Boston Celtics: Winning Beyond Danny Ainge's 'Three-Year Window'
The Red Sox had given me Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. The Patriots had given me 18... and 1. This May, the Bruins added themselves to the short list of teams to blow 3-0 leads in a best-of-seven series.
The Celtics?
As a Gen-Y Celtic fan, I had not known true hardwood heartbreak until last June, when the C's found a way to blow a 13-point third quarter lead to the Lakers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. All while Kobe Bryant shot 6-for-24.
For my entire life the Celtics had been miserable. When they made the occasional playoff appearance in the early 2000's, I rooted while waiting for the other shoe to drop, and, also, with an awareness that the Eastern Conference was a total joke at that point in time.
With the arrival of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the summer of 2007, the terrible Celtics of my youth became, virtually overnight, championship contenders. That dream was realized in June 2008, when Banner 17 was, so fittingly, won at the expense of the Lakers.
When Danny Ainge assembled Boston's new Big Three prior to the 2007-2008 season, he stressed that Garnett, Allen and Pierce held a three-year window. This trio of veterans would have those three years to fight for what had eluded each of them over their respective NBA lifetimes: A championship. By the summer of 2010, it was expected that the miles on their aging bodies would have added up, the contract demands between player and organization would not align and that the franchise would be forced to look towards youth to stay competitive.
The urgency of this closing window felt so real last June. The Celtics, by all accounts, should not have even been in the Finals. They should have lost to Orlando. And they definitely should have lost to Cleveland. Basketball fans thought that 2010 might just be LeBron James' championship moment. It was certainly not meant to be a desperate run at Banner 18 for the aging, banged-up Boston Celtics.
Team Green woke us all from our collective championship dream that glum night in June. Age and injury had their victories, and the writing was, seemingly, on the wall. The window had closed. Ray Allen was a free agent and Kevin Garnett had lost a step, if not two or three. Doc Rivers appeared ready to pack his bags and quietly exit Boston, leaving the ugly rebuilding process to another coach.
It seemed all but certain that Danny Ainge would let Allen walk and rebuild the team around budding star Rajon Rondo. Pierce would still figure prominently in the Celtics plans, however it appeared that KG's best days were behind him, and that he might even lose his starting job in an effort to limit his minutes. And then there was the still the matter of who would coach this rag-tag squad.
Danny Ainge's three-year window seemed virtually slammed and bolted shut, never mind closed. Rivers' post-game quote from Game 7, “It’s not going to be the same team next year,’’ seemed like a massive understatement, to say the least.
On the last day of June, however, Doc pledged to return to Boston for the 2010-2011 season, honoring the final year of his contract. The first domino had fallen. Then the calendar turned to July.
Pierce agreed to a four-year extension. Ray Allen signed a new two-year deal with an option for a third. LeBron James took his talents to South Beach, and Chris Bosh decided to come along for the ride. The Miami Heat were dubbed the new team to beat, and, at the very least, a fire to beat these sorry prima donnas was lit under the asses of KG, Ray-Ray and The Truth. The question was what kind of fight was left in these aging stars.
Nate Robinson was retained and Shaquille O'Neal was added. The latter at the insistence of principal owner Wyc Grousbeck, who desired O'Neal as soon as Kobe declared that he now had "one more than Shaq" upon clinching his one for the thumb on the aforementioned dark night in June. Both have proved integral to Boston's early season success, as O'Neal has filled the void left by the injured Kendrick Perkins better than maybe even he himself thought. Robinson is filling in as the team's starting point guard with Rondo out for the next few weeks with an ankle sprain. Before Rondo went down with injury, he was making a strong case to run the point for the East at February's All-Star Game in, of all places, Los Angeles.
As for the Big Three? Year Four in the three-year window has worked out great thus far, but perhaps for no one more so than Garnett, whose 15.5/10.0 averages have marked a return to form, signaling that he has fully recovered from his knee surgery two years ago. Allen hasn't missed a beat. Pierce has kept himself healthy and is more apt to pull up for a jumper than take the contact (and the beatings) of driving to the hoop. This should pay dividends come May and, hopefully, June.
Doc Rivers is no Pat Riley or Jerry Sloan, but he knows how to win with this group of guys, most of whom he has now coached for four years. His quote that I shared earlier, “It’s not going to be the same team next year,’’ has become blissfully and ironically true.
Beyond what I have already mentioned, the bench has grown deeper with Nate Robinson, Marquis Daniels and newcomer, Semih Erden, finding solid minutes in Doc's rotation and even the occasional start as Doc leans towards caution with injuries to his starters. Glen Davis continues to develop his offensive game, and his 12.2/5.7 averages are well above his career averages of 6.7/3.8. It's no accident that he's averaging over 12 minutes more per game this season than he did last season.
As has always been the case in seasons past with this group of Boston Celtics, the two, paired, nagging questions are the following: (1) Can they keep it up? and (2) Can they stay healthy?
While health is always a question for a team of Boston's age and NBA minutes logged, it is hard to question their drive or find fault with their cohesion. The long-term future continues to be clouded for the franchise, but right now, at this moment, one is pressed to find a better NBA team.
The Celtics long to exact their demons from last spring. Playing hard in the regular season and grabbing the No. 1 seed is the best way to insure that the championship returns to Boston. And while the Celtics may never admit it as much themselves, the Miami Heat (now just a mere three games back of Boston) are the main reason this team is so focused and so intense in December.
When injuries have happened, role players have admirably filled in. When losses have been suffered, the team has bounced back. When opponents toss the Celtics a challenge, like most recently against the revitalized New York Knicks at a rocking Madison Square Garden, the guys in green have had the final, and winning, say about things. So far, so great.
Excuse me while I now go find some wood to knock on.
