Celtics Prove Once Again That It Takes a Team to Beat the Heat

Stop me if you've heard this one before:

A team comprised of old players who play like an actual basketball team, along with a coach who can out-coach the opposition rather easily, is beating the Miami Heat.

That sounds like last year's NBA Finals, doesn't it?

In an NBA postseason where it seemed certain that Miami would make it back to the finals, run through the entire Eastern Conference and avenge last year's loss to Dallas, we were all ready to hand LeBron James and Dwyane Wade a championship on a silver platter.

But who would've thought, for the second year in a row, that the Heat would run into a squad that actually plays like a team?

What the Boston Celtics are doing in this year's Eastern Conference Finals seems surreal, to the point where you'd think Steven Spielberg put this script together himself.

In what seems like the last chance for the original Big Three to get back to the finals and capture another championship, every player on that roster has been a big part in this run from Rajon Rondo to Marquis Daniels.

The opinions we have of how atrocious this series has been officiated can be made in its own accord, but let's face the facts that we know are true:

The Celtics are outplaying, out-coaching, and are just plain better than the Heat right now.

Someone get Doc Rivers a medal.

If Boston were to have a chance in this series, anything and everything had to go right for the Celtics to steal a game or two from the heavily-favored Heat. Well, we're five games in, and the Celtics have a 3-2 lead over Miami with the chance to close out the series on Thursday.

And if you didn't know any better, you'd think each of the Big Three are playing like it's 2002.

Kevin Garnett has turned the clock back about 10 years and has played like the KG of old when he was dominating on both ends of the floor in Minnesota. Every time the Celtics needed a big play, Garnett provided the spark and passion that we are accustomed to seeing.

Hence why his stat line of 26 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks—the biggest one coming to the dismay of a layup attempt by LeBron—were the biggest reasons why Boston fought hard for the majority of the game despite trailing for most of it.

It also doesn't hurt when Rondo is having an off night offensively—isn't it weird that we can say that about him now?—and every player on that roster fights to keep their team in the game.

Mickael Pietrus even had an outstanding game offensively by scoring 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting, including two big-time three-pointers that sucked the life out of the Miami crowd with each swish through the net.

And if there were ever a better time for Ray Allen to be almost completely healthy, Game 5 was that sigh of relief from Celtics fans across the world. The stats may not show it from the field—2-for-9 and 1-for-4 from behind the three-point line—but he went 8-for-8 from the free throw line, which has shockingly been Jesus Shuttlesworth's Achilles heel in this series.

But the Celtics only go as far as Paul Pierce takes them, and The Truth delivered a cold-blooded truth to the Heat with that three-point dagger in LeBron's face with under a minute to go.

The truth is that people should start to wonder if the Heat can really beat the Celtics.

One may say it's karma from last year when Rondo went down with that gruesome arm injury that limited his playmaking abilities, which is why Bosh's absence has been so heavily noted.

Either way you look at it, a bunch of old guys, so to speak, are beating one of the most talented teams in basketball.

For years, the knock on Boston was that they were getting too old and it was only a matter of time before the Celtics officially became Rondo's team. But you wouldn't think that this team is old with the way they're playing against a team that's more athletic, more talented and, on paper, just plain better than them.

This Boston team seems much more efficient and dangerous than the one that won the championship four years ago and were in the finals just two years ago. The talent may not be there, but the threat is just as great.

But before we crown Boston as the soon-to-be Eastern Conference champions for the third time in the Pierce, Allen and Garnett era, there's still one more game to  be played and no one would be faulted in saying that this series ends on Thursday.

However, if Erik Spoelstra is smart for once in his life and plays Chris Bosh for longer than 13 minutes, then Miami will finally be able to somewhat match up with the size of the Boston front court. But the situation involving the Celtics is pretty much the same as with the Oklahoma City Thunder:

Can Boston be stopped for these next two games? It almost seems unlikely, and it doesn't look like it'll happen from what has been seen on the court in the last three games.

And how awesome would it be to see Oklahoma City and Boston, of all teams, fighting for an NBA championship?

I'll let you ponder that for awhile.