Anyone who watches the NBA on a regular basis knows that the Celtics are the loudest and most demonstrative team in the league when the game starts. They yell to the fans at home. They yell at fans on the road. They chest bump each other. They chest pound themselves. They talk trash to other players constantly. They berate the referees on every call that goes against them. They curse constantly. They laugh and cheer and wave towels on the bench during the fourth quarter of blowout wins. To be perfectly honest, between the lines, they are jerks.
And I love that about them. I like the fact that, at least during the games, they can’t stand the other team. They try and get in the heads of their opponents through intimidation, and why shouldn’t they? They are trying to gain an edge any way they can. They’ve developed a reputation for this behavior and they are widely known for the angry swagger they display every night they take the floor. All good things in my book.
Except that swagger doesn’t block shots. Reputations don’t rebound. F-words don’t count as points. If they did, Kevin Garnett would have broken every scoring record in the history of the league. The Celtics have plenty of hardware. They have championship rings, a Finals MVP, a League MVP, a defensive player of the year award, but unless they are going to bring the trophies to the game and chuck them at the other team, they are meaningless after the opening tip.
Okay, maybe that was a little redundant, but I had to belabor the point to make it clear that this team cannot just show up every night and yell some profanities and wave their resumes and hope to win the East. Again, I love their on-court antics, but when you run your mouth against a team and they run you out of the gym, you should be embarrassed. Example: Gary Washburn wrote on Monday that Pierce and Garnett were making fun of Dahntay Jones’ jump shot in the first half on Saturday, and then proceeded to let him drop 25 points on them. That’s unacceptable. When that happens, the antics go from “intensity” to “stupidity”.
--Ian Rider
As a fan, I'm inclined to direct an F-Bomb at the entire Celtics team. Shut the F up, fellas, and go find your game.
3 comments:
F*** yeah
I'm really looking forward to the December road trip. Find out what this team is made of.
mee too! it will be interesting, not too many major contenders, but mostly teams capable and confident enough of challenging us.... magic on xmas will be sweet!
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