Proud of the team. It even converted a life-long Celtic hater...

[LarBrd33]

Fellas don't feel down about the season.  Do I need to remind any of you about where our team was in May of 2007 after we landed the #5 pick?  UNBELIEVABLE that this team somehow turned that dismal situation around, won the 2008 title (basically unthinkable) and followed it up with this thrilling season.   If KG doesn't get hurt this all plays out differently.

Anyways.  Just figured I'd share this...   I've mentioned before that my best friend is a lifelong Celtic hater (we live in Seattle).  He despised the Celtics about as much as I loved them.  It made for some interesting back-and-forth... to the point where he cheered KG's injury and I responded by buying a "2004 World Champion Seattle Storm" bumper sticker and covertly sticking it on the back of his car (so he can have something Seattle sports-related to be proud of).  He started watching these playoffs intending to cheer for the demise of the Celtics.  Over the course of the playoffs while watching Boston gut out victory after victory, battle back from near blowouts, watching our undermanned team hit clutch shot after clutch shot after clutch shot... he started warming to Boston.  Watching Ben Gordon celebrate after playing horrible basketball and making ridiculous shots started to disgust him.  By the end of the Bulls series he was actually rooting against Chicago out of principle.  By the middle of the Orlando series he was actually rooting FOR Boston.  By game 7 he was fully with me.  I think he took the loss worse than I did. 

He now wants to consider himself a Celtic fan.  I figure he's allowed on the bandwagon because #1 - As Simmons says, once your team abandons you and leaves you a basketball orphan you are able to get a free pick on a new team.  and  #2 - He waited until everyone had jumped off the Celtic championship wagon to jump on.  He deserves points for jumping on a sinking ship.     

I know a lot of you cynical folks might be thinking my buddy just reverse-jinxed Boston by rooting for them (he even wore a Celtic hat for game 7), but I'm telling you... it was legit.  For me, these entire playoffs played out like Rocky 4 when the Russians suddenly turned on Ivan Drago and started chanting for the champ. 

Point is... be proud of this team for overachieving and showing a TON of heart.  If everyone outside of Celtic Nation wasn't anti-Boston and watched these games understanding the circumstances, they would definitely gain a ton of respect for what these guys were able to do.  We replaced our best player (hall of famer, defensive player of the year, core of our team) with a 2nd year 2nd rounder.  It would be like if the Spurs decided to head into the playoffs with Marcus Williams (picked two ahead of Glen) instead of Tim Duncan.  Our entire bench consisted of some guy coming off multiple concussions who wasn't even on our playoff roster, a washed up point guard who wasn't on our team a few months ago and hasn't played basketball for a year... and Eddie House.       

Couldn't be more proud. 

[Drucci]

TP for this great story, I know many people who don't like the Celtics who acknowledged that they couldn't criticize them for not trying to defend their title... though they didn't cheer for them, they showed some real respect for the Celtics, and it says a lot about this team in my opinion.

[LarBrd33]

Some important factors that converted a hater.   


#1 - Lifelong Sonic fan never felt right cheering against Ray Allen.

#2 - Paul Pierce was unbelievably clutch in a couple of these games.  Had to respect his will to survive.

#3 - Rondo playing ridiculous basketball.  He was insanely fun to watch.

#4 - He gained a ton of respect for Perkins essentially shutting down Dwight every time Dwight tried to post him up. 

#5 - Ben Gordon making garbage shots and celebrating like a punk was slightly offputting.

#6 - Eddie House was nasty one game.

#7 - He realized we were relying on heavy minutes from Boston's version of Steve Scheffler.

#8 -  This photo:



#9 - He's not a fan of Dwight Howard and his superman gimmick based on a dunk contest layup.

#10 - He started realizing the media's unwillingness to accurately report what Boston was doing without KG. 

#11-etc - Battling back from 28 point blowouts... game winners from obese players... battling back from 14 in the 4th to win games... Heart heart heart...



 

[ACF]

Beautiful stuff, LB!
A Tommy Point now and one when
the karma thing will allow it.

[Redz]

Plenty of room on the Celtics Fan bus.

I can't imagine how I'd be feeling if the Celtics ownership and the City of Boston bungled up a deal as badly as what happened in Seattle.

[TheReaLPuba]

Celtics should be commended for playing through the injuries and lack of bench/depth for a significant amount of time during the entire season.

They showed tremendous heart, extraordinary effort, and a endless never-say-die attitude despite playing their starters killer minutes for the majority of the playoffs.

I know the last game ended not the way we wanted but I'm still proud of the C's for continuing to defend the title despite transforming into a completely different team midway through the season.