Is This the Aging Boston Celtics' Last Realistic Chance at a Championship?
Looking at this Boston Celtics starting lineup, you see a lot of familiar names from the team's days of being defensively dominant perennial championship contenders. Then you look at the ages of the players and you wonder: could this be Boston’s last chance at a title?
The answer to the question is quite simply no, but not in the way you might think. The last realistic chance at a title has actually come and gone, and this Celtics team is nothing more than a middle-of-the-road playoff team who will be doing well to make it out of the first round.
The Big Three is no longer the powerful force they once were. With the emergence of the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat as powerhouses in the East, there is just no realistic possibility of the Celtics making a run at the title or even making it past a playoff series with either of those teams, barring multiple freak injuries or a sheer stroke of luck for Boston.
It’s probably more reasonable to say that the Celtics weren’t even realistic contenders last season than to say that they are contenders to reach the Finals or win a title this year.
After the trade of Kendrick Perkins last year, the Celtics put their faith in either Shaquille O'Neal or Jermaine O’Neal being able to carry the load, opting for the addition of some youth to the bench with Jeff Green. As we all saw, neither one of those two older centers were able to produce as much as the Celtics needed, and they were dispatched in five by the Heat. They looked completely outmatched the entire way, despite Rajon Rondo sacrificing life and limb (almost literally) to try to get the Celtics through to the Conference Finals.
Now we head into a shortened season, where the senior-citizen Celtics will have to play back-to-back games several times during the year on the aging legs of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Jermaine O’Neal. Allen has pretty much been able to keep his production right around where it’s always been and Rondo remains an NBA star, but Pierce and Garnett are shells of what they once were in Boston’s real title runs.
Sure, Boston has gotten some quality minutes from some surprise players this year, like Greg Stiemsma and Brandon Bass, but a supporting cast can only take you so far if your stars aren’t good enough or can’t stay healthy.
The Celtics will play out this season and are good enough to finish better than the .500 record they have now. They will likely get a seed somewhere between three and six, possibly win their first-round series, then Garnett and Allen will lose to Chicago or Miami in their last games in green and white.
After this season, things will get very interesting. This team will have to develop around a new set of players, and who knows what Danny Ainge will do with an almost entirely blank slate?
That’s a story for another day, so for now enjoy watching the Big Four ride into the sunset, but keep your expectations very low.
