My faith has been totally vindicated! I called this! (sorta)

[Senninsage]

I'm so excited with this team's play right now. I also honestly went and looked back at something I said right before the start of all-star break, and I'm so happy to be vindicated with the play of the Celtics. I saw something in this team in that game, that they were finally learning some hard lessons. That I saw legitimate reason to be hopeful for this team for the rest of this season, and now I'm still stunned at how well they are doing. This is downright insane.

This is what I said after our loss to OKC right before the All-Star break.

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=53750.msg1151917#msg1151917

I was originally ready to type up the most negative, most angry "I'm p---ed off with this team" rant ever, but I like what I see at the end of this game, even with our mistakes.

You know, I really do believe that Avery Bradley, as crazy as that sounds, should be this team's starting point guard. He's no scorer (but then neither really is rondo, but his speed and explosiveness and threat of an obviously superior mid-range shot compared to rondo's, I think gives this team just the unexpected edge that we need. It's those stupid turnovers that killed us this game. It's the fouling the guy while he's taking a 3 pointer in the 1st quarter, when we were clearly up by quite a bit. It's the lazy pass, when we clearly see that the pass isn't going to be safe stuff that killed us tonight.

I'm actually hopeful about the rest of the season after this. Very hopeful. Celtics, I can see, learned some tough lessons in this game. What is one of those tough lessons? Don't be afraid to take and miss shots that are within your ability to make. Don't be afraid to take the offensive gamble, or take it inside on the shot blocker, knowing full well your shot may get sent right back. I like what I see, and I think this unbelievably blind faith will be vindicated with what the Celtics do in the rest of the season.

Boy, has my faith ever been vindicated!!!

[indeedproceed]

The people who said they'd pull it together are looking awfully prophetic right now.

And I wasn't one of them, so kudos to you!

[BballTim]

  There's no way on the planet that Bradley should be our starting point guard.

[bfrombleacher]

Bradley is our starting shooting guard by choice. He is a better option than Ray as a starting shooting guard. I don't think anyone saw that coming.

Kudos for the faith though. TP

[OmarSekou]

  There's no way on the planet that Bradley should be our starting point guard.

BballTim...dream killer.

[cman88]

Bradley is our starting shooting guard by choice. He is a better option than Ray as a starting shooting guard. I don't think anyone saw that coming.

Kudos for the faith though. TP

better defensively...ray is still much better on offense which is why he was in there at the end of the game.

Bradley has made huge strides in his offensive game though. I actually think its going in when he takes a jumper

[SHAQATTACK]

AB gets better every game ,  he is brimming with confidence, this is taking a HUGE load off Rondo and giving ROndo another scoring threat to setup... Rondo is loving having AB at guard with him ...you can see the wheels turning in Rondo eyes..

By the time we get into the playoff.... AB should really be something to watch !!!!

WOW !!!  Hope the team climbs on board with AB and KG and ride their energy.. deep into the playoffs..it might be interesting.

[LarBrd33]

I called it all along.  I said that unless a center fell out of the sky we wouldn't be contenders... and we needed to blow it up.

A center completely fell out of the sky.

Thank you, Kevin Garnett.  

[theswitch]

I called it all along.  I said that unless a center fell out of the sky we wouldn't be contenders... and we needed to blow it up.

A center completely fell out of the sky.

Thank you, Kevin Garnett.  

You can't be serious.

[GrandTheftRondo]

I called it all along.  I said that unless a center fell out of the sky we wouldn't be contenders... and we needed to blow it up.

A center completely fell out of the sky.

Thank you, Kevin Garnett.  

 

[CelticSooner]

I called it all along.  I said that unless a center fell out of the sky we wouldn't be contenders... and we needed to blow it up.

A center completely fell out of the sky.

Thank you, Greg Stiemsma.  

Fixed

He has been playing well all season.

[RockinRyA]

  There's no way on the planet that Bradley should be our starting point guard.

BballTim...dream killer.

Its true though. Starting SG Id agree. But I still want Rondo as our starting PG.

[indeedproceed]

I called it all along.  I said that unless a center fell out of the sky we wouldn't be contenders... and we needed to blow it up.

A center completely fell out of the sky.

Thank you, Kevin Garnett. 

You can't be serious.

He's not.....mostly.

[Senninsage]

I know I got the position for Bradley thing wrong, which is why I said sorta

But the general gist of what I was saying was very spot on. I really did think the Celtics, playing a strong OKC squad, had a look in their eyes and a level of body language in that loss that really spoke volumes about the fact that they really believed they could beat any team in this entire league, and that loss to OKC -- a loss they know they gifted to OKC with sloppiness -- helped to convince them of something they were desperately trying to believe about themselves, that they could still compete with and beat the best out there.

Danny's decision not to blow this team up was one of the wisest decisions that I have ever witnessed. You make moves that broke this team up, and no way in hell would the Celtics be playing like this right now. This is a team that wants to do everything in their power to make sure that everybody else on the team succeeds, and that they win. You can't say that about a lot of other teams out there. This team is playing in a fashion where they are confident they can beat anybody, and are actually backing it up. I mean, what else can you honestly say about these guys? They are playing incredible basketball at the right time. I gladly take the early season struggles with a turnaround like this, compared to our usual incredible starts to the season, with us seeming to fall apart around this point in the season.

[ManUp]

The people who said they'd pull it together are looking awfully prophetic right now.

And I wasn't one of them, so kudos to you!

I wasn't one of those people either, but I'm glad to see it. Unfortunately for me though a close friend of mines is one of those guys and he's almost making me regret our recent success, lol. Honestly, though who would've thought the answer would be Bradley starting, Ray off the bench, and more Stiemsma being our primary backup? Oh and KG found the fountain of youth, c'mon he looked done last year in the play-offs. I still think there was no way to see this coming with reason.