It’s hard being the typical negative sportswriter in Boston these days.
The Red Sox are World Series champions.
The Patriots are only the second team in NFL history to start a season 14-0.
The Bruins, I’ve been told, are playing pretty well.
The Revolution are the MLS’s version of the Buffalo Bills.
Boston College was ranked as high as No. 2 this season in the BCS.
And the Celtics are 20-2.
That’s right, the Celtics are 20-2.
The Celtics haven't started 20-2 since the days of Tommy Heinsohn. Of course, when Tommy Heinsohn was a player, that kind of start was expected.
Back then, it didn’t just seem like the Celtics won championships every season—they DID win championships every season.
Ever since Len Bias decided cocaine was more important than playing professional basketball, the Celtics have been in a seemingly endless downward spiral.
In no particular order, here's what's gone wrong since 1986...
1) Larry Bird’s bad back: Probably cut his career short by five years.
2) Kevin McHale’s feet: Ditto. The reason why most Celtics fans know the navicular bone to be located in the foot.
3) Len Bias’ death: This here started the curse
4) Red Auerbach's refusal to trade any of his aging stars: Trading McHale may sound sacrilegious, but it could've helped start the rebuilding process 15 years earlier.
5) Reggie Lewis’ death: One of the most tragic moments in sports.
6) M.L. Carr: The worst head coach in NBA history. He ran the team into the ground, killed the salary cap, and then pretended he did it on purpose to get a shot at Tim Duncan. Yeah right.
7) Ping pong balls: The Celtics hate ping pong balls.
8) Rick Pitino: The second worst coach in the history of the NBA.
9) Chris Wallace: The C's Gave up a shot at the third pick in a stocked draft to take a flier on Kendrick Brown (for reference, the third pick was Carmelo Anthony), then traded away Joe Johnson for a bag of donuts.
10) Youth movement: By itself, not a bad thing. The fact that it lasted three very painful years was the problem.
11) Another ping pong failure: Lesson learned—the NBA draft lottery is a crock.
All told, it was an insane run of bad luck, bad decision-making, bad coaching, bad GMing....bad everything.
It seemed like it would never end.
We watched as teams like the Bulls, Heat, and Pistons rebuilt from scratch and became contenders. The Celtics just couldn't figure it out for themselves.
Six months ago, the Danny Ainge Era appeared bound for the same fate as the Rick Pitino Era or the Chris Wallace Era.
The "panic" draft day trade for Ray Allen didn't fix things. Some even thought it made them worse.
Why give up the fifth pick in the draft for an aging shooting guard with a couple of bum ankles?
Then came Kevin Garnett.
Garnett changed everything.
KG re-motivated Pa
Celtics Rising: Good Times in the Kevin Garnett Era
Today's Must Reads
This article is also featured on
Boston Sports Rants
Track this Article on My B/R
Share This Article
About the Author Sean Crowe (senior writer)
- 260 articles written
- 1762 comments posted
- 390 fans
Want to write for Bleacher Report
We are a community of fans who write about sports. And we're growing.
5 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Anonymous about 1 year ago
I'm a Wolves fan from Mpls and I'm glad Garnett is doing so well. I hated to see him traded, but I don't think he could win a ring in MN. Good luck Celtics!!
One sports columnist here in MN has been ripping Garnett now that he's gone. Jim Souhan has been saying that Garnett was pouting his last few seasons here and that Al Jefferson is doing a lot of things KG didn't do. I hope you folks in Boston appreciate what you have (it seems you do.... maybe that's why you have all those banners and the Wolves have none). Anyway Souhan demonstrates the level of discourse we have here.
Go Celtics!!
Edit Comment Cancel
Sean Crowe about 1 year ago
I appreciate what I have. Trust me. Garnett is a monster. Every game is entertaining when he's involved. Even tonight's loss.
Someone please tell Doc Rivers not to play Tony Allen in crunch time. Posey should have been covering Billups. First big coaching blunder of the season.
Edit Comment Cancel
G Michael about 1 year ago
Great line in last week's episode of the F/X show "Nip Tuck" where some old guy was trying to prove he didn't have Alsheimer's:
"It's 2007. George W. Bush is president. The Celtics are good again!"
Edit Comment Cancel
Sean Crowe about 1 year ago
20 - 3, getting mentioned on TV shows....it's like the 80s all over again. Only with a half-brain dead perhaps mentally impaired President....wait.
Edit Comment Cancel
Baruch Landa about 1 year ago
Agreed! Posey should have been guarding Billups. Tony who?! This is what Doc shouldn't be coaching. It's not hard to be 20-3 with Garnett, Allen, and Pierce. They've also been winning by a billion points every game, so of course the coaching looks great. Just wait until the playoffs...that is what you NEED good coaching for -- crunch time situations. I hate to say it, but I think it's going to be another disappointing year for Celtics fans in May/June. On the bright side, it won't be THAT disappointing. They made it to the playoffs (unless KG goes down).
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.