Friday, February 19

State of the Celtics Address

So the Celtics are coming off the All Star break and the trade deadline with two straight wins to start a four game west coast road trip. They won close games against the Kings and the Lakers. In between these two wins they traded sharp shooter Eddie House for a sparkplug guy off the bench in Nate Robinson, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
The way the Celtics are currently playing has people in Boston jumping of the Tobin. They have blown eight, I repeat eight, double-digit second half leads since Christmas Day, and Atlanta swept them in their season series. They have also struggled against the Magic. They have looked old at times and they have gone through scoring droughts during the second half of games, which is the main cause to the blown double-digit leads. The people in the media have labeled them as old, and that age, and the health of Garnett is the reason for their struggles. This is a good and logical theory, however I would go in a different direction. I would point out that they played their first game with their regular lineup just a week ago against the Magic. They haven’t had the consistency that the Cavaliers or the Lakers have had all season.
The Celtics still have the big three, which now that they have a regular rotation they have the ability to get into a groove and string some good wins together. Last night’s game against the Lakers was the epitome of the season, they ran out to an early lead, looked old and slow in the second half, and then blew that large lead. However, the difference, and now they can be turning over a new leaf, was they held on and earned the victory. A few weeks ago they wouldn’t have had the kahonas to keep their composure and win a game like this. Now, naysayers would point to the fact they only won the game by a point, and that Kobe wasn’t in the lineup. They will also sate the fact the Celtics only scored 11 fourth quarter points, but I look it differently…the Celtics held the Lakers to only 17 fourth quarter points and only two points over their final 7+ minutes. They played some great defense once KG came back into the game, after exiting for a good chunk of the second half because of foul trouble, and that just happened to coincide with the time of the Lakers run.
The way the Celtics are situated now is as KG goes they go. This is a good thing, because now that KG has some games under his belt after recovering from his knee injury and he had some rest of the All Star Break, he will get into a good rhythm.
Currently, the Celtics have the third best record in the east, 1.5 games behind the Magic and they are tied with the Hawks. I don’t think the Celtics can catch the Cavs, as they are 7.5 games up on the Celtics, but there is a possibility as they still have three more matchups this season, including six days from now on February 25th. That contest can be the best barometer of where the Celtics stand.
The trade of Eddie House for Nate Robinson is one that will surely shake up the bench. House is knock down shooter who can’t do much more on the offensive end. House also plays some D, not a whole lot, but more than Nate. Nate on the other hand is a sparkplug off the bench. He can score at will, has a decent shot, but drives to the hole more frequently than House. Nate is also pound-for-pound the best athlete in the game, as evident from his three slam-dunk victories. He is a good bench player who fell out of favor with Mike Dantoni of the Knicks. This trade will allow Marquis Daniels to slide out of the point forward position off the bench and into the three spot, while Tony Allen and Nate can provide the ball handling responsibilities. If the trade works as Danny Ainge envisioned, this will open up the bench scoring and prevent the team from blowing their second half leads.
The Celtics should head into the playoffs playing their best ball and as a #2 seed in the East. They will be able to handle the Hawks or Magic, whichever team they face in round two, and square off against the Cavs in the Eastern conference finals. This matchup will be fun and exciting. The Celtics will come in with their championship heart and the Cavs will come in with their young blood and thirst for a championship. The Celtics need to show me some more consistent play in order for me to believe they can make it back to the Finals to face the Lakers. However, at the same time the Cavs were the perennial favorites to make it to the Finals last year and chocked it away.
In the end I think the Celtics are a championship caliber team, a team that if they put together a strong second half and consistent play, they will be right back in the Finals fighting for their second title in three years.
It is going to be a great second half and an exciting playoffs…oh yeah don’t sleep on the Oklahoma City Thunder, they will make the playoffs this year as a seven or eight seed, but next year they will be a top four team in the West.

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