Boston Celtics 85, Philadelphia 76ers 75 (Boston wins series, 4-3)
It would be too easy to write the Boston Celtics off — or write the Boston Celtics up — as the ultimate lockout season outfit, right? The Celtics, who hung on to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night to move on to another trip to the Eastern conference finals (its fourth in the last decade), have at times looked worthy of that third round honor this season, or worthy of a spot in the lottery. This seven game series showcased both versions of that outfit, which has us wondering if this is the team that personifies this nutty lockout season more than any other.
It's a too-easy tag, but we're enjoying it. This is a team that only made its move once its longtime star got back into shape, following the extended labor impasse. It features a burgeoning star at point guard that nobody seems to know what to make of, and a longtime power forward that finally moved to center 17 years into his career because his team and his game had no other choice. Boston features a scoring forward in Brandon Bass who is only on the team because of a rash move by a since-fired GM that was attempting to placate a star on another team, a star whose insidious destruction of his own team happened only last month, even if it feels like ages ago. The team's shooting guard can barely walk. The team's former starting shooting guard just went under the knife for the just-about unprecedented double-shoulder surgery. A couple of times a game, even in close contests, Ryan Hollins and Greg Steimsma get to play.
Boston prevailed, somehow. They made it out of a seven game turn with the 76ers even with next to-no contributions from its bench. The starter with the shortest shelf life was Paul Pierce, at just under 37 minutes in Game 7, and that was only because he fouled out with over four minutes left in this contest. The ball moved crisply, at times, but often to no avail mostly because Philly is such a great defensive team but also because Boston just has such a hard time getting past anyone, even if the team's complicated offense gives its players myriad options. Boston, like it did with the rest of the league down the stretch of the regular season, just had to wait until Philadelphia faded.
Every little bit helped. Boston had a slim advantage in both taking (22 to 20) and making (20 to 14) free throws, and this helps. Two famously broken plays toward the end of the third quarter saw Rajon Rondo nail two spot on jumpers from just inside and then way outside the three-point arc. There's your 12 points, right there. There's your buffer. There's your win, and these are your Celtics.
Bass, only on the team because former Orlando Magic GM Otis Smith thought that Glen Davis would fit well playing alongside Dwight Howard (he didn't, only flourishing once Dwight went down with injury) and that his presence would influence the All-Star center not to be such franchise-tilting distraction (lolz), only finished with two rebounds in 41 minutes but he was spent from chasing Sixers around last night, and scored an excellent (for this game) 16 points on 10 shot attempts. Kevin Garnett didn't destroy starting center Spencer Hawes again in the first and third quarters, as some on Twitter were tilting toward, but he did work up an array of defenders on his way to 18 points, 13 rebounds, and a pair of steals. Mickael Pietrus dunked, and it was rather nifty.
It was just enough. I'm not making excuses or diminishing your team's accomplishments, Boston fans (I've said since December that this was still a team with Finals potential), but the C's also took down a Sixers team that still seems to have no idea what it wants to roster-wise, and a group that took down the East's top seed only because its two best players went down with major injuries. Things, like they did for the 1999 New York Knicks, have aligned.
We'll have more on the 76ers later in the long weekend, and before the narrative shifts and everything seems to only want to relate to the Miami Heat on some level, you can't help but give it up for the Celtics. Working through all those injuries. Coming out with eight wins in 13 playoff tries in a spaced-out playoff schedule that was only supposed to help veteran teams, but ended up giving the Celtics just as many games in a month had they been working a four week term in the regular season. Making it back to the final four, somehow, all over again.
The C's didn't make it this far because of the lockout season. They just embody every odd and grinding part of it, in spades.
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