Anyone who has been reading me for the past two years knows this: I cannot stand LeBron James. So, based on this, I have not cared how the NBA season ends, I only want the Miami Heat not to win, and I want it to happen in excruciating fashion.
The Boston Celtics are in the last season of the Big Three experiment. Three conference finals appearances, two NBA Finals appearances and one title is not too shabby for Danny Ainge’s blockbuster moves. This season, the Cs lucked into the most fortunate run yet, the Derrick Rose injury put a very underwhelming Philadelphia squad in the second round, and paved a very easy path for Boston to set a date with the Heat for the eastern crown.
The first two games looked like Miami was exposing Boston for what everyone knows they are, old. But once they got back to Boston, the Celtics stopped getting bullied by James and Dwayne Wade, made the Heat hit the deck and turned age into experience. Boston definitely has. No business beating Miami, which is why I think they are going to do it.
If Boston can pull off the upset, it will be the very definition of a last hurrah. While their run was short, watching the Celtics over the past few years has been nothing short of a throwback to the old NBA. A team that cared about defense first and has four Hall of Famers sacrificing personal stats for the benefit of the team.
They turned TD Garden into a replica of Boston Garden and the playoff atmosphere is better in Boston than any other city. The Celtics were terrible until Ainge’s made Boston basketball better again. And they have done this all while defying what the new age NBA is doing, and so while it’s the last run for the Cs, it may be their luckiest and best. Which is why King James will remain crown less.