Boston Celtics will have it tough if the full NBA season gets cancelled
The way things are going in the ongoing NBA labour dispute, the chances of having the 2011-12 season are diminishing with every passing day.
The situation became more desperate after the National Basketball Players Association rejected the ‘final’ offer of the franchise owners and moved to decertify the league. They have also filed two anti-trust lawsuits against the
league and if the two parties do not converge to a unanimous decision any time soon, there may not be enough time left to hold the season.
The NBA lockout would not only affect the players and the owners, it will also affect some hot shot teams, who may not have a chance to build upon their illustrious legacies any time soon. The teams that will be affected the most
in that scenario are the Boston Celtics.
A completion season wipe out will mean that we have already seen the last of the ‘Big Three’ trio Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. The three stars are on the twilight of their careers and after having reached a touching
distance last season, this season would have been their last hope of winning a championship for the C’s, together.
A lost season means a lost year in their careers and would also render them exposed to injuries. Their return thus will be very hard and if the trio is broken, it would leave a gap too big to shore for the Celts.
Even if the three stars survive a season’s absence, they will be too old to match the agility and athleticism of the emerging powers in the Eastern Conference, let alone the league. A indicator of these problem came late in the
last regular season and then in the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Miami Heat.
Pitched up against the triple ripple from the South Beach – LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh – the C’s found it increasingly difficult to match the pace of the Heat. The reason for it was that Garnett, Allen and Pierce
had no more steam left that late in the season.
To get rid of this quagmire, the C’s do have one option and that is to trade at least one cog of the trio. However, even that is not without its troubles. All three veterans are on heavy pay rolls and given their age, there might
not be any team around, willing to take the gamble.
The only thus, that the Celtics can hope for is a shortened NBA season, just like the one in 1998. A slashed regular season will mean less fatigue for the old Celt warhorses when they reach the playoffs and a fair shot at the NBA
title one last time.
Tags: