Post#378 » by shackles10 » Tue Jun 18, 2024 3:04 pm
Random thoughts after a short but perfect night of sleep...
I love t-shirts of iconic Celtics moments. I have them of Bird with the cigar in a artsy style, several of Bill Russell, one of Bird and Dr. J choking each other out, and now this team has their moment. I try not to go overboard but I don't know how I don't come away with one of DWhite smiling with that messed up tooth, the sign from the front row of JT and his "kids", and as a father of 4 (plus another in heaven) I absolutely love the photo of JT holding up Deuce with the confetti all around them.
KP looked so cooked to start the game and I worried he was going to hurt more than help. We then went to that small ball lineup with JT at center that got killed and I thought it was a sign that he wasn't coming back and we were desperate for rest for Al. I felt like KP got better as the game went on though. He wasn't as nervous to contest 3's, got back quicker, and did more than just be a 3 point outlet on offense. GIANT cojones for him to even come out to play and hope he didn't do any more damage. Related to this I can't say enough about Al playing with that kind of intensity for those minutes at his age.
Speaking of Al I can't believe how happy I am for him. We're total strangers and I've never been so happy for a person to find success. I can't even point to anything specific about Al to say he's a great guy or anything, but he just has that vibe that never lies where you can just tell how beloved he is. Happier for him than the Jays even.
Proud of JB for overcoming critics. Proud of JT for overcoming critics. Proud of the Jays as a 2 man unit for sticking together and doing it in green. For always rooting for each other, and not going somewhere else to find success. Proud of them for being legitimately happy when one gets acknowledged and not being bitter or jealous. That can't be an easy thing to do when as a professional athlete you're so competitive and you come short so many times individually and as a team.
PP is an end or quarter wizard. Saw the clock situation, texted my buddy from Boston and the only non-family member I know who's a die hard Celtics fan, and said "PP time?". My son at the same moment says, "dad is Pritchard coming in?". The rest is history as we both jumped up, yelled, pumped our fists, and woke up the baby, which got us in trouble with mom LMAO. Come back to my chair to find a "No **** way" text from my buddy along with a gif of Kermit the Frog going crazy.
Finally, I'm going to try not to hold expectations to this team going forward. The monkey is off their back... they may have a great run of titles in them, but winning 1 is really hard so I'm going to enjoy this one and whatever happens next year and beyond happens. Too many variables we can and cannot control within the organization come into play for me to lessen this title by stressing about future ones. I vow to do this until at least December lol.
Also, I was wrong on Joe, and while I've come around on him and posted as much on here, I made a lot of jokes at Joe's expense last season. Less of them this season, but still wasn't 100% sold. I don't think you can ever be 100% sold on a coach as the game often changes faster than individual coaches and even players can, but I'm good with Joe going forward until we have serious reasons not to be. He's a psycho, and that challenge was one of my favorite parts of the playoffs because it was such a dick move lol. He also loves the game, his players (who in turn seem to love him), but he's not a Doc kind of guy who just manages egos/lockerroom. He actually has a game plan, and listening to him go into more detail about it sounded like a guy finally coming out of his shell and full nerding out on UD, Haywood, and JCraw as they just stared in almost amazement as how he kept talking about the analytics and all the work he and the stuff to do track plays. I also love how he refused to be pigeonholed into being referred to as a "black coach" as though that defines him so simplistically as a person, and also as though it's validation that more work doesn't need to be done. You never can predict the future on coaches, but I could see him sticking around for a long time... especially if Brad is still in charge. I don't even hate him anymore for being the tiny center who beat Boogie Cousins and my beloved Wildcats in the Elite 8.