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| FEATURES |
Cracking The Pipe Dream
By Jeremy Gottlieb
Date: 03-08-2005 |
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| Antoine credits learning to use the Force in Atlanta with his revival in Boston. |
The veritable lovefest continues on Fleet Street, as the return to Celtic-ville of your lovable old pal Antoine Walker approaches the two-week mark. Since the wacky trading deadline activities, we’ve learned that the fans of Boston have always adored Walker (all that booing during his first stint was done out of love), that Danny Ainge didn’t quite know everything when he told WEEI “if you knew what I know, you would have traded him too” the day after shipping Walker to Dallas before last season, and, oh yeah, that the Celtics are now legit NBA championship contenders.
One thing is for sure: The Celtics are exciting and relevant again for the first time in a few years. There is more talent on these Celts than any squad since the days of Reggie Lewis patrolling the parquet. If coach Doc Rivers can find the right way to balance the minutes of the veterans and the youngsters, and if everyone plays a little defense (gulp), this team might even do a little damage in the postseason.
But let’s not delude ourselves here.
Anyone who thinks this team will even get a whiff of the conference finals, let alone potentially win the whole thing, had better load up that pipe again.
What we have here is a nice, athletic team that can get up and down the floor and probably provoke more than its fair share of oohs and aahhs on a nightly basis. But a team that can beat Miami or (defending champion) Detroit in a 7-game series? Get real.
This is not an indictment of anyone – not Antoine, not Ainge, not the rest of the roster, not even getting-worse-by-the-day-but-at-least-he-has-$41 million Mark Blount. It’s merely a fact.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled that Antoine is back and not only playing well but giving malcontent Paul Pierce something to smile about. I give Ainge all the credit in the world for engineering the wink-wink, nudge-nudge return of Gary Payton to Boston after he was included in the Antoine deal. (By the way, did anyone else feel as though Ainge should go into permanent hiding from Payton for sending him to the wasteland known as Atlanta before the news broke of the point guard’s impending return?) Ricky Davis continues to shine and still, almost miraculously, hasn’t suffered that Portland Trail Blazers-style meltdown we’ve all been waiting for since he arrived last season. And the kids, particularly Delonte West, are growing up before our eyes. Even Raef LaFrentz is more fun to watch now that we don’t have to actually rely on him for anything except counting his $63 million.
But if the season ended tomorrow, the Celtics would get either Orlando or Cleveland (neither one a lock) in the first-round, followed by the champion Pistons in the conference semis if they got that far. Does any sane person who’s ever watched a basketball game really think Boston would survive such a scenario?
It’s pretty simple to see what’s going on here. The Celtics made a huge trade, getting a quality, popular player instead of spare parts. Said popular player, though still possessing some of his old, bad habits, has selflessly taken to a new role since his arrival, which thus far has only made his teammates better.
The future and Ainge’s “vision,” both more or less curse words in the local lexicon, have been put on the back-burner for the time being in an effort to go for it this year. You can’t fault the suits on Causeway Street for trying to be aggressive.
All that, combined with the Celtics’ return to the front of the sports page, has led Boston fans to walk around practically crack faced, thinking there will be another parade (likely without a City Hall rally, of course) downtown in a few months.
Not a chance.
Boston sports fans have become victims of their teams’ success. The Patriots and Red Sox have spoiled us as a fandom to the point where the idea of just making the playoffs and winning a series, maybe a couple, has become a nebulous, fairly abstract concept in our collective mind. Pragmatism has taken a back seat to blind faith.
I’m not knocking the accomplishments of our local football and baseball entries. I’m just pointing out how vastly the culture in these parts has changed in the last four or so years. When caught up in a maelstrom of glory the way we’ve been recently, it’s hard sometimes to see the difference between what’s real and what’s a pipe dream.
The Sox and Pats are real.
The Celtics, on the other hand, are a pipe dream.
But don’t get too discouraged. Enjoy your Celts for the next couple of months. The way they look now compared to the last couple of years, they deserve to be enjoyed. And cross your fingers that after the season ends, Ainge doesn’t forget how important having a guy like Antoine is to the nucleus of the team and re-signs him at relatively modest dollars. Oh, and don’t be too disappointed when they go out in five games to Detroit in the second round. |
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