Can the Celtics be the ’04 Pistons?
By Sean Ryan
Can the Boston Celtics replicate the same success the 2004 Detroit Pistons had?
The 2004 Detroit Pistons defeated the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers in a five-game Finals matchup. This happened in large part to rookie phoneme, Darko Milicic. Sorry, that just sounded to funny not to include. Those Pistons entered the season with a new head coach in Larry Brown and were projected to finish second in the East, behind Jason Kidd’s New Jersey Nets.
Throughout the course of the season, the Pistons proved that they would be a true threat to knock off the Nets as the East’s superior team. At the trade deadline, Rasheed Wallace was acquired from the Atlanta Hawks, yes he did play for the Hawks, one game anyway. He helped carry the team for the remainder of the season. They topped New Jersey in the second round, beat the Pacers in the Conference Finals, and upset the Kobe Bryant – Shaquille O’Neal led Lakers in the championship. Many people feel that they are the only team in NBA history to win a title without a true superstar. The question is: Can the Boston Celtics do the unthinkable and raise Banner 18?
It’s seems unlikely, but as Jae Crowder said himself “We’re one superstar.” True Celtics’ fans have faith in this club, to do something special. Before we talk about crowning a champion, first we need to get by the East’s elite.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Celtics always make for a hard-fought matchup. They’ve faced each other in the playoffs plenty of times, including the Celtics being swept in the opening round just a season ago. This Boston team, however, is not the same team. They are stronger, faster, simply better than that 7th seeded team. The Celtics sit third in the East right now, behind only the Cavs and Toronto Raptors.
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Lately, Cleveland hasn’t been playing their best basketball and chemistry remains to be an issue. The Celtics, on the other hand, fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. For that reason, Boston can beat Cleveland. They have played their hearts out all season and have gone the extra mile. Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder are the heart and soul of that club, and we all know that they will surely not go down without a fight.
The Toronto Raptors, I feel, are a stronger opponent. They have one of the best backcourts in basketball with All-Stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. The Raptors are a great, young team, that now have more playoff experience and desire. They are a more complete team with better coaching.
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In Cleveland, Tyronn Lue has extremely little experience and most people agree that LeBron James calls all the shots. In Toronto, things are how they’re supposed to be. Everybody knows their place and gets their job done. Boston’s offense is ranked fourth, meanwhile their defense is ranked fifth. If the Celtics continue to play at their current level there is a very high chance that they can get by the East. And if luck is in our favor, maybe one of these two teams will be upset in the first round.
The Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs are making history this season. Golden State is the league’s best offensive team and the Spurs are the best defensively. The Dubs have lost six games, as they continue to chase the 72-10 record, while the Spurs have ten losses. These two squads are clearly the best in the Association, everybody would love to see these two powerhouses butt heads in the Finals, sadly they can’t.
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If Boston does make it all the way to Larry O’Brien’s doorstep, they would have to unleash everything in their arsenal to beat either of these historic teams. The ’04 Pistons beat Shaq and Kobe without a true superstar, in five games at that. Can the Celtics beat Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green or Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge, without one? That is a question that we will need to wait on the answer for. We must simply have faith in our club, if the Pistons did it why can’t we? After all “We’re one superstar”.