Coincidence or Fate?


The Boston Celtics finish the year with a game against the Sacramento Kings at their stadium.

In the last handful of years, the above sentence didn´t hold any special significance. The Kings haven´t been a true team since the end of the Webber years and the Celtics have been a powerhouse in the league. It would normally be just a game in which the team would coast and would win without much difficulty.

Notice my tense choice. Present Perfect, Conditional...you don´t see anything in the Present tense anymore.

This year, we have already lived a beating in Sacramento (120-95 for the Kings in March) and we come from a horrendous two games in which teams have swept us from the floor.

Let me tell you something: I don´t expect anything else than a W tonight. Not after Kevin Garnett´s words after the game versus the Warriors:

"This is when you start to see who’s with you," said Garnett. "This is when you see who really wants it, who really wants to get down and work and grind for it -- and we're about to find that out."

As for whether the Celts can get it together, KG said, "We have no choice, man. If we want to be great, we've got to stop talking about it and actually do it."

If this doesn´t serve to fuel the team into a win tonight, then nothing else will...in the current format of things.

As Rondo also noted today, the fact that last year we were in the same situation and we reverted it should not be taken for granted for this year:

“There’s only about three guys who’ve been here and did that. It’s not like this is the same team that turned it around late and knows how to do that. So I don’t compare it to last year or other years.

“Even though we’ve gotten off to slow starts the last two or three years and turned it around, each year is different. Each team is completely different. So I’m not banking on that.”

What everybody agrees on is that the Celtics are lacking consistency (which comes after team chemistry) but also some aggression, rebounding and better rotations in defense. Tonight, this team will have 30 games under their belt and maybe, just maybe, Danny will finally become himself more aggressive in his pursuit for upgrading the team.

Enter the Sacramento Kings. A team that has what we lack more: a young center with huge upside that is like a newer version of the proverbial Grinch.

For Cousins will definitely alter your chemistry. He is a key ingredient to the mix. He won´t let the team indifferent. Currently, he is destroying the formula for Sacramento and we are mentioned as the main candidate to land Cousins if and when he is traded by the Kings. We want him to be the component that shakes up the formula for good. The spark of fight that would bring us back into contention.We will get a good look at DeMarcus tonight (provided his coach lets him play) but there would be also other players playing tonight that could be part of a potential trade with the Kings.

The other main name is Tyreke Evans, who may return from his injury right in time to face us. We know Danny loved him in college and he almost traded for him in draft day in 2009. Evans is a scorer, an athletic freak who happens to have no fixed position on the court and that has condemned his status in the league. Well, that and the fact that he has traces of Iverson´s lackadaisical approach to the word practice. 

Both players are disgruntled and would welcome a change of scenario. So would the Kings and yes, so would the Celtics.

Other players from the Kings may be interesting to watch, such as Salmons (who might be part of trades because of his contract situation) and that always has torched us, the intriguing Jimmer Fredette or maybe even Travis Outlaw, both having drawn interest from Danny in the past.

For the Celtics, journalists such as Simmons started floating the name of Rondo around in twitter last night. In his opinion the price to get Cousins and Evans would be Rajon. Imagine how worried and shocked I got when it was said that our star surprisingly wouldn´t play against Golden State last night. My head started spinning into my sickening spiral of self made conspiracy theories and pictured a trade in works. An awful performance by Pierce and a completely subpar (and very rare) game by KG made me imagine the worst concerning Rondo. Then everything was explained (hip injury vs the Clippers) and all came back to normal.




In any case, I surely hope we can see Rajon Rondo back into the lineup tonight. That, my friends is another thing to watch for the game.

Finally, I would like to add that in this time and age in which we are living it is quite easy to get caught into the rumor world and not to easy to see what is a good lead into a story and a wrong one. I had messages from people saying that we were offering Bradley, Sullinger and Melo to the Kings and that the source was the Boston radio. Did anybody hear any of this?

In any case, all eyes will also be on the stellar Jared Sullinger, whose phenomenal play is attracting the eyes of not only Celtics fans and a rising Courtney Lee, who has been offered in trades in the last weeks.

Tonight, the Sacramento vs Boston is more than a regular game. Chemistry, passion, pride and maybe business are in play. Don´t miss a second of it.

Let´s go Celtics!