Boston Celtics: Still Championship Contenders Despite 0-2 Start

The Boston Celtics fell to 0-2 after losing to the Miami Heat in another hard-fought loss. Many could look at the 0-2 start of the Celtics and immediately denounce them as too old, and that their championship window has closed.

But if anything, the two losses showed anything but a closed championship window for this Celtics team. In their first two games they played two of the most offensively potent teams in the league: the New York Knicks and the Heat.

Against the Knicks, the Celtics lost 106-104 and were a shot at the buzzer away from sending the game into overtime. Not to mention that poor fourth-quarter refereeing may have also had an impact on the game.

Last night against the Heat, the Celtics overcame a 20 point deficit and fought back to come within three points in the last two minutes.

A couple of bad calls late in that game also hurt the Celtics slightly in this one, and the Celtics turned to zone defense late in the game that was quite successful against the Heat. Had they been in this from the beginning, the game could have turned out much differently.

In these first two losses, we have learned many things about the Celtics.

We learned against the Knicks that Rajon Rondo is much improved and can play at an MVP-caliber level, and that new sixth-man Brandon Bass can crash the boards and score.

Against the Heat, we learned that Keyon Dooling can play the 1, 2 or 3, can knock down three-pointers and can be a go-to scorer in the second unit.

And in both games we learned that this Celtics team can overcome large deficits and make big comebacks.

Not to mention that both of these games were played without captain Paul Pierce. If Pierce had played, the Celtics could have won both of these games. His return will greatly help this team.

These first two games were also not played with newly acquired shooting guard Mikael Pietrus, who will no doubt provide scoring off the bench and help round out the second unit.

These losses have shown more strengths than weaknesses in this Celtics team. And once the team is at full strength, they will be a force to be reckoned with and certainly be championship contenders.