duncan228
03-15-2010, 01:22 PM
LeBron Provides an Alternate Take on the Celtics: They’re Bored (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=tsn-lebronprovidesanalte&prov=tsn&type=lgns)
SportingNews
Every new Celtics’ loss this season seems to confirm their general inferiority to the Cavs and Magic (and even the Hawks) at the top of the East. This is a talented team that can a win a playoff series, but not a squad anyone should expect to make a big run into late spring.
That’s the conventional wisdom, at least. But after yesterday’s loss to Cleveland, no less an authority than LeBron James gave an alternate take on the Celtics. From Julian Benbow of The Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2010/03/15/pick_up_game_cavaliers_james_notices_that_celtics_ look_bored/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Boston+Celtics+news):
“To me, the Celtics look bored,’’ he told the [Cleveland Plain-Dealer]. “I’m not saying they’ve tanked the regular season, I’m just saying an experienced team like Boston has so much talent, they know how to win in the playoffs. Just looking at them, they look like they’re ready for a new challenge.’’ […]
“It’s a veteran ball club, they know what it takes to win,’’ James said. “They’re going to do what it takes to win. They’ve got guys that have been through everything … It’s a good team.’’
By this account, Boston’s treating the regular season like an extended preparatory period for the "new challenge" of the postseason. That’s something many teams have done in the past—the Spurs, most notably—and the Celtics certainly have the profile of a veteran team capable of not going all-out in every regular season game and then making noise in the playoffs.
Of course, those Spurs teams didn’t just wander into the playoffs and turn it on—they gradually improved over the course of the season and entered the postseason among the handful of obvious favorites in either conference. The Celtics would need to turn on a switch where other teams have employed a dimmer.
We’re now only 33 days away from the start of the playoffs and the Celtics still look like a team with very little chance of making the conference finals. LeBron could just be politicking by giving veterans credit for their past playoff success. But if Boston were really capable of making noise in the postseason, we’d have seen it by now.
SportingNews
Every new Celtics’ loss this season seems to confirm their general inferiority to the Cavs and Magic (and even the Hawks) at the top of the East. This is a talented team that can a win a playoff series, but not a squad anyone should expect to make a big run into late spring.
That’s the conventional wisdom, at least. But after yesterday’s loss to Cleveland, no less an authority than LeBron James gave an alternate take on the Celtics. From Julian Benbow of The Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2010/03/15/pick_up_game_cavaliers_james_notices_that_celtics_ look_bored/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Boston+Celtics+news):
“To me, the Celtics look bored,’’ he told the [Cleveland Plain-Dealer]. “I’m not saying they’ve tanked the regular season, I’m just saying an experienced team like Boston has so much talent, they know how to win in the playoffs. Just looking at them, they look like they’re ready for a new challenge.’’ […]
“It’s a veteran ball club, they know what it takes to win,’’ James said. “They’re going to do what it takes to win. They’ve got guys that have been through everything … It’s a good team.’’
By this account, Boston’s treating the regular season like an extended preparatory period for the "new challenge" of the postseason. That’s something many teams have done in the past—the Spurs, most notably—and the Celtics certainly have the profile of a veteran team capable of not going all-out in every regular season game and then making noise in the playoffs.
Of course, those Spurs teams didn’t just wander into the playoffs and turn it on—they gradually improved over the course of the season and entered the postseason among the handful of obvious favorites in either conference. The Celtics would need to turn on a switch where other teams have employed a dimmer.
We’re now only 33 days away from the start of the playoffs and the Celtics still look like a team with very little chance of making the conference finals. LeBron could just be politicking by giving veterans credit for their past playoff success. But if Boston were really capable of making noise in the postseason, we’d have seen it by now.