When you side with a team, you stay with them! And if you can’t do that, you’re like some animal, you’re finished! – paraphrased from the classic line in The Wild Bunch (1969)
Man, I am glad I stuck with the Celtics through this up-and-down, somewhat miserable season. It was somewhat miserable because the Celts rarely gave 100% during the regular season. It was worth the wait because the Celtics just knocked off the winningest team in the NBA this season, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Not only did they knock them off, they destroyed them in the decisive Game 6 and, thanks to LeBron’s impending free agency, quite possibly shifted the entire landscape of the NBA for seasons to come. Best of all, this Celtics team has finally begun playing with the most elusive of all basketball virtues, Celtic Pride.
As defined by Celtics greats of the past, Celtic Pride is…
“You have to be on a team that plays together… You have to win a championship.” Larry Bird
“There’s a lot of tradition. There’s a championship-winning drive.” John Havlicek
“It means teamwork, it means pride, but most of all, I think, it means leadership. They know what they must go through to be a part of that honor.” Sam Jones
“Celtic green is the unique green. It’s a long history, a tradition of excellence, of great players; it means so much, and I think everyone knows the tradition of the Boston Celtics.” Ray Allen
“For the sacrifice of everybody that you give yourself up. No man can be all he can be until the man next to him is all he can be.” Kevin Garnett
“Sacrifice, the hustle, the teamwork, the heart, the soul, determination. That’s what Celtic Pride is.” Paul Pierce, team captain and The Truth
“To be thought of as a real Celtic.” Bill Russell
Celtic Pride is what it took to get past the Cleveland Cavaliers and league MVP, holier-than-thou LeBron James. Everything Paul Pierce highlighted (in the above quote) came into effect, and the result was a series win and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. On a personal note, I loved watching the Cavs getting shoved off their media-appointed perch atop the basketball world. The Cavs are a splintered group of none-too-intelligent, mildly talented players that are lorded over and kept in place by James. The media lauds the team time and again for their teamwork and camaraderie, but it doesn’t take a magical microscope to see what is truly going on in the locker room. The Cavs are a group of 14 players scared shitless that once James (the 15th player) leaves they become inconsequential. They appease him, they dance with him on the sidelines, they speak highly of him, they buy into his numerous marketing shticks, but they only stick with him because they’re terrified of the power he holds over them. And James knows how to slyly wield that power so that the media never catches on and the casual fan sees him as an amazing talent and fantastic teammate. [Remember when the media labeled Tiger Woods as a great family man and a classy gentleman? Whatever feeds the money machine.] James is a great basketball player, but he cannot make his teammates play above their potential (something Jordan could); he knows how to keep them in line though, so it always seems like everything’s hunky-dory and James is beloved by all who surround him. The holier-than-thou James is a fraud, and it only takes a bit of cynicism mixed with common sense to see it. [Think Tiger Woods, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, etc.] He’s not a leader…yet. I fear the day when he actually develops leadership skills, because that’s the day he’ll win a championship. When his teammates follow him as a leader and not as a media-appointed King, then he may finally challenge the greats of the game. All in all, I was ecstatic when he was bounced from the playoffs. The Basketball Gods rewarded teamwork and hustle, not Sprite commercials and Jay-Z’s friendship. Let’s call it divine comeuppance.
My good friends know that I am never truly happy when the Celtics win, not in the playoffs anyway. I am relieved. There is a big difference. I can only truly be happy when the season ends and they hoist the trophy. Relief comes with knowing that they won this game, but there’s another game coming in two days. I enjoy these periods of relief, but the heart rate never slows down to vacation-mode. And if you think I’m a nutcase who lives and dies by the team, I assure you I am not. I can live with losses and applaud in defeat…as long as they play with Celtic Pride. If you give it everything you’ve got and you lose, well, life sometimes happens that way. It’s the effort. You should never cheat your teammates, your fans, or yourself with lack of effort. What baffled and frustrated me this season was that this Celtics team wasn’t playing with Celtic Pride. They didn’t consistently hustle, they took plays off, and they selfishly took too many guarded shots or selflessly passed on open shots. The entire team was out of rhythm. They lacked heart, soul and determination. I understand that injuries, age, and rest played a role, but as a fan who invests in them, I was disappointed for months. It actually affected my basketball play. I found myself becoming aggressive and angry on the court, and hating the game of basketball for the first time in a long time. Other factors were in play, of course, but the lackadaisical play of the Celtics contributed. If I couldn’t believe in these greats giving the effort and playing at a high level, I couldn’t believe in the game as a whole. There is a deep-rooted pride involved in the game of basketball. The epitome of that pride is Celtic Pride.
…
Now, the Celts carry their Pride into battle against the Orlando Magic, a team built on constant whining, faux thuggish attitude, and a fondness for tattoos. They also play basketball, but I don’t care. I don’t like this Magic team anymore than I like the Cavs. The Celts stole Game 1 last night, winning by four points despite having a 20 point cushion during the 3rd quarter. They held on for the victory. For that, I am relieved.
Game 2, Tuesday.