Foil in the Oven on Sunday: We Believe That This Is Urgent

Kevin Garnett, he's just not a gamer. He's your classic example of a regular season hero. Sure, the stats are impressive, and the skill set is very diverse for a 7-footer (6'11 technically). There are enough jaw-dropping highlights to last for hours. Certainly, there is no shortage of hardware on his mantle. There's only one problem. These are all regular season, individual awards. Defensive player of the year. Numerous rebounding titles. An MVP. A regular season MVP, that is. Unfortunately, KG has really never been more than that. When the stakes are low, there's nobody better. The guy is a guaranteed double-double every night. But, in the fourth quarter, when the game is on the line, he's nowhere to be found. Suddenly, he goes cold. Suddenly, he becomes passive. Suddenly, when the stakes are high, you're left wondering what happened to that guy that was screaming and pounding his chest and carrying you for three quarters. He must have dropped you along the way. KG, he's a great personality for the league, and nobody can deny his abilities. But, he doesn't have that killer instinct like Jordan or Kobe Bryant or Hakeem Olajuwon. He can't finish a game like Tim Duncan. He's just not clutch, period. That's why he's not a champion.

Paul Pierce is selfish. The great Celtics teams of the 80's were built around team play. Pierce, he epitomizes the new era of superstars in the NBA. The me-first mentality. The problem is that he's not even a superstar in this league. Sure, his scoring numbers are high, but that's because he's a ballhog. Whenever he gets frustrated, he tries to be a hero. The guy is getting franchise player money, and yet he's not a franchise player. A franchise player is a leader. A franchise player is somebody that makes their teammates better. A franchise player is someone that puts the team on their back in a tough situation and carries them to victory. Larry Bird was a franchise player. John Havilcek was a franchise player. When you look up to the rafters in the TD Banknorth Garden, you see the numbers of countless Celtic greats that have helped to build the great Celtics legacy. They're champions, every one of them. Paul Pierce, he's just not one of those guys. And, that whole thing with the knee, give me a break. The guy was obviously faking it.

Ray Allen used to have game. Now, he's nothing more than a spot-up shooter. Who knew that when the Celtics traded Wally Szczerbiak, they were just getting a more expensive Wally Szczerbiak in return. The guy can't defend. He can't rebound. And, in these playoffs, he hasn't been able to shoot. Maybe he could have been a nice piece to a championship team two or three years ago, but those days have passed.

Don't even get me started on Doc Rivers. The fact that he almost won his second coach of the year award this season is proof that this is a players' game. The Celtics could probably coach themselves and be just as successful. Plus, we all know that Tom Thibodeau is the brains behind this operation.

Rajon Rondo is a liability. A team can't win a championship with him at point guard, no matter who else in on the floor. No team has ever won a championship with three or more of its starters being over the age of 30. It's very unlikely that this team will be the first.

Danny Ainge has run this organization into the ground. Celtic pride is gone.

These are the kinds of things that we've heard the media, both local and national, say about the members of this team over the past few years. Through my different sports allegiances, I am a member of both Boston (Red Sox, Celtics) and New York (Giants) fanbases. I have never been proud of the way that the media in either city treats their stars. No matter how great a player is, they will always find a reason to tear them down. It doesn't matter how great of a guy they are, what a great role model they are, or how much work they do in the community. They won't ever let you feel good about yourself until you bring a championship.

Now, let's run down what we as fans know about the members of this organization. Kevin Garnett is on a very short list of players in all of professional sports who you look at and say "Man, if we could ever get THAT GUY, we could turn everything around." And, as it turned out, we did get him and he did turn things around. The burden that Garnett has shouldered this season has been incredible, and he has managed to completely change the culture of this team and its fans. We're talking about the greatest single-season turn around in NBA history. How could anybody say that this guy isn't clutch?

Anybody that has watched Paul Pierce throughout his career knows that he does, indeed, belong in that category of all-time great Celtics. He has remained true to this franchise through what very well may have been the toughest stretch in its history. Not only that, up until this post-season, he has been one of the most underrated and undervalued players in the entire NBA. He's the last Celtics player to have had a close relationship with Red Auerbach. That doesn't just happen. Danny Ainge has spent five years going through a rebuilding process in order to give Paul Pierce this chance that he has now. He wouldn't have done that if he didn't believe that Pierce had this greatness in him. Who are we, or anybody in the media, to question a guy that has the endorsement of these two Celtics greats? Nothing could feel better to Celtics fans than to see Pierce, one of the toughest competitors to have ever worn the Green, hoisting the championship trophy.

Anybody that thought Ray Allen was nothing more than a shooter got a reality check during this postseason. Even during his shooting slump, which was the worst of his career, the Celtics were much better with Allen on the floor than without him. The guy is the complete package. He can shoot, he can get to the rim and finish, he matches up well defensively with some of the best 2-guards in the league, and he has rebounded extremely well in these finals. That he is widely regarded as a lesser piece of the Big Three is more a product of his personality than his impact on the court. You need only to look at how the Celtics play when Ray is on his game to see that. It made me feel empty to see Ray miss out on a championship at UCONN. I follow all of the UCONN alums in the NBA, so I have kept tabs on him as he has toiled fruitlessly in Milwaukee and Seattle. Strangely enough, I feel like I have more invested in him winning a championship than anybody else on this team.

The Celtics don't have to win tonight. They get three more chances to win this thing. But, as we've said all along, they are the vastly superior team in this series. If they come out playing with a sense of urgency, they will win the game. Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce will suit up for a basketball game tonight. Collectively, it is something that they have done thousands of times before. And yet, a win tonight would be a win unlike any other. All of the criticism that I have written above would suddenly disappear. All of the questions surrounding them would be answered definitively. They would be vindicated forever for everything that they have endured throughout their careers. When you look on the faces of these players, you can see the hunger inside of them. That hunger that they feel, and everything that they've done in their careers, has been focused on achieving one single goal. With one win tonight, they can accomplish that goal. What greater sense of urgency could there be?