The Return of Ubuntu

A month ago, I thought the Celtics were done. Finished. Caput. I thought, like many others did, that age had finally caught up with the Big Three; that whatever chemistry issues were plaguing the team over the last couple of seasons had finally come to destroy the unity which had propelled the franchise to its 17th championship in 2008; that Cleveland and Orlando had stockpiled enough talent to maintain a stranglehold on the East for not only this season, but also for the forseeable future as well. In short, I thought that (to use an already overused cliche) the championship window was firmly shut, and that the next few seasons would prove painful as the team's stars aged and the young players (including Rajon Rondo) would prove unable to carry a team by themselves

Man, was I wrong. Perhaps it was foolish to write off a team which, over the last two seasons, had proven time and again that it was capable of performing at the highest level when required, regardless of the circumstances. In fact, I could, at this juncture, copy and paste the entirety of Rudy Tomjanovich's "heart of a champion" speech into this space, and go on and on about the grit and resolve of this particular squad, and observe how Ragin' Rajon Rondo has entered the "best point guard in the league" debate as a result of his dazzling play during this postseason. I could, in other words, list all the reasons why we shouldn't be surprised with the Celtics right about now, and thus bore my non-existent audience with things they are undoubtedly already aware of.

And yet, I can't but help feel that this doubt was justified for much (if not all) of this particular season. While the decision to "pick their spots" and not go full-bore during the dog-days of winter ultimately payed off, the lethargy which accompanied many of the Celtics' performances left many (including myself) with a bitter taste in their mouth; this was especially true when these lackluster performances were contrasted with the efforts of the two seasons prior. The teams of 2008 and 2009 were memorable and likable because of the fire they brought to virtually each game, especially on the defensive end; it was as if every contest was a test of their pride and will, whether they were playing the Nets on some random night in February or the Lakers in the Finals.

The beginning of this season was no indication of a shift in attitude or effort, and the Celtics were, with their victory over the Magic on Christmas Day, possessors of a 23-5 record, which in and of itself left one with the hope that they were capable of winning another title. Then, as a result of a variety of injuries and the onset of Sheeditis (a horrible, horrible disease which strickens its victims with extreme laziness and apathy), they began to slip and struggle for much of the rest of the regular season. Their hearts and minds appeared to be elsewhere, their efforts marked by a distinct lack of interest; again, this disinterest in the vagaries of the season ultimately paid off, and now they find themselves in a position to exact vengeance on the Magic for last year's loss in the Semifinals and advance to their second Finals appearance in the last three years. It's too bad that it took them until the middle of April to show us that they were still capable of that.

Note: if this report proves to be true, then this Celtics victory may (as Bill Simmons pointed out earlier today in his podcast with Sean Grande and Brian Windhorst) have just irrecovably altered the future of the NBA. While the speculation regarding LeBron and his impending free agency has been a feature of league-talk for the last two seasons or so, most of the chatter has been concerned with the possibility of James signing with the Knicks (obviously); if he were to sign with the Bulls, that would not only portend terrible things for New York, but also for the Eastern Conference as a whole.

Let me illustrate this point with simple mathematics:

LeBron James + Derrick Rose + Joakim Noah + competent supporting cast = dynasty

Where Exorcising Your Demons Happens

Back in those dismal days of the 2006-2007 season, when my beloved Celtics were irrelevant and seemingly without direction, I adopted the Phoenix Suns as a sort of "second favorite" in an attempt to remind myself that the hopelessness of my true favorite's situation was not shared by every team in the league. With the return of Amare Stoudemire from injury, they appeared to be a squad which, if all the right pieces fell into place, could dethrone the Spurs and Mavs in the West, and prove once and for all that a fast-paced brand of basketball could lead a team to a title. Though they got off to a rocky start, they finished with a 61-21 record (second-best in the league to Dallas), and at one point were winners of 33 out of 35 games (with individual winning streaks of 15 and 17 games constituting the bulk of this run); their dispatching of the Lakers in the First Round set them up with a rematch with their rivals, the Spurs, who had defeated the Suns in the Conference Finals two seasons prior. If the Suns were going to win a championship that season, the seemingly most appropriate way in which they could do so would be to vanquish a team whose style of play was completely antithetical to that of "Seven Seconds or Less," and whose philosophy was of an era in which a run-and-gun mentality had been made impossible to act upon.

What followed has been well-documented and analyzed endlessly over the last three years. The Steve Nash nose injury in Game 1 and the Robert Horry-incident in Game 4 gave the Spurs enough of an advantage to finish off Phoenix, and subsequently proceed to win their third championship of the decade; the Suns bounced back with a successful regular season in 2008, though the addition of Shaq and the heartbreaking Game 1 loss to San Antonio in that season's First Round seemingly extinguished the vitality which had been such a large feature of the team in the seasons which that followed Nash's return to the desert in the summer of 2004. Although the Celtics had, by that point, added KG and Ray Allen and were making a run at a title, I still rooted for Phoenix; their trials and tribulations were the stuff of (basketball) tragedy, and were emblamatic of the seemingly inevitable (and, in my eyes, unfortunate) triumph of the "Right Way" philosophy over the more revolutionary (and fun) brand of basketball pushed by the Suns and their imitators.

With the completion of their sweep of the Spurs tonight, the Suns have washed away much of the pain of the last few years, and have subsequently transformed themselves from a historical perspective. Even if they lose to the Lakers in the next round, their decisive defeat of their arch-rivals will forever stand as proof that an up-tempo, fast-breaking team is capable of getting down and dirty, and hanging tough with a team of a supposedly more physical disposition. Two or three years ago Steve Nash's eye injury, or George Hill's four-point play, would have been enough to derail Phoenix; but this specific team is a different animal from past versions of the Suns, and has proven that it can withstand almost anything. Though the benefits of the additions of Grant Hill, Jared Dudley, Goran Dragic, Channing Frye, Robin Lopez, and Louis Admundson may not have been initially apparent, what these players collectively brought to the table may have been what Steve Nash (and, to a lesser extent, Amare Stoudemire) needed all along: teammates who were willing to go to war, and who would be adamant in their refusal to be intimidated by anyone, regardless of history and popular opinion.

True Grit or: Your Home Court Means Nothing

Ever since their Game 4 loss to Oklahoma City in the First Round, the Lakers have been on a tear. While their margins of victory over the Thunder and the Jazz have been relatively unimpressive (except for their Game 5 blowout of OKC), the toughness they've exhibited since that aforementioned humiliating defeat at the hands of Kevin Durant and company has quieted some of the talk regarding their focus and chemistry issues. The narrow victory they eked out against the Jazz tonight in Salt Lake City, despite the brillant play of Deron Williams and Kyle Korver and the return of Andrei Kirilenko, is further confirmation of the fact that the Lakers, no matter how unlikable and passionless they may some times appear to be, are champions in the truest sense of the word. They could have at any point given up, and taken comfort in the fact that they would have retained home-court advantage regardless of the outcome; instead, they refused to wither in a physical game in front of a hostile crowd, and stole a one-point victory against a team with its back against the wall.

Despite his hesitancy to pass in the first quarter, Kobe played a magnificent game (35 points on 13-24 shooting, 7 assists, and several cluch plays in the final minutes of the fourth), as did Ron Artest (!) and Derek Fisher (!), both of whom provided L.A. a spark with their outside shooting (!!!). While they shouldn't expect the latter two to play as well as they did going forward (indeed, Fisher's performance was akin to Lazarus rising from the dead), the Lakers have to be encouraged that they were able to pull out a road win, despite the apparent inability of their bench players to play well anymore (really, 8-24 from the field, guys?). A sweep is, at this point, not out of the question considering the disheartening way in which the Jazz lost (poor, poor Wes Matthews), though one shouldn't be surprised if the Lakers are unable to stifle the desire to finish up the series at home.

Also: the less that's said about the Orlando-Atlanta series, the better. However, I find it remarkable that the lower seeds in each conference are having such a hard time defending their home court. Atlanta and Boston were hammered by their visiting opponents, and the Jazz and Spurs lost tight, physical games in front of crowds who traditionally have swung more than a few games in their favor. Strange times, folks.

The Odd Couple: LeBron the Revelator and Goran Dragic

LeBron James and Goran Dragic: while no one was surprised to see the former single-handedly decimate the will of another team, the latter's flurry of points in the second half of last night's game was undoubtedly a shock to many (including the Spurs). What's even more amazing than the fact that these two explosive performances occurred on the same night is the contrasting ways in which each player went about dominating their opponents; while LeBron was methodical and deliberate in the unleashing of his destructive powers upon the hapless Celtics, Dragic was spontaneous and freewheeling, extracting his points out of the anarchic flow of a game which saw the Spurs take a commanding lead early. If Phoenix goes on to win this series (which, despite the 3-0 lead, is anything but a certainty, considering the history between these two teams), Dragic's (random) second-half heroics will be remembered as the turning point in a bout which appeared to be San Antonio's to lose after their dismantling of the Mavs in round 1.

As for LeBron: we've seen this sort of thing from him before. His 48 points against Detroit in Game 5 of the '07 Conference Finals, his duel with Paul Pierce in Game 7 of the '08 Semis, his entire oeuvre in last year's postseason; his ability to take over at the highest level should come as no surprise to anyone at this point. However, the steely-eyed determination with which he has approached this year's playoffs is something new to my eyes, and could be a terrifying glimpse of what the future holds for the rest of the league. If he's serious about being serious, and has dropped the goofy antics, then we could be seeing a player whose career, despite already being of legendary quality, is entering the territory of the transcendent.