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St. Patrick’s Day is my third favorite day of the year. Thanksgiving comes first followed by the Fourth of July. So as I pour back another Guinness it’s time to reflect on how the Celtics had some luck on their side this St. Patty’s day. The team had never beaten Tim Duncan and hadn’t won in San Antonio since 1990. Those days Larry Bird and Reggie Lewis were in green. Gerald Green was the ripe age of four, Rajon Rondo three, and even Michael Olowokandi was only 15. Tonight was special though as the C’s pulled an improbable win over one of the Western elite. Some of it was pure luck but there was some solid basketball involved. The Celtics were lucky they didn’t blow a 19 point lead. The Spurs are a good team and can come back from stuff like that. The Celtics are a bad team, and blow leads like that. They had complete control of the game for the first three quarters and almost let it slip away, much like they did against Cleveland earlier in the season. Last night was different. The Celtics made the clutch plays they had to down the stretch which is something new this season. Could it have been the smell of corn beef and cabbage in the air or the fact the crowd was mostly wearing green? Those may have had something to do with it, but Paul Pierce was a bigger part. The Truth played his best game since coming back. He was moving better than ever and made two key plays. He had a big steal that led to Gerald Green’s dunk to give the Celtics a two point lead. Then he hit an incredible fade away to give the Celtics an 89-85 lead. Pierce led the way for the Celtics with 30 points taking a lot of the pressure off the younger guys. Green’s dunk was his only two points of the contest, but it didn’t matter because the day belonged to Pierce. I hope he celebrated with a nice tall Guinness, or at least a shot of Jamison. As for that supporting cast, well they were there too. Al Jefferson posted another double-double with 20 points and 12 boards. If he can keep hitting that new jumper he has, his point totals should be from 20 to 30 on a nightly basis. Delonte West added 23 points of his own, and Rajon Rondo pulled in 14 rebounds. That’s right 14 rebounds for Rajon. The kid was in the right place at the right time when he had to be. He may not be able to score for beans (1-6 shooting), but the kid can fill up a stat sheet. Any night a team can get three 20 point scorers, they have no business of losing. Luckily the Celtics figured that one out. I know I said the Celtics were the worst team in the NBA a few weeks ago. A few weeks ago they were. With Pierce playing better, that gives them the edge over most teams (was anyone else thinking “here comes last place” when he went down for a few minutes in the fourth?). The team flexed their muscles this weekend against two of the better teams in the league. Is that a good thing though? I do like watching them play well, but don’t go rattling off too many wins. As it stands now, the Green are 3 ½ games behind (or in front of, however you want to look at it) Memphis for the worst record. On the flip side, they are 3 ½ ahead of Charlotte (or in front) for the second worst record. The Bobcats come to town Wednesday (on Ryan Gomes Bobblehead night!) for a huge lottery match up. So while it is fun to watch the Celtics beat a team like the Spurs, it may be best if they lose to the bad teams. They still have a good shot ending up with the second worst record in the NBA. Maybe a little bit of their luck from March 17th can carry over to May 22nd. |
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Matt Geagan is a sports producer at WBZ-TV… which means he’s not just into basketball. You can catch MattyG’s thoughts on all things sports on his FoxSports.com blog. You can email him at MattyG@RedsArmy.com |
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Luck Of The Irish |
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NBAE/Getty Images |
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NBAE/Getty Images |
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AP Photo |