Buckley - Get A Grip, Celtics Fans

The Celtics are involved in a conspiracy with local hospital emergency rooms, local EMT’s, BC/BS and Medicare. You see the commercial by Tommy and a Brigham and Women’s MD, as well as Ryan Gomes foundation promoting defibrillators at all high schools, etc. But they are also doing a service. We can watch the playoffs and if we wake up the next day or do not have chest pains during the game we know we have a normal ekg and our arteries are in good shape.

it is now the best of three, with games one and three in boston. edge to boston.

buckley is right that if the celtics had won game four to even the series instead of game three, folks would be delighted.

but, since the celtics were leading the series 2-1, they were in a “no lose” situation. if detroit had lost it would have been 3-1 boston. adios detroit. as it is, they now must win two out of three from boston, and one win MUST be on the road.

to me, it looks like it will probably be a boston-LA finals. geez, how many times are the TV station going to show bird and johnson?

“Does this team need to stop toying with our emotions and put an opponent away for once? Absolutely.”

I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Some nights this team, the team I watched win 66 games doesn’t seem to show up. I’m fairly certain they can win 2 out of the next three against Detroit and head to their first finals appearance in what seems like, no, what has BEEN two decades, but my god…the suspense!! You guys are killing me!

Hear Hear Jeff.

I have no idea how this team can play so motivated for 82 games and then come out in the postseason and play like this 3/7ths of the time.

It stinks of 18-1. I feel this postseason the same way I felt in the Super Bowl pre-Helmet Catch.

This isn’t supposed to be easy. Tonight is huge though. Play hard, guys.

this not the regular season and the competition is much fiercer and there is less rest and ray has been in a funk.tom t. get your schemes working. defense will win either way.

“To be more precise, people who did not follow the Celtics in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s need to get a grip.”

Um, Steve, I was 5 years old in 1986. Is it my fault that the Celtics team I’ve loved my whole life has never won anything that I can clearly remember? I know the Celtics legacy fine, but 20 years of losing kind of diminishes the aura for some people. So yes maybe some of us have over reacted to some of the losses. Maybe we just realize the window to win 17 is pretty small and we’d like to see the team do something in these playoffs to show that they have what it takes to get it done.

I wasn’t worried at all following the game 4 loss. They went into Detroit and won back homecourt, they did their jobs. But to write an article like that because some people want to see a killer instinct in this team is a bit ridiculous. Good thing I don’t read the Herald.

Buckley is dead on with his comments. And it is not about remembering those series from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, any serious minded C’s fans has surely read and/or seen highlights of those teams, enough to know how things went and turned out. Did the 84 Celtics fail to “close out” the Lakers when they went up 3-2, but then lost Game 6 in LA? Did the ‘87 Celts fail to close out the Pistons after winning Game 5 to go up 3-2, only to get blown out in Game 6 at Detroit before winning a very close decisive Game 7 at the Garden? The lesson from team history is one that can be learned without having witnessed those games that the graybeards did. Playing tough teams, which is basically all the teams in the playoffs but certainly when it is down the final 8, and now the final 4, means there are no easy games/wins, especially on the road. Even this years playoffs between other teams should be instructive about not drawing too many conclusions after one win or one loss. Just because you utes didn’t see those vintage C’s games doesn’t mean you are not capable of understanding the nature of the NBA playoffs.

The way I see it, the one glaring omission from this team’s resume going into the playoffs, was any playoff experience together as a group. A bumpy ride should have been expected, if we had been eliminated already that is one thing, but we are 2-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals, however we got to this point. In fact, all the playoff games (extra playoff games to the Chicken Littles out there) have actually started building that missing piece to the resume, so unless we see some pretty significant signs of fatigue, all those struggles have in fact helped the Celtics in my opinion.

The 1987 and 1984 playoffs were over 20 years ago. All that can be learned from watching those highlights is that the great Celtics teams of the 80’s were able to take care of business. That has absolutely no bearing on the 2008 Celtics team that has played exactly 2 playoff series together.

I agree that the sky shouldn’t be falling after a game 4 loss, but it would have been nice to see this team show a little bit of what we saw during the regular season for once in these playoffs. The ebb/flow of the playoffs isn’t lose one win one or win at home and lose on the road. Yes many series go the whole 7 games, but look at the Lakers, they seem to be closing their series out (against much better opponents) quite nicely. It is cause for concern and getting all nostalgic about teams and times that have no connection to 2008 doesn’t change that and isn’t a valid argument.

I agree with his overall sentiment, but he seems to be saying criticism of Allen and Rondo, in particular, is unfounded or silly, and that fans shouldn’t question the seemingly endless rotation changes or the benching of a key reserve like Powe.

Yes, teams lose games on the way to championships. But I don’t think fans can be faulted for be anxious about the WAY this team is losing and the way key players have either disappeared or are playing very, very poorly.

I watched the Celtics in the 70s and 80s. I understand that championships aren’t guaranteed based on an amazing regular season (see 1987). But you only had to have watched this team commandingly win 66 games this season to see that it is not the same team playing in these playoffs. The rotations are off. The offense isn’t flowing the same way. Players aren’t taking care of the ball like they were. Ray Allen’s shot is in the toilet.

My apologies to Steve Buckley, but I do worry about those things.

I don’t think the reactions have been that bad. They were a lot worse against Atlanta and against Cleveland.