NBA Playoffs 2012: Boston Celtics Big Three Era Will End After Game 7 Loss
The Boston Celtics looked bad last night in their Game 6 loss against the Philadelphia 76ers. Really bad. My guess is that we're going to see another lackluster performance from the C's Saturday night in Boston and that Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers will be the last game the Big Three ever play together.
Over the course of this lockout-shortened NBA season, we've heard grumblings of a Big Three breakup. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, a prospective trade fell through that would have sent Ray Allen to the Memphis Grizzlies for O.J. Mayo and a draft pick. Paul Pierce, the highest-scoring Boston Celtic of all time, almost got sent to the New Jersey Nets for Mehmet Okur's expiring contract and a lottery pick in what would have been a morally questionable "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately" move by GM Danny Ainge.
Everyone knows about the Rajon Rondo fiasco, during which Ainge wanted to trade Rondo, then he didn't, then he did, then he didn't...you get the point.
Let's get back to the present. It doesn't look so bright for the Celtics, as they shot just 33 percent from the field in their 82-75 loss to the up-and-coming Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center last night.
Offense hasn't been their calling card this season, finishing 26th in the league, registering a paltry 91.8 points per contest, but they're not going to beat anyone when they score 75 points. No matter how good their defense is.
They looked old Thursday night.
Pierce went 5-for-11 from the field but scored 24 points thanks to a perfect 13-for-13 from the line. Kevin Garnett took 20 shots to get to 20 points. Ray Allen went off for nine points on 4-for-11, and missed four of his five three point attempts.
Pierce is shooting 41 percent from the field this postseason, very disappointing for a player of his pedigree. Garnett found himself again in the second half of the regular season and has been effective in the playoffs, but don't forget that he looked as old as he is in the first half of the season (14.4 points per game).
It's all but a foregone conclusion that Allen is on the outs and rightfully so. It's a tough pill to swallow Celtics fans, I know, but all good things come to an end sometime, and this is the end of the Big Three.
The Celtics are going to get caught off-guard by this energized Sixers team with more depth and more hunger. They're a lot more athletic than Doc Rivers' boys and it would just be too good to be true for the Celtics to give Pierce, Garnett and Allen a shot at another NBA championship.
There is a certain point in every sport when the torch must be passed from a perennial contender to the up-and-comers. Now I'm not saying that the 76ers will become the next Boston Celtics, I'm saying that the Celtics will no longer be the torch-bearers once the final buzzer sounds at the end of Game 7.
Not every one of the Big Three will depart Boston this offseason, but at least one-third of the trio will be sent elsewhere. It wouldn't be a shocker to see two-thirds sent packing. I'm not prepared to say that the roster will be gutted and "The Truth," "The Big Ticket," and "Jesus Shuttlesworth" will be an afterthought, because that won't happen, but changes are brewing in Beantown and it won't be long before they start to take effect.
When Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, Andre Iguodala and company march into the TD Garden this weekend and inexplicably pull out a victory, Ainge will realize that the time has come to shut the lights out on this party.
On the second thought, maybe he already has.
