Clancyboy’s Weblog

5/3                       

               Anyone who is a Boston Celtics fan must be going out of their mind right now, because I know I am.  I am sitting on the couch writing this blog and am in disbelief.  Tomorrow afternoon’s game could be the end for the Celtics’ season.  A season that went so smoothly and swiftly for this rejuvenated team.  Is this how it is supposed to end though, a possible first round playoff exit to the eighth seed?  I’ll be honest.  Each time the Celtics lost, I told myself they would end up winning the series overall and would be moving on to the next round, maybe even the NBA finals.  This could still happen, but there is that scenario where they will lose tomorrow. 

The Atlanta Hawks are one win away from the greatest upset in NBA history.  When people saw this first round match up, anyone who follows the NBA didn’t give the Hawks a chance in this series.  Nobody was expecting something as unpredictable as this.  The Hawks obviously deserve a lot of credit for taking the series seven games, but they do not deserve to move on in the playoffs.  They had a terrible regular season as they finished below five hundred.  The Celtics had the best regular season record in the NBA, which makes them worthy of at least a first round playoff win.  But none of that really matters now.  Now it is about tomorrow at one o’ clock where both the Hawks and Celtics will be playing the most pivotal game of their seasons. 

In terms of how this series has played out, the advantage does go to the Celtics.  Whenever they have lost in this series it has only been in Atlanta.  Game seven is a home game and thank goodness for that.  I’m still worried about the game tomorrow, but I would be so tense if it was being played in Atlanta.  It pissed me off that the Celtics couldn’t get even one win on the road in this series.  For some reason the Celtics let their guard down every time they walked into the Hawks stadium.  These just aren’t the same Celtics I have seen all year long.  As a Celtics fan, that is the biggest disappointment of this series for me.  I know I am not the only one infuriated by this whole situation.  I know sports are not about what should happen and I know that any given team can beat any other given team.  But the Celtics losing to the eighth seed should not happen.  This series should have gone four games.  Meanwhile, the second round of the playoffs is already beginning tonight for those teams who took care of business.  Even if the Celtics win tomorrow, they will be tired out for the next round of the playoffs, due to the relentless play of the Hawks.  The Celtics just cannot get rid of the Hawks.  The Hawks are like an infection that has permeated the Celtics.  The only antibiotic for it is to win game seven tomorrow.