If some of your favorite sports moments could talk, what would they say?
In the case of Rajon Rondo’s signature moment, it would tell you everything you needed to know about the last month of basketball in Boston.
The play may have only resulted in two points during the first half of a non-elimination game where the Celtics were padding a double-digit lead. However, as the Celtics’ sparkplug slid underneath the artist formerly known as White Chocolate to grab a loose ball during the second quarter of Boston’s Game Three shellacking of the Orlando Magic, it became evident why this 50-win team is on the verge of competing for their 18th banner. It became crystal clear why a team that nobody considered a threat just four weeks ago is now the talk of the sports world.
They’re hungry for a title that they feel is rightfully theirs. And now, they can feel how close they are to it.
That singular moment showed the world that these aren’t your average, regular season Celtics. They aren’t sleepwalking their way through the playoffs, hoping to climb the mountain solely on their individual talent. They aren’t sitting back, waiting for opponents to make mistakes so that they can capitalize on them.
The talk before the season was how this might be the last chance for the Big Three to make a statement league wide. Then the losses started piling up and the criticism started coming in from every angle, talking about how slow, injured and old the C’s were. They were supposed to be left for dead by teams like Cleveland, Orlando and Atlanta once the playoffs rolled around.
But the Green flipped the proverbial switch. They knew that they couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.
Or more like roll away.
The Celtics don’t have a D-Wade, a LeBron or a Kobe. There isn’t a player on the roster with enough basketball talent to singlehandedly win basketball games on his own. They know that.
So over the last month, they’ve decided to rest on the strengths that they’ve relied on so much over the last three seasons. It has all come down to teamwork, hustle, toughness, grit and defense.
It isn’t a new concept. If you outwork your opponents, you have a greater chance of getting where you want to be. With today’s NBA being so much about individual matchups, isolations, scoring titles and flashiness, Doc Rivers continues to feed his team a steady diet of fundamentals that will always make a team a contender.
As Rondo dove across the parquet floor and fully extended himself past Jason Williams, the man who is known for making the fancy pass on losing teams and was unwilling to go the extra mile in what was pretty much a must-win game, the world saw how much this run means to the guys in green. With their goal just five victories away, the Larry O’Brien Trophy has stopped becoming something they want.
Instead, it has become something they need.
Ryan Desmarais is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, where he earned his B.A. in English with a minor in Communication Arts. His work has been featured on sites such as Bleacher Report and SLAM Online. He currently resides in Manchester, NH.
