Regardless of what happens in LA, this has been a great ride..

[JHTruth]

I think the Celtics are the better team at this point, but winning one of these games in Staples could be too tall of an order. I'm confident, don't get me wrong, but it's going to be tough..

But regardless of what happens, these guys have already put together an incredible playoff run. When everyone counted them out, doubted them after every series, made them the constant underdog, thy responded. As a fan, it's been one of the most satisfying runs I've witnessed and I'm so proud of our guys..

I just want to give thanks to our guys for giving us a great playoffs and showing the true heart and grit of a champion. That is all..

[Q_FBE]

I think the Celtics are the better team at this point, but winning one of these games in Staples could be too tall of an order. I'm confident, don't get me wrong, but it's going to be tough..

But regardless of what happens, these guys have already put together an incredible playoff run. When everyone counted them out, doubted them after every series, made them the constant underdog, thy responded. As a fan, it's been one of the most satisfying runs I've witnessed and I'm so proud of our guys..

I just want to give thanks to our guys for giving us a great playoffs and showing the true heart and grit of a champion. That is all..

And I just want to win tomorrow night  - Hopefully, the mods and everyone else will keep you at 33 TPs preferably (but 34 is acceptable). I'm believing that giving you your Thirty-Third Tommy will make a difference.

[Drucci]

Great ride indeed, but it's not over!

If we end up losing the Finals it will be a big disappointment anyway, regardless of the ride and the low expectations of the majority of the fanbase.

But we're in the driver's seat and I'm confident this team will win banner 18, preferably in game 6. One more win, go Celtics!!

[angryguy77]

This group hasn't lost a must win game yet. We have 2 shots, I like our chances. As long as the game 1-3 bs doens't happen, we will take this series.

[j804]

I am confident we WILL WIN the championship, as long as we do our job. And as long as there isnt any "job" by the refs.

[Andy Jick]

LOL...  This thread is like the obituary that's been pre-written, just awaiting the death.

[Witch-King]

Great season, great turn-around, and an even better run through the playoffs heading back to L.A., where we'll have two chances (if necessary) to win Banner 18. Two seasons ago we had to play through three game 7's before even reaching the Finals, so regardless of our mediocre regular season we have proved to be a team that is a very legitimate threat to win the NBA Finals, even if we have to win on the road.

There were so many highs, and also so many lows this season -- it's just amazing how we've been able to get things in order right before the playoffs started after we struggled with injuries most of this season.

While we certainly started this season out strong, by the time April and May rolled around I'm pretty sure the feeling around these parts was that this year's post-season couldn't have come soon enough, or at the very least that's what I could gather from all of the nay-sayers. People thought we would lose in the first round, that Garnett was done and that Ray should be traded. We made those people eat their words.

Worst of all, the mainstream media affiliated with the NBA was already crowning LeBron James as the 'King' of basketball; after all his Cavaliers led the league in wins and he was awarded league MVP for the second year in a row.

I can still remember all of the dismal threads mid-season (especially after the All-Star break) where we would lose due to lack of effort, injuries and fatigue, 3rd/4th quarter collapses and just plain failure to defend home-court.

However, once we acquired Nate Robinson and Michael Finley, and it became clear that we would have a deep, healthy playoff roster, we were able to shrug off criticisms about our team's shaky second-half of the season, and even steal a win from the Cavs late in the season in order to boost our morale.

When it is all said and done at the very least we'll be able to say to ourselves that we had a better record against the Cavs this season than the Lakers did, which would be even more impressive if LeBron left Cleveland to play somewhere else, because like Kobe referring to Shaq after last season's NBA Finals, we would be 'getting a huge monkey off our back', per say.

***

Here's a link to a thread from when we hit rock-bottom this season - after we lost to the Lakers, at home (harkens back to the Ron Artest flop and Paul Pierce's game winner being credit-default-swapped to Kobe in the next play because of a questionable offensive foul, and then Ray missing what would have been a game-winning 3-pointer).

As much as I hate to dwell on some of the negatives aspects of our regular season, I still think it is necessary to remind people of the depression and anguish that repeatedly be-fell this blog when our team would enter a slump:

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=34712.msg668274;topicseen


^thankfully we'll no longer have to worry about threads like that one, at least not until next season.  Cheers.

[ManUp]

I feel like we're guaranteed a win a game in LA.

With that said the play-offs have definitely been a great ride.

Regular season not so much.

[celticinorlando]

this is over tomorrow night