"I know one thing: We're definitely going to be geared up to win a championship, no matter who's on the team. We're not going to be playing just to make it, we're going to playing to win a championship. We're a championship team, we have a window of opportunity, and we need to take advantage of that."
The Celtics were a resilient group, dealing with a short offseason after last year's title run, a front-loaded schedule, and injuries. They might have peaked early, compiling a 27-2 start that was the best in league history and setting a franchise mark with 19 consecutive victories.
When it came time to reload down the stretch, the Celtics lost Garnett to a right knee injury. And two days before the playoffs started, Garnett was declared out for the postseason. The team experienced another shock as president of basketball operations Danny Ainge underwent heart surgery.
In the first-round series, the Celtics almost met their match in a Chicago Bulls team that had been rejuvenated by adding Brad Miller and John Salmons. The Celtics took a Game 7 victory, but it was the longest (seven overtime sessions) and one of the most dramatic series in playoff history.
Two days after running the Bulls out of town, the Celtics confronted Orlando. The fact that the Magic led by as many as 28 points on the way to a 95-90 victory in Game 1 indicated just how much the first-round series had taken out of the Celtics. They regrouped and seemed capable of eliminating the Magic, taking a 3-2 series lead and holding a 10-point lead in Game 6.
But the Celtics produced only 29 points in the second half of an 83-75 loss in Game 6, a strong indication they were close to running on empty.
"Reality sets in now, it's over," guard Eddie House said. "Everything we did was for nothing. We came up short, also-rans. We lost, bottom line. We expected to win with what we have, regardless of injury and all that stuff.
