Well, you've got to hand it to Boston Celtics fans for sometimes being gracious and grateful. There was a lot of pre-game speculation that Doc Rivers would be booed in his first appearance at the Garden as the new coach of the LA Clippers. Boston fans have been known to be particularly bitter when star sports figures leave local teams to seek greater opportunity elsewhere. Recall Johnny Damon running off to the Yankees after helping the Red Sox win a World Series to break the Curse of the Bambino or Bill Parcells leaving the Patriots to coach the New York Jets. Or recall more recently Wes Welker's return to Gillette Stadium as a Denver Bronco and the boos he received while waited to receive punt returns. So it was with great relief for Doc that he was welcomed back with a standing ovation when he was announced as the coach of the visiting team. You could see Doc was touched by the moment and that his eyes were welling up with tears. Unfortunately for the Celtics, Doc was able to put away those warm feeling in the second half of the game and able to coach the Clippers to a win over his former team.
I'm glad Doc got his thank you from the fans last night. The 2007-2008 season was a magical and something I got to be a part of as a fan - I attended the Friday after Thanksgiving 2007 game when the Celtics hosted the LA Lakers for what would turn out to be a preview of the champion series and I was at Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals, a series in which nearly every sports commentator had picked Kobe Bryant and the Lakers to win. It was an especially sweet season since it had been so long since the Celtics had last been champions and sweeter still that it came at the expense of the LA Lakers, the Celtics' historic rivals. Then there was the heartbreaking 2010 NBA finals when the Celtics were less than 6 minutes away from another championship. Sure Doc couldn't have had the success he had without the Celtics landing Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. But it was Doc who got all the pieces to work together. He was definitely a part of the formula for success. That's why the LA Clippers wanted Doc so badly to be at the helm of their team.
But enough with the reunions and fond remembrances of the Big Three, Mbutu and the 2008-2009 Championship season. It's time for the Celtics and their fans to move on to the present. I am enjoying following this young team and new coach Brad Stevens. It's refreshing to see team basketball in the NBA.
The Celtics showed some moxie in the first half, ending the half with a 6 point lead while holding the Clippers to 39 first half point with stifling defense. But the Clippers came out after halftime and proceeded to use their athletic size advantage (DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin) to overwhelm the Celtics' undersized bigs (Jared Sullinger and Brandon Bass). This has been and will continue to be a weakness for the Celtics. The Clippers exploited it Wednesday night just as did the Brooklyn Nets had with Brook Lopez on Tuesday night. And of course, Jamal Crawford's (the Clipper's Crawford) uncanny scoring ability in the fourth quarter played a role in the Clippers win. In a 23-second stretch late in the fourth quarter Jamal Crawford hit back to back 3s (the first he took from 5 feet beyond the 3-point arc) that helped the Clippers pull away for good. Unfortunately, the Celtics' Crawford (Jordan Crawford), who often carries the Celtics scoring load in the fourth quarter, wasn't able to turn it on against the Clippers.
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