The operative word with the Celtics is still optimism
This Celtics season isn’t ending with the rise of an 18th banner to the Garden rafters without a postseason run that by comparison would make the 2001 Patriots look like heavy favorites.
It might have happened, had the Celtics remained healthy. The long season serves as a reminder that championships should never be counted before all matters have been settled on the court. Anyone who crowned the Warriors as inevitable title winners along the way must have forgotten that no one is indestructible, even Steph Curry.
Had Gordon Hayward not suffered a shocking leg injury halfway through the first quarter of his first game in green and white, and had a plague of late-season injuries — including the crushing Kyrie Irving knee surgery — not dwindled their depth to the point that Danny Ainge had to find a reinforcement in China, the Celtics might have been one of the teams poised to seize upon the Warriors’ vulnerability.
Fully healthy Celtics versus roughed-up Warriors? Why, wouldn’t that be a fun seven games?
Instead, when the Celtics take the court against their yet-to-be determined opponent in their first-round playoff series, they’ll have one remaining starter from last season’s that’s-all-folks Game 5 loss to the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals (Al Horford) and three from their opening-night loss to the Cavs this year (Horford, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown).
That’s an incredible amount of turnover from one season to the next, and an almost unfathomable amount of turnover during the season.
Injuries have lessened the Warriors’ chances of repeating as champion. Injuries have devastated the Celtics’ somewhat reasonable daydream of becoming one.
Yet in all ways but the ultimate one, this has been a remarkably enjoyable Celtics season. With two games remaining, they’ve already surpassed last year’s win total; they’re 54-26 after going 53-29 last season.
They’ve done this with Irving and Hayward combining to play 61 games, or four fewer than rookie Daniel Theis — and all three of them are lost for the season to injury.
They’ve done it with a rookie in his age-19 season leading them in minutes played (Tatum).
They’ve done it with Theis and Shane Larkin emerging from the discard pile to become valuable contributors.
They’ve done it with Jonathan Gibson and Kadeem Allen scoring more points than Hayward (he scored 2 before the injury), and with Xavier Silas and Jarell Eddie playing more minutes.
All right, I’ll stop with the statistical comps to a player whose season officially lasted five minutes. But we must note this, because I think it helped shape the identity that made them so resilient and likable this year: The Celtics nearly stole that game from the Cavaliers, losing by 3 after trailing by 16 at halftime in the staggered aftermath of the Haywood injury.
Where do they go from here? It depends which trip you’re talking about — this year’s playoffs, or the longer one, when Irving and Hayward are back and the championship quest begins again.
In Hayward’s absence, and Irving’s more recently, so many good things have happened. Tatum and Brown blossomed into legitimate high-quality NBA players, with the promise of greater achievements ahead.
Marcus Morris, acquired for the popular Avery Bradley over the summer, turned out to be a welcome addition, a gruff, no-nonsense type on the surface who is secretly likable, especially when he’s hitting yet another huge shot.
They tell us Greg Monroe came over after being bought out by the Suns, but I suspect he somehow arrived from the NBA of the ’80s. He is a relic, a back-to-the-basket big man, but he sure is an enjoyable one, especially when he’s throwing those pinpoint lefty bounce passes to darting cutters.
I suppose the heady expectations for next year would count as delayed gratification if they are fulfilled. But the frustration of the injuries shouldn’t be underplayed, in part because these may be the last weeks as a Celtic for some of these likable players.
Monroe, Larkin, and dependable Aron Baynes are all going to be unrestricted free agents. Smart is a restricted free agent, but some wise team will look past his brutal shooting numbers to recognize his immense value. The Celtics won’t look quite the same next year, and while that is natural, it’s too bad. I’d love to see what this group could do together at full strength.
The Celtics are due a season of collective good health next year. Injuries have derailed too many promising seasons over the past decade: Kevin Garnett’s knee injury in ’09, Kendrick Perkins’s knee injury in the Finals in ’10, Rajon Rondo’s elbow in ’11, Avery Bradley’s hamstring and Jae Crowder’s ankle in ’16, Isaiah Thomas’s hip in ’17.
Can’t LeBron James tweak a hammy or something one of these years?
I’m already looking forward to watching Irving and Hayward unite for more than five minutes next year. But this season isn’t over, and maybe it won’t be for a while. Even though great expectations are gone for now, I look forward to seeing what Brad Stevens can do in the playoffs with this undermanned but feisty and still talented roster. There is no better against-all-odds coach in the league. I’m not sure there is a better coach in the league, period.
I refuse to believe that this team, with plenty of talent and smarts and a deep reservoir of resilience, is losing in the first round. Here’s to the possibility of revitalizing that mostly dormant Sixers rivalry in Round 2.
But when they do eventually do bow out, whenever it comes, don’t call it a postmortem. They’ll be here for years.
