Requiem for the '23 Celtics

Boston sports fans have lived through some excruciating defeats in recent decades... '07 Super Bowl, 2010 Game 7 to Lakers, '03 Grady Little game first that jump to mine... but none where the team has flat out gave up in a must win on the biggest stage of the season. The last quarter and a half looked like an AAU tournament where one team is clearly overmatching the other... Celtics were getting legitimately clowned start clowned. The integrity of the NBA brand was up for grabs, that's how embarrassing it was.

Five years ago, when Jayson Tatum screamed in Lebron's face as a rookie in Game 7 of the ECF, I felt like this was a DUDE who you wanted to go to battle with. Same for Jaylen Brown, in his rookie year in '17 when they were COMPLETELY overmatched against the Cavs and still went in and got a victory on the road in Game 3. But these guys looked like they didn't even want to be there tonight, five and six years later, after the all-NBA seasons they've put up, after getting the chance to get the supermax contract they, in fairness based on the current NBA landscape, have very much earned. But the box score don't lie, and it ain't pretty:

26 combined points on 12-35 shooting is not great in any game, never mind the biggest of the year when your back is against the wall. My jaw was on the floor when they didn't come out and play in the 4th... where is the pride? Where is the passion? Where is the competitive spirit? What are we doing out here? Nothing left to save yourself for this season... no load management standards in Game 3 of the ECF, at least if you ask me. Joe Mazzulla going to have plenty of time to watch 'The Town' this offseason... ain't gonna be with an NBA ring.

Adding insult to injury...

On the fence about Grant Williams in Game 2... liked his energy initially, but didn't like him talking smack to Butler, but now I find myself saying 'at least tried?' Like where's Al Horford, veteran leader, ready to make a big play? When is Tatum going to step up into some sort of emotional leader that can say something... literally anything... when it's not going well? His expression of uncertainty says it all.

Lots of success, still young, but has that success actually hurt progress? Do they have the actual fight? Do they have the grit? That's what folks can't live with from a fan perspective... we want to see guys we can go to war with. That's what it means to play in Boston.

Garnett, Pierce, Perkins, Troy Brown, Willie Mcginest, Tedy Bruschi, Edelman, Brady, Rodney Harrison, Big Vince Wilfork... beloved in Boston because of that warrior mentality.

The apathy, the lack of emotion, the feeling of indifference to the final score was what you just hate to see. Tatum was hyped in Game 7 vs. the Sixers, which was great from a normally unemotional guy. But it's becoming a trend... really low effort performance in last year's finals, they were lucky in many ways to beat the Heat in last year's ECF, and now this year's team just has no fight left. No DOG. Sad, sad stuff... maybe I'm the old man yelling at clouds like my friend and colleague Tavis Ino, also known in some circles as 'TacoMagic69', but this is sad. Boston is owned by the state of Florida right now... I believe we will return to our place as the most dominant sports city in the country, but right now it's up for grabs for the first time in a long time. I hope I eat these words and I'm like Shaughnessy at the beginning of '4 days in October' when he's giving Millar shit after they lost 19-8 in game 3 in Fenway in '04... but it doesn't seem likely.