for the final convincing win even more. We fans needed that.
And oh yeah…I would have been fine with a game 7, too. The Celtics would never lose that many times to this Laker team. Never. The only thing that could beat this team was Celtic injuries. But there were more than a few others at that game who weren’t so sure. Game 6 – Game 7, this Celtic team would be Champs. It was only a matter of which game. Thanks for one less late night.
Thanks for finally playing well for 48 minutes. No other team can compete with you when you do – contrary to what the experts thought. This team was its biggest adversary at times. No other team can stop them when they are right.
If you haven’t seen this, Brian Scalabrine has some questions of his own for the experts. Enjoy….
http://mvn.com/nba-celtics/2008/06/18/espn-not-so-expert-after-all/
