vicawoo
Chieftain
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2007
- Messages
- 3,226
this was ... an experience. people said at the beginning of the year they would win it all, but predictions don't make a team better. they said the east would be easier and leave them well rested, and instead the celtics were battle tested and beaten into a playoff team. forced to game 7 vs the hawks and lebron, they got beat at home in detroit, they were on the brink of losing everything so many times.
Then the lakers, who had been a monster since the gasol trade. nobody took the home wins for granted. the lakers could win on the road, and if they took either game, it would highly tip the series to the lakers. celtics were complacent in game 2, almost lost it, and learned to never stop. lost game 3, losing game 4 set them even (or a disadvantage to those of us who thought the lakers better). they came out being outscored by 20 points, and learned to claw their way back.
then game 5, they couldn't come back, but if the lakers won game 6, they could come back for an upset at game 7. and there were so many injuries. as a boston fan, i never felt like one of those smug fans that expects their team to win. i felt fear (like in those commercials), and the players must feel it too. that game 6 blowout was the work of a team that had a very hard lesson beaten into them, that it's never over until it's over. never let up, never just expect to win. if the celtics had thought for a minute that they had won the way they had when the game was over, the lakers would have come back and taken it away. so they played hard, never letting up, and the natural celebration got pent up until the very end.
they say the playoffs amplify your flaws, and we saw plenty of them from the celtics. but instead of them ripping them apart, it forced the celtics to grow and learn to play, well, like they did in game 6. and it showed how the celtics had the best chemistry and the best team, even if they weren't always the best basketball team.
PJ brown, they couldn't have won it without you. You saved them in game 7 vs the cavs, you neutralized Gasol, an all-star off the bench during the series, the most dominant performance by a 38 year old i've ever seen. Eddie house, they couldn't have won it without you, game 5 was your win. Posey, they couldn't have won it without you, your defense on kobe and lebron and joe johnson lifted the team. Perkins, they couldn't have won it without you, those monster performances vs detroit. cassell, couldn't have done it without you, maybe not always the best shots, but a bench defender/point guard offensive mismatch that got points when none were going in. Rondo, game 6 was a show of what you can be, and your stats are amazing. until the kobe switch aka the flaw to be taken advantage, you were probably the best point guard in the playoffs aside from chris paul. ray allen, other then the stretch in detroit, the consistency, the 1 of the big 3 that would always come through when the other 2 weren't playing well. i thought the lakers would win the series, until i saw pj brown neutralize gasol, and i saw the matchup: bryant sasha/whoever vs pierce allen. allen vs sasha vujacic means celtic o will always have something. paul pierce, they said it would be a battle of egos, but the team learned to complement each other. pierce may not always get the ball in his hands, but that allowed him to play defense more, but also carry the team when shots weren't falling. and kevin garnett, plenty of flaws there, seems later in the game, you've played so hard that your shots are, well, tired and missing. you changed the culture, you made the team a brick wall that the lakers sports team crashed into. kobe could eventually score on the spurs, but not the celtics after the first quarter. you're why athletes are an inspiration, just how much you care, we knew by the end about the fear, we knew how hard you had worked, how much you had lost to get this far, and we knew why you were crying at the end.
the you can do anything a little cheesy, but garnett with bill russell, "i got my own! i got my own!" "you sure did" that's just a quote that will go down in history.
Then the lakers, who had been a monster since the gasol trade. nobody took the home wins for granted. the lakers could win on the road, and if they took either game, it would highly tip the series to the lakers. celtics were complacent in game 2, almost lost it, and learned to never stop. lost game 3, losing game 4 set them even (or a disadvantage to those of us who thought the lakers better). they came out being outscored by 20 points, and learned to claw their way back.
then game 5, they couldn't come back, but if the lakers won game 6, they could come back for an upset at game 7. and there were so many injuries. as a boston fan, i never felt like one of those smug fans that expects their team to win. i felt fear (like in those commercials), and the players must feel it too. that game 6 blowout was the work of a team that had a very hard lesson beaten into them, that it's never over until it's over. never let up, never just expect to win. if the celtics had thought for a minute that they had won the way they had when the game was over, the lakers would have come back and taken it away. so they played hard, never letting up, and the natural celebration got pent up until the very end.
they say the playoffs amplify your flaws, and we saw plenty of them from the celtics. but instead of them ripping them apart, it forced the celtics to grow and learn to play, well, like they did in game 6. and it showed how the celtics had the best chemistry and the best team, even if they weren't always the best basketball team.
PJ brown, they couldn't have won it without you. You saved them in game 7 vs the cavs, you neutralized Gasol, an all-star off the bench during the series, the most dominant performance by a 38 year old i've ever seen. Eddie house, they couldn't have won it without you, game 5 was your win. Posey, they couldn't have won it without you, your defense on kobe and lebron and joe johnson lifted the team. Perkins, they couldn't have won it without you, those monster performances vs detroit. cassell, couldn't have done it without you, maybe not always the best shots, but a bench defender/point guard offensive mismatch that got points when none were going in. Rondo, game 6 was a show of what you can be, and your stats are amazing. until the kobe switch aka the flaw to be taken advantage, you were probably the best point guard in the playoffs aside from chris paul. ray allen, other then the stretch in detroit, the consistency, the 1 of the big 3 that would always come through when the other 2 weren't playing well. i thought the lakers would win the series, until i saw pj brown neutralize gasol, and i saw the matchup: bryant sasha/whoever vs pierce allen. allen vs sasha vujacic means celtic o will always have something. paul pierce, they said it would be a battle of egos, but the team learned to complement each other. pierce may not always get the ball in his hands, but that allowed him to play defense more, but also carry the team when shots weren't falling. and kevin garnett, plenty of flaws there, seems later in the game, you've played so hard that your shots are, well, tired and missing. you changed the culture, you made the team a brick wall that the lakers sports team crashed into. kobe could eventually score on the spurs, but not the celtics after the first quarter. you're why athletes are an inspiration, just how much you care, we knew by the end about the fear, we knew how hard you had worked, how much you had lost to get this far, and we knew why you were crying at the end.
the you can do anything a little cheesy, but garnett with bill russell, "i got my own! i got my own!" "you sure did" that's just a quote that will go down in history.
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