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Future Celtics Looking Back on the Present



I have travelled all the way from 1982 to deliver this story to you. This is intended to be a look back on today from the perspective of the future. This article is not a prediction in anyway, as it's obvious what is going to happen next. Based on knowing what is next we can reasonably predict with there with some real absolute certainty, like predicting the weather or the economy.

It's 2021, the changes in the NBA happened faster than anyone could have predicted. We thought we would be discussing the incredible run of the Golden State Warriors, the upstarts who changed basketball. But instead the only thing anyone has been asking for the last four years is, Who can stop the Celtics?

In many ways this story begins with Red Auerbach, but to save time, I'm going to skip ahead to the 2017-18 season where we learned that everything we knew was wrong. The offseason was chaotic, not just for the Celtics, but for the entire league. In many ways the two additions that drew the most focus regarding the Celtics were Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving. Both came off of successful seasons on different squads. Hayward's free agent cycle captivated the NBA for a weekend and then complicated labor day weekend for many as Hayward's decision was leaked early, before his thoughtful article went live on the Player's Tribune. The dust barely settled from that before more NBA shenanigans ensued, leading up to the incredible and unexpected trade for Kyrie Irving. Many believed the way that Danny Ainge handled the trade would forever poison (or curse) the Celtics for the way that fan favorite Isaiah Thomas was sent to Cleveland.

When asked for comment on this article Danny Ainge said: "I told Isaiah, we are two years from competing for a title. So his being in Cleveland in a contract year, he could light the NBA on fire next to Lebron, have the easiest time on offense he'd been able to enjoy in his entire career. And have his best shot at a title. I hated trading him. Hated it. But I thought Kyrie lined up with our timeline better. And I thought I was giving IT his best shot at a title. I didn't realize how wrong I was. I wouldn't take it all back. You don't change something that worked out so well. But I feel absolutely terrible that I thought I was doing something that helped IT and I ended up how it all went."

Kyrie immediately became the center of the conversation regarding the Celtics. There were many intriguing players and interesting pieces. But nationally, it was all Kyrie, all the time. Leading up to the first game of the season where Kyrie would square off against Cleveland for the first time in his career. This made so notable because the most important shot Kyrie had ever made ended up being the most iconic moment in all of Cleveland sports history.

Then, five minutes into the season, the most horrifying injury I have personally witnessed (with exception to Kevin Ware's leg bone poking out of his skin, Rondo's elbow bending 90 degrees the wrong direction, or Timmothy Green's wrist fracture when I was in the third grade) happened. And just like that Hayward was gone for the season. The Celtics skated through the rest of the game in shock. They lost, but somehow the game was still close in the waning minutes. In retrospect, so many things were made clear in just that one game. The future of the Celtics and the Cavaliers were made obvious.

The following night the Celtics lost to the Bucks and in many ways began the modern legend of Giannis, the Greek Freak, the last man to beat the Celtics in the regular season. When asked for comment, Giannis told us: "Man, I wish I'd kept something from that game, I had no idea at the time. No one did."

Then things changed. Buoyed by an early soft schedule the Celtics ripped off several consecutive and convincing wins. Initially the talk was all about how great this was for the young Celtics, how it was making the case for Brad Stevens as coach of the year, and how good Kyrie had looked in initial games as a facilitator in addition to being a scorer.

"No one took the streak seriously." said Celtic Legend Semi Ojeleye, "I was just a kid. Fresh out of college, getting minutes and doing my best. Then I look up and we'd won twenty straight. But some of them had been really close, so none of us were really thinking about league records or anything like that. We were just playing and executing. Coach Brad had us working on the small details. All that stuff man. We were just playing ball. That's all it is with Coach Brad, don't look back, don't look ahead, focus on now. That's some zen !@#$ man."

January of 2018 arrived. The Celtics were still yet to suffer a loss. The defense that started out strong, but had genuine critics pointing out the small sample sizes and weak teams, was able to fully coalesce into what we now see today. By the time the all star break happened, all anyone wanted to talk about was when the Celtics streak would end. The trade deadline came and went. Several teams were very close to making league shaking moves. Cleveland in particular seemed poised to move several pieces. But nothing significant took place. When asked for comment, former GM to the Cavs, Koby Altman told us "We tried, we tried to move some of our veteran players, but no one wanted them. We wanted to move the Nets pick to get a complimentary piece, but insisted that Lebron sign an extension with us before we would. He was unwilling, no surprise there, so we had to keep the pick so we could start the rebuilding process again. In hindsight I wish we'd moved Lebron instead of Kyrie. We could have been competitive again sooner."

When I reminded him that they moved Kevin Love for draft picks, he responded, "Oh yeah, I forgot we traded him."

The playoffs went about how many people expected. The Warriors and Rockets steamrolled their competition in the west. The Celtics and Cavs obliterated the east. The fanfare leading into the Cavs and Celtics series was astronomical. Despite the fact that all signs pointed to the Warriors and Rockets being more competitive, ESPN was filled with Lebron and Kyrie headlines. When the dust settled and a new Celtics team eliminated a Lebron lead Cavs team in Cleveland, no one was shocked. The only real surprise at that point was that the average margin of victory for the Celtics was only 18 points. The Warriors made nearly equally swift work of the Rockets. At the time Draymond Green made his famous quote "Offense gets you chicks, defense wins you titles. When you've got two great offenses playing against each other it should be awesome TV. But when one team has a good defense and the other team doesn't have a defense. Well. You know how it do."

Game one Warriors vs Celtics in Boston. The Celtics famously won by 18.

Game two, Warriors vs Celtics, Celtics again by 18.

Game three was close for most of the first quarter. But then in the second quarter the Celtics put their starters in and pulled away. Celtics by 18.

When asked if he'd encouraged his team win by exactly 18 each game of the season where the Celtics won their 18th title, Brad Stevens looked directly at the camera and said with an honest look on his face "What? Did we do that? Well that's a cool coincidence isn't it sport?" Then he did the magic trick where he pulled a coin from behind a reporter's ear to the delight of everyone.

Game four, was almost called at halftime because of some confusion. Tatum jammed home a huge dunk on Draymond Green. For about three minutes Draymond Green was legally dead. We would later learn that the dunk was so vicious that Draymond travelled backwards in time and had to witness the posterizing dunk from the third person. He went into shock and nearly died. If it hadn't been for a quick reaction from Jaylen Brown, Draymond might have been stuck in a time loop forever. After that the game went by in a blur. Green was not the same defender. Players were visibly afraid of Tatum whenever he would touch the ball, look directly at them, or stand up. When asked for comment on the game and his experience in traveling in time Green said to me "Who gave you this number? !@#$ off, don't call me."

It became abundantly clear a that point that the NBA would be different, forever. One talent scout explained: "Look, that year was weird. There were so many weird things we missed obvious stuff. People got so obsessed with making a good comp for Tatum that they missed the single greatest rookie season of all time. I mean, he got eight five by fives, scored over fifty points twice, got the most rebounds in a season since Kevin Love was in Minny, blocked more shots in a season that Dwight ever did. We were so busy saying, he's the next Pierce, or Durant, Duncan, whatever. We totally missed it, he was the first Tatum. And now it's 2021 and we are still looking for the next one, like the next one is going to happen. You realize the kid is still just a kid? I mean yes okay scoring titles, MVPs, all that. He plays like a man. But he's 23. We've literally never seen anything like this. It's getting ridiculous and that's why I'm joining my brother's business baking gluten free vegan pretzels. I haven't got time for this anymore. I used to love basketball. Now there's this 23 year old that plays like he's got the cheat codes to a video game. The Celtics haven't lost a game since my kid was in diapers and I just don't have the will to carry on. So gluten free vegan pretzels are my future."

In 2020 the NBA made their first aggressive attempt to try to beat the Celtics. They introduced the four point shot. They looked at the shooting range for Durant, Curry, and Klay. They made the court slightly wider so it matched the euro floor. Adjusted the three point line in slightly. And added a four point line. People expected the change would be met with a lot of criticism. But actually many people were very excited. Curry famously said "It's on now, we're gonna finally beat them." The results were, as you know, different than expected.

Terry Rozier III would explain "They got so caught up with finding more ways to help teams beat us, they just gave us and Coach Brad more ways to be better than them. Totally backfired. i remember how psyched Tatum was to get to take fours instead of threes. I can't believe they thought it was a good idea. Like when Jaylen Brown went to them and was like 'if I jump from the three point line and dunk it, does it count as a three pointer?' And they laughed like he was joking and said yes. That one is totally their own fault."

More changes would come that year. The allstar game became an exhibition game for most of the league. But for the Celtics it would count as a regular season game. Steve Kerr and Greg Popovich were given complete control to make a roster out of ever team in the NBA that wasn't the Celtics. If the Celtics lost the game they would be eliminated from playoff contention. If the allstars won, each would be decorated with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, receive three billion dollars, and a book/movie deal. At the all star game site in Las Vegas, Coach Stevens walked into the room where Kerr and Pop were doing their pre-planning. We are told the exchange went like this.

CBS: High guys, what are you up to?

Kerr: We're trying to find a way to double team five different guys using only five other guys.

CBS: What? Oh, the all star game.

Kerr: Yeah, figuring out how to stop the Celtics isn't easy. If I knew how, I would have done it already.

CBS: So what do you guys have so far?

Kerr: Baseball bats

Pop: And theorizing some kind of invisible net we could launch discretely.

CBS: Oh. The invisible net thing sis a good idea. We use something like that in practice if Semi and Yabu start to get out of hand. Although, don't use it on Baynes, just makes him angrier.

They stared blankly at him.

CBS: Do you think I could give it a try? I spend so much time figuring out how to make the machine go, I've always wanted to have the chance to try to plan against it. We just have so many hard working, really special players.

Pop: So you want to coach the all stars against the Celtics and if you win, you'll have eliminated the Celtics from playoff contention? But if you lose, you'll have lost.

CBS: Well, would you mind? I've always wanted to coach some of these other great players, like Giannis and Durant.

Kerr: Works for me.

Pop: Sure, what have i got to lose.

And so the 2020 allstar game began. Coach BFS on one side, and Kerr and Pop with the keys to the Celtics. This game was the closes game, wire to wire, the Celtics had played since November of 2017. Coach Brad devising the so called "Super Death" line up featuring Durant, Kawhi, Giannis, Lebron, and Anthony Davis. This lineup was significant because it was the first time that any five players faced the Celtics five of Kyrie, Brown, Hayward, Tatum, and Bagley III and kept the came closer than ten points. Of course when the allstars had to rotate players out, even with the Celtics bench in, the game was pushed out of reach. After that Coach Brad Stevens found some new inspiration and the Celtics got even more difficult to play against.

When asked for comment regarding the current Celtics Coach Brad said this: "Well, we've got a lot we are working on in terms of execution. We still really bog down on offense sometimes and it's something we are working on. Last night in that game agains the Lakers it took us until really deep into the second quarter to be up by twenty. So we are always working, always improving it. It's a very complicated game. And no one is ever going to be perfect."

No one will ever be perfect, but your record is Mister Stevens, your record is. Here we are, it's 2021, the Celtics haven't lost a game since that eventful night against Milwaukee. Tatum has won as many MVPs as Lebron. Coach Brad Stevens is the consensus Coach of the Year, again. And Danny Ainge will happily tell anyone that will listen about how great a player Isaiah Thomas is and how much he misses having him at the facility. But it started way back in 2017. A freak accident that lead to playing time for some young Celtics still finding their game in the NBA. And now, looking back, I don't know how any of us could have missed the birth of greatness we had witnessed.

Author's note: It is so good to be back writing.

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