This year’s Eastern Conference Finals was one of the
most competitive and interesting basketball series in years. While
it didn’t have as superb offense as its Western Conference counterpart, it
pitted an old veteran team vying for another chance at the title against a team
with the best player in the world in his prime.
The series took on 3 separate directions, from Miami seemingly gaining a
stranglehold on the series after the controversial Game 2, then Boston taking
the momentum back with an astonishing 3 game winning streak, and finally Miami seizing
the series with Lebron James’, should be legendary, Game 6 performance.
I cannot say enough though about Boston’s performance
in this season and this postseason.
After the team’s abrupt end to last season, and their poor start to this
season it seemed like the time of the Big 3, now really 4, Celtics had come and
gone in regards to their ability to be title contenders. Then the Celtics who midway through the season
had been hoping to just avoid playing Miami or Chicago in the first round were
able to get to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. I think that over any other word, the word
toughness describes this year’s Celtics, as they were the mentally and
physically toughest team in the league. As
you saw this team play you knew that they weren’t being eliminated without
giving everything they had and throwing every last punch in their arsenal. In the 2nd half of Game 7, they
ran out of tricks and didn’t have anything left to attempt to beat Miami
with. Garnett who had a phenomenal
series was clearly running on fumes in that 2nd half. Pierce and Allen who I think when the series
began were running on fumes had absolutely nothing left in the tank as they
limped and clawed their way through the series.
Rondo who was his usual phenomenal self throughout the series will one outstanding
performance after another. These Celtics
gave everything they had this year, but I’m not prepared to say we’ve seen the
last of them as championship contenders.
I think they come back again next year prepared to battle the Heat for
Eastern Conference supremacy with returning players Avery Bradley and Jeff
Green to strengthen the team.
Lebron James.
If you are looking for an explanation on why the Heat beat the Celtics look
no further than that man. During that
series he was a man among boys, and his performances in Games 6 and 7 to take
the series was miraculous. During the
series he averaged 45.9 minutes per game, 33.6 points, 11 rebounds, 3.9
assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.1 steals all while shooting .527 from the field and
attempting 11.4 free throws per game. He
seized control of the series almost just by the fact that he didn’t wear down
and doesn’t seem to. The fewest minutes
he played in a game were 43 and on 3 separate occasions, including Game 7 he
played 48 minutes. The Heat got just
enough out of their role players, most notably some big plays from Shane
Battier, Mario Chalmers and Udonis Haslem throughout the series. Dwayne Wade while clearly not 100% in the
series, and his disappointment was probably the main reason the Celtics were
able to stay in the series, made enough plays down the stretch to keep the
season alive. The return of Chris Bosh
was again huge for the Heat, his addition gave the Celtics another person they
had to guard at all times, kept KG away from the rim, and in Game 7 hit some
huge shots, including 3 three point shots, a shocking total for someone who
only made 10 in the entire regular season.
The Heat now for the 2nd consecutive season
will be playing for the NBA championship.
They took Boston’s best shot and survived to play Oklahoma City. If the Heat are able to continue to show the
mental toughness that it took to beat Boston then we should be in for a great
NBA Finals between two outstanding teams.
Stay Hungry My Friends
No comments:
Post a Comment