Music to listen to: If It Isn’t Love by New Edition
The NBA season kicks off less than a month from now so its time to start with the Sport Inquirer’s season previews starting with the defending Eastern Conference champions, the Boston Celtics.
Last season: The Celtics finished one game from winning their second NBA championship in three years but ended up losing last season’s NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games. The loss was especially painful considering that Boston lost its starting center, Kendrick Perkins, to a season-ending knee injury in game six of the series and the lack of inside presence arguably cost the Celtics game seven because of the Lakers ability to gain rebounds in the contest.
The Celtics still did win the Conference despite finishing the regular season with 50 wins. The expectations were low considering that they went down the stretch 17-17. In the playoffs, Boston was able to use its experience to get past Chicago, Cleveland and Orlando to get to the NBA Finals.
Strength: The Celtics may arguably have the top back court in the NBA. Point guard Rajon Rondo’s ability to drive to the basket and finish allows the rest of the perimeter players to hit open shots. Furthermore, his on-the-ball defense triggers an entire unit that has been the best in the NBA for the past three seasons. Shooting guard Ray Allen continues to be one of the top shooters in the NBA and even showed an ability to drive as well last season that added to his versatility.
Weakness: There will not be another top-level team in the NBA that will rely on older players than Boston. Unfortunately, small forward Paul Pierce, power forward Kevin Garnett, centers Shaquille O’Neil and Jermaine O’Neal have injury histories that will show that neither one will make it through the entire season healthy.
Best player: While Rondo has made tremendous strides in the past few years, accept for improving his jump shot, the top player on the Celtics continues to be Pierce. He continues to be an undervalued top-15 player in the NBA. While it is true that he gets protected on both ends of the court, especially on defense, with the schemes that Boston play with, but when the Celtics need a basket at the end of the game, the ball will always be in Pierce’s hands. The Celtics had the chance to let Pierce leave this past offseason but resigned him immediately.
Most important player: If Boston is going to achieve any of its top goals this season, it will need a healthy season from Garnett. While he will never reach his peak again, which was probably around the 2008 season, the Celtics still need him to rebound and be the defensive captain. This task will be tougher with the injury to Perkins which will keep him out until the later part of the season. Garnett looked like he was recovering from the knee injuries that hurt his 2009 year in that year’s playoffs and the Celtics are hoping that a quiet offseason will only improve this.
Celebrity crush from the city: On my other Blog, I usually do a top-five list of women that I would like to “take out to dinner” (yes, those are quotation marks, you know what I mean) every few months. Been doing it about three years. Maria Menounos has been on the list every time. She’s the captain of the squad and my Crush from Boston.
Coaching: When Doc Rivers was retained prior to the 2008 season, many observers wondered if he would be able to handle the addition of Garnett and Allen, two top players on other teams, to a squad that had underachieved the previous few years. Three years later, Rivers looks like the perfect coach to handle a changed roster.
The biggest change that he will have to deal with is making the players transition from a squad led by the “Big Three” to one led by Rondo. I know that I named Pierce the best player on the team earlier in this post and Garnett the most valuable but last year’s playoffs showed that Rondo has elevated his game to be in the other top players level, maybe even surpassing it. Pierce and Garnett are proud players who will now have to defer to Rondo throughout the season and Rivers has to massage this move.
Furthermore, the stories of this being River’s last season in Boston can’t become a distraction, even though with this veteran group, I don’t think that it will be a major issue.
First memory of team: Growing up in New York as a Knicks fan, the Celtics were always a big rival, especially for the older fans. While the Chicago Bulls led by Michael Jordan and the Indiana Pacers with Reggie Miller got the most publicity, I still had memories of the Celtics led by Larry Bird beating down on the Knicks during the 1980’s and not liking that.
Robert Parrish always bothered me for some reason. Maybe it was the “00” jersey number. When Charlotte beat the Celts in the 1993 playoffs on Alonzo Mourning’s game-winning basket over Parrish, I was a happy man
Best case: NBA Championship
Worst case: Injuries catch up to the squad and the Celtics limp into the playoffs, finishing with the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference behind Miami, Chicago and Orlando. To make matters worse, Boston loses in the first-round to Atlanta or some other upstart squad like Milwaukee. Rivers leaves and the rebuilding process starts on a bitter note.
Overall outlook: The Celtics have a top-six or seven when Perkins returns that can win a NBA Championship. They play defense, know each others roles and have been battle tested. However, the potential for injuries and age make it difficult to expect high hopes for this squad overall. Expect the Celtics to coast in the regular season once again, resting the top players whenever possible, and than making a run in the playoffs similar to last season. I just don’t think that another conference title is in the books for the squad.
Those are my thoughts, what about yours?
The Sports Inquirer 
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