(Photo: Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images)
CELTICS IMPROVE TO 5-0
WITHOUT RONDO
IN WIN OVER CLIPPERS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
2/3/2013 4:17:18 PM
(Article actually found here.)
Jason Terry and Jeff Green and Leandro Barbosa - those are the Boston Celtics of 2013.
There's also Jason Collins and Jared Sullinger and Avery Bradley who supply the storied franchise with a nucleus far beyond just Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Coach Doc Rivers must be elated to have such an armada, such a stack-filled battalion of magnificent hoop-shooters whose legerdemain might be unproven, yes, but whose lionhearts already roar throughout the fabled land of NBA spectacle!
These are young warriors who marked the cut from tired old veterans who have departed from the team, be it Shaq or whatsisname who left for the Heat... Defector, by any other name, we heat thee! These have been replaced by the likes of Fab Melo, the Brazilian Bostonian Celtic, Courtney Lee (a boy, not the first ever female Boston Celtic guard - no) and Chris Wilcox in sheer character, style and flamboyance coming off from the bench-warming that he does so stupendously well...!
These Boston Celtics are something else and very much the legitimate as also very worthy and proud successors of the Celtic Magic (no relation to anything coming from Orlando, Florida - capisce?) that surrounded the likes of Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, K.C. Jones, John 'Hondo' Havlicek, Tom Heinsohn, Frank Ramsey, Bill Sharman, Don Nelson, Tom 'Satch' Sanders, Chuck Connors, John McCarthy, Bailey Howell, Chris Ford, Earl Williams, Ron Mercer, Rick Fox, Popeye Jones, Roy Rogers Jr., Mike 'Red' Wallace, Bill Walton, Jo Jo White, Xavier McDaniel, Pervis Ellison, Cedric Maxwell, Eric Williams, Paul Westphal, Lucian Whitaker, Dominique Wilkins, Brian Shaw, Reggie Lewis, Sam Jones, Flash Gordon, Larry Bird, Robert Parrish, Kevin McHale, Dennis 'D.J.' Johnson, Danny Ainge, Antoine Walker, Delonte West, Eddie House, Kendrick Perkins, Leon Powe - and Red Auerbach himself, of course! (The only name missing here would be Chuck Norris himself, methinks!)
Instilled by Red (the one true 'Red' of the Green here: Auerbach! No offense to Mike The 'Red' there - Wallace!) the tradition got greater and greater and this team, officially originated only after the war ended, in 1946, became the single most successful team in all of sports because it knew how to replace its winning components so very well. That was all Auerbach's doing, of course, and, ever since he departed his functions with the team (and, most recently this world as well) the team succeeded so well only a handful of times, most notably when Danny Ainge sold off most of the team in order to form the New 'Big Three' (Pierce, Garnett and whatsisname) that were supposed to reignite an era of greatness akin to the days when Bird, Parish and McHale played together - and it worked; they won the championship! Rondo coming in and becoming as important to the Celtics team as Hondo was, say, for the aging Celts back in 1969 - that's another great coup, one that was mostly provided by destiny, but, hey, we'll take it, right? Most other times, though, the substitutions were not nearly as successful nor grandiose - most notably when a certain Rasheed came to town, to succeed fellow Wallace, Mike The 'Red'...? And he'd wear a baseball cap of the team battling another Boston team in the simultaneous playoff season...? Great Celtic Tradition? We don't think so...! But that was the black sheep in an otherwise storybook Boston franchise for the Ages...!
However, this year, after the injury to all-star Rajon Rondo, the Celtics saw a legion of naysayers come forth, from all sides and all fronts, denying their legitimacy as a contender and their right to even rate themselves up there, as worthy successors of these Boston greats of yesteryear...
And these accursed detractors are not even leprechauns - we assume...
"A lot of people say that we don't have a chance of even reaching the playoffs, that we can't do this, we can't do that," starting Celtics guard Avery Bradley was quoted saying, after the huge victory over that other upstart team in the NBA, the Los Angeles Clippers, not Lakers. "We know we have each other and we're going to go out there and fight for each other, no matter what, every single night."
May the Boston Celtics of today carry on the battle - and win the war!
Not only on NBA basketball courts; but also, and most of all, in the court of their fans' hearts! Everybody loves Jason Terry (pictured below) for instance...!
The jury is out on the team, deliberating - while the Celts just make baskets!
(Photo Credits Go To: UNKNOWN/NBAE/Getty Images I assume/Help me out here!)
!Celtic ♣ Pride!
Oh yes - the Ancient Celts would be sooooooo proud -
indubitably!
