Celtics Building Championship Expectations With First-Round Showing
BOSTON (CBS) – From the days of the lockout all the way through the end of the regular season in April, the expectations for the Celtics were simple and almost unanimous: They are good enough to make the playoffs and probably win a round (or maybe two if they're lucky), and then they'll lose to the Heat or Bulls.
That was it. The Celtics still had talent, sure, but it was mostly old talent. Their young star, Rajon Rondo, couldn't possibly be the most important player on a championship team, many thought. And with Jeff Green and Chris Wilcox both out with heart conditions, the team hardly had enough legs to even make it to the end of the regular season, let alone the end of the postseason.
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Yet in just the past week, we've seen Derrick Rose go down, Rajon Rondo step up, Ray Allen return and Kevin Garnett turn back the clock.
My, how quickly expectations can change.
Suddenly, things seem to be falling into place, and the one-and-done expectations have quickly been substituted for Finals aspirations.
That feeling was put into words by Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski on Monday, as he wrote about why Rondo is the biggest threat to the Miami Heat's run to the Finals.
Mind you, for this scenario to actually take place, the Celtics will need to finish off the Hawks and make it through either the 76ers or Bulls, while the Heat will need to finish off the Knicks and make it through either the Pacers or Magic. That may be a few "ifs" but really, is there any reason to believe it can't happen? The way things are going, not really.
Rondo stepped backward with his Game 1 bump which cost him Game 2, but in the three games he has played in, he's averaging 19 points, 13 assists and 7 rebounds in 42.3 minutes per game. Garnett, left for dead in January and February, is dominating the glass, grabbing 12.3 in the first three games of the series. Allen's gone from surgery-bound and possibly out for the playoffs to perhaps the most dangerous bench player left in the NBA playoffs.
Of course, as Pierce's knee scare reminded everyone on Sunday night, the Celtics are one bad break away from having those Finals visions dashed in an instant. Despite the impressive showings the past week, Garnett, Pierce and Allen are still old, so an injury could strike at any time.
And you don't have to be old to suffer an injury. Look at how quickly the Bulls' championship hopes faded with Rose, and look at Rondo's elbow injury last spring.
Still, injuries are no more a threat to the Celtics than they are for any team, and with the team one win away from fulfilling all of the early-season (and late-season) expectations, sights are already being set on a much greater goal.
