Celtics will be fine

When the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Boston Celtics in game 6 of their first round series, the basketball world was shocked. Maybe confused is a better word. Heading into the playoffs, the Boston Celtics, more than any other team in the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference and the NHL, were expected to sweep their first round opponent. What ensued instead were three embarrassing flights to Atlanta and a 24 hour period of humiliation before Game 7 at the Garden.

We all know what happened then, a 99-65 blowout that saw the Hawks suffocate under a big green blanket. Besides the obvious answer of advancement, how can this possibly be a good thing? They are the laughingstock of the country. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy went so far as to compare Kevin Garnett to Alex Rodriguez, citing their consistent regular season stardom followed by playoffs let downs. The road doesn’t get any easier. Next up is Lebron James. After barely being able to finish their baked potato, the Celtics are now expected to down a 54 ounce Porterhouse Steak.

As a lifelong die-hard Celtic fan, I’ve seen some low times (I was born in 1987) but right now there is absolutely no reason to be concerned. The Hawks taking them to seven games was the absolute best thing that could have happened. After going through a regular season that saw a league best 66 wins, a fair assessment can be made that Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen didn’t necessarily go through any real hardship. Even towards the end as the season wound itself down and Boston began to rest the Big Three for the post-season, the bench continued to produce wins (the Detroit Pistons did the

same thing by the way and found themselves in same boat against Philadelphia, but nobodies too worried about Detroit).

As Atlanta can attest to after getting thoroughly dominated by the Celtics in game 7, the Boston Celtics are a figurative giant and they’ve officially awoken from their slumber. They are a better team defensively than anybody in the entire league, including Detroit and San Antonio, they boast not only the Big Three in their starting lineup, but a center who nearly averages a double-double every night and a point-guard who could be a household name in a couple of seasons.

Everyone is asking how the Celtics can stop Lebron James in the fourth quarter when they couldn’t even stifle Joe Johnson. First of all Johnson is one of the most underrated basketball players on the planet and second of all, Lebron James does not have the youth of Al Horford and Josh Smith banging down low for him.

There is no blueprint to defeat the Celtics and heading into the second round, they are still the least likely team to get sent packing.

The series should be a close one as Lebron pits himself as an underdog in the Garden, but I don’t see Boston dropping too many games at home from now on. They are a confident beast with a leader who epitomizes the term. Lebron may be an unstoppable force, but he’s about to run into an immovable object.