I will take umbrage with Ian Thomsen's assessment of the Celtics:
To state the obvious: These Boston Celtics are not a championship team. It's a huge surprise after their dominance of the regular season, but under the defensive pressure of the playoffs their three stars have lost all feeling for how to play off one another. They are a numb offensive team that doesn't feed off strengths or mismatches, that doesn't develop a go-to scorer during the game and doesn't exhibit poise when mandatory. Over the closing minutes of tight games the Celtics look as if they have no idea where to go with the ball or which of them should take over. This is why no overhauled team has ever won a title in its first year together: It takes years for a championship team to learn to play together and barring some kind of heavenly revelation the No. 1 seed isn't going to achieve that unity this postseason. They still might win this series; but in the bigger picture, the superior Spurs, Pistons, Hornets, Lakers and Jazz have all been together longer and aren't facing the steep postseason learning curve that is exposing these Celtics
Why is saying "These Boston Celtics are not a championship team" so "obvious"? I'm as frustrated as anyone that they're struggling on the road… but they're also undefeated at home… and the DO have home court advantage.
This is what gets me so frustrated. After 2 games at home, people were amazed at the Celtics stifling defense… KG's clutch play… the bench stepping up their game. The Celtics had it all working again. Now… its "obvious" the C's aren't a championship team. Why is it so "obvious"… when the "superior" Spurs, Pistons, Hornets, Lakers and Jazz have all ALSO been blown out on the road. The "superior" Spurs were old and slow after going down 0-2 in a pair of blowouts. Now the Hornets are "too young" and the Spurs are "experienced." Why did the Jazz look SO bad in LA… and SOOOO good at home? Is anything "obvious" about them?
Spare me, Ian Thomsen… and everyone else that is writing this team off when it still hasn't trailed in either series. We can say things are wide open… but to say any team right now… in a round where the home team is 15-1… is obviously not a championship team is short sighted and wrong.
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