The Boston Celtics have been one of the most storied franchises in NBA history. Marked equally by their historic victories as well as their memorable rivalries, would anyone have thought that in 2007, the greatest foe to the Green would be winning a single game?
I know it's been written to death. I know there are two camps in this debate, and those individuals are firmly entrenched: either you will never accept defeat, or you hope that as the losses pile up, the closer the team may get to scoring Greg Oden or Kevin Durant in next year's draft. As fans of ESPN.com's "The Sports Guy" already know, he has coined the term "fantanking" for those fans who fall in the latter category.
After seeing the Celts in action last Friday, I am now a full-fledged resident of the U.S.S. Fantanker.
Never in all my years of fandom have I ever actively rooted for one of my teams to lose. Nothing trumps pride in my book, pride in one's team. And I would expect even players, no matter how bad their team may be, to have the pride to continue playing as hard as possible. But the Celtics are a different story.
I'm not saying the Celtics aren't trying. They are actively working at a specific goal each night, be that focusing on blowing a fourth quarter lead or pacing themselves to trail the entire length of the game, from the very second the ball is tipped.
I never wanted to see it come to this. This is the team of Bird and Auerbach. And it's sad that in the season of Auerbach's death, the team he built would disgrace his memory with the worst record in team, and perhaps league, history. But then I got to thinking: What would Red do?
During the 1978-79 season, the Celtics finished in last place in the Atlantic with a 29-53 record. Their .354 winning percentage was the worst at the time since the 1949-50 season when they finished at .324. But Red had a plan. Thanks to only a slightly better record the season before, in the 1977-78 draft, the C's used their sixth pick to draft a college junior out of Indiana State by the name of Larry Bird. It was a risk, since Red knew that Bird would stay in college for one more year. Through a rule that has now been changed thanks to Red, the Celtics retained the rights to Bird and signed him one year later.
Of course the gamble paid off, and the following season Bird led the Celtics to a 61-21 record, a 32-game improvement that remains the best single-season turnaround in NBA history. The Green captured first place that season, before losing to Philadelphia in the Conference Finals.
Could this be the same hope for this generation of Celtics? Would Red condone this continued floundering in the hopes of capturing an Oden or Durant for next season? I don't think he would encourage his team to tank, but let's say he'd probably see the glass as half full if the losses continued. We have to swallow our Celtic pride this season in the hopes of reclaiming our former glory next season.
Right now the only thing winning could do for the Celtics is hurt them. Case in point: after a lackluster 2004-05 season that was only made worse by a pointless entry into the playoffs where the team lost in the first round to Indiana for the second year in a row, the Celtics still grabbed Gerald Green and Ryan Gomes to complement Al Jefferson and Delonte West, but missed out yet again on that turnaround player. If we screw up this season and start winning, we can kiss any shot at a future franchise player goodbye.
At the time of this column going to print, the Celtics have lost 18 consecutive games. With any luck, loss Number 19 is in the books and the road to topping the current NBA record of 24-consecutive losses set by the Cleveland Cavaliers still remains open. The Cavaliers completed that task over a two-season stretch from 1981-82 into the 1982-83 season, but the Celtics have always been about excellence: they'll top 24 in only one season.
In some ways a record losing streak would make a fitting bookend to those 16 World Championship banners hanging from the rafters. They say that pride comes before the fall, but when you're this bad you've got to find a reason to be proud.
So the 2006-07 Boston Celtics season is as good as over. And while most New England sports fans are checking off their calendars until Red Sox pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training, I'm counting the days down until June 28, 2007, when the fate of the Celtics dynasty may very well be decided. Here's hoping the luck of Red may still be with the team.
Andrew Bauld is a senior majoring in English and political science. He can be reached at andrew.bauld@tufts.edu.
