Has The Title Train passed The Celtics Big Three?

In their first year together the trio helped The Celtics win another
title and more seemed to be on the way until injuries derailed those
aspirations. Garnett suffered a knee injury towards the end of the
regular season in 2009 and The Celtics lost in the second round of the
playoffs to The Orlando Magic. In the following season, Boston made it
back to The Finals and were one win away from a championship when
forward Kendrick Perkins suffered a torn ACL in game six versus The Los
Angeles Lakers. The Celtics bowed out to The Lakers in seven games and
you only wondered what if.

Going into last season all the buzz  was around The Miami Heat and their
Big Three which consisted of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh.
On paper The Heat were the team to beat in The Eastern Conference, but
in three head-to-head match-ups The Celtics dominated The Heat as they
had a size advantage and toughness over Miami. On the interior, Perkins
and Garnett teamed with Jermaine and Shaquille O’Neal to give The
Celtics a tremendous advantage on the boards. Pierce was still one of
the best clutch players in the game and Allen was still one of the
deadliest shooters from beyond the three-point line. Rajon Rondo was a
tough point guard and The Celtics had good reserves off of the bench in
the form Semih Erden, Luke Harongody, Glen Davis, and Nate Robinson. The
Celtics seemed poised not only to beat The Heat, but also hang the
team’s 18th championship banner in TD Garden. That all changed on
February 24, 2011.

Ainge took his team out of title contention by trading Perkins and
Robinson to The Oklahoma City Thunder for forward Jeff Green and center
Nenad Kristic. In acquiring Green, Ainge was hoping that he would give
The Celtics the same thing that they had in 2008 when James Posey was a
key perimeter defender. Green struggled with The Celtics as he just
appeared to be lost in the shuffle. Unfortunately for Green and The
Celtics, Green suffered an aortic aneurysm and his basketball career is
unimportant and he now tries to regain his health.

Ainge wasn’t sold on giving Perkins a long term contract after he had
suffered the serious knee injury. Perkins never put up big scoring
numbers, but he was the heart and soul of the team. Perkins gave Boston
something that they had over every other team in basketball which was
toughness. By the time the playoffs rolled around, The Celtics went from
contending for the top seed in The Eastern Conference to the third
spot. In the second round The Celtics were dominated in five games by
The Heat who went on to The Finals. This was the same Miami squad that
had been dominated by Boston prior to the trades by Ainge. James and
Wade probably sent Ainge a fruit basket thanking him for clearing the
way for them in The East.

Celtics head coach Doc Rivers made a good point a few years ago when he
talked about his starting lineup. The combination of Pierce, Rondo,
Allen, Garnett, and Perkins had never lost a playoff series together
when the five played an entire series together. If you take away the
injures to Garnett and Perkins there is a strong possibility that these
Celtics may have won three titles in a row.

This season The Celtics have started off with a record of 5-8 and Ainge
is open to exploring trade options for his Big Three if the team
continues to struggle. This will be a very tough and trying season for
The Celtics. Boston is a veteran group that will suffer by the 66-game
schedule that will see teams playing on three consecutive nights. Since
Ainge already threw a title away last season, he might as well throw in
the red flag for 2012 and just start over from scratch.