Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett,and Paul Pierce enjoy the win (AP Photo)
Mom always told me to send thank you notes when someone does something nice. Today, I (finally) take her advice.
I wanted to thank you for helping the Celtics. I know you've been watching your division rivals struggle lately. You probably saw what we saw: a sluggish team that struggled with the things they had done well for a long time. So we all really appreciate you rolling over and dying in the second half. The chance to rest our starters is really huge right now.
Seriously, letting all those guys sit with less than 30 minutes of play, especially with two straight days off on the schedule, is a perfect remedy for what ails the Celtics right now. I think we all would understand if you, a division rival, came in and fought tooth-and-nail to the bitter end in an effort to knock off the champs. But you didn't. You bailed us out by letting our stars get rest, and our bench work out some of the kinks that had been bothering them since Christmas.
Really, that might be the biggest help. Guys on the bench don't normally get those extended minutes. To get key bench players some extra time on the floor will help the coaching staff break down some of those mistakes in practice. It also helps them get into some kind of rhythm, which really is a luxury. To top it all off, one of our rookies got to see some NBA time. That really allowed the crowd to have some fun. I like Bill Walker. He even had some highlights. Double bonus!
I know I might sound like I'm going on and on, but it's only because I deeply appreciate your lack of effort. Please allow me a moment of rudeness here as I ask you to specifically pass along my best to Vince Carter (rather than my sending him a separate note). Vince really could have tried to live up to his talent, but instead he took the first opportunity he could to crumble under a minor injury and use it as an excuse to under-perform. I know that's really nothing new for him, but he hasn't been doing much of that lately. So I really appreciate him pulling that one back out of his bag of tricks.
So thank you, New Jersey Nets. Perhaps when the Celtics are riding on those Duck Boats through the city of Boston in late June, we can look back on this game as a turning point.
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