Boston Celtics- The Window is Slammed Shut

Watching the Celtics struggle over the last month it becomes clearer each day that the title won in the spring of 2008 better be enough for the short term because there are no more banners to be had from this team as it currently exists. We have watched a team get old and very old almost overnight. Of course we knew they were old, we knew that it was unrealistic to expect a team with this many players this old could not continue to succeed over the course of the grueling playoff schedule in the NBA. Last year in series with Chicago and Orlando without Kevin Garnett the Celtics looked like a championship team that was missing one of its great players.

This year even with Garnett they have not appeared to be the same team. Games are being lost in the 4th quarter to younger, stronger teams. The ability of this team to play defense late in the games seems to be gone.

Is this fixable. I am not sure. The idea of the team winning any best of seven series against teams such as Atlanta, Orlando or even the newly resurgent Chicago Bulls seems unlikely. The teams bench has been hampered by injury. Also unhelpful however has been Doc Rivers seeming refusal to do anything to use his Big three for fewer minutes each game. Wins are important, but is increasingly apparent that this team will not go deep into the playoffs with the players and player rotation currently that exists. Glenn Davis, who was nothing short of a force in the playoffs last year, has not been used in any kind of regular capacity and certainly not in a way to make the team and him stronger. Pierce. Allen and Garnett have fought injuries and none of have seemed to be playing well at the same time as the others.

To me it would seem that the only answer to get this team deeper into the playoffs would be to rest the Big 3 more, try to involve the bench in a deeper way and realize that where you go into the playoffs in terms of seed means little for a team that has struggled both at home and away. It will be the health of the team that matters.

This will not solve anything long term. Ray Allen will be gone after this season. Kevin Garnett's contract will at the end turn out to be an albatross as his skills diminish. The Celtics will need some inventive trades and a few lucky draft picks to avoid a slow decline to the mediocre. The championship was a great season, and was well worth it.

The team was not built however in such a way to perpetuate long term success. We will pay the price for that.