These feelings were ever present before and during the game 7 loss to Miami in last years ECF. Living in Germany, I am not able to watch every Celtics game for the sole purpose that they are played at very late hours (6 hour time difference). I woke up the morning after game six had been played and turned on my blackberry to check the score. I fully expected to see the headline read something like "Celtics Earn Trip to Finals After Embarrassing Miami Once More". It was however, nothing close to this. A huge picture of Lebron James filled the cover of ESPN.com and I immediately began thinking of game 7. I started reading analysis of game 6 and a look ahead to game 7 and the C's were unanimously picked to lose. I had no problem with this because as I've said before I'm a fan, not a realist. I thought the C's had just as good a chance as they did in game 6, there was no way Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and KG were going to play as bad as they did in south beach the next evening. "Lets take it to those south beach pricks, and make them the laughingstock of the league again" I thought. I welcomed a game 7, just because of the thrill of it. Game 7's contain the most tantalizing moments in sports.
I stayed awake for the entire morning and at 2:30 AM, the game began. I was watching on my school laptop on a streaming website.The American Airlines arena was packed with Heat bandwagon jumpers from left to right. The game began and the Celtics pulled up to an early 9 point lead, but the Celtics followed the "Big Three Era Big Game Script" down to a science. They jumped out to an early lead, stretched the lead in the second quarter, took their foot off the gas in the third, and got wiped in the fourth. Brandon Bass was playing the game of his life in the first half connecting on all 6 of his shots and going for 16 points, while playing fantastic D on Lebron and posterizing Wade right before the half. He was finished though, and in the second he didn't score a single point. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen both looked spectacular for much of the first half, connecting on treys while also taking the ball to the cup, something Allen rarely does as a 38 year old on his last legs. KG never really found that rhythm that had made him such a factor in the postseason, and he was noticeably off target.
As the third quarter ended I prayed for a miracle, but nothing was to come. Despite Rajon Rondo's amazing triple double, talent prevailed and Lebron carried the Heat to victory. I came to grips with the end when Lebron hit a three from the nosebleed section, that resulted in the C's losing any wind left in their sails. As I watched Lebron drain the three I put my laptop down and sat up on my couch; I was defeated. I put my face in my hand and wondered how it had come to this.
The worst feeling in sports is watching the team you love get slaughtered in a crucial playoff game in front of a phony fan based crowd such as Miami's.Coming to grips with the fact that the opposing team is noticeably better than yours is an awful feeling that I associate in moments such as the game 7 losses to Miami and of course the debacle in LA in 2010. Watching Garnett, my favorite player since I was six, walk off the court without a second ring for the fourth time in as many years was terrible. Of all the players in the league KG deserves a second ring.
If I were 10 and this had happened, I would be outraged; how could we let this one get away? Now, I realize that those guys did everything they can and just didn't have enough left in the tank. But its these moments that make you love the team even more (unless you're a Red Sox fan), the moments that make you dream of what it will be like when they walk off the court victorious, in front of the raucous Miami crowd. It brings you closer to the group of guys that you idolize as a kid, a feeling that only can be shared in a loss.
And thats what makes me all the more excited for this season, I actually believe that the Celts can pull one last title off with the core of guys they have now. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how we feel at the end of the year...
Image Source:
http://www.bballbreakdown.com/celtics-vs-heat-game-7-in-game-tweets/
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