Just thought I would contribute a few facts in the form of (admittedly qualitative) statistics, notwithstanding Twain's cautionary advice:
A search of NBA.com archives reveals that last January, 19, a Friday, the C's enjoyed a solid attendance of 16,019. Allowing that those numbers are inflated at least 25%, there were around 12,000 people there, even though everyone in the building knew the C's were dead in the water that year.
Two weeks earlier, on Thursday January 4 against the Lakers (a much more interesting team to host than Sacramento despite a down year), the Arco Arena hosted only 17,317 fans, or a difference of 1,298.
Fast forward to February 27, Mike Bibby's home debut in ATL versus his old team, the Kings. The Hawks are in the playoff hunt and unveiling their new PG who is supposed to help lead them to the promised land. Attendance? 15,661 or almost 500 less Bagheads then the Cs had in Boston last year. In the cold of January. Playing a meaningless game. To be fair, that Friday New York was in town and the attendance was 18,339. But two weeks later, against LAC on a Friday night, the attendance dropped precipitously to 16,107, just a handful more than the C's had on hand January 19, 2007.
These numbers suggest that Mike Bibby is, like most outside observers, unaware of the dedication and passion of Celtics fans. I have a feeling that his understanding will increase tonight. Borrowing from my UT colleagues, "Give 'em h***, give 'em h***, make 'em---!
<EDIT> Please refrain from profanity (masked or otherwise) - Thanks, Redz