Celtics-Cavs: Pre-Game 7 Thoughts

The inevitable comes to pass tomorrow afternoon at 3:30, when the Celtics will play their fourteenth postseason game in the first month of the playoffs, still just trying to make it to the conference finals. And while it's true that the two best words in sports are usually "Game 7", and the drama will be high, it lacks the assumed level of anticipation because the basketball in this series has been both predicitable and, well, bad. It's a shame that the New Orleans-San Antonio Game 7 (by the way - how does it make sense to play Game 6 on Thursday and Game 7 on Monday in that series?! David West's back appreciates it, no doubt) isn't going to get as much hype as tomorrow's, because while that series has been just as predictable home and away, the quality of play has been much higher, and because it's the Spurs and their dynasty on the road, you feel like the odds are about as even as they can be (I actually think San Antonio is going to win, though I don't want them to selfishly so I and everyone else can see Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant play for the real MVP trophy). Boston-Cleveland gets hype because it's Boston and LeBron, but unless something dramatic changes, this game isn't going to be as entertaining as everyone at ESPN/ABC wants to make it out to be. This morning on SportsCenter, I saw clips of these classic Game 7 performances from Bird and Jordan. First of all, LeBron isn't Jordan. And secondly, what have you seen in this series, between Boston's lack of killer instinct and LeBron shooting 41 of 126 - that's 32.5% - that makes you think that all of a sudden LeBron's going for 50 while Pierce and Allen both wake up and Kevin Garnett decides to grow a pair in a game that ends with both teams scoring in the 90s?

And while we're here...look, I love Garnett. I love almost everything about him. But it absolutely boggles me as to how he can be so intense, so focused, so obsessed with winning at times...and yet in the clutch, he can be indecisive at best.

There was a point last night in the final minutes of the game - and granted, he had swished an 18 footer a few moments before hand - where the Celtics penetrated and then the ball got kicked back around to Garnett, who got the ball at the top of the circle. Standing in his way was Delonte West - the point guard, who's 6'4" 180lbs and a step out of position - and then Joe Smith was trapped all the way under the basket, locked up with Kendrick Perkins. It was the kind of hole a running back dreams about. It was the kind of hole where LeBron, Kobe, and the majority of the guys in your rec league see it open up and then explode to the hole. It's the kind of opening where, if I could dunk, my eyes would light up. And when it happened, I stood up out of my chair and said "oh DUNK THAT!"...

...and instead, we got a hesitation dribble or two and then an awkward five footer that rimmed out.

A few minutes later, he got the ball in the paint again, and again hesitated, and this time got called for traveling. And maybe he did and maybe he didn't, and maybe Paul Pierce should've never been called for that charge on LeBron James (though an astute observation by Dan Shulman, that 50/50 block/charge calls all depend on the referee's viewpoint from where he's standing, and from where the ref was it looked like a charge because Pierce was apparently block the view of both of LeBron's feet moving). And maybe the Garden crowd will continue to inspire and carry the Celtics to victory.

But the larger point is, and this has been true since Game 3 in Atlanta - the Celtics have no killer instinct. They can't go for the throat because Garnett won't, Ray Allen is ice cold and Paul Pierce, for reasons unknown, hasn't seen the ball or a meaningful shot in a crucial situation in the final minute of a game in the playoffs this season.

What's so maddening about this whole thing is, not only is it out of nowhere after a 66-16 regular season, but you expect the Celtics to be able to finish teams off or at least make big plays down the stretch because you've seen it before. The knock on Garnett is that it's not there, and so maybe I'll have to keep throwing my hat when I see him turn down a chance to dunk on the other team's point guard. But there's got to be somebody on this team with the intestinal fortitude to want the ball with the game on the line and then make it happen.

Don't think it's possible? Ray Allen used to be that guy before he turned into a cold spot up shooter who can't play defense (it's tough love today, kids). I realize this was seven years ago, but you talk about wanting the ball and making it happen? Witness Allen dunking on Tracy McGrady to tie the game with three seconds left in the 2001 Playoffs:






(I was watching this live, and when he did that I remember saying "That's the greatest dunk in NBA history." It's not, I know, but it was one of those thunderous moments that the Celtics are so in need of today.)

You know what this Celtics team really needs? Antoine Walker.

Not the 2008 model, but the 02-03 version. Yeah, he took some bad shots. But he wasn't afraid. He would look for the ball and make it happen in crunch time. And in the huddle, he took command. It was him calling out the whole team in Game 3 of the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals when they were down 27 to the Nets that sparked that whole comeback.

And he rubbed off on Paul Pierce, who's the only strain of continuity Celtic fans have (something all sports fans really need). He made Pierce mean. Not the sort of mean that throws up a gang sign when rookie Al Horford of the 8 seed Hawks runs his mouth off at you at the end of Game 3. The sort of mean that would've gone for 40 points in Game 4. Witness the 1:59 mark of this clip from the 2003 Playoffs, at the end of the third quarter against Al Harrington (or watch the whole thing if you're a Celtics fan feeling nostalgic about when Boston played with an edge):





I know Allen and Pierce aren't as young as they used to be, and Ray Allen really doesn't dunk at all anymore...but Pierce showed throughout the regular season (and last year too, when the C's were awful and he still showed up) that he can still be the man. But in the absence of 'Toine and in the presence of KG, Pierce looks like the guy who got transferred to another department and he's not the top gun anymore. Right now, what Boston needs is for Pierce to take control.


Actually, what'd really be nice is for Ray Allen to warm up, because that honestly would solve a lot of problems. But in the middle of all of this is Doc Rivers, who should've been fired after last year. He can blame the refs for Game 6, he can blame whomever for whatever, but if things go south tomorrow, there will be lots of questions and few answers.

People will make all of these points again and say "they need a go-to guy." Sorry, the roster isn't going to get any better than this. And when you're 66-16, you don't need a better roster. A coach in the NBA is almost an oxymoron at times, but one thing he should be able to do is figure out the above problems - when there's nobody who's willing to step up and make it happen down the stretch, he needs to address that problem, designate and design to make it happen from the top down. Instead, he blames the refs and says little to nothing negative about Pierce, Garnett or Allen. If the Celtics lose tomorrow, Doc Rivers should be fired on a cumulative effort basis. They'll say you can't fire the coach of the team with the NBA's best record. I'll say you can't extend the contract of a man who loses 18 straight games, but since we've already proved ourselves wrong once, we might as well go ahead and make it twice.

Maybe Rajon Rondo will continue to play Jeckell at home. Maybe Allen heats up. Maybe the Celtics continue to smother LeBron and prevent one of these defining moments from happening at their expense in their building. Maybe the Garden crowd is enough - and although I'm all for entertaining, based on the evidence at hand I don't see LBJ going for 40 and I also don't see the Celtics all of a sudden figuring it out and then playing like it. I see Boston grinding and the home crowd carrying them to an ugly win of less than 10 points with a score somewhere in the low 80s. That's the way it's been done so far in Boston in this series, no reason think that formula goes out the window just because there's a 7 after the "Game" this time around.

But you know what the biggest crime here is? This is the first time Boston's been this deep into the playoffs in five years, and if they win tomorrow it'll be their first time in the Conference Finals in six years, and only the second time since 1987. For people like me, it's only the second time as an adult Celtic fan that we're getting to see this, and the first time Boston's ever been this good in our adult lives. And no one - not us, and not the players - no one is having any fun.

Even if Boston wins tomorrow, the pressure is getting heavier and heavier. Detroit is an even matchup even without any pressure. But instead of going into this series and enjoying ourselves, this season, and an old-school Boston-Detroit showdown - just four wins away from a potential Celtics-Lakers Finals - everything is a struggle.

It's a familiar animal - Tennessee just played this game last fall, looking incredibly human and at times simply terrible while courting a championship that they would eventually win. The difference is, the Vols weren't supposed to be the best team in the SEC, and they also weren't an overnight "success" story like the Celtics this season. And as Bill Simmons and others have pointed out in the last month, we see the new Big Three talking about championships and greatness and we see KG in that Gatorade commercial and we start taking things for granted...and these guys are talking about winning, and none of them have ever really done it before, including Doc Rivers. This is supposed to be the time where they earn the right to talk about it, and instead we all took it for granted along the way, and now not only are we not enjoying it, we're 48 minutes away from it being over.

So let's hope we can have some fun on Sunday. And then let's hope that somehow, that carries over to Detroit. That despite the weight of all this struggle, that Boston still has home court advantage and is still good enough to win it all. The obstacles in the way are not insurmountable, and if the Celtics get it together they might start playing like they remember that they're the ones who are supposed to be insurmountable.

But one way or another, winning cures anything. So once again, as we go to Game 7, pretty or ugly, Big Three or Rondo, LeBron for 50 or LeBron for 15...win. Survive. Advance. And maybe, just maybe, the Ghosts of Celtic Past will show up to carry it forward one more day.