RealGM

I like this quote.

Nowadays people want to talk about the Lakers with a healthy Andrew Bynum. They want to talk about a retrofitted Sixers team or about a loaded Rockets team. They want to talk about the Hornets, who nabbed James Posey away from the defending Champs with a promise of more money. No one is all that interested in talking about Boston anymore because, frankly, they did what they were supposed to do and now people have lost interest.

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=248265& ... pStory_nba

LMAO. Nobody thought winning a title was "what we were supposed to do" when everyone was predicting the Lakers would trounce us.

it's good, the C's need some motivation...

I don't have any major issue with the article. I'll pick out a different quote

"The mystique surrounding this team may have abated for now, but come April there is no reason to expect they won't be even better equipped than they were last year to briskly traverse the Playoffs on their way to title number two."

and suggest they're not dissing the Celtics with this article.

I also don't have any issue with the comment that the Celtics were expected to win it all, because from pre-season through to about the 4'th game of the Atlanta series, I recall the Celtics being the top ranked team. It was only after the road woes against the worst ranked playoff team came into effect that the Laker crescendo started in full.

This is a link to (one of?) the Realgm final season rankings:
http://www.realgm.com/src_feature/1218/ ... r_2007_08/

See, I took the quote (or the article in general) as implying that the national media and fans shouldn't sleep on Boston next season. To me, it's like when Toronto won the Atlantic division the previous season and a lot of people were talking about Boston this season and few people wanted to acknowledge that the Raptors are still the defending division champions.

So, while you predict greatness for the Celtics and believe the Nets are still one of the better teams in the East, don't forget about the defending Atlantic Division champions, who are ready to take another step up. And according to their star, that step may come on the defensive end of the floor.

http://www.nba.com/preview2007/tor.html



And I also feel like the article is saying that there's few reasons to believe that Boston will be less motivated to repeat as NBA champions after winning it this season. The key point in this quote is telling. The Celtics have capable talent on the bench that, if they mature sooner than later, there's enough there to offset somewhat the subtracting of James, Brown and Cassell. But, the new players must step up when the opportunities to do so arise. If they do, the veterans will have more chances to rest in games without feeling the need to play not to lose when they're up big. It helps to develop confidence in the bench that the starters can trust them to hold their owns and hold up the lead in some games.

The fact of the matter is that there is no reason that the Celtics couldn't, and shouldn't, win the title again this year. While the loss of Posey stings, the team is still stocked with capable talent. Any worries about let-up are purely speculation, culled simply from the disbelief that any team, especially one with the age dotting the roster that Boston has, can maintain that level of focus and pressure for a second straight year.