Well, "Celtic pride" lasted as long as I thought it would?one whole game. After Tatum was hurt, there was a lot of talk about "playing with pride" and "not going down without a fight," but all I could think of when I heard that was, "Where was the pride in three of the first four games, when the Cs blew big leads and wilted in crunch time?" That wasn't fighting hard, or playing with pride; that was playing like a bunch of newbies who'd never been in the playoff pressure cooker, not a veteran, title-winning group that's been there, done that.
The Tatum injury might serve as a convenient mask for Boston's problems, but they were in rough shape even when Tatum was healthy. I give credit to the Knicks for performing in crunch time, for doing what they had to do to win, but I still think the Celtics are the better team when playing up to their full capabilities. Their play tonight, especially for an elimination game, was pathetic, a horribly poor showing and a wretched way to end their season.
I'm sure Joe will be back, for better or worse, and there might be a few departures (Jrue? Hauser? Horford?), but I think most of the core will be back?though, if a sizable cut in payroll is indeed a team goal this offseason, there might not be much in the way of additions/reinforcements. That, combined with Tatum out for most, if not all, of next season, plus Al's age and KP's fragility, has me thinking they'll get only 45-50 wins next season, with no real shot at title contention. In other words, kind of a throwaway season while they await Tatum's return.
Several times during the regular season, I said that the regular season didn't really matter when it comes to evaluating this group, that the playoffs would tell the real story of the ?24-?25 Celtics. And that story ended up being very anticlimactic and underwhelming.
Topic: Celtics (2-3) at Knicks (3-2) Round 2 Game 6 5/16/25 (Read 20840 times)