For 82 games the hip thing to do was compare the 2008 Boston Celtics to the 1986 Boston Celtics. Both teams started fast (29-3 v. 17-3) and finished strong (66-16 vs. 67-15).  The 2008 Boston Celtics were one of the best defensive teams in the NBA and so were the 1986 Celtics (I know, all that offensive firepower and yet defensive stalwarts, too). Both teams possessed deep (regular season) benches, and the 1986 squad was led by the last African-American coach to win an NBA title.

One popular theory had the 2008 Celtics steam-rolling their way through the playoffs. After all, the 1986 team finished with a 15-3 record in the playoffs, 10-0 at home.

But ever since the Celtics lost game 4 in Atlanta, I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that the better comparison is with the 1988 Boston Celtics. The regular season, of course, doesn’t compare at all. The 2008 Celtics were better, much better.

But once the playoffs started, the number of similarities grows.

Neither team has a bench and/or is disinclined to use their bench (Bob Ryan concluded the 1988 season lamenting the fact that KC failed to use the regular season to develop his bench, but instead ran the starters into the ground by playing them 40 plus minutes every night). The coach’s reluctance to use that bench decreases in tight games. The 1988 bench was so bad that locals took out billboard advertisements suggesting that the team should “rent a bench.” Last night the 2008 Celtics bench scored 3 points, and, if you exclude James Posey from the equation, the bench scored zip, as in zero, nada.

Neither team could win on the road. For both teams, that statement is an exaggeration. But it got so bad for the 1988 Celtics that starting players (Robert Parish for one) wouldn’t travel with the team for a road playoff game if he was nicked up with a minor injury. The real reason, of course, was that the Cs stood no chance of winning on the road, and it was better to rest the starter in hopes of getting more out of him in a home game. One of today’s daily links is basically telling the 2008 Celtic starters to stay home for game 6 and rest for game 7.

(Come to think of it, I wonder if one reason the Cs lose on the road in the 2008 playoffs is because they are saving themselves for home games, where they stand a better chance of winning? But I digress)

The Celtics could still win this thing (meaning the whole enchilada), but does anyone doubt it’s gonna be ugly, butt ugly, the rest of the way?

The 1974, 76, 81, and 84 playoffs were no cakewalk. But they certainly  didn’t’ embody the mental, physical, and psychological drudgery that the 2008 playoffs have become.

I mean, come on.

Would it really surprise anyone if the Cs head into the locker room of game 6 down by 27 points?