Boston Celtics End of Season Wrap Up

The Championship era for the Boston Celtics has officially ended as quickly as it began four year ago. After a 4-1 series beat-down by the Miami Heat, it looks as if Boston’s window of opportunity has officially closed. In that playoff series Boston seemed word out and tired as they were outgunned, out-hustled, outlasted and just plain outplayed. They did not have the championship swagger they had last year when they shocked the world to advance to the NBA Finals; they looked, instead, like an aging team trying in vain to keep up with a younger and more athletic Miami Heat club. As Boston limped of the court defeated and dejected, thus ended any chances of them ever returning to the NBA Finals.

This was supposed to be the last time that the Celtics led by their superstar veteran tandem of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett would reach the coveted NBA Finals and contend for a title. With their stars’ advancing ages (Pierce at 33, Garnett at 34 and Allen at 35) and an stupendously upgraded Eastern Conference the Celtics’ chances to advance to the Finals seemed farfetched at best; however, Boston proved all doubters wrong as they dominated the East for most of the season. During the regular season, the Celtics ranked first in the league in points allowed only allowing their opponents to just score 91.1 points per game. Boston also ranked fourth in the league in assists (23.4 per game) and shot better than any other team in the league at .486. For most of the season, the Celtics sported the best record in the Eastern Conference until the very end when they were overtaken by the Heat and the Chicago Bulls.

Despite dropping down to third seeding in the playoffs, the Celtics still looked as the all around favorite to return to the NBA Finals for the third time in four years. The Celtics simply made minced meat out of the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoff sweeping the Knicks in four games. There were about to face a Miami Heat that many believed (including myself) that the Celtics can take on easily. After all, other than Miami’s Mega Power tandem of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, the Heat had little or nothing in terms of depth. On paper, Boston out-classed Miami in every respect. They had at least two bodies per position they could throw at Miami’s big three and a roster at least ten or eleven deep compared to Miami’s just three players and there make-shift roster of discarded pieces and spare parts. This was supposed to be a cake-walk for the Celtics; unfortunately, however, that was not the case. (Click here to finish reading and see more of what JT's Hoops Blog has to offer)