CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: And It's Come to This...

February 2, 2007

I was just checking out Chris Sheridan's chat wrap on ESPN.com and was instantly depressed. My beloved Celtics have become a laughing stock. Sheridan starts out with this in his opening remarks:

...and of course there's tonight's big Clippers-Celtics tilt at Kobe's House in Boston, where oddsmakers are taking bets on who gets escorted out of the arena by security guards first: Jackie Christie or Doc Rivers.

I guess it wouldn't be so depressing if there wasn't so much truth in it. On Wednesday, it did seem like the Garden was Kobe's house. He seemed to get more cheers than the young Celtics who were trying their best not to go down in the history books.

And it is because of the possible history in the making that anyone outside of the most die hard Celtics fans are interested in tonight's game. If the Celtics lose tonight, they set a new record for futility with the longest losing streak in Celtics history. And if they don't win tonight, the next few games don't get any easier, even though Pierce has inferred that "the cavalry" may be coming soon. And the most depressing fact is that many Celtics fans are actually cheering for this team to lose in hopes of adding a few more ping pong balls to the Celtics chances in the draft. In fact, I have been torn about this myself. Adding Oden or Durant sure would be nice. But I just can't bring myself to want them to lose. They are playing hard and want to win and I want them to win to build their confidence and to be able to prove themselves to the fans and to themselves.

And the last line of Sheridan's quote is pretty sad too. Celtics fans for the most part realize that many of the problems facing this team are due to poor coaching and yet, our GM steadfastly stands behind his coach. Little did Danny know when he made the remark that Doc wouldn't be fired even if we didn't win another game all season that Doc might take him literally and not win another game all season. I do think that most Celtics fans are happy with Doc now because he is our best bet to continue losing. Another coach may come in and actually get this group to start winning and we couldn't have that, could we?

It breaks my heart that a Laker is being cheered in the Garden. The Lakers are the enemy. They always have been and in my book they always will be. It is also heart breaking that the Celtics have been reduced to a punchline. The Celtics have also been deemed unworthy of national TV coverage in that their only appearance on ABC TV has been cancelled. I guess it is time to bring out my customary response to all these matters. "Just wait until next season." I do believe that this team is going to start winning again this season, though. The young players are going to pull it together. Pierce is going to come back to a much better team than he left. Wally is going to heal from his ankle sprains. Perk hopefully will get his conditioning back and be able to play well for more than 15 minutes. But next season it should all come together, whether we get Oden or Durant or Noah or Yi or not. I like this team and one day they will look back on this year as a necessary evil in their building and maturation process and get the last laugh.

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