No Dead Horse Beatin’ Round Here

Mama don't allow no dead horse beatin' round here.

So the Celtics made an unceremonious second round exit from the playoffs.  Shown the door by the younger more athletic Heat, a quite healthy team compared to the gaggle of walking wounded, sidelined giants, and decrepit old men the Celtics had become, the Heat overtook a gassed out Celtics team in the waning minutes of Game Five.  For the Celtic’s season that was it: “End of Story”.

Now, all over town, people are playing the blame-game, pointing fingers, and replaying their what-if scenarios.  You’ve heard that expression about not beating a dead horse?  That is exactly what many people are engaging in right now.  Thanks, but no thanks.  Mama don’t allow no dead horse beatin’ round here.

People are carrying signs that shout “Fire Doc & Danny”.  Other signs scream “Blow up the team”.  And there are countless other, smaller signs in this sorry demonstration that put forth various trade scenarios carried by the new breed of fan, the GMs in waiting.

But some will say, “It is what it is”. And utter this nonsense with a look of profundity on their face.  The most over used cliché to enter the vernacular in a long time, in fact it has become the cliché of cliché’s: “It is what it is” was designed to be the be-all, end-all of any discussion. Yet intelligent people want to know how it got to be what it is and what could have been done differently to achieve a different outcome.

This season’s assemblage of players seemed star-crossed from the very beginning.  The Celtics added Shaq and Jermaine O’Neal, and Delonte West as the most prominent additions. But the injuries began to pile up very early on, and it is not my intention to list each and every one, but Delonte went down early, then Jermaine, Marquis Daniels suffered the recurrence of a freak neck injury, and Shaq hardly made it past Christmas.  KG missed games as did Rondo and other players.

Doc was forced to play the starters more minutes instead of following his plan to limit the minutes of Rondo and The Big Three.  For example, Ray Allen, at 35 years old, ended up with a career high in minutes played.  The long minutes of the starters led to fatigue and tired legs down the stretch and into the playoffs.  Guts, determination, pride and adrenaline could not overcome the fatigue factor, the tired legs, not to mention the mental fatigue of the grind brought on by playing too many minutes.   

What’s a Doc to do?  That’s an expression I made up as the season went along, watching those minutes pile up on Ray’s 35 year old legs as he curled around pick after pick, endlessly, game after game, a man in perpetual motion.  Doc didn’t have much choice.

Danny Ainge traded Perk, Semi, Nate, Luke and sold Marquis. This trade appears to have been a season altering moment for the Celtics who had been maintaining a high winning percentage throughout the season up till that point.  After Danny’s trade, the Celtics barely maintained a .500 record.  That is fact, not opinion.

The players Danny acquired through the trade never seemed to get fully integrated into the team, and they never seemed to earn his trust.  Pre-trade, the Celtics were a tight-knit bunch from top to bottom according to reports.  Post-trade, nerves began to fray.  Given time these problems might have self-corrected or have been corrected by more practice time.  But that was not to be.

Jermaine O’Neal missed most of the season and never came back till the playoffs.  Shaq never really did come back after early February. Delonte came back but suffered several injury setbacks and didn’t get comfortable with his role till the second round of the playoffs.  Rondo dislocated his elbow and developed a bad back.  JO’s back began hurting and his wrist was wrapped and giving him constant pain.

Some people point the finger at Danny Ainge and say this is what you can expect from a bunch of older players, but Delonte is not old nor is Rondo nor was Semi, whose development was set back by an injury causing him to miss several weeks.

Chalk it up to bad luck and maybe to probability. The probability of an older athlete getting injured might be slightly higher than that of a younger one, but I doubt if the difference is significant, and I’d have to see the data to be convinced.  So for me the Celtics problems this season can be chalked up to bad luck with injuries.

The Celtics didn’t have the healthy horses to compete with younger, healthier teams.

Had the Celtics fielded a healthy team with all its members available for service, pre-trade or post-trade, then the Celtics would probably be going to the NBA finals and vying for Title 18.  

The remaining Celtic soldiers gave us heart and soul, showing the guts, glory, and determination of Champions, and for that I salute them, but it was just not to be.