Gurur Sarbanoglu's Boston Celtics fan blog

What a night of basketball it was! The ESPN pundits summed it up perfectly when they were asked to describe the game in one word: "Phenomenal", "spectacular", "thriller"...you can easily add "awesome" to that list.

In the crucial Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Green edged out the Motown in emphatic style. Yet, there seemed to be a sense of panic in the latter half of the last quarter as the Pistons came back from an improbable 17 point deficit. The Celtics' game changted from closing the game to maintaining the lead. It could have gone the wrong way, but thank to earlier superior performances from Ray Allen and Kendrick Perkins, coupled with Garnett's 33 points, Rondo's 18 assists and Pierce's terrific defensive performance, Boston managed to keep their lead against a Detroit side that is brimming with quality. The fact that Posey's 3-pointer was the only point scored by the Boston bench shows how good the Celtics starters are and how crucial it will be when facing Lakers or Spurs in the final - that is if Boston can finish off Detroit, which is a very daunting task indeed.

Continue reading "Back on the Bigger Scene"

Now that the first games of the Conference Finals are out of the way with the home teams coming up trumps in both, I would like to share an interesting thing that caught my attention regarding the teams that have come thus far. Celtics, Lakers, Spurs, and Pistons ...

The first two are the traditional powerhouses of NBA history with the most championships. The closest team are the Jordan-led Bulls with six championships - that is 9 less than how much Lakers won and 10 less than Celtics. Meanwhile, Spurs and Pistons are quite possibly the two dominant teams of the last 6 or 7 years. They have 5 championships and 9 Conference Finals combined under their belt. Of all the possible permutations for the Finals series, we have two rather scintillating options: Lakers vs. Celtics, in what would be the Ultimate Match-up of the Titans; or Spurs vs. Pistons, in what would be the Clash of the New Titans.

Continue reading "Same Old, Same Old..."

What a game it was last night. As I was pacing up and down the modest size of my apartment's living room, my heart palpitations above healthy limits, Celtics managed to cling on to their lead to see away LeBron and his Cavaliers. Make no mistake - despite some of the Cavs' unquestionable talents, without LeBron they aren't that good.

Think about it: LeBron made 45 points, the rest of the Cavs made 47. You can argue that Pierce made 41 and the rest of the Celts 56, but Pierce's performance was almost an anomaly. Not that he is not capable of performing like he did yesterday - by all means he can do this every night - but Celts also have other guns that blaze. They were missing last night - except Garnett's game-high 13 boards and Allen's crucial free throws.

What I will remember most from last night's game is not the amazing sparring game between Pierce and LeBron, but the former's inability to hide his smile after that fluke of a free throw went in after bouncing off the back of the rim. It wasn't a slight smirk, a relaxed sigh of relief, it was the joy of a small kid finally making his first basket in on the driveway without his father's help. It was a priceless moment - for me the moment of the whole season. Not even lifting up the championship trophy will change that.

Continue reading "LeBron and On"

iTunes on shuffle...you gotta love it. As I was perusing the otherwise pretty uninteresting waters of internet, with music soothing my soul in the background, the song with the above title came on immediately after Chimaira's head-banging extravaganza "Down Again". Neil Young's album of the same name is an underrated classic. But, I'm not going to dabble on and on about Mr. Young's superior musical prowess, but about the game tonight. Yes, tonight's the night. Celtics have to win here, otherwise future looks pretty bleak from up here. Having to go somewhere else for elimination game is quite a daunting task if you take into account Celt's road record this post-season. Yes, that dreaded e-word is loud and clear now.

Will they do it tonight? Hope so. They have all the ingredients to be a championship team, minus road records. If ?Allen, Pierce, and Garnett play close to their potential, not even a ludicrously amazing LeBroon-dunk could stop stop them. And they should be able to. But, this past few games showed that, only Garnett seems to be doing that and Allen and Pierce must regain some of the swagger they had a few weeks ago. I am sure they want this as much as anybody else out there, I'm not questioning their desire, but what they did so far. Allen is a far superior player than Wally at both ends of the court and the former Celtic's defensive display should not be an excuse.

Continue reading "Tonight's the Night"

You can't be champions unless you win games away from home. It is that simple. One look at the current NBA second round play-off bracket, and you'll see two other tied series, but the difference is that all of those teams won at least one game away from home. So, the heat ain't on them. It's on the C.

It is not fair to put the blame on an individual player, or players, as players only contribute to the outcome. It has to  be a team effort. And the Celts seem to be lacking that very essence that made them the most feared team during the regular season. Putting the blame on Ray Allen for not scoring for a game and a half, or on Paul Pierce who has not shown his edge just yet, or on Rajon Rondo who makes more "hero shots" is not the issue here. These three players, and the others on the roster, are hungry for the trophy at the end of the season. I still believe they will get it, but not playing offence like they did last night. Abysmal is the word. Celtics haven't been the most prolific of teams when it comes to score, but they maintained an excellent balance between their sublime defence and formidable offensive options that they ended up winning 66 games. The defence is still top-notch - as is evident with LeBron James' performance. However, the offence does not support the effort from the other side of the court. And every stolen possession gets wasted by a horribly executed shot.

Continue reading "Woes Away From Home"