SECAUCUS, N.J. -- You want to talk curses? Start here.
Who did what to whom? Was it decided that 16 championships in 30 years was somehow unfair and obscene, and that enough was enough and the Celtics are never going to get another break again and that's that?
Because that's what it looks like. Nothing else can explain how the Celtics continue to suffer the wrath of powerful unseen forces determined to make their lives miserable.
Fifth!
"I paid off the leprechaun this morning," sighed Tom Heinsohn, who was the Celtics' representative, "and he lied to me. Leprechauns will do that."
Bye-bye, Greg Oden, the next great franchise center. Bye-bye, Kevin Durant, an explosive 6-foot-10-inch forward who may not guarantee you a championship but who will at least keep folks highly entertained for the next 10 years. Fifth! The horror!
Now, there will be some very enticing players available when the Celtics pick fifth five weeks hence. Brandan Wright, Al Thornton, Jeff Green, Julian Wright, Mike Conley, Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, and Roy Hibbert (if he stays in the draft) all will help somebody. Some, if not all, will play in All-Star Games.
But executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge will have a very difficult time selling one of them to a public that put up with the ignominy of an 18-game losing streak because there was the possibility of a reward when this dreadful season was completed.
And who didn't believe that the bad fortune, which began with the death of Len Bias, proceeded with the death of Reggie Lewis, and continued 10 years ago with the faulty drop of the Ping-Pong balls when Tim Duncan was available (and the Celtics had the best chance at him), would finally be reversed?
Nope. Sorry. Somebody up there loathes them.
Feeling equally gobsmacked are the Grizzlies and Bucks, who fell to fourth and sixth, respectively. "For the sixth, fifth, and fourth teams to wind up 1, 2, 3," said Heinsohn, "that's a little unbelievable."
The first pick will go to Portland, followed by Seattle and Atlanta.
Like you care.
No, this is a time for what's left of the Boston basketball community to wallow in morbid self-pity.
You wanted Oden or Durant, it's just that simple.
Or maybe you just wanted Oden.
"People talk about this draft being all about 1 or 2," said ESPN analyst Greg Anthony. "Really, it's about 1.
"Durant is nice, but Oden is special. There's a reason why the court has that paint, why there is a three-second rule. Check out the championships. Teams with the great big men rule."
Regional vice president of the Greg Oden Fan Club is one Larry Bird, who was here representing his Indiana Pacers. Bird has been following Oden closely since Oden's days at Lawrence North High School.
