Round 2: Requiem for a Dream

     All season Celtics fans waited with baited breath for our team to emerge.  The true version of the Boston Celtics.  Ultimately, it was just a dream.  A season full of unmet expectations and day-to-day emotional turmoil mercifully ended in 5 games at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the semi-finals.  The Bucks dismantled and disrupted the Celtics all game, every game with the exception of game 1.  The most disturbing aspect of this second round series was the lack of effort. As a lifelong Boston Celtics fan I’ve never seen a Celtics team behave like that.  Most Celtics teams make up for what they lack in talent with grit and hustle plays.  There was none of that this season outside of anyone named Marcus. “Tommy points” came few and far between… After a great opening round series with Indiana, the Celtics got the number one seeded…

(1) Milwaukee Bucks vs. (4) Boston Celtics

So obviously my prediction before the series of “Celtics in 6” was wrong. Way wrong… At least I wasn’t bad as Paul Pierce. The Celtics got whooped in 4 of the 5 games of the this series but what the hell… let’s do a breakdown anyway.

Game 1:

• score: 112-90 Celtics win @ Milwaukee
• notes: This is how it was supposed to go down.  Al Horford anchoring the D, Kyrie driving and dishing.  The recipe for series success…

Game 2:

• score: 102-123 Bucks win
• notes: Comeback game for the Bucks and a harbinger of things to come for the Celtics. Celtics never had a chance in this one.

Game 3:

• score: 116-123 Bucks win @ Boston
• notes: This was a winnable game.  Back and forth contest the whole 1st half and then everything fell apart in the third.  George fucking Hill and Pat fucking Connaughton started going off and the Celtics didn’t offer up a response. At home no less.  It’s crazy to think that a more immediate reaction to that 3rd quarter run could have changed this whole series.

Game 4:

• score: 101-113 Bucks win @ Boston
• notes: Scorched-Earth Giannis game. World-Breaker Giannis.  The freakist freak Giannis.  There was nothing the Celtics could do, he was just a great player doing great things and nobody on the Celtics had the will or ability to stop him.

Game 5:

• score: 91-116 Bucks win
• notes: listless, inexcusable sorry excuse for effort in the final game of the season.  At one point the Bucks got 4 offensive rebounds in one possession.  This game made my physically sick while watching.

Final notes on the 2018-’19 Season:

It took a few days for me to get over what I consider to be the most disappointing season of basketball I’ve ever watched.  There were some good moments of course but those were followed shortly by losing streaks and players only meetings.  If you asked me how I felt during the season, I would have said I was confident.  I really thought the Celtics would and could “turn it on.” Ultimately, that never happened and perhaps it never would have happened. 

Going forward I see two scenarios for the Celtics:

Scenario 1:  Trade whoever plus picks for Anthony Davis; Resign Kyrie Irving and go for Banner 18 next year.

Scenario 2: Let Kyrie walk. Build around Jaylen Brown/Jayson Tatum core. Retain Horford and Rozier. Let Hayward get healthy and comfortable.

Either way the Celtics go, I will support them.  I am pretty disappointed in this year but nothing has ever shaken my love for this team and this franchise.  I’m confident Celtics will do what they think is best and as always, my C’s are up…