ORLANDO, Fla. - Among the messages Doc Rivers passed to the Celtics [team stats] yesterday was that they still have the opportunity to do something “amazing.”

It’s a nice way to co-opt the league’s marketing slogan and, in regards to the possibility of winning the NBA championship, the former point guard is very much on point. But if Rivers is talking about getting past the Magic in this conference semifinal series, the only time amazing would enter the conversation is if the Celts continue to disparage their reputation as a tough and focused defensive team that moves the ball unselfishly on the other end of the floor.

The only saving grace there is that, down 2-1, they still have time to break their fall. A victory tonight would even the series with two of the remaining three games in Boston. Then again, the inconsistent manner that has marked the Celtics’ first 10 playoff games makes it impossible to expect something positive with any degree of certainty.

Teams with pride, brains and heart aren’t supposed to screw up as often as these Celts have. Yes, these guys from Orlando are good, but not quite as good as the Shamrocks have made them look.

That’s why there can be no way anything short of advancement from this round will be noble. The Celtics could lose gallantly against Cleveland and even manage to gain respect. But there are no ancillary benefits to be had against the Magic. They will either win or fall short of expectations.

Paul Pierce [stats] agreed, but he added that such concepts are Disney World fiction to them.

“That’s not our mindset. . . if we lose,” Pierce said. “We’re not even thinking about that. We feel we’re going to win this series. We’ll make little minor adjustments and come back. This team is a really confident team. Guys were upset about that (Game 3) loss. We definitely had a chip on our shoulder watching the film.

“We feel like this is a team we should beat. We feel like we probably could win the next three in a row. That’s how confident this team is.”

The Celtics don’t want to go downplaying the ability of the Magic, but they still believe they are the main determining factor in the series score.

“Well, we always give the other team credit,” said Ray Allen. “We always give them credit for taking what we give them, taking advantage of our miscues. We definitely have culpability because of the things that we allowed them to do. It’s on us. Execution was pretty poor offensively. We didn’t get back on defense. I mean, the same things that ail us when we lose, we saw.”

The same things that make you wonder whether this team will go back to playing together or continue to drift toward individuality. When they broke from their team video session, some of the C’s were discussing who was at fault on certain plays and how many times people had missed assignments.

It might help to realize that the Celtics were at fault. The loss was put in the right column next to the name Boston; no players were listed. And when the Magic scored 20 points in the paint in the opening quarter, it was a slap to all.

“That’s personal,” Pierce said. “It’s like this: When you play a team game, if one guy is not on the same page with the rest of the guys, it can mess up everything. We’re just about getting all five guys on the same page and going from there.

“You’re definitely (ticked) because there’s a lot of things you didn’t do out there. That’s not our basketball. If we just play our basketball, we know we’ll win games.”

If they don’t, they’ll exit the postseason sooner than they believe they should. It would be amazingly [dang]ing.





Nice well written article, luv the confidence; Celtics pride. Im so amped for this game. Its huge.