Celtics win streak leaves doubt about playoff success
When they came to town with their former teams, they felt the intensity of Celtic Pride and thought they could just put on the jersey and morph into a Celtic. But reality set in when they saw what it took to put a finished product on the court.
The amount of effort it took on the defensive side of the ball, took them by surprise and the vaunted Celtics defense became the laughing stock of the NBA. So this first half swoon did follow the blue print of what has always been know in these parts; that the Celtics use the first half like an extended training camp of sorts. The difference is there was no chemistry, they looked and played out of sorts, a bunch of talented players who were never held accountable for anything more than an offensive outburst.
It was a difficult buy-in; but, since losing two key players the lessons seemed to have sunk in. Pierce and company are riding a four game winning streak, plus Green, Terry, and Lee are finally putting out the effort necessary to make the playoffs. Sunday's game still gave us pause for cause though.
Boston had as much as a 19 point lead for most of the third quarter; then the ball began to stick and what should have been a comfortable win, turned out to be a nail biter. As usual, PP took and made an ill-advised shot that cemented the game and prevented a colossal collapse.
While the team is playing an exciting brand of open-court basketball, the real test will come in the playoffs when the game slows down and Rondo's true worth can be measured by his absence.
