The Celtics’ Struggle for Success: A Long Road Since Their Championship Era

The Celtics’ current moment is far removed from their own history. The 17 rings are just a mere memory, a tidal wave of black and white titles with only one victory in the last 38 years. It is the time that has passed since Larry Bird led the greens to the third championship of the 80s. Since then, neither the forward has triumphed again nor the Celtics to emerge in their retirement, made effective prematurely due to their constant back problems. Before them began to build a huge, endless, endless wasteland. And that continues to be an objective constant today, always entangled by an obvious competitiveness, but that does not transform into rings. From the absences from the playoffs in the first post-Bird years (6 in a row between 1996 and 2001) to always being part of the final phase… but without the maximum prize. The one that they once conquered one season after another and that shines uncomfortably due to its absence at the moment.

In 2008 the last great success of the Celtics was lived, a ring commanded by a luxury big three and a victory, for moreover, over the Lakers. The eternal rival, the one who has won six titles in the 21st century to be able to match the green team at the top of the ladder. Not even that eternal fight has translated into a reason to win again. Successes do not come: the project by Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen ended, Rajon Rondo emerged as the last survivor and a slow reconstruction began, always linked to the rhythm of a Danny Ainge who inherited the ideas and cultural power of Red Auerbach , who passed away in 2006 after a lifetime associated with the Celtics. In Boston, things have always been like this: the same long-term project, betting on the same stars and surrounding them, choosing a coach who will be there for several years. Of course, what worked in the past does not have to be the same now. And the chameleonic capacity is always a virtue in an NBA that does not wait for anyone. Nor to a franchise as highly historic as the Celtics.

The persistence in immobility ended with the figure of Ainge, who set course for the Jazz after years and years of services rendered. Brad Stevens assumed his role on the board and resigned from the bench, with rumors of wear and tear on the members of the squad. Ime Udoka, trouble through, came and went after the franchise’s first Finals since 2010. And his inheritance came to a Joe Mazzulla who has just set up. The squad makes the same mistakes, lacks the same pieces, rows until it dies on the shore. He gives the feeling that something is missing that does not arrive, a piece that gives the final push to the project. And things continue the same, with a title that never arrives and light movements that do not finish insufflating enough air so that the oxygen is necessary to take the final step. And, along the way, the confirmation that everyone receives, sooner or later, in the NBA: winning is not easy. It never is.

insist… or no

The Celtics, if they’ve ever had a dilemma, are solving it on the fly. And it seems that they are going to insist on their idea, at least for now. There is only one nuance that has changed: the departure of Marcus Smart. A huge cultural appeal that was deeply rooted in thinking about what it means to be from the Celtics. At least for classical fans, since the increase in ticket prices has also changed the type of public that goes to the Garden. Smart is a fighter, he has passion, he is tough and a great defender, characteristics that have always gone hand in hand with green fans. Always untouchable, another of Ainge’s shortcomings in the offices (they all were), he has ended up leaving through the back door, with a truly tough elimination against the Heat and that leaves him, in his goodbye, as one of those indicated. Along the way of movement came Kristaps Porzingis, a man of glass who comes to bolster an inside game that features an aging Al Horford and a physically erratic Robert Williams. The Latvian contributes in attack when he is healthy (much less in defense), but he generates more doubts than certainties.

Along the way, another of the problems that have been repeatedly repeated in the Celtics’ scheme is not resolved. Since the project began with Stevens on the bench, the point guard role has gone from promising to dire. The brightness of the light of Isaiah Thomas was ephemeral, the arrival of Kyrie Irving an embarrassment that unraveled the project; the passage of Kemba Walker was of little use and, since his departure, it has been Smart who has acted as such along with Jayson Tatum … and a Jaylen Brown who fails excessively in distribution. Now, they are left with Payton Pritchard and Malcolm Brogdon, neither of them original to that position. A defect that ostensibly increases with the departure of Smart, who even with his things contributed more in that position than if there is no one. His ambivalent behavior, the ambiguity of his actions and the closed-door discussion in the Orlando bubble that, it is said, ended up leading to the departure of Gordon Hayward, have destroyed the reputation of a correct player, but with excessive airs of greatness. for your level. As good a defender as he is… which he is. Let it be recorded in the record.

What do we do with the Jays?

The Celtics are making decisions and, as much as the rumors insist on separating Tatum and Brown, that option has never been on the table for them. They continue to keep both stars, they missed the opportunity to get rid of Jaylen to get Kevin Durant last year and they have renewed him for an astrophysical floor of 304 million in five seasons that will take effect from the 2024-25 season. A clear declaration of intent for two consolidated players, with generational overtones, but who are at the same pace as the Celtics: they always fail at the end. In the seventh game against the Heat, Brown stayed at 19 points with a pyrric 8 of 23 shooting, while Tatum reached 14 with a poor 5 of 13. One more sign that they still have some frying left to be able to give the definitive jump towards the ring.

Tatum and Brown, especially the former, are numerically and statistically close (or equal) to the great stars of the competition, they easily add All Stars and are the highlights of the videos that are constantly going viral in the NBA. But they have peaks, they are irregular and their performances at crucial moments have always been questioned. All this, within the atmosphere that surrounds an entity in which it is not clear how much power Mazzulla has, who took out Udoka without the approval (it seems) of the players and who is not capable of making a radical change in the market to strengthen the deficiencies and enhance some virtues that may not be so.

At the moment, things are as they are with the Celtics. Tatum is 25 years old and Brown 26, they may still be on their way to their prime and the team is always a candidate: since the project began they have added nine consecutive participations in the playoffs, five conference finals and one Final, those in which they were 2-1 ahead and with the Warriors clinically dead until Stephen Curry emerged to tie the fourth title of the dynasty and deprive the Celtics of the prize they crave so much. Smart, once untouchable, is finally out. Brown signs the biggest contract ever. And there is already speculation about what Tatum may have in the very near future. Of course: doing the same thing, it is difficult for the result to be different. And the changes do not seem enough to make the definitive jump to the ring. All this, only a few months after being almost the first team to come back from 3-0 in the final phase. And that’s almost where these Celtics move. They need to take the final step. And the NBA does not wait for anyone… not even the 17 rings of a green pride that does not shine as much as in a glorious past from which the present is far removed. And meanwhile, opportunities come to an end. And time is running out. Tick, tock, tick, tock…

2023-08-04 09:54:47
#Green #pride #falters #Celtics #search #lost #culture