Don’t Look Back, Part II

(Continued from Part I)

This series meant a lot to me for many reasons, but two in particular stood out above the rest: my love for Rasheed Wallace and my hatred towards Kobe Bryant. Everything about Kobe screamed insincerity, from his blatant co-opting of Michael Jordan’s moves and body language to the phony “street” cadence he inflected in his speech. “Sheed”, on the other hand, was never afraid to be himself and always spoke without a filter. Even if his attitude occasionally hurt him and his teams, I admired his authenticity. The fact that three of my five favorite players since I started following the NBA closely in 1999 were Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen (Allen Iverson was second only to Rasheed) only added fuel to the fire. I needed to see them beat Kobe again and shatter his dream of winning back-to-back titles as the leader of his team.

After five games, the C’s looked good with a 3-2 lead in a highly competitive series, but everything came crashing down (no pun intended) when Kendrick Perkins suffered a knee injury in the early moments of game six. Clearly distraught by this unfortunate turn of events, his teammates were unable to focus on the task at hand and the Lakers comfortably tied the series. Boston still had one more chance to beat L.A., but it would be considerably more difficult to contain seven-footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum without one of their best rebounders and interior defenders.

Kevin Garnett (5) goes up for a jump shot against Pau Gasol, while Kobe Bryant (24) looks on. Photo (cc) by Eric Kilby and published under a Creative Commons license. Some rights reserved.

Driven by pride and a sense of urgency, the Celtics came out swinging. The sheer bliss I felt during the first three quarters of this game was similar to the one that every Puerto Rican shared on August 15, 2004. The Celtics were sharing the ball and working hard defensively while Kobe was forcing the issue and missing almost every shot he took. Lakers fans were not only watching their team lose, but their hero was tarnishing his legacy, perhaps irreversibly. There was a palpable silence in the Staples Center, but in San Juan, I was screaming my lungs out.

All of a sudden, everything began to fall apart. We started missing shots. Kobe and Gasol attacked the boards relentlessly. The C’s seemed to run out of gas right as the Lakers got their second wind, and the crowd went wild. How were we going to get out of this and regain control of the game?

To be continued…

Don’t Look Back, Part I

The very first thing I did when I bought “100 Things Celtics Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die” was check the date on the inside cover. I wanted to see when it was written because that would tell me whether or not it included my saddest moment as a Celtics fan: game seven of the 2010 NBA Finals.

As you can see, I haven’t stopped thinking about that game even four years later. I try not to – it hurts too much – but I can’t help it. It’s intrinsically human; even after all the wonderful moments in our lives, we always think about what could have been and tend to dwell on missed opportunities.

For those who might not know what happened in 2010, here’s a brief summary: after Kevin Garnett missed the 2009 playoffs due to an injury on his right knee, the Celtics met their biggest rival, the Los Angeles Lakers, in rematch of the 2008 NBA Finals which the Celtics won in 6 games). They were up by as many as 13 points in the third quarter of the deciding seventh game, but were unable to close the deal and the Lakers won the championship on their home court.

The Celtics’ roster that season was extremely deep. Six of their players were current or former NBA All-Stars. Rajon Rondo emerged as a dominant force after having played a complementary role in the 2008 championship. Rasheed Wallace was a dependable veteran with championship experience. Nate Robinson, Glen Davis, and Tony Allen provided youth and energy off the bench. Despite a rocky regular season that ended with the team posting a 50-32 record (after winning 23 out of their first 28 games), they began the playoffs on the right track when they eliminated Dwyane Wade’s Miami Heat in five games.

After beating the Heat, the challenge that lay ahead was seen as an insurmountable one by many observers. Every single basketball analyst at ESPN predicted the Celtics would fall to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who boasted the league’s best record and its Most Valuable Player, LeBron James. Against all odds – and without the luxury of home court advantage – Boston beat Cleveland in six games and moved on to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they defeated the Orlando Magic to set up the rematch with the Lakers.

Basketball fans around the world rejoiced. We had been waiting for this for two years, and now that Garnett was back, it was on. The teams were evenly matched, and their historic rivalry only added to the drama. Would Kobe Bryant get his revenge, or would the Celtics embarrass him again? We couldn’t wait to find out.

To be continued…