Celtics complete sweep of Texas Triangle
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images, ganked from ESPN.com
I'll come totally clean on this: as much as I was enjoying this season, it wasn't until this week that I thought the Celtics were a real NBA Championship contender. Much like everyone else, I was simply expecting the eventual champion to be a western power, be it San Antonio, Los Angeles, or Utah, with New Orleans, Dallas, Phoenix, et al looking at a tougher road but still having a puncher's chance if they made it in. Boston I saw as the Eastern Conference version of the early '00s Kings - they'll go through the regular season like a hot knife through butter, but when it came time for the playoffs they'd be too thin, too worn out, too simply ill-prepared to keep up with the elites.
After the events of this week - winning a hard-fought defensive struggle against the reigning champs, dominating a team in the midst of a historic win streak, and overcoming an off night from its two point guards to beat Dallas (a team, granted, that's still adjusting to life with Jason Kidd) - we fail to see how anyone could think this team is anything less than the best team in the NBA. They are playing their best ball of the season, they're getting contributions from their entire roster (except for Brian Scalabrine,) and they're now deep enough to keep their big three healthy (and win games without them.)
Also, Boston Globe? I know the Red Sox basically run this town, but could we maybe get some coverage of this team?
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