Trivial Celtics Have No Pressure

[wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Exactly.  A nice summation by Lenny, frequently seen crusing down
Commonwealth Avenue with Ted Sarandis in his corvette. . .

Megliola: Playing the waiting game
Milford Daily News
By Lenny Megliola
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 
BOSTON -- They were playing for nothing last night, killing time until the Indiana Pacers kill them, or so the story goes. 
	
The Celtics had already clinched a playoff spot. There wasn't much glory or satisfaction in how it happened. They'd lost four straight against some lousy teams. They staggered into the playoffs by waiting for the broken-down 76ers to lose. Which they did of course. 
	
So when the Celtics went out and lost 84-77 to the Miami Heat last night at the FleetCenter, it didn't mean much to them. Paul Pierce even sat out with a bum ankle. Don't worry, if the game had mattered he would have played. 
	
Boston has one more game left, the regular-season closer at home Wednesday against Atlanta (good seats still available), before games matter again. The eighth-seeded Celtics will play the top-seeded Pacers, best of seven, the shock being if it goes five. 
	
The Celtics are 35-46, but don't tell them they don't belong in the postseason with a record like that. Don't waste your breath suggesting they're in denial. Walter McCarty pointed out that a lot of Western Conference teams over the years have made the playoffs under .500. 
	
"Now we do it and we suck?" said McCarty. 
	
Well, now that you mention it, Walter. ... 
	
Let's face it, this is a team that's been questioned since the end of the playoffs last year, when they got bumped by the Nets in the second round. In came Danny Ainge to run the show, out went Antoine Walker, turned quickly into a Maverick by the new sheriff in town. Ainge kept reshaping the team, but no matter how it looked it didn't produce much confidence among the dwindling faithful. 
	
"It looked a little blurry when Coach (John) Carroll took over and we went on that losing streak," said Pierce. After Jim O'Brien looked at the situation, top to bottom, he decided no mas and bolted. The Celtics lost 12 of their first 13 under Carroll. But it didn't take a genius to understand that the weak Eastern Conference was going to leave some doors open for a chosen few. 
	
"We knew we had a chance (to make the playoffs) from start to finish," said Pierce, who breaks the season down into three parts: First half, second half, playoffs. The first two parts inspired no one. The last part probably won't either. "Hey, we're always underdogs," said McCarty. "We're going in to win." 
	
They won't win squat if they don't bone up on defense, which was egregiously dismal in their recent 0-4 road slide. The D would definitely have to improve. 
	
"If it doesn't, we're going to be embarrassed," said McCarty. He admitted that there have been some games recently when "we just didn't play in the fourth quarter." 
	
Against the Pacers, the fourth quarter will be irrelevant unless the Celtics play 48 urgent minutes. And even that might not be good enough. 
	
All the new faces, all the changes? "That's not an excuse anymore," said McCarty. 
	
They have become Boston's Nowhere Team, these Celtics, a big comedown from he days when they were the only team that could think championship. There were years when they could almost guarantee one. The Patriots were either a bad or middle-of-the-road team. They'd never win a Super Bowl, right? The Red Sox would never win a World Series in our lifetime, and there were thousands of Sox fans long buried who had uttered that lament. The Bruins, title-less since 1972, had the bad timing of returning to the Stanley Cup Finals twice, only to meet up each time the great, unbeatable Edmonton Oilers. 
	
So we turned April (May and June too) over to the Celtics. 
	
Not anymore. Sure, that ride two years ago to the brink of the NBA Finals was as enthralling as it was unexpected. But that Celtics team has been blown up: new owners, new coach,
new players, no expectations. 
	
It's unfair to say nobody cares about the Celtics. That's simply not true. But here's how far off the radar screen they are. There is no pressure on them as they enter the playoffs. The general consensus is that they're lucky -- lucky -- if they take one game from the Pacers. And when the Pacers put the Celtics out of their misery, a collective yawn will spread across. ... well, I was going to say Celtics Nation, but there is no Celtics Nation. Not anymore. 
	
Now contrast the Celtics with the other teams in town. Think how much pressure there is on the Bruins to get past the second round this time. Even some of their toughest critics have tossed out the notion that these Bruins were good enough to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals and, what the hell, maybe win it all. But if they blow this first-round series to Montreal, Montreal, of all teams, the disappointment, and worse the distrust, in the Bruins will be at an all-time high. 
	
How much pressure is there on the Red Sox, and new skipper Terry Francona especially? This team, if it stays healthy, has to not only make the playoffs, it has to get to the World Series, minimum, because the Sox did the ALCS bit last October. It didn't end well. You may have read about it. 
	
Francona's being shadowed by Grady's Ghost. He got fired, but he got close. 
	
The Patriots will be expected to be a playoff team on a regular basis for a while. They've won two Super Bowls in three years. There isn't a crushing urgency to win another for the fans. They're not long-suffering fans anymore. 
	
It's April 13, and we've got our minds and eyes on the Red Sox and Bruins, and we're counting down to the NFL Draft. Because we care. The Celtics, different story. They're here and they're not. Their best back-door play of the season was the one they used to get in the playoffs. That is, wait until the hapless 76ers eliminate themselves. It was a sorry way to get there. Those who even noticed figure the Celtics vs. the Pacers will be a fast execution. No tears, no flowers, no eulogies. 
	
There is no playoff pressure on the Celtics, which only tells you how trivial they've become.