From the time Bill Walton got hurt riding a stationary bike in August of 1986 until KG was acquired in July of 2007, being a Celtics fan reduced your basketball life to one simple truth: you’re favorite team stood no realistic chance at winning an NBA championship.

It sucked, as did watching the Lakers close within two titles of the Celtics. But there were other things to do. Read a book, take in a movie, get a job, maybe even start a family.

Once KG was acquired, life was just about as simple: eat, breath, and sleep the Celtics. Having suffered through 22 years of futility, Celtics fans weren’t about to miss a second of anything green-related this year.

Losing three games to the worst team in the playoffs changed everything from black and white to a hazy shade of gray.

Some observers think the Celtics played hard, and that the Hawks just outplayed them at home (those observers like the Cavs in 6). Other observers would swear KG coasted through the road games (those observers like the Celtics in 6).  Indeed, the Celtics do seem overly obsessed with the fact that they own home-court throughout the playoffs, which would suggest that they aren’t taking the road games as seriously as they should.

Nonetheless, almost everyone agrees that the Celtics defense let them down in each of the road losses, in one game failing to stop Atlanta from scoring on 17 consecutive possessions (a fact that concerns even those predicting the Celtics in 6). Their inability to get stops against Atlanta, of course, is in stark contrast to the regular season, where, one might argue, the Celtics had their way in every game they really wanted to win except for the first Detroit game.

I’d like to think that the Cleveland series will return clarity to the big picture.

But I suspect whatever questions are answered, others will be raised, and it won’t be until the Celtics either hoist a banner or get eliminated that the questions first posed by the Atlanta series will ever get put to rest.