If ever you thought fairy tales were not possible, stop right there and think about the recently concluded NBA Finals. Boston Celtics, were the team with the worst record in the Eastern Conference last season. That's worst out of 15 teams and they finished in the bottom three in the entire league that consists of 30 teams. After such a season, a fairytale tag can be associated with this team only if they won the championships next year. And guess what they did? This year they were the best team in the regular season with a stunning home record of under 10 losses. And in the playoffs although they lost almost all road games, they had the best home record. How did such a remarkable comeback happen? What are the changes that this franchise made? What did this team do in order to justify their name as the greatest franchise ever and lift their 17th title. Here's 3 reasons why I think all this was possible.
3) Doc Rivers and his philosophy : The head coach of the Celtics, is a practitioner of the defence is the best form of offence philosophy. He has revitalised this team to the strongest defensive units. They have come across one of the best offences in the form of Bryant's Lakers and James' Cavaliers. With the ranks of KG and hardworking talents like Powe and Perkins, this is a hard defense to score over.
2) Trades and players : Strategic trades involving their draft picks,and existing players strengthened the team with the arrival of the big presence of Kevin Garnett and the clutch shooting of Ray Allen, along with the presence of their charismatic captain Paul Pierce. This is quite an exceptional team on paper and boy, did they not live up to it on court.
1) Desire : Pierce has been with the Celtics throughout his 10 year long career and he could have easily transferred to a stronger team, but he chose to stick with them because he wanted the championship ever so badly. Garnett is a player of high value. He has been the league MVP, the best defensive player of the year on numerous occasions, and until last year probably the best player ever not to win a championship and one can only imagine how much he would have wanted one. If there is just one second left on the clock, and you trail by one, who is the one person you want to have on the ball ? Nope i would not choose Jordan, Allen is my man. He has one of the most smooth shooting actions and is your go to guy in clutch moments. Apart from this you have the young Rondo, who has got a touch of class about his game and other noteworthy mentions like Perkins,Powe,Brown and Casell. You knew on day 1 that this team wanted to go all the way and restore the pride associated with this franchise.
These are the three reasons as to why the Celtics are once again back on top, and worthily enough their court was resounding to Queen singing We are the Champions.
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