When it became apparent in the third quarter of last night's game that the Celtics were going to be champions, I thought about, and not for the first time this season, how dramatically different things were last season. If you had told me then the Celtics would win it all this year, I'd have chalked the prediction up to wishful thinking. Even when it appeared likely we'd draft either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant, two of the highest touted prospects in recent memory, I'd still have thought there'd be no chance the C's could do what I watched them do on the living room TV last night.
Luke Warm and I watched the Celtics play a lot of bad basketball last year. The only highlight I can remember is when Gerald Green won the slam dunk contest at the All Star game. Sure, there were things to enjoy about the season: with so many young kids on the team, there was a kind of parental joy in watching them develop, and even though we weren't awarded the opportunity to draft either Oden or Durant, it was fun for a while there envisioning either one of them in a Celtics uniform.
Missing out on the top picks in the draft was the final nail in the coffin of a horrible season. It portended more sub-par basketball for years to come. And then everything changed with the arrival of Kevin Garnett.
I'm tired and can't maintain much focus. There's more I'd like to say about how gratifying and surreal it was watching my team go all the way this year, but I fear I won't be able to convey my feelings in any tangible way. I'm kind of like KG was last night after the game when all he could was issue primal scream after joyous primal scream. Apart from the screaming, which I have thus far not engaged in, I share his inability to articulate how much it all meant to him. It'll come out incrementally in future posts, I'm sure, but now, now I just want to put my earbuds on and go for a walk.
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