Remember draft night, 2007? That was when everybody around here was moaning about not getting Greg Oden or Kevin Durant and we were wondering what was the point of trading for Ray Allen?
It was all doom and destruction. A team with Paul Pierce, Allen, Rajon Rondo, and Kendrick Perkins? How good could the Celtics possibly be?
Say hello to your 2009 playoff team. Without Garnett, the Celtics yesterday looked like candidates for a first-round bounce, and coach Doc Rivers was steaming after the loss.
"To think that we worked on transition 'D' for two days and the first play of the game [Joakim] Noah gets a dunk - now, that was extremely disappointing," said Rivers. "You'd think, first playoff game, you'd be ready and up. And I just thought we kind of showed up and played the game. And then all of a sudden we got into a fight. And one thing I'd say about our guys, they join in. But at home, you're supposed to start it."
It was a tad embarrassing. The defending champs started this season 27-2. They won 19 consecutive games. They were indomitable at home and up until about three days ago we all thought they might make another magic run.
But that was when Garnett was part of the picture. And now his absence is killing them, physically and emotionally.
KG sat on the bench for the first half of the game. Then he was gone. Rivers didn't like it when he was asked about Garnett leaving the scene. The ever-affable coach delivered a latter-day version of Rick Pitino's infamous "not walking through that door" nutty.
"Guys, Kevin is not playing in this playoffs," said the good doctor, repeating what he first announced Thursday. "I'm not answering Kevin Garnett questions.
"I didn't even notice, honestly, until someone told me that he wasn't on the bench, and I could care less. Hell, he was on the bench in the first half and we were down 8 points. So this is about the players in uniform."
One of those players was Ray Allen, who looked older than baby Benjamin Button, making 1 of 12 shots, scoring 4 points in 39 minutes. Another was Paul Pierce, who scored 23 but clanged a free throw that would have won it with 2.6 seconds left in regulation.
