Kleeman's Last Word

Celtics-Lakers: Celtics use a silver and black foundation to win no. 17

The Boston Celtics clinched the franchise's 17th championship Tuesday night and it was hard not to picture another dynasty from South Texas that served as a fine blueprint.

The Celtics reversed an embarrassing 24-win season with a whirlwind summer. I will admit that I had no idea what Danny Ainge was doing when he traded Jeff Green and other picks to Seattle for Ray Allen.

Why trade a promising, athletic forward for an injury-prone 30-something shooter to join another near-30 franchise player with no championship ring?

Then I browsed the Internet in late July and read: 'Timberwolves send Garnett to Celtics in historic 7-for-1 deal.' When Kevin Garnett headed to Beantown, it all made sense. Then, Ainge lured free agents Eddie House and James Posey, two invaluable role players.

House's knock down shooting spread out the Lakers' defense when he was on the floor. Posey used his championship smarts, defense and three point accuracy to be the Celtics' finest support player.

Then, coach Doc Rivers asked his superstar trio to believe in youngsters Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins and Leon Powe. They did from the season's opening tip.

Then, Garnett and assistant coach Tom Thibodeau made sure the Celtics played defense first and did so as a team.

Maybe that's why the Lakers, who boast great individual defenders in Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher, looked like plastic cones in a parking lot in Game 6. The Lakers as champs? More like chumps.

Many people said at this series' apex that the next five titles belonged to the LA Lakers. Not this one, and if the Spurs and Celtics continue playing championship-level defense, not next year either.

Old guys do it again

P.J. Brown had a better chance of winning a senior citizens' Bingo championship than an NBA championship when Ainge asked him to join the team midseason. In an enduring image of this Finals, the 38-year-old Brown stole a key offensive rebound from two Lakers big men in Game 1.

Sam Cassell may not be a story of great shot selection but his few buckets helped fuel the Celtics' six game series win that was more lopsided than the contest total indicates.

And who can say enough about Posey's enormous contributions? His 18-point game two was a snapshot of what he meant to the team as a commited defender.

Posey and House mounted an 11-0 run in the second quarter that sent the crowd into a roaring frenzy.

After the excessive talk about youth serving age, the NBA's most storied franchise did it the other way around. The Celtics won another championship with "boring" and "old" basketball.

Substance wins over style, or does it?

Another year, another defense-first team grabs the Larry O' Brien trophy. Those who embrace the NBA's false fun-and-gun direction will say that Boston's substance won over LA's style.

I would argue that substance is style. The Celtics commit to playing defense, from the star trio to the end of the bench, but that does not mean they do not run the floor.

The Celtics won it much the same way the Spurs have four times in the last 10 years. They scored on the break after securing stops instead of trying to stop teams with scoring.

"We can't expect to win a championship by focusing on the offensive end," Bryant said in his postgame comments.

Yet, that is the direction in which most analysts said the NBA would head. A Celtics win means that for another season defense trumps offense.

Just as the Spurs did, the Celtics won with an exceptional style and substance - because they are the same thing.

It takes a true trio to make a "Big Three."

Until the Celtics clinched a title in a 39-point rout, the NBA's only Big Three resided in San Antonio—Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.

This trio won three titles together by playing on both ends of the floor. Any of the three could lead the team in scoring, spark a game-changing run or force a key turnover.

Then in Rome, the Celtics' trio decided to tell the world what it did not know. Paul Pierce as a great defender or outplaying Kobe Bryant? Ray Allen guarding Bryant one-on-one for stretches in the Finals?

Garnett, Pierce and Allen can now call themselves whatever they like. They have not transcended Bird, McHale and Parish with only one trophy but they have joined them.

I knew the three All-Stars would mesh offensively but I questioned the team's ability to score enough points and Allen and Pierce's defense. I will question them no more.

The probable truth is that Pierce has defended like this his entire career, as has Allen. It took a pairing with Kevin Garnett to see what was there all along.

Bynum will improve an inconsistent front line when he returns next year. The Lakers will not win a trophy with Space Cadet, not Scottie Pippen and Gasol taking what Phil Jackson calls "weenie" shots.

The Finals MVP gets the trophy he deserves: underrating Pierce

I did not know Paul Pierce was this good. 25 points on a bad team good? Sure. But, 38points in game five of the NBA Finals good? No way.

Prior to this postseason, when I compiled mental lists of the game's elite players, Pierce was an afterthought. His play ensured he will no longer suffer omissions from such lists.

He shot poorly in the decisive game (He did rack up 10 assists) but he played so well in the previous five contests that it did not matter.

Bryant threw one of the ugliest temper tantrums in sports history last summer, demanding a trade and slamming his under productive teammates. The Phoenix Suns eliminated his team in the first round for a second consecutive season but he already wore three championship rings. He was only a few years removed from his fourth Finals appearance.

Pierce's team did not make the playoffs and sputtered to a miserable 24-58 record. Where was Pierce demanding a trade and publicly calling out Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Kendrick Perkins for sucking up the season?

He kept his frustrations private, as Bryant should have, and then Ainge gifted him Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Pierce did not disappoint his crafty general manager and brought banner no. 17 to the luckiest sports city in America right now.

Rivalries do die: different Celtics, different Lakers

When David Stern knew that this match up would see fruition, one that seemed so improbable a year ago, he likely saw visions of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. The two former rivals even taped a commercial together declaring that "rivalries never die. They live on."

Bird and Magic happened in the 1980s and last time I checked this is 2008. There would be no Kevin McHale clothesline on Kurt Rambis or a baby hook game winner by Johnson in the old Garden.

This series shifted from the new Garden to the celebrity-filled Staples Center. The history of that great former rivalry can live on through memory, NBA TV and ESPN Classic.

That rivalry will not see a rebirth in this decade. Those who guarantee the Lakers will win the next four or five titles cannot take themselves seriously. They will be great, among the best in the rugged West, and certainly contending, but are hardly locks to hoist a trophy.

A blueprint realized: the same will win in 2009

The Celtics winning the 2008 championship means that Tim Duncan will hoist at least a fifth trophy. The Spurs will contend next year and the Western Conference's rising young teams—the Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors—will fall in the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Maybe the Lakers will get here again, the NBA's pinnacle stage, but Andrew Bynum's return guarantees nothing. The New Orleans Hornets are hot on the Spurs trail and may overtake them if they assemble a better bench and continue a defense-first philosophy.

So, the Celtics are the best team in the league and the Spurs are the third. The Lakers finished second but how close were they? Not very, if the series was more lopsided than a six game finish suggests.

Hopefully, the remaining dissenters know now that change is a fallacy. Changed teams can win a championship, as three stars without a ring proved Tuesday night, only if they continue what has won for the last two decades.

No team will win a championship in this NBA by outscoring opponents or with a cadre of 23 year olds. They may come close, but close wins nothing in the record books.

The Celtics won the championship and a South Texas team smiled. That's how to win it. A silver and black squad served as a fine blueprint indeed.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 12:47 PM