Yesterday, the Celtics won a thrilling Game 7 over the Cleveland Cavaliers. For what it’s worth, here are the scattered thoughts of an emotionally exhausted and more-frustrated-than-delighted Celtics fan. The parallels between yesterday’s Paul Pierce/LeBron James match-up and the legendary Wilkins/Bird duel in 1988 are obvious. I spent much of yesterday fearful, certain in the knowledge that this time the bad guys had Bird and we had Dominique. Yesterday’s game was actually much more of a two man show than the Bird/Wilkins game (which I was fortunate enough to witness from an outstanding Loge seat in the sweltering old Garden). Like LeBron and Pierce, Dominique was a force all day, scoring 47 points. Unlike the unfortunate LeBron, Wilkins had teammates who were markedly better basketball players than what you find at your neighborhood Y. Hawks’ point guard Glenn “Doc” Rivers had 16 points and 18 assists that day. Unheralded but extremely effective off-guard Randy Wittman had 22 points while shooting a very annoying 11-13. Bird actually struggled for the first three quarters before erupting in the 4th with 20 of his 34 points, shooting 9-10 in the process. Of course, Bird also had a pretty decent supporting cast. Kevin McHale had a not atypical Kevin McHale in-his-prime day, scoring 33 points, pulling down 13 rebounds and blocking four shots. Bird’s teammates could keep things respectable when he was off his game. And Bird was off his game for virtually the entire 1988 post-season. A few months earlier, Bird had injured both of his heels in a freak play in Cleveland. He was never the same; the injuries of that night caused him to miss the entire 1988-1989 season except for six games. By the time the ‘88 post-season had rolled around, a hobbled Bird had lost all his quickness and nimbleness. I know Larry Bird is now remembered as a plodding white guy, but in his younger days he was habitually among the league leaders in steals and could shake any defender when guarded one-on-one. Bird clearly wasn’t himself in the Atlanta series, and struggled still more in the subsequent series against Detroit. The Celtics entered the 1988 playoffs as the consensus pick to win it all. With the Atlanta series tied at 2-2, the Hawks came into Boston Garden and won game 5. In their franchise history, the Celtics had never lost a game 5 at home with the series tied until that night. (One of the delights of being a Celtics are the reams of freakish stats like that one that decorate their franchise history. Even after two decades of futility, the Celtics’ history still retains remnants of their previous three decades of dominance like the team’s now 19-5 record in seventh games.) The Celtics went on to defeat the Hawks in Atlanta in a thrilling Game 6 to bring the series back home to Boston for its finale. In spite of that win, some Celtics fans faced the obvious – Bird was hurting and the team had grown old. Even if they got by the Hawks, they probably would not be good enough to beat the Pistons in the semi-finals or the Lakers in the finals, let alone both the Pistons and the Lakers. This year’s Celtics team also entered the playoffs as a slight favorite to win the title. Like their 1988 forebears, the team’s struggles in the early rounds suggest they’re just not as good as many of us thought they were. What’s baffling is how a team that won 66 games in the regular season could become so mediocre almost overnight. Personally, I blame the coach. Admittedly, what little we see of a coach’s performance- player rotations, substitutions, game plan, game management – isn’t enough to make an informed judgment of how well a coach does his job. When evaluating Doc, it’s only fair to remember that a coach’s main job is to get the most out of his talent. Since I haven’t heard anyone argue that the Celtics under-achieved in winning only 66 games, we apparently have a consensus that Doc Rivers did his job well. In the regular season, anyway. But right now, Doc’s team is a mess. With the benching of Ray Allen yesterday, the number of Celtics with defined roles officially dwindled to two – Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. After an 82 game regular season and 14 playoff games, the Celtics have become a disorganized jumble. It’s anyone’s guess how Doc will deploy his troops in Game 1 against Detroit on Tuesday. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Big Baby Davis log heavy minutes at point guard. Right now, when it matters most, the Celtics are most definitely under-achieving. Doc’s post-season performance brings back painful memories of another Boston coach who proved out of his depth in the playoffs – Grady Little. People from Boston had ample knowledge that Grady Little’s in-game management was awful before the 2003 playoffs. But when the post-season began, he kicked it up a notch. Bill Simmons referred to Little’s management of the A’s series that preceded the Yankee debacle as “a cry for help.” When Little let an obviously gassed Pedro Martinez blow a three run lead in the 8th inning of Game 7 against the Yankees, Red Sox fans erupted precisely because such a managerial meltdown was so grimly foreseeable. It may seem like classic curmudgeonly Boston sports fan behavior to express frustration after a thrilling Game 7 victory. Believe me, I’d like to be happier. And I am delighted that after ten often frustrating years, yesterday’s game will probably get Paul Pierce some belated recognition as one of the NBA’s best players. But yesterday’s victory was more a relief than anything else. The Celtics should not have lost yesterday; they shouldn’t even have been stuck in a Game 7 against an overmatched opponent. Celtics fans of a certain vintage consider any year without a title to be a disappointment. I know that after 22 years without a championship, this may seem like a ridiculous attitude, but we’re hardwired that way. The fact that the Celtics will be among the final four teams playing basketball is only a long overdue restoration of the universe’s natural order. What’s irritating is the sense that the Celtics are the most talented of the teams left standing, and right now the least likely to win it all. Who knows? Maybe the Celtics will regain their regular season form. Maybe they’ll be like one of those number one seeds in the NCAA tournament that survives an early round scare and then dominates. If the Celtics can somehow rediscover their form of a few months ago, they’ll probably win the championship. But that scenario seems like a long shot right now.
