"It" seems to keep happening, actually, and frustrating as "it" may be, it's disappointing that "it" may not happen again for a long, long time.
"It" is buying in to the Celtics. "It" was easy in 2008, and we know how that turned out. Doubt crept in the next year with Kevin Garnett's injury, but Rajon Rondo's triple-doubles against Chicago and a Glen Davis buzzer-beater against Orlando had us all believing. Last year, morale was low, until a Mother's Day win over LeBron James' Cavaliers changed expectations quickly.
Every year, one way or another, "it" happens, and for two years after the Celtics captured Banner 17, "it" brought nothing but disappointment. Now, you can make it three.
This year, though, "it" may have been most surprising. After the Kendrick Perkins trade, the Celtics weren't very fun to watch. There was a general sense of indifference coming from the team, as Doc Rivers tried mixing and matching his pieces. No matter what he did, though, there just wasn't the chemistry that we've grown used to seeing out of this bunch the last few years.
It wasn't fun to watch a team with a .732 winning percentage go just 15-11 down the stretch (.577). It wasn't fun to watch them get blown out by a Denver team that hadn't even practiced together, or the stretch where they lost to the Clippers, 76ers, Nets, Rockets, Grizzlies and Bobcats in a span of 10 games. It wasn't fun to watch the Celtics take their final two real tests of the regular season — contests against the Bulls and Heat — and fail them miserably, losing by an average of 20 points in those two games.
But then, as they always seem to do, they won us back.
I don't know when it happened for you, but for me it was Game 3 in New York. For the first time in a long time, the Celtics were fun to watch. Rondo was dishing out assists at a record pace, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were combining to shoot 74 percent from 3-point land, scoring 70 points in the process. The Celtics were clamping down and showing the championship drive that they clearly still had. The Knicks weren't a championship team, but the Celtics didn't allow them to even so much as sniff a chance to win that night. Two days later, it was over, and the old Celtics had a week to rest their legs and get healthy.
It shouldn't be surprising that this team is and has been so captivating. Pierce is this generation's Larry Bird, a Celtic for life who's been through it all with Boston. He is tough as nails (anyone who disputes that, by the way, has no idea what he's talking about), and he's become a part of the family for Bostonians.
Then there's Ray Allen. The consummate professional is, quite simply, the man. He's competitive as all hell, and he's one of the most respected men in the game. He's the anti-NBA star of the '90s and 2000s, as he's not a me-first, look-at-me kind of guy. The city of Boston is grateful to have had the opportunity to see firsthand how one of the greatest shooters of all time perfects his craft.
And then, KG. Forget the athlete; this guy is simply a captivating person. He's one of the most emotional people on the planet, and his displays are far from phony. He came back this year amid endless health questions, but he looked like the KG of years past for much of the season. His days of being a dominating force on both ends of the floor may now be over, but his competitive nature was contagious, and it was easy to get caught up in it.
There's also the one-armed Rondo. They say that had it been the regular season, he would've missed six to eight weeks. Instead, he missed six to eight minutes in Game 3. That's guts, pure and simple. That's all-time guts. If you can't respect that, then you can't respect anything. Everyone always wants to compare Rondo to other players, which is an utterly foolish endeavor. Is he better than Chris Paul? Deron Williams? Derrick Rose, Steve Nash, Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker?
I've got a better question for you: Who cares?
When you tune into a Celtics game, you're going to see Rondo do something that no other human has ever done. He's as electrifying player as there is, and it's just a shame that we had to see him lying on his back on the hardwood in the fourth quarter rather than seeing him work his magic against Miami.
Really, it wasn't surprising that we all enjoyed watching these guys play together again. What was surprising, at least for me, was that I didn't think they had much of a chance. I didn't think the Shaquille O'Neal signing was significant in the least. I thought the Jermaine O'Neal signing was downright bad. I hated the Perkins trade. Yet, I started to believe.
Maybe it was that collection of likable players whom I had seen pull it off before, but I bought in to the idea that if things went right, they could beat anyone. If they had pulled off that Game 4 win, forced Miami into a pressure situation in Game 5 and stolen a series lead, maybe they'd get by. Maybe the Hawks could pull it off against the Bulls, and maybe the Grizzlies could somehow get through the West. The Celtics could beat the Hawks and Grizzlies, right?
Well, it didn't matter. A 4-1 series loss states loud and clear that the power in the East now rests in Miami. Boston's crown is no more, and Miami might not let go of this power for five more years.
Now, we don't know if these guys will be back. We don't know if Danny Ainge will work another trade to shift the team into rebuilding mode or gear up for one last run. We don't know for sure if Doc Rivers will be back, or Glen Davis, Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic or Delonte West.
We don't know anything, really, but most of all, we don't know when — or if — "it" will happen again.
