The Boston Celtics acquire Rodney Rogers and Tony Delk from the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Joe Johnson, Randy Brown, Milt Palacio and a first-round pick
You will be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't like the Celtics' trading-deadline deal with Phoenix. They got two players who should contribute while giving up three who either didn't contribute or couldn't contribute. They also unloaded a draft pick they didn't really want and still have two first-rounders in 2003.
What's not to like about it?
Well, as our mothers all warned us, if something is too good to be true, there's probably a reason. On paper, the deal looks terrific, and, if all goes according to Hoyle, it will give the Celtics added depth and flexibility. Undeniably, it makes them a better team now than they were before.
But there are some things to bear in mind as the season winds down and (hopefully for them) the playoffs come into focus.
Let's start with Rodney Rogers. First of all, he will be a free agent, and unless there's some new TV deal we don't know about, or a clandestine expansion plan about to be implemented, or some team willing to take Vitaly Potapenko for a draft pick, there is little to no chance he will stay in Boston beyond this year.
The new NBA economics, not Rogers's ability, is the culprit. Owner Paul Gaston, like most of his peers, does not want to be a luxury-tax payer, and that means free agents are not in next year's budget. The nine players already under contract for 2002-03 are to receive around $52 million (Paul Pierce's numbers aren't set yet) - and that represents the luxury-tax threshold as best as can be projected. Anything over that results in a dollar-for-dollar payment to the league, which can run into millions.
So it's best not to fall hard for the intriguing Rogers. He's not the only free agent who is going to feel the luxury-tax pinch in Boston. You can include Erick Strickland and Mark Blount in that group as well.
The Celtics would love to re-sign the battling Strickland, who is playing for pennies on the dollar this season. (His bad. He opted out of a contract that guaranteed him $2.5 million.) Would he do so again next year? He may have no choice if he wants to stay here. It also will be interesting to see how he and Tony Delk are used. They have similar styles, and that could be viewed as duplicative down the road. Both are regarded as excellent defenders, 3-point threats, and tough cookies. The Celtics might well decide they need only one of them next season - and Delk is already under contract through 2006 at manageable numbers.
You also would not be cynical to wonder how much time and opportunity the new guys are going to get. As Jim O'Brien noted, this deal was done without disrupting his eight-man rotation. Whose time is Rogers going to get? We already have seen power forwards (Danny Fortson) who wasted away because Antoine Walker had that spot locked up. We have to assume that while Walker and Pierce may not keep logging big minutes (both are averaging 40-plus), they aren't going to turn into cameos. That will be O'Brien's challenge, and it may not be an easy one.
At forward, Rogers competes with Walker, Pierce, and Eric Williams for minutes. O'Brien loves all three of those guys. Williams is the toughest front-line defender they have. We may see times when Rogers will be spotted at center, but that will come at the expense of Tony Battie or Potapenko. So, in other words, we'll have to wait and see. Rogers averaged 25.1 minutes a game for Phoenix. He'll be hard pressed to match that in Boston, which might make him unhappy in a contract year.
Delk may well cut into Kenny Anderson's minutes (31 a game), and we can easily envision a Delk-Strickland backcourt down the stretch in close games. He may even be seen as the post-Anderson point guard, although he's your classic shooting guard in a point guard's body. Does Delk also eat into Kedrick Brown's minutes? The guess here is yes. The Celtics want to make the playoffs, and it's very hard to win with rookies.
Which leads us to Joe Johnson. Are we going to have to wait for the book to come out to find out what happened? Has anyone fallen harder and faster, other than Kenneth Lay? We had a Rookie of the Year candidate in November, a bench-warmer in January, and a goner in February.
Johnson's well-documented laid-back disposition might well have been his undoing, but that was hardly a trade secret at draft time. The Celtics clearly expected bigger and better things from him. They thought he'd get the time and opportunity to be a serious Rookie of the Year candidate. They loved his ballhandling abilities, his 3-point shooting. Just go back to the files on the day after the draft. O'Brien used the word "ecstatic" on more than one occasion. Boston thought it had struck gold.
But Johnson also was, and is, an asset, which made him trade able, just like Chauncey Billups and, to a lesser extent, the lamentable Jerome Moiso. That obviously wasn't how the Celtics saw Johnson last June, but two things happened. First, he didn't develop as they had hoped. Second, they found themselves in a serious scrum in the Eastern Conference, the end result of which could range from a top-four playoff seeding to another trip to Secaucus.
If they are going to survive, they have a better chance with established veterans who've been there. The price for those guys was, in effect, two first-round picks: Johnson and the one in June.
O'Brien has been going more and more with his veterans, especially at crunch time, so chances are Johnson would have done more watching than playing anyway. Brown may start, but Williams or Strickland (or Delk) is going to get his minutes in a close game.
There also is the obvious depth advantage, should Pierce, Walker, Williams, or any other regular go down for a spell. In that event, there would not necessarily be a precipitous drop-off with Rogers and Delk in reserve.
In short, the Celtics looked at the lunar landscape in the East and decided they had a better chance with the new guys than with the old guys. There's nothing wrong with that. They have upgraded the talent level, added playoff-tested veterans, and even done some budget cutting in the process.
Now, if it also works out in the standings, then it will be a slam-dunk.
Showing posts with label The Joe Johnson Trade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Joe Johnson Trade. Show all posts
3.01.2008
2.29.2008
Remembering The Joe Johnson Trade
About the challenge to establish definitive roles as soon as possible for new acquisitions Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers? For Celtics coach Jim O'Brien, it turns out there was no challenge in the process at all.
"Tony Delk is going to start, so much for that challenge," O'Brien said after practice yesterday at The Sports Authority Center in Waltham. "Rodney has to be able to play the (power forward) spot, where there's not going to be a lot of minutes - about 8-10 minutes a game to free up Antoine (Walker) to play 38-40 minutes.
"But (Rogers) has got to learn the (small forward) spot and the (center) spot, so it's more of a challenge for Rodney. Certainly when he learns to play those spots at a high level, not only offensively but defensively, he'll be able to contribute more."
O'Brien would have liked to have had Delk and Rogers available at yesterday's practice, the Celtics' first since returning from their seven-game western swing early Sunday morning. But the two newest Celtics, acquired last week from the Suns for Joe Johnson, Randy Brown, Milt Palacio and a first-round pick, were tending to some last-minute business in Phoenix.
Aware Delk and Rogers were on a road trip with the Suns when they learned they had been traded - and had no opportunity to prepare at home for their cross-country move - O'Brien gave them permission to skip the morning session and planned to work both players out last night.
"They had some things to clean up in Phoenix," O'Brien said. "Rodney had to pretty much say goodbye to his family, and Tony just renovated a house out there and had some other business he had to tend to.
"They weren't going to get back here (in time for the morning practice) unless they took a red-eye (flight), which is something I didn't want them to do."
Which means Delk and Rogers will be playing a bit more catch-up than originally expected when they rejoin their teammates at practice today. Still, that did not stop O'Brien from declaring Delk his starter at shooting guard, a departure from the coach's initial plans to work both players into the mix slowly.
The move means Eric Williams, the team's designated sixth man and a more effective player coming off the bench, returns to that role after starting four of the team's seven games out West. Rookie Kedrick Brown started two, while Delk, with just one brief practice under his belt, started the trip finale in Houston.
"Tony and Rodney are quick learners who have been around the game a long time," said guard Erick Strickland, who will back up Delk and continue to get a portion of his minutes spelling Kenny Anderson at point guard. "In my case, it took me about a month to feel fully comfortable with the system here, but they came in (last week) and got a quick understanding of things.
"Tony is familiar with some of what we do (from his days with O'Brien and ex-Celtics coach Rick Pitino at Kentucky). And Rodney should be able to contribute with the time he gets up front. He's a formidible power forward who's going to take some of the load off Antoine."
Said O'Brien, "We didn't bring (Rogers) in, nor did we bring Tony in, to watch the action. We want them to be a big part of the rotation." {sl26CNOT1 {pd02/26{pg079{sespt{ed {ve01
Kenny Anderson believes the acquisitions of Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers will help the Celtics' playoff push immensely this season. But Anderson said the cost of bringing in the two veterans in last week's five-player deal with Phoenix was not cheap.
"You don't have to be a brain surgeon to understand who we let go," the Celtics point guard said after practice yesterday at The Sports Authority Center in Waltham. "Milt (Palacio) is a friend of mine, and so is Joe (Johnson), and I'm not knocking the deal.
"If I were the general manager, I might have made the same move. But I would have been bothered by giving up on Joe Johnson so early."
Johnson was the first of three Celtics first-round picks last June, selected 10th overall. The 6-foot-8 swingman was a starter for much of the first-half schedule, but he lost his job in January and had fallen out of the rotation completely during the last month. His confidence level appeared to diminish with his playing time.
Johnson had given up most of his minutes to fellow rookie Kedrick Brown, who was selected with the 11th overall pick. Though many inside the Celtics organization believe Brown will turn out to be the better player of the two, Anderson had his reservations about the team's decision to bid Johnson farewell midway through his rookie season.
"It was a tough call (to trade Johnson), but there's a BUTthere. You look at Rodney Rogers, a solid veteran player and a former Sixth Man Award winner, and you look at Tony Delk, a proven scorer and solid all-around player. Both great pickups, and that makes (the deal) a give-and-take proposition.
"The way I see it, it's a good situation for us -- for now. But you look down the road and you're losing a great young player in Joe Johnson, who I believe is going to be a great player in this league. I think the (philosophy behind the deal) was that we can't go young anymore. We have to turn it around right now."
Home stretch
Although second-half collapses in their trip-ending losses to Houston and Dallas had the Celtics less than satisfied with a 3-4 record for the two-week sojourn, the schedule is in their favor the rest of the way. Of the Celtics' 26 remaining games, 16 are at home, beginning with tomorrow night's visit by the Milwaukee Bucks.
"I think we're in a solid frame of mind," C's coach Jim O'Brien said. "I know if any of us had said at the beginning of the year, 'You're coming off the West Coast trip, you're fourth in the East, you're healthy and you're looking at 16 more games at home and 10 on the road, plus you've added Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers to your team,' I think we'd all say that's pretty good.
"But that being said, we need to get back to playing tough-minded basketball. We have to play a hardened type of game where we're really scrapping. Where we raise our game a notch back to the level that it took to win 31 games.
"We've got people like Milwaukee coming in, so homecourt or not, you have to play really solid basketball to win those games."
Razor sharp
After going with a full head of hair since training camp, Vitaly Potapenko showed up at practice yesterday with a shaven head.
Potapenko, as had been his custom in previous years, saved himself a trip to the barber by giving himself the haircut.
"I'm good with a razor," he said.
"Tony Delk is going to start, so much for that challenge," O'Brien said after practice yesterday at The Sports Authority Center in Waltham. "Rodney has to be able to play the (power forward) spot, where there's not going to be a lot of minutes - about 8-10 minutes a game to free up Antoine (Walker) to play 38-40 minutes.
"But (Rogers) has got to learn the (small forward) spot and the (center) spot, so it's more of a challenge for Rodney. Certainly when he learns to play those spots at a high level, not only offensively but defensively, he'll be able to contribute more."
O'Brien would have liked to have had Delk and Rogers available at yesterday's practice, the Celtics' first since returning from their seven-game western swing early Sunday morning. But the two newest Celtics, acquired last week from the Suns for Joe Johnson, Randy Brown, Milt Palacio and a first-round pick, were tending to some last-minute business in Phoenix.
Aware Delk and Rogers were on a road trip with the Suns when they learned they had been traded - and had no opportunity to prepare at home for their cross-country move - O'Brien gave them permission to skip the morning session and planned to work both players out last night.
"They had some things to clean up in Phoenix," O'Brien said. "Rodney had to pretty much say goodbye to his family, and Tony just renovated a house out there and had some other business he had to tend to.
"They weren't going to get back here (in time for the morning practice) unless they took a red-eye (flight), which is something I didn't want them to do."
Which means Delk and Rogers will be playing a bit more catch-up than originally expected when they rejoin their teammates at practice today. Still, that did not stop O'Brien from declaring Delk his starter at shooting guard, a departure from the coach's initial plans to work both players into the mix slowly.
The move means Eric Williams, the team's designated sixth man and a more effective player coming off the bench, returns to that role after starting four of the team's seven games out West. Rookie Kedrick Brown started two, while Delk, with just one brief practice under his belt, started the trip finale in Houston.
"Tony and Rodney are quick learners who have been around the game a long time," said guard Erick Strickland, who will back up Delk and continue to get a portion of his minutes spelling Kenny Anderson at point guard. "In my case, it took me about a month to feel fully comfortable with the system here, but they came in (last week) and got a quick understanding of things.
"Tony is familiar with some of what we do (from his days with O'Brien and ex-Celtics coach Rick Pitino at Kentucky). And Rodney should be able to contribute with the time he gets up front. He's a formidible power forward who's going to take some of the load off Antoine."
Said O'Brien, "We didn't bring (Rogers) in, nor did we bring Tony in, to watch the action. We want them to be a big part of the rotation." {sl26CNOT1 {pd02/26{pg079{sespt{ed {ve01
Kenny Anderson believes the acquisitions of Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers will help the Celtics' playoff push immensely this season. But Anderson said the cost of bringing in the two veterans in last week's five-player deal with Phoenix was not cheap.
"You don't have to be a brain surgeon to understand who we let go," the Celtics point guard said after practice yesterday at The Sports Authority Center in Waltham. "Milt (Palacio) is a friend of mine, and so is Joe (Johnson), and I'm not knocking the deal.
"If I were the general manager, I might have made the same move. But I would have been bothered by giving up on Joe Johnson so early."
Johnson was the first of three Celtics first-round picks last June, selected 10th overall. The 6-foot-8 swingman was a starter for much of the first-half schedule, but he lost his job in January and had fallen out of the rotation completely during the last month. His confidence level appeared to diminish with his playing time.
Johnson had given up most of his minutes to fellow rookie Kedrick Brown, who was selected with the 11th overall pick. Though many inside the Celtics organization believe Brown will turn out to be the better player of the two, Anderson had his reservations about the team's decision to bid Johnson farewell midway through his rookie season.
"It was a tough call (to trade Johnson), but there's a BUTthere. You look at Rodney Rogers, a solid veteran player and a former Sixth Man Award winner, and you look at Tony Delk, a proven scorer and solid all-around player. Both great pickups, and that makes (the deal) a give-and-take proposition.
"The way I see it, it's a good situation for us -- for now. But you look down the road and you're losing a great young player in Joe Johnson, who I believe is going to be a great player in this league. I think the (philosophy behind the deal) was that we can't go young anymore. We have to turn it around right now."
Home stretch
Although second-half collapses in their trip-ending losses to Houston and Dallas had the Celtics less than satisfied with a 3-4 record for the two-week sojourn, the schedule is in their favor the rest of the way. Of the Celtics' 26 remaining games, 16 are at home, beginning with tomorrow night's visit by the Milwaukee Bucks.
"I think we're in a solid frame of mind," C's coach Jim O'Brien said. "I know if any of us had said at the beginning of the year, 'You're coming off the West Coast trip, you're fourth in the East, you're healthy and you're looking at 16 more games at home and 10 on the road, plus you've added Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers to your team,' I think we'd all say that's pretty good.
"But that being said, we need to get back to playing tough-minded basketball. We have to play a hardened type of game where we're really scrapping. Where we raise our game a notch back to the level that it took to win 31 games.
"We've got people like Milwaukee coming in, so homecourt or not, you have to play really solid basketball to win those games."
Razor sharp
After going with a full head of hair since training camp, Vitaly Potapenko showed up at practice yesterday with a shaven head.
Potapenko, as had been his custom in previous years, saved himself a trip to the barber by giving himself the haircut.
"I'm good with a razor," he said.
The Joe Johnson Trade Paid Short-Term Dividends
Chances are you never saw Antoine Walker smile after the Nets eliminated the Celtics from the playoffs Friday night. But he did. Honest. As he prepared for his final press conference of the postseason, there was a moment when Walker shook his head and grinned. It was a look of bemusement more than anything.
What Walker could not completely process at that moment was all the Celtics had accomplished since October. It seemed that 98 games passed in a whirlwind of ups and downs, surprises and milestones.
The wild, unexpected ride to the Eastern Conference finals for a team that had not made the playoffs since 1995. The biggest fourth-quarter comeback in playoff history in Game 3 against New Jersey. The elimination of the always troublesome 76ers in Round 1 with an offensive performance in Game 5 that set a standard never again equaled by the Celtics. The dismissal of Detroit in Game 5 of the conference semifinals on the road, with Paul Pierce and Walker forced to the bench for much of the fourth quarter with foul trouble.
The commitment that made Boston the third-ranked defensive team in the NBA during the regular season. The game-winning, bank-shot 3-pointer by Walker that defeated the Lakers at Staples Center in February. The buzzer-beating layup by Pierce that beat Miami and snapped an early-season four-game losing streak. The win at Philadelphia March 4 that ended the Celtics' only other four-game skid. The 22-19 record on the road, the first time the team was above .500 away from Boston in more than a decade.
The emergence of Pierce as one of the league's top scorers and go-to guys. The awe-inspiring 48-point performance by Pierce Dec. 1 against the Nets, when he scored all but 2 points in the second half and overtime. The continuing maturation of Walker, who with one stirring postseason speech showed what type of leader he is. The steady-handed, egoless guidance of Jim O'Brien, who did one of the best (probably the best) coaching jobs in the NBA this season, regardless of what a group of voters thought.
But the 2001-02 season was just the beginning, a little more than a hint at what's to come. Or so the Celtics believe.
"We have nothing to hang our heads for," said Pierce. "We had a great year. This is nothing that is going to linger, not with me.
"I think this is just the beginning of a young team just taking steps for something that is going to be special for us down the line.
"We've got a lot, me and Antoine are going to be here for the next four to five years, so the foundation is there for us. This is something special we have to build on. We really got the experience with getting to the Eastern Conference championship. Nobody really expected us to get here. With time we are going to get better. We have the potential to be a championship team one day."
Not only did O'Brien realize his vision of a team built on strong halfcourt defense and bring out the best in All-Stars Walker and Pierce, he also understood the psyche of the team he inherited. He helped foster a special chemistry by recognizing how members of the supporting cast could make meaningful contributions, convincing anyone who wasn't a star how important his role was.
Kenny Anderson made passing a priority and accepted his place as a third offensive option. Eric Williams prided himself on defense, earning the unwavering loyalty of O'Brien and respect of his teammates. On many occasions, a healthy Tony Battie quieted the criticism that Boston does not have a true center, using his long arms and athleticism to block shots. He also proved a dependable midrange jump shooter.
Then, there were the bench players. Former Sixth Man of the Year Rodney Rogers became a valuable addition after being acquired from Phoenix in February. Rogers played some center and gave O'Brien the option of fielding five 3-point shooters at one time. Tony Delk - acquired with Rogers from the Suns - never became the consistent third scorer many expected and the Celtics needed, though he filled in at both backcourt positions and gave O'Brien an extra body to place on tough-to-guard Allen Iverson and Jason Kidd.
Erick Strickland, a master at taking charges and an unexpected offensive spark in the conference finals, and Walter McCarty, a dangerous 3-point shooter and effective, lanky defender, became fan favorites. Centers Vitaly Potapenko and Mark Blount had their moments, too. Rookie Kedrick Brown, well, we will just have to wait and see.
Over the course of the regular season, this collection of players became a tightly knit group, gathering momentum and confidence as the playoffs approached. They developed an identity as a team that never gave up, making the phrase "fight like wolves" a rallying cry. The Celtics thrilled with late-game heroics and 20 fourth-quarter comebacks. Quarter to quarter, game to game, Boston continually showed its resiliency.
"It was a great season, but we're not satisfied with what we ended with this year," said Battie. "We've got a lot more work to do now that we have a taste of what's going on. We've got a real season behind us and under our belts and something to look forward to next year."
Still, during March, April, and May, the Celtics checked off one milestone after another, accomplishing some feats for the first time since the early 1990s. By winning the final game of the regular season, they posted a 49-33 rec ord, their best since 1992. By defeating Memphis with a thrilling comeback win, Boston claimed a seven-game winning streak, its longest since 1994. The Celtics swept the Lakers for the first time in a decade, the Knicks for the first time in 11 years. Two Celtics (Pierce and Walker) played in the All-Star Game for the first time since 1991. That was after the cocaptains were named Eastern Conference co-Players of the Month for December.
But perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Celtics' season was the way they earned the respect of a city starved for a team that would resurrect the Green Glory Days. They turned a franchise that only a year and a half ago seemed fatally flawed into something special, winning over fans in the process. They played with a pride, toughness, and heart that brought back the best kind of memories.
"We've just got to try again next year," said Walker. "We've got some pieces of the puzzle to fill. We got a great start to, hopefully, having (title) No. 17.
"It's nothing to hang our heads about. Obviously, we are upset, we expect the best for each other and our team. But you've got to take the good and the bad. And this was a good run."
What Walker could not completely process at that moment was all the Celtics had accomplished since October. It seemed that 98 games passed in a whirlwind of ups and downs, surprises and milestones.
The wild, unexpected ride to the Eastern Conference finals for a team that had not made the playoffs since 1995. The biggest fourth-quarter comeback in playoff history in Game 3 against New Jersey. The elimination of the always troublesome 76ers in Round 1 with an offensive performance in Game 5 that set a standard never again equaled by the Celtics. The dismissal of Detroit in Game 5 of the conference semifinals on the road, with Paul Pierce and Walker forced to the bench for much of the fourth quarter with foul trouble.
The commitment that made Boston the third-ranked defensive team in the NBA during the regular season. The game-winning, bank-shot 3-pointer by Walker that defeated the Lakers at Staples Center in February. The buzzer-beating layup by Pierce that beat Miami and snapped an early-season four-game losing streak. The win at Philadelphia March 4 that ended the Celtics' only other four-game skid. The 22-19 record on the road, the first time the team was above .500 away from Boston in more than a decade.
The emergence of Pierce as one of the league's top scorers and go-to guys. The awe-inspiring 48-point performance by Pierce Dec. 1 against the Nets, when he scored all but 2 points in the second half and overtime. The continuing maturation of Walker, who with one stirring postseason speech showed what type of leader he is. The steady-handed, egoless guidance of Jim O'Brien, who did one of the best (probably the best) coaching jobs in the NBA this season, regardless of what a group of voters thought.
But the 2001-02 season was just the beginning, a little more than a hint at what's to come. Or so the Celtics believe.
"We have nothing to hang our heads for," said Pierce. "We had a great year. This is nothing that is going to linger, not with me.
"I think this is just the beginning of a young team just taking steps for something that is going to be special for us down the line.
"We've got a lot, me and Antoine are going to be here for the next four to five years, so the foundation is there for us. This is something special we have to build on. We really got the experience with getting to the Eastern Conference championship. Nobody really expected us to get here. With time we are going to get better. We have the potential to be a championship team one day."
Not only did O'Brien realize his vision of a team built on strong halfcourt defense and bring out the best in All-Stars Walker and Pierce, he also understood the psyche of the team he inherited. He helped foster a special chemistry by recognizing how members of the supporting cast could make meaningful contributions, convincing anyone who wasn't a star how important his role was.
Kenny Anderson made passing a priority and accepted his place as a third offensive option. Eric Williams prided himself on defense, earning the unwavering loyalty of O'Brien and respect of his teammates. On many occasions, a healthy Tony Battie quieted the criticism that Boston does not have a true center, using his long arms and athleticism to block shots. He also proved a dependable midrange jump shooter.
Then, there were the bench players. Former Sixth Man of the Year Rodney Rogers became a valuable addition after being acquired from Phoenix in February. Rogers played some center and gave O'Brien the option of fielding five 3-point shooters at one time. Tony Delk - acquired with Rogers from the Suns - never became the consistent third scorer many expected and the Celtics needed, though he filled in at both backcourt positions and gave O'Brien an extra body to place on tough-to-guard Allen Iverson and Jason Kidd.
Erick Strickland, a master at taking charges and an unexpected offensive spark in the conference finals, and Walter McCarty, a dangerous 3-point shooter and effective, lanky defender, became fan favorites. Centers Vitaly Potapenko and Mark Blount had their moments, too. Rookie Kedrick Brown, well, we will just have to wait and see.
Over the course of the regular season, this collection of players became a tightly knit group, gathering momentum and confidence as the playoffs approached. They developed an identity as a team that never gave up, making the phrase "fight like wolves" a rallying cry. The Celtics thrilled with late-game heroics and 20 fourth-quarter comebacks. Quarter to quarter, game to game, Boston continually showed its resiliency.
"It was a great season, but we're not satisfied with what we ended with this year," said Battie. "We've got a lot more work to do now that we have a taste of what's going on. We've got a real season behind us and under our belts and something to look forward to next year."
Still, during March, April, and May, the Celtics checked off one milestone after another, accomplishing some feats for the first time since the early 1990s. By winning the final game of the regular season, they posted a 49-33 rec ord, their best since 1992. By defeating Memphis with a thrilling comeback win, Boston claimed a seven-game winning streak, its longest since 1994. The Celtics swept the Lakers for the first time in a decade, the Knicks for the first time in 11 years. Two Celtics (Pierce and Walker) played in the All-Star Game for the first time since 1991. That was after the cocaptains were named Eastern Conference co-Players of the Month for December.
But perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Celtics' season was the way they earned the respect of a city starved for a team that would resurrect the Green Glory Days. They turned a franchise that only a year and a half ago seemed fatally flawed into something special, winning over fans in the process. They played with a pride, toughness, and heart that brought back the best kind of memories.
"We've just got to try again next year," said Walker. "We've got some pieces of the puzzle to fill. We got a great start to, hopefully, having (title) No. 17.
"It's nothing to hang our heads about. Obviously, we are upset, we expect the best for each other and our team. But you've got to take the good and the bad. And this was a good run."
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