Running On Fumes ?

by Gabe Souza

Editorial. Photos by AP News

It started off so promising.

A clutch opening day win over Cleveland had analysts abuzz on whether they had misjudged the Celtics’ power in the East.

A few easy wins here mixed with very few loses there had C’s fans flaunting their bragging rights up and down Mass. Ave. They could even throw it back in the face of Lakers’ fanatics – World Champion Laker fanatics. And it was all merited.

The green demolished the likes of Philadelphia, Utah, Chicago, Golden State and even Oklahoma City. With only four losses up to Christmas Day, things looked good in the Garden.

But as the yuletide spirit began to grow, so did the anxiety that the Celtics would get coal in their stocking like the had the year before against the Los Angeles Lakers, a loss that ended up derailing their postseason hopes.

Turns out the knots in fans’ stomachs were for not.

By the time Santa finished his rounds on December 25, five Celtic players had scored in double figures – including a near triple-double from Rajon Rondo – and the C’s defeated Superman’s Magic, 86-77.

A solid win. Things looked good. Championship run: still intact.

Then they lost to the perennial cellar-dweller, the Clippers. Merely an abberation, right?

Then they lost to Golden State. Eh, it’s ok, they can have a couple of bad games in a row.

Then they lost to Atlanta. Twice. Well, maybe there was a bit of concern, but hey, the capital of Georgia is an up and coming basketball city, you know.

Sit tight and wait. They’d pull it out soon, right?

But then they lost to Dallas. And Detroit. And Chicago. And New Orleans.

That’s ok, we were told by C’s management. Garnett was out with that nagging knee. We’ll easily make the playoffs, no worries. Hard to win when you don’t have your dominant big man. You know how that goes, right?

Well, then there’s the factor of Marquis Daniels being out, Ray Allen needing to wheelchair it around the locker room and the dinged up Paul Pierce desperately trying to take the court.

Whatever, that’s fine. We’ll wait some more for the turn around. In the meantime, fans just had to accept a couple more losses each to Orlando and Atlanta. No biggie.

For a minute, you could almost buy into those theories.

It seemed like the veteran squad just needed a few days off. Pierce boosted his self-esteem by winning the three-point contest, Garnett showed he could still run with the best of ‘em in the All-star game and I’m sure Allen treated himself to a few whirlpool sessions in the Eastern Conference locker room.

When the re-energized Celtics took the court after nearly a week off, Sacremento, Portland, New York and even the Lakers fell victim to the Hub’s team.

But then Danny Ainge tried to fix what wasn’t broken. The general manager traded his perfectly good, dependable House for a flashy Ferrari with maintenance problems.

In his first game wearing green, Nate Robinson barely helped his new team barely beat his old team, the lowly Knicks, by just four points.

Even last Thursday, things didn’t look too awful. They jumped out to an early lead over LeBron and the Cavs, thanks to Rajon Rondo, who was playing well, and his supporting cast who was taking advantage of scoring opportunities.

But then, the defense catastrophically and systematically failed like it has all season.

“The King” and Shaq manipulated the green’s attack and dropped 62 points in the second half, serving up a 20 point loss for the green.

But worst of all, shortly after that loss, they were absolutely humiliated by New Jersey.

The worst team in the league came into the Garden, completely disregarded the 17 championship banners hanging from the rafters and methodically destroyed what should be a top-tier NBA team.

These weren’t even the Nets of 2003 with Jason Kidd, Dikembe Mutombo and Kenyon Martin. These were the Nets of Courtney Lee and Brook Lopez.

Who? Yeah, I know. I had the same reaction.

Folks, I’m here to tell you the harsh reality. If you’re still waiting for the 2009-2010 Boston Celtics to turn their season around, you’re going to be waiting for a long time.

“I got nothing to say. I feel disgusted,” KG told reporters following the loss to the 6-52 Nets.

The fact is, Garnett isn’t what he used to be. His best game of the season came in the ugly Nets loss with 26 points and nine rebounds, a far cry from his MVP type seasons last decade.

Pierce, while shooting lights-out this season, has become inconsistent when driving to the basket and the tenderness of his rapidly aging knee is now an issue.

Allen’s days of drowning the opponent in three-pointers is done. While the man can still shoot, his legs can’t take the miles of sprints up and down the hardwood anymore.

As of now the best player on the team is Rajon Rondo. The young point guard is averaging a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists per game and can haul down some big rebounds in crucial times.

Surprisingly, Kendrick Perkins has come into his own, bulking up and averaging 11 points and just under eight boards a game, a welcome addition to the green’s production.

But this isn’t enough. The young players can’t do it themselves. Just as John Havlicek and Cedric Maxwell had Bob Cousy and Bill Russell to show them the way, Rondo, Perkins, and even Daniels need the modern day “Big Three” to show them the way.

“We all have to dig deep and see what we’re made of as a team,” said Garnett after the horrifying Nets loss.

Until they do that - until the veterans step up and start acting like the Big Three they are - very few marks will be notched in the win column for the NBA’s greatest franchise and they’ll be lucky to sneak past the first round of the playoffs.