I Am Feelin Good About Game 4

[indeedproceed]

The media, the casual NBA fan...heck even some Celtics fans...they have short memories. Allow me to remind you.

The date was a long time ago. A place far far away. LeBron James had just overseen the worst home playoff loss in Boston Celtics history. The Celtics were literally booed off their own home floor. The Cavaliers were up 2-1. Everyone in the media was thinking "The Celtics are who we thought they were." The Celtics, one game removed from stealing home court advantage from Cleveland's clutches, lost it. They were written off...nobody expected much when they limped into the playoffs, and nobody was surprised when they seemingly lost the only good thing they had going for them after a hard game 2 win. The game three blowout at home seemed like it was a death knell, even if it was a 7 game series.

Then the Celtics went to work. Three straight wins against the team with the best regular season record in the NBA. Celtics go to the Conference Finals. Bloggers and 'Experts' quickly went to their parents' basements to write their "I'm not surprised" recaps.

The date was a long, long time ago..but I can still remember..the Celtics had just gone up 3 games to none against the heavily favored Magic. Everyone and their mother was saying sweep..but the Magic fought back and took two game; one in Boston and one in Orlando. No team in written NBA history has ever...EVER come back from being down 3-0 in a playoff series.

But, the media looked at the Celtics. They said to themselves "well that Cleveland series was cool and everything, but remember the regular season? They weren't that great during the last half of it. Maybe they just ran out of steam and they're done." So they wrote their historic upsets articles.

Then, the Celtics went to work. They led Orlando the entire game, the lead getting as high as 24 points in the 4th quarter. The Celtics were going to the Finals. The Bloggers and 'Experts' go down to their parents' basements to write their "I'm not surprised" recaps.

I had to dig this up from the archives, but apparently in the NBA Finals of 2010, the Lakers took game one at home, but lost their home court advantage in game two. The Celtics were heading back to Boston, seemingly with it being their series to lose. They dropped a tight game three though, despite having numerous chances to take it.

The media looked at the Celtics. They thought "Well they did already beat Cleveland, and Orlando, despite being the road team in both cases. They did do that. Buuuuut remember the regular season? They kind weren't that fantastic in the last half of that. Maybe they just ran out of steam. Maybe they've already lost.

Tomorrow, Thursday, June 10th will come. With it, came game 4. And the Celtics will go to work.

Anyone know how this story ends?

[Yugocelt]

Hell yeah dude, TP.

Stomp these Fakers.  Write us off, but this is the BOSTON CELTICS.

Come on guys, show your heart on Thursday.  Show what you're made of.

[Rashi]

Finally a post that gets me smiling.

Tp for the great effort !!


Really looking forward to tomorrow night's game. Come on C's...one game where everyone shows up and give the Lakers a dose of the Celtic-basketball and shut them up for good.

Momentum, confidence, luck, experts, fair-weather fans may all be on the Lakers side at the moment, but we once again have to defy the odds and prove that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE !!

[Lucky17]

[wipes manly tear from eye, awards IP another TP]

[Greenbean]

I will be attending game 4 after dispensing a weeks worth of income. I would pay double that to support my team in the biggest game of the season in person.

TP of course. Great read.

[Redz]

I keep bumping my own thread on "Gut Checks" each time the Celts add another successful "must win" to the resume.  Until proven otherwise, I will keep believing they'll come up big when they need to.

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=38083.0

[LB3533]

We should definitely come out and win Game 4 in blow out fashion.

[hpantazo]

I will be attending game 4 after dispensing a weeks worth of income. I would pay double that to support my team in the biggest game of the season in person.

TP of course. Great read.

TP for you man, that's a true fan! Give them all you got in game 4 and help the celtics get a big win.

[Redz]

We need more than 2 of the sampler menu to show up on the same night:

Game 2 we had Ray & Rondo
Game 3 KG & bench

[Bankshot]

Thanks for the post. I feel so much better now. tp

[PosImpos]

The difference is the 2-3-2 format.  In the aforementioned series, the Celtics were able to bounce back and close out at home.  

In this series, the Celtics will need to win two straight home games and then close out one of the last two games in LA to clinch the series - something they have yet to do this post-season.

In fact, with this starting lineup the Celtics have only clinched a series in foreign territory once - in Game 6 of the '08 Eastern Conference Finals.

It's doable, just really really difficult.  The Lakers also happen to be a much more versatile and talented team than either the Cavs or the Magic.

[RAcker]

This is just another one of those threads where the OP needs a TP for rallying the troops.

Well done, IP.

[mahonedog88]

I'm still not sure how I feel yet.  In terms of AFTER the game...we win and it's tied 2-2, I still think we have a good chance of winning the series.

We lose and it's over.  Plain and simple.

[EJPLAYA]

If we win games 4 and 5 we are exactly where we want to be. 2 games to get one. We have already shown we can win on their court. If we don't win both then yes we are probably in big trouble.

Anyone that thought we were honestly going to go back to Boston and win all three and four in a row on a team like the Lakers wasn't being honest with themselves. I expected us to lose either game 4 or 5, not game 3, but that shouldn't have surprised us.

If you were told 3 months ago that we very likely could be sitting up 3-2 on the Lakers heading back to LA, based on how we were playing at the time, you'd have probably laughed them out of the building. We need to take care of business in these next two games and hopefully we can pull one out in LA.

[jedkni]

False hopes. Misdirected feelings.

Boston's best opportunity to win consecutive games was game 3. Won't be able to do it in game 5 (given Celts win game 4) or in any other game as the series gets tighter and tighter. You set yourselves up great by stealing game 3. Sorry, but your best hope is that - at best - the Lakers win in 5 games so that you don't have to see them celebrate on their own floor.

You had your chance. Series is over.