The NBA Playoffs

[Hirschof]

If, sometime in the next ten years or so after he gets fired, Doc Rivers comes along and says he wants to coach your kid's eight-and-under team, don't let him. If the C's win it all this year, they'll do it in spite of their coach, not because of their coach.

Doc strikes again! Honestly, is this idiot on Cleveland's payroll?!

Hey, the lineup stayed stable tonight! Doc didn't try anything completely stupid!

I believe I speak for all of Boston when I quote the scout from Team Fortress 2:

DOC! C'MON MAN!!!

Makes me wonder how many other teams have had a great season destroyed by a subpar coach.

Hopefully the parquet floor, the crowd and the spirit of Red Auerbach keeps Doc Rivers from screwing this up. Also, apparently Doc's team strategy is known among the coaches as "Ubuntu." I'd make a tech joke about that, but I don't feel qualified to do so. I do, however, welcome all jokes that may apply.

And apparently a team can also win despite having the worst coach in the National Basketball Association (Doc Rivers) at the helm. Who'da thought?

I'm hoping Doc doesn't screw this up.

I know I'm missing a few...

[The Cid]

I stand by every one of those statements AND the one I made last night. I even stand by THIS one made before Game 1:

7: The biggest mismatch is at the coaching position.
I simply won't trust Doc Rivers until the Celtics win the title. I keep thinking he will find a way to botch this whole thing. Phil Jackson will certainly be prepared, as the guy is one of basketball's great winners. Every Celtic fan knows this and it scares us quite a bit.

Rivers was terrible in the first two series as the Celtics' coach. He couldn't settle on a rotation of players, he kept putting in players that were doing nothing while players who were useful sat on the bench, and he couldn't calm his players down when they got heated and started causing unnecessary fouls.

For example: the best man on the Celtics defensively against LeBron James was James Posey, but he saw extremely limited action in the Cleveland series. During both the Atlanta and Cleveland series, Kevin Garnett wound up playing some kind of roaming zone defense that took him away from the basket, thus taking away one of the best rebounders the Celtics have. Sam Cassell, who has nothing in the tank whatsoever, was put into games quite a bit while Eddie House was not--and you'll notice that good things happen when House is on the floor.

Yet in this series Rivers has been superb. The defense he, his assistants and the team itself have concocted has kept Kobe Bryant from getting inside, thus forcing his hand. The Celtics seem to have a set rotation now, and they look extremely prepared for the Lakers. Not to mention, the halftime adjustments have been sensational. You need only look at the Celtics' dominance in the third quarter to see that.

Meanwhile, Phil Jackson looks confused and surprised. He didn't seem to expect Ray Allen to step up, and the Lakers are constantly leaving people outside of that "Big Three" unguarded (which is why Powe had such a great game 2, and why Posey had such a great game 4) as if they're daring those guys to take the shots. Jackson can't figure out who Kobe should defend unless Rondo is on the floor, which is helping put Bryant out of position on offense. After the third quarter a sideline reporter interviewed Jackson, and he looked completely baffled.

[Hirschof]

I stand by every one of those statements AND the one I made last night.

You don't need to explain yourself, Cid. I was just giving you a hard time. For a bit you just reminded of Randy Quaid's character in Major League II.

[The Cid]

No, I'm just a Bostonian. We're all like that. All the time. The only coaches that aren't constantly scrutinized are Bill Belichick and the hockey coaches at BC, BU and Northeastern. Everybody else is under a microscope. Terry Francona, the Red Sox manager, can't buy a break. Nobody associated with the Bruins can, either.

[ampersand]

"It was like a big wet spot on the bed, you know one of those that you can't clean up with a towel."

Kobe Bryant after Game 4. He also had another quote about how he (and the team) was going to go out afterward and drink a whole barrage of alcoholic beverages including "20 shots." Kobe, line one: Dr. Drew.

(Some ESPN "blogger" made an interesting point: has any road team ever made up a 20+ point deficit? Ever? That sound you're hearing by the way is the sound of the Kobe Bryant pedestal being smashed, especially as it comes to being compared to Jordan. Kobe's chances of ever winning a fourth ring may have fallen to the wayside too.)

[ampersand]

Questions I have going into Game 5:

1. Will the Laker faithful be shouting "MVP" as much? (Will they even arrive on time for once?)
2. Will Doc Rivers keep using the same stradegy he had in Game 4, or will he just confuse everyone once again?
3. What will the mindset be of the Boston players? I know they'll want to close it out now, but will it be an all-out assault, or more methodical, or something else entirely?
4. What about Ray Allen (I think the current Final MVP front runner)? He played all of Game 4 and while granted the time-out breaks are way too long, he still played the whole game. How good will he play?
5. Does this series prove definitively that Kobe does need someone like a Shaq in order to have success and the current roster combination of the Lakers is not going to work? (And does Kobe raise up the speculation again that he might want to go somewhere else?)
6. Does this say something similar about Phil Jackson?

[Deacon]

VII. Does anyone truly care about the outcome of this series?

VIII. Does anyone believe the league did not contrive to pit these two teams together and instead allowed things to play out completely impartially and fairly?

IX. Can people stop talking about Kobe breathlessly, saying silly shit like he's the best player "on the planet" and maybe ever, in the history of basketball, and suggesting he is comparable--much less surpasses--Jordan?

[adciv]

IX.b. Or Shaq?

[Ciaroidbh]

I have serious trouble taking a sport seriously where fully half the season is playoffs in which half the teams participate.

It's not a season or a sport...it's a circle jerk where everyone gets to talk about how great everyone else is for making it to the playoffs. BIG DEAL!

[ampersand]

Was it just me, or did Sam Cassell knee Lamar Odom in the groin somewhere around the latter half of the 4th quarter? Did anyone else see that?

[The Cid]

VII. Does anyone truly care about the outcome of this series?

Nah. Why would anybody want to watch teams from two of the NBA's largest and most lucrative markets, who are also historic rivals that also feature two of the NBA's most popular and interesting players?

VIII. Does anyone believe the league did not contrive to pit these two teams together and instead allowed things to play out completely impartially and fairly?

Absolutely. Me, for example.

The words of a desperate felon and one terrible, terrible call in the Western Conference Finals are not enough evidence to convince me that the Finals are the result of an NBA conspiracy. The glaring absence of teams from the NBA's first and third largest markets in important playoff situations (that'd be New York and Chicago, by the way) also suggests that the NBA didn't rig things. Oh, and I haven't heard a single ex-player or ex-referee besides one awaiting sentencing for his felonies suggest this. Have you? Because it seems to me that the NBA would probably have upset more than just one guy over all these years.

IX. Can people stop talking about Kobe breathlessly, saying silly shit like he's the best player "on the planet" and maybe ever, in the history of basketball, and suggesting he is comparable--much less surpasses--Jordan?

Mother of fucking pearl, we agree on something!! (In fact, I said something to this effect right before the Finals began and several times during. Jordan would NEVER have let a road team come back from 24 points down to win, period. He's not the best ever--not even close. He's not the best today--I'd rather have LeBron James if I were building a team for the future, I'd rather have Tim Duncan or Shaq's careers over Kobe's, and if I had an MVP vote it'd have gone to Chris Paul this year. Hell, I'll even throw this one in: if Allen Iverson had the same teams Kobe's had, he'd have had a better career than Bryant as well.

IX.b. Or Shaq?

Shaq isn't the best ever, either. Not even close, but he does crack the top five centers of all-time. I've said it before: O'Neal was only great at one thing: being large. But there has never been anyone better AT being large than Shaq, and I do feel he deserves credit for using his freakish size so well.

I have serious trouble taking a sport seriously where fully half the season is playoffs in which half the teams participate.

Well put. You can make the playoffs with a sub-.500 record. The same is true of the NHL. I feel I have to ask though: you sure you don't just feel this way because the Knicks and Nets are so bad right now?

Was it just me, or did Sam Cassell knee Lamar Odom in the groin somewhere around the latter half of the 4th quarter? Did anyone else see that?

It wouldn't surprise me. Every second that Sam Cassell spends on the court makes it that much harder for the Celtics to win basketball games.

[Ciaroidbh]

I have serious trouble taking a sport seriously where fully half the season is playoffs in which half the teams participate.

Well put. You can make the playoffs with a sub-.500 record. The same is true of the NHL. I feel I have to ask though: you sure you don't just feel this way because the Knicks and Nets are so bad right now?

Honestly, I have never liked professional basketball. Ever. I just can't connect with it as a sport.

The words of a desperate felon and one terrible, terrible call in the Western Conference Finals are not enough evidence to convince me that the Finals are the result of an NBA conspiracy. The glaring absence of teams from the NBA's first and third largest markets in important playoff situations (that'd be New York and Chicago, by the way) also suggests that the NBA didn't rig things. Oh, and I haven't heard a single ex-player or ex-referee besides one awaiting sentencing for his felonies suggest this. Have you? Because it seems to me that the NBA would probably have upset more than just one guy over all these years.

Going back to my circle-jerk theory, my opinion is that the entire NBA and professional basketball in general is nothing more than a marketing front. Why else would your playoffs span half your season and involve half your teams? Ratings, of course. No one cares about regular season basketball, and people are far more likely to watch "playoffs" of any sport than regular season games. It's always been a conspiracy. Advertising=dollars, dollars, dollars!

[The Cid]

And now, it's time to bring this thread full circle.

The Celtics have won 26.6% of all NBA titles: 16 in all.

EDIT: 17 in all, 27.87% of the 61 NBA Championships. The most consistent championship-winning sports franchise in America. They have now beaten the Lakers nine times in the Finals. Paraphrasing Bill Simmons: if that's a rivalry, so is Hammer v. Nail.

Add in their opponents' 14 titles, and it's worth noting that the two franchises that met for this NBA championship have combined to win 31--over half--of the 61 NBA titles.

The Celtics have also won more championships than the other major three sports franchises in their hometown combined! The Red Sox (7 titles), Bruins (5) and Patriots (3) combine for 15.

Since 2001, eastern Massachusetts has been the home of six world champion teams across three different sports.

The parade is on Thursday. I'd like to think that somewhere far overhead, the late Red Auerbach will be watching, cigar in hand.

[Deacon]

It's so funny watching the evolution of your perspective on the NBA post-season this year.

[The Cid]

Hey, at least I finally got you laughing.

But what do you want from me, really? I mean, YOU try following the roller-coaster team that the Celtics were in these playoffs. They went from mediocre in round 1 to questionable in round 2, then they were pretty good against Detroit and finally excellent against the Lakers. You try following a team that was so abysmal last year people actually wanted them to change the name so as not to sully the franchise's reputation, and then comes out with an entirely new group of players the next season and wins the NBA championship.

You try explaining a team that lost nine road games in the playoffs. That ties a record. Try keeping a consistent perspective when the team doesn't play consistent basketball. Try keeping the faith that Paul Pierce will play like he never played before (he did), that Ray Allen would break out of a terrible slump (he did), and that Kevin Garnett will come up big in the playoffs for the first time in his career (he did).

That was the weirdest postseason I've witnessed in any sport--that includes the 2004 MLB playoffs, which to a Bostonian was much like watching a bowling ball fall upward into the sky from a resting position. The constant changes in my reactions from game to game, I think, merely illustrates how weird these playoffs were from the perspective of a Celtic fan.