Celtic pride is back
Boston might be the happiest sports town in American history right now.
The Red Sox only had to wait three years between World Series titles, the Patriots are dominating the NFL, and Boston College is ranked No. 2 in the country.
The dream of four Beantown championships in a single year is alive and well because the Celtics suddenly are relevant again less than a year after posting the NBA's second-worst record.
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General manager Danny Ainge pulled off one of the league's most eventful off-seasons by adding Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to existing all-star Paul Pierce. The Celtics are all the talk of the NBA as the 2007-08 season opens tonight with three games.
Through a month of training camp, which began in Rome, things couldn't be rosier for Boston. Just listen to Garnett's description of the new "Big Three."
"We're all similar in a lot of ways," he said. "We are all passionate. The three of us have a high competitive spirit. The three of us hate to lose."
And that inexperienced supporting cast? Garnett has that covered, too. He bought the team's rookies new suits in Italy, claimed he has bonded with center Kendrick Perkins, and predicted an eye-popping future for second-year point guard Rajon Rondo.
"If Rondo's not the best point guard in three or four years, I'll be very, very surprised," Garnett said in the Boston Herald. "He has the quickness of a Tony Parker. He has the IQ and the passing skills of a Jason Kidd."
This all sounds too good to be true, and maybe it is. Creating a solid chemistry on this Celtics team will be a science experiment befitting Mr. Wizard.
Sure, the three stars can say how well they'll coexist. But all three are used to being the No. 1 scoring option on their teams. Garnett, Allen and Pierce have a combined 25 consecutive seasons averaging more than 20 points per game.
If the three Celtics continue to average 20 points each, it will be quite a milestone. There hasn't been an NBA team with three 20-point scorers since the "Run-TMC" Warriors in 1990-91 with Chris Mullin, Mitch Richmond and Tim Hardaway.
A few teams have come close in recent years, such as the 2004-05 Wizards squad that beat the Bulls in the playoffs. Washington had Gilbert Arenas at 25.5 points, Larry Hughes at 22.0 and Antawn Jamison at 19.6.
Then again, three 20-point scorers on the same team was common before defense began to dominate the NBA in the 1990s. The Denver Nuggets had three 20-point scorers in four straight seasons from 1979-83.
But no team has ever won an NBA title with three 20-point scorers, and no such squad has reached the Finals since the 1969-70 Los Angeles Lakers.
Here are a couple of facts that help illustrate the tricky chemistry of three high scorers sharing one basketball:
bull; The Celtics had three 20-point scorers (Sam Jones, John Havlicek and Bailey Howell) just once in the 1960s, and that happened to be 1967, the one time in that decade Boston didn't win the title.
bull; The 1980-81 Lakers and the 1983-84 Sixers had three 20-point scorers. Both teams lost in the first round of the playoffs, a year after winning the championship without three 20-point scorers.
bull; The '83 Sixers did come close to pulling it off, winning the title with Moses Malone (24.5), Julius Erving (21.4) and Andrew Toney (19.7).
Obviously, those numbers may not relate well to the 2007 NBA because fewer teams average 100 points these days. But it will be interesting to see if any of the Celtics' three stars is willing to sacrifice his scoring.
Garnett is the most likely candidate since he not only excels at rebounding and defense but also has the highest career assist average (4.5) of the three.
"By nature he doesn't really want to throw up big numbers scoring-wise because he loves to defend, rebound and pass the ball from the top of the floor," TNT analyst Doug Collins said of Garnett. "I think you're going to see K.G. in the MVP hunt because he's going to have a great year."
There will be plenty of other questions for the Celtics to answer. Will Pierce or Allen play any defense? Can Perkins master his main objective of staying out of foul trouble? Does the team need more off the bench than James Posey, Brian Scalabrine and Tony Allen?
Without a doubt, though, Boston's new acquisitions have made the NBA season more interesting, especially if the Celtics end up in a playoff series against the Bulls.