The Celtics left elitehood when Kevin Garnett showed signs of age and needed right knee surgery, when Paul Pierce no longer could consistently get off his elbow jumper, and when Ray Allen hesitated before taking the open 3-pointer. The Celtics now reside in Pretty Good-land, talented enough to beat most teams but not talented enough to consistently win against teams who are their physical equal.
The fans aren’t satisfied with pretty good, and the organization has 33 games to change things or else the team will be eliminated from the playoffs again. Boston is 1-7 against Orlando and Atlanta this season and its season-opening win at Cleveland means nothing at this point because it was more than three months ago. The Cavaliers have lost just 10 times since then and are on an 11-game winning streak.
Cleveland and the Lakers have established themselves as elite teams, so the Celtics need to stop putting themselves in that category. It’s time to go back to their training-camp regimen, dig up those ubuntu references, and regain their swagger and humility at the same time.
The Celtics coasted yesterday as if the Magic came to Boston for the express purpose of serving as a sacrificial lamb. With a full lineup that included Marquis Daniels, the Celtics played one of their best halves of the season, and if they had cruised to a victory, the consensus would have been that the team was back.
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