History Renewed part 2
The stories of the Celtics vs. the Lakers are heralded in these parts. Parents tell their kids stories of the good old days, and grandparents tell their grandchildren about the really good old days, back when the NBA was exciting and when a coastal rivalry was at its best. Of course those stories are synonymous with victory in these parts, with a new chapter and a new story having been written just two years ago when the Celtics hung banner number 17 in the rafters, of course beating the Lakers in the finals. Once again the chance for amazing story telling is lying just beneath our noses, as history is unfolding in front of our eyes.
By now the numbers have become mind numbing, we have all seen or heard that the Celtics are going to their 21st NBA Finals, while the Lakers have notched their league leading 31st Finals trip. We all know that the Celtics lead the NBA with 17 banners, and the Lakers are nipping at their heels with 15. We’ve been told in story form about the Celtics 9 Championships over the Lakers, and that the Lakers have beaten the Celts just twice in the Finals, and posted a 40-27 postseason record against their west coast rival. As fans we care, as fans we remember the good and the bad, and as fans we would like nothing more than to hang up number 18 all the while extending “our” lead in the number of Championships over the Lakers.
Do those numbers matter though? Do they hold any merit in this particular match up as we all prepare for Thursday to come? The answer is mostly no, with one exception to yes.
The one number that matters to this current Celtics team is 18. When players put on that Celtic uniform they know about the past. They know about the storied franchise, and the former greats; but none of that matters. What matters to this team is being a part of something great. To be a part of that history, they cannot and do not compare themselves to the past, they concentrate on the future. What happened in the decades past does not effect how they will approach these games. What happened just two years ago does not give them a mindset that they are the superior team, and if they paid any mind to those numbers their conclusion would be superiority, and that would lead to their demise.
This Celtics team is its own entity; it is in fact quite different, not just from the teams of the 60’s, but from itself just two years ago. This team is run by its point guard. Rajon Rondo has become an all-star who can, on any given night, notch a triple-double. Just two years ago Rondo was the starting point guard for Boston, but against the Lakers in the Finals his minutes per game averaged just over a half, at 27. This Celtics team needs Rondo not only to facilitate for others by running the offense, but also to score and rebound. Nate Robinson was an asset off the bench vs. Orlando, but if Rondo is healthy look for him to average around 40 minutes per game in this series.
The Big 3 come into these Finals having all logged a lot of minutes thus far in the playoffs. This doesn’t bode well for an aging Pierce, who is going up against a tough defender in Ron Artest. Artest has been known to really frustrate and lock down Pierce. Over the past two seasons (one with LA and one with Houston for Artest) Pierce and Artest have met 4 times in the regular season, and none in the playoffs. Of those 4 games only once was Pierce able to score more than 15 points, which was last season when Artest was with the Rockets. This season against LA, in particular Ron Artest, Pierce scored 15 points in a loss at home and 11 points in a win on the road.
Pierce will more than likely have at least one solid scoring game, minimum of one, but in the games where Artest is giving him trouble, Pierce needs to be sure that he has 100 percent of Ron-Ron’s attention. What I mean by that is, Artest is a solid defender both one-on-one and with a team, he can also rebound and do the dirty work. Pierce needs to continue to crash the boards like he was doing vs. the Magic, averaging 8.3 rebs. per game in the Eastern Conference Finals. If Pierce continues to crash the board’s one of two things will happen. 1. He will continue to be a solid contributor on the glass for this Celtics team or 2. He will keep Artest occupied to the point that he has gained his complete attention and taken him out of his help side team defense and pulled him away from the rebound, thus giving the Celtic big men one less opposing rebounder to worry about.
With the age of the Celtics, and the miles on their legs, injury and fatigue is always a contributing factor. Rondo had been suffering from leg spasms before he landed directly on his hip against Orlando. Wallace has had some back problems, and is one of the many “senior citizens” on this team, along with Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Michael Finley. From top to bottom this team will benefit from the rest between the two series, and with a group of veterans like this, don’t expect them to back off now, injuries or not. They realize this season was a marathon, but they’ve now come to the sprint. There are just a maximum of 7 games left and Boston will be ready for whatever Los Angeles can throw at them. Whether it be the mind games of Phil Jackson talking about KG’s “smackdown mentality” or a healthy Andrew Bynum, adding to the list of big men on their roster that can help counter that of Boston’s, this team will be ready to play.
This team is once again writing history, and has a chance to be talked about and heralded in these parts along with decades of famed Celtic teams.
Sean Sendall – follow me on Twitter
Tags: Boston Celtics, Sean Sendall
