How a Healthy Spurs and Celtics Would Have Changed the '09 Playoffs

(Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Growing up, it was bad manners to raise "what if" questions in my folks' house; either that, or my parents just got annoyed because I was the kind of kid who could string queries like that together endlessly.

Despite my training to refrain, I can't resist raising one right now, in the middle of a lackluster NBA Finals series, what if San Antonio and Boston had been healthy going into the 2009 playoffs?

Manu Ginobili and Kevin Garnett all went down before the playoffs. All right around the same time, too. It was obvious that their teams were never the same because of their injuries.

I took a look at the numbers just for the sake of having more concrete frame of reference.

Manu started the year hurt, and the Spurs got off to a modest 6-4 start until he debuted. They then went 29-12 with him before he got hurt shortly before the All-Star break.

From mid-February to mid-March, the Spurs just kept their heads above water, going 11-8 without their sixth man. He eventually returned at half-speed; in the six games he played in late March and early April, his club went 3-3. They were actually better without him in the twilight of the regular season; once he called it, they managed five wins in their last six games.

KG first missed time for his knee problem on February 22, the day the Celtics improved to 45-12 overall. In the '07-'08 season he had been the key component of his team's hot start, which included a commanding 27-2 record, that finally got just a touch worse on Christmas Day.

Boston racked up a relatively paltry 7-6 mark over the month that the "Big Ticket" missed. He returned only to wrap up his season early in four weak-looking games. The Celtics did close 11-2, but there was still a question as to whether they were Eastern Conference favorites going into the playoffs. 

It was there that the two powerhouses felt the absence of their guys. I mean, fact of the matter is, neither team was horrible during the campaign when functioning with just two-thirds of their trinity. The Spurs dropped from a 68-percent win clip to a 66 percent average, and the Celts from a 79 to 76. It wasn't until the postseason that the intangibles that 'Blee and "the Manchild" were truly missed.

The Spurs' demise was practically convulsive, as they collapsed against a Dallas Mavericks team that never looked serious all season. To lose to such a collection of disparate parts, and in such short fashion seems enough, but allow me to add insult to injury.

Those same hapless Mavericks out-rebounded(37.6 to 41.4), out-passed(16 to 17.2), out-blocked(3 to 4.6), out-stole(5.6 to 7.2), out-shot(45.7 percent to 46.3), and out-scored(90.4 to 96.4) the Spurs. Yes, Dallas dominated every statistical category, and no one besides Tony Parker or Tim Duncan showed up.

Boston certainly put up more of a fight, but I think we all knew a repeat wasn't in the cards after they dropped Game 1 at home to the Chicago Bulls, who finished 21 games behind the C's in the regular standings.

The fans certainly appreciated that both series the Celtics were involved in went to seven games, and I speak for all of us when I thank them and Chicago for a classic first-round matchup. Still, I doubt Chowds would be too thrilled to remember how up-and-down Paul Pierce was and how much Rajon Rondo had to step up to get them as far as they got.

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