They’re Learning

Posted by Randolph Charlotin May 31, 2008 at 10:11 am

Do you remember Doc Rivers saying it could be a good thing that the Celtics played in two series that were extended to game sevens? His words were, “Going through this thing twice has to be a positive to our team. It Just has to be.”

How many thought it was a load of bull? It sounded like a coach trying to spin a positive out of disappointment.

I did. I saw no good out of the best team in the East being extended to a seventh game by two teams clearly inferior to the Celtics. For goodness sakes, Atlanta barely made it to the playoffs. And Cleveland is a one-man team. And it took the Celts seven games to beat both of them? And Doc is calling it a positive? Come on!

Looks like Rivers was right. This team wasn’t playoff tested over the years. They are basically picking things up along the way when the expectations for this club are sky high. Finishing with the league’s best record and being rated as the top defense can do that, even for a unproven playoff team.

It hasn’t been an efficient playoff run, but the results are as desired. How they did it shows that Boston is learning from their playoff experiences. What they learned so far:

Resiliency: Rivers showed Muhammad Ali fights to the players to get across the message of always moving forward even when absorbing a lot of punishment. They took the best punches from the Hawks, Cavaliers and Pistons, but in the end Boston fought back and put them away.

Road worries: Boston was win-less on the road in the first two rounds of the playoffs, a 0-6 record in Atlanta and Cleveland. Whether it was not having equal intensity or failures to secure wins in crunch time, the Celtics played like a different team away from home and allowed leads to slip through their fingers.

They put an end to that problem against Detroit. When Boston had to win on the road after losing game two at home, they took it to the Pistons and won convincingly. It was a skill they displayed again in game six at the Palace. The 10-point fourth quarter hole meant nothing as they executed offensively and locked down the Pistons. In the Conference Finals Boston reversed their road trend and won two out of three.

Finishing touch: Because the Celts couldn’t win on the road in the first two series, they couldn’t finish off their opponents, even when they were on the ropes. Against Atlanta and Cleveland, Boston was up 3-2 with a chance to take them out of their misery on the road. Both times Boston came up short.

It looked like it would be the same story against Detroit, but the Celtics re-wrote the ending. A second half lead became a fourth quarter deficit. But instead of folding up the tent, the Celtics rallied a final time and put away the Pistons in six games.

Boston gets high grades for showing rapid application of the hard lessons learned from the playoffs. It’s easy to think they are prepared for the Los Angeles Lakers because the Celts already beat L.A. both times during the regular season.

Not quite. This isn’t the same Lakers team. They raised their level of play during the playoffs. The Lakers hadn’t traded for Pau Gasol yet. He’s not the same player as Andrew Bynum.

Boston will have to do their research for the Lakers, but will learn the most about their opponent by playing them. Based on the first three rounds, the Celtics are ready for the Finals exam.