Paul Pierce, Larry Bird, and my Celtic Crankiness

Despite my prediction, I'm still kind of cranky. A couple of thoughts on my crankiness. First, I read today where during Magic Johnson's rookie season, his teammates kept waiting for him to wear down. It never happened. He played balls-to-the-walls the entire regular season, and kept going until he won the NBA championship. Jamaal Wilkes said that Magic's intensity forced everyone else on the team to raise the level of their game.

Sound familiar?

I like KG, and, like Ray Allen, I like having KG on the court in a uniform instead of on the bench in a suit. More importantly, I'm sick of talking about his knee. But that doesn't mean I'm tired of looking for some member of our team to step up. First I advocated Rajon Rondo. For the most part he has answered the bell. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but I never realized how great Larry Bird played in 1987 and 1988, mostly because I was so pissed that our team had no bench and no chance of winning it all. But now that I can look back and appreciate Bird's greatness in those two seasons, I asked myself how old he was.

Answer: 31 in 1987 and 32 in 1988. Paul Pierce is 32 this year. He may have thought the days of him carrying the team every night were over. They may not be. Whaddya say Paul? How about posting a season for the ages? I think you can do it and still play reasonable minutes.

Better yet, I've got something to entice you. Four words.

Know what they are?

League Most Valuable Player.

You've got an ego that needs feeding. How 'bout it?