Celtics doomed to still be an afterthought for fans

by Ryan Hennigan

Lebron charges past Boston defender James Posey and goes up on Defensive Player of the year, Kevin Garnett. The two giant bodies collide and SLAM. King James throws the ball threw the hoop effortlessly in a spectacular windmill dunk. Along with Kevin’s feelings, Lebron shatters the Celtic’s hopes of winning in their 88-78 loss to the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers last night in game four of the semifinals.
A loss in the playoffs could also shatter the hopes of Celtics fans everywhere. The Celtics have lived in the lime lights of the Red Sox and the Patriots for supremacy and recognition in Boston sports for around a decade. With the pre-season acquisition of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, the hopes of the Celtics fateful went up. This included many Celtic fans at Pembroke High.
Senior, Kevin Daly, said, “I have always been a big Celts fan and it’s nice to see them actually be a big time sport in Boston now. Now that we have Ray Allen and Garnett, there’s no stop in us.”
Indeed, the Celtics lived up to the hype in the season, accumulating a 66-16 record; the best in all the NBA. However, they have lost all five road games of the playoffs so far. No team has ever won the NBA title after losing the first five road games, and there is further reason to worry about the Celtics.
Kevin Garnett, whose emotional stature has given him the reputation as a clutch player, only scored two points in the entire fourth quarter of the loss. Furthermore, the Celts have to rise as a team in the fourth quarter; in their last five road games (which they've lost), they've scored 19, 18, 17, 21, and 12 points, respectively.
It's not just KG who's hit a wall, though. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce have not played to their potential in this series. They combined for just four points in Game 1, and neither was able to provide a second-half lift in Games 3 or 4 in Cleveland.
You can tell how important bench scoring is when you look at the stats for Game 4. The Boston bench could only muster 17 points, while the Cavs bench, led by Daniel Gibson and Anderson Varejao (pictured), exploded for 36. For those of you keeping track at home, that difference of 19 exceeds the deficit by which the Celtics lost.
The scariest thing might be that LeBron James hasn't even gone off yet. Sure, he scored 21 points and dished out 13 assists last night, but the man averaged a 30/8/7 (points, rebounds, assists) this season.
Clearly, the Celtics are setting themselves up once again for falling into mediocrity. A Celtics championship would be a nice way to top off the school year (there could be a celebration day in which students are allowed to wear hats and get other rights). However, it doesn’t look like this will happen nor does it look like the Celtics will be rising to the top of Boston sports anytime soon.