Boston Celtics Clawing Way Their Out Of The Tank Following Win Over Cleveland
Apr 12, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Boston Celtics center
Kelly Olynyk(left) and center
Joel Anthony(50) and Cleveland Cavaliers guard
Kyrie Irving(2) reach for a rebound in the second quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Boston Celtics fans, I’m conflicted.
As I’m sure many of you are, too.
See, on the one hand, once March rolled into town, I started to want the Celtics to lose. Often. Pretty much every game. As a proud Celtics fan, it was hard for me to accept the losing, but as most of us with a shred of basketball sense understood, it was a necessary evil. Finishing in the middle of the pack will get the Celtics a good young player, but not a great one, and for a team that wants to win its NBA-best 18th NBA Championship, good just won’t get it done.
On the other hand, losing creates a losing mindset, and I have never wanted Phill Prssey, Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger to get the point in their young careers where they accept losing. Add these two conflicting sentiments up, and it means I have been asking the impossible out of coach Brad Stevens and his young squad: to fight hard and learn what it takes to win, all during a season in which the Celtics lost 50+ games.
All of which makes the Celtics’ more recent games bittersweet experiences. First the Celtics took down the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night, behind a solid effort from its makeshift starting five, and then Boston continued its winning ways behind Olynyk’s career-best 25 point, 12 rebound effort last night. To be honest, I feel better about Boston’s win last night, since it stopped the team’s road losing streak at 13 and avoided having this roster set a franchise-record for road futility (the 13-game road losing streak only ties the franchise record set in 1979).
Still . . . our Twitter account received this batch of lovin’ from FanSided’s Los Angeles Lakers site, Lake Show Life, following the Celtics victory:
That’s because, with their two wins in a row, the Boston Celtics have gone from being tied for the third-worst record in the NBA to being tied for the fifth-worst record . . . with the Lakers. Seriously, LA – we all know you want to be just like the Celtics, but isn’t this taking things a bit too far? Develop your own identity, please, and tank some other time!
With two games left on their schedule, then, Boston currently has just a 7.55% of landing the first pick in this year’s draft (if the Lakers and Celtics remain tied, they would earn the average of the percentages allotted to the fifth and sixth worst teams in the league), and is in danger of falling out of the top five completely, which would be a shame given the talent that is sure to be picked within the top five.
So yes, Boston Celtics fans: I’m conflicted, dammit! For now, I’ll simply tip my hat to Olynyk and the rest of the guys for literally never giving up this season, and resign myself to seeing where the chips fall once the NBA Draft Lottery rolls around.