It’s all been said at this point. The Celtics won. We all laughed. We all cried. We are the Champions. And to bridge the gap between the most memorable Celtics season of the last 20 years and the start of the 2008-09 repeat campaign, here’s one question (and answer) to think about for every player who help bring home Banner 17.
What will Kevin Garnett do with his life now?
Is there anyway KG can remain as intense and focused next season when the very thing he was so focused on (for so long) is now neatly wrapped around his finger? I say no. That’s not to say his effort will be compromised in 2009, I just don’t see how he can be as obsessed. It’s human nature. It’s the Zelda Corollary.
Remember when you first got Zelda? Not that we had anything beter to do with our lives back in the late 80s, but the day you got Zelda, Zelda became your life. And you wouldn’t rest until Gannon was hunched over in a bloody heap on your black and white VHF/UHF TV. You spent months living and breathing that effing game; it’s all you thought about. And then—months later–when you finally beat it, it was like, "Um… so what do I do now?" You played again, and you still got excitement for going through and winning it all, but it was never the same. Not without curiosity over what it would be like to scale the mountain; or the taunting from your friends who had already sealed the deal. You kept beating Zelda but you could never recreated the drive and intensity of doing it the first time.
Thoughts while wondering how many hours a day Sam Cassell has his back wrapped in an ace bandage…
Random List of the Week
NBA players who’ve impressed me (on different levels) during the playoffs:
PG: Chris Paul, New Orleans - The superstar who’s entered completely unchartered territory in terms of potential. If someone told me today that Paul will retire with five championship rings, I couldn’t argue.
SG: Rodney Stuckey - The unpolished rookie who’s coming into his own in just enough time to be ready to potentially torture the Celtics in the conference finals. I hate that I’m automatically going to have to hate him because he’s on the Pistons. Seems like a dude I’d enjoy rooting for. Pretty much the same way I feel about Al Horford in this Hawks series.
SF: Devin Brown, Cleveland - The random role player who’s I’ve inexplicably liked all year. Not sure what it is about Brown but I’ve always enjoyed his game. Although part of it might be because half the time he’s on the court I mistake him for Lebron.
PF: Luis Scola - The foreign-born player who I enjoy watching which says a lot because I’ve grown to dislike watching many foreign born players. The Spurs gave Scola away because he didn’t fit in with their philosophy, and thought little enough of him to have no problem dealing him within the conference.
Welcome to the Wicked Weekly, a new weekly segment (it’ll pop up on Fridays) here on Wicked Good Sports that highlights the winners and losers, top storylines and funniest mess-ups of the last seven days.
First, a real quick bit about me: I’m a five-time Emmy Award winning Dorchester native, who for the last 27 years has served as the voice of the Boston Celtics where… crap, that’s Gorman’s bio. Here’s me:
I’m a lifelong Bostonian.
I’d rank my Boston sports teams like so:
My three favorite Boston athletes of all time are mid-90’s Nomar, present day Tom Brady and 1989 Nick Esasky – I have absolutely no explanation for this last one, but because of Nick I’ve always had a special place in my heart for people with Lyme Disease).
The only three local athletes I’ve ever openly and aggressively booed are Vin Baker, Mark Blount and Reggie Jefferson. And I’d probably still boo today if I saw any of them walking down the street (or in Baker’s case, passed out under a bathroom stall).
I was there to see Jordan drop 63 on the Cs in 1986; Reggie Lewis collapse against the Hornets in 1993; Vinatieri beat the Rams in 2002 and Papi beat the Yankees in 2004. A couple weeks ago I was there to accidentally see Kendrick Perkins naked in the Celtics locker room.
