For the first time since 2008 the Boston Celtics are on top of the world. For me, Boston is one of those teams that I tend to gravitate towards because I became a fan of the team when I was a wee little child and the Lakers / Celtic rivalry was so heated and wonderful back in the 80's. Although my fandom actually died down a lot once we had the ability to look at stats and videos around the clock on the internet (strange how that happens huh?) I still always kept an eye on it and in the various basketball leagues and videogames that I have played I normally would select the Celtics as being the team I wanted to watch the most.
Well after a dominant season and a even more dominant playoffs including a game winning streak for the record-books, the Boston Celtics can lift that trophy high into the sky.
The Celtics have been a team to be reckoned with for a long time and they are one of the original teams in the NBA when it was formed in 1946. While other teams have come and gone and been moved to other cities. The Boston Celtics are one of the few teams that started in Boston and always stayed in Boston.
During the 60's 70's and 80's, being a Celtics fan was a really easy thing to do. They basically won their division by default and were always favorites for the title, of which they have more than any other team in the NBA with 18 over the course of the existence of the team. However, there was a dark time in Boston which spanned most of the 90's and the beginning part of the 2000's where Boston ranged from almost an average team to downright terrible.
It wasn't until around 2004 that they started to look like they could be a team to be reckoned with again after more than a decade of being a non-issue team. One thing to note about this is that the Boston fans didn't turn their backs on the team just because they weren't doing well. Boston Garden was still sold out almost every single home game even when the Celtics looked like one of the worst teams in the league. They have a very unique and wonderful fan base even though the can be known for being a bit mouthy but hell, that is just part of being from Boston.
When Boston swept the first 3 games of the Finals this game, there were a few people, like me, that quietly thought that game 4, which was to be played in Dallas, was going to be a loss for Celtics. Now I know it is easy to talk about these things after the fact but the reality here is, when you are up 3-0, there is very little chance of the other team coming back and reversing things on you. In fact, in the 157 times that there has been a 3-0 lead in ANY best of 7 series, no team has EVER come back to win. There have been a few that have come close, but nobody has actually been able to do it in the history of the game.
Now with game 4 being played in Dallas, I thought that the Celtics would much rather win their championship in Boston, and therefore would step off the gas in the Mavericks home stadium a few days ago. Well, whether you want to believe it or not is up to you but the massive blowout the Mavs had of the Celtics after Boston cruised to victory in the fist 3 games, could at least indicate that maybe Boston was sitting this game out and just biding their time until they got back to Boston to win in front of their own fans. Sure, this might seem risky, but give the 100% performance of both teams in the first 3 games, it kind of seemed like a foregone conclusion that Boston had this in the bag. While some of the games were in fact close up to that point, you need to realize that winning a basketball game by 10 points is a lot more than you really need to win a game by and once you are up by that much and there are just a few minutes left in play, the offense isn't necessarily trying to score points, they are simply trying to maintain possession and keep the clock moving.
It is easy to say that perhaps the Celtics, if forced to do so, could have won all 3 of the first games but significantly more points than they did if they were going full steam ahead.
In game 4, was it a question of Boston truly being bested by an opponent whose back was against the wall, or were they not really trying for a sweep? I think it was the second thing because of multiple reasons but the look of relative non-concern on the bench in the waning moments of their only loss in over 12 games up to that point gave me a sense of confidence that these men were simply waiting to get back on the plane back to Massachusetts.
When they returned to Boston and then dominated from start to finish in game 5, I think we kind of had our answer. When the two teams went into the locker rooms with Boston leading 67-46 at halftime, you kind of realize that this game is wrapped up provided that Boston could keep their composure.... and they did precisely that; giving away a mere 3 points of their halftime advantage in the entire 2nd half. That game was over after the first quarter if you ask me.
I think that in the many NBA finals that I have watched throughout the years that this was one of the most one-sided ones ever. Boston was significantly better than the Mavs and I think most people were aware of this before the first game ever started.
It's nice to see a championship in Boston again and now we look to the off-season to see what is going to change in the couple of months that the league takes off before doing it all over again.