Where Did It All Go Wrong?

            When you gamble, you have to be prepared to lose at some point. Danny Ainge gambled big once before this and it paid off; he brought in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to form the Big Three with Paul Pierce, securing the Celtics Banner 17. But when Ainge traded away the franchise favorite Kendrick Perkins, the gamble for instant success fell short, and the Celtics ended their season prematurely to the fiendish Miami Heat.

            It wasn’t just the trade that sent Perkins away that effectively ended the Celtics rule atop the Eastern Conference; it was a culmination of a series of factors. The Big Three has gotten old. The O’Neal factor didn’t pan out as the Celtics had hoped. The productivity off the bench came in waves; sometimes they’d come up big and sometimes they’d just fall flat. Glen Davis was pitiful in the Miami series, Jeff Green was uncertain of his role and Delonte West was injured. But the biggest pitfall the Celtics had was their inability to capitalize on their matchups. Rondo’s dislocated elbow effectively took him out, and somehow the Celtics centers got beat by Joel Anthony who never even had a worthwhile career. But most importantly, the Celtics couldn’t contain LeBron James or Dwyane Wade, and let them score in every way imaginable.

            Danny Ainge has one last shot at redemption this offseason. He has to sign free agents like Jamal Crawford or J. R. Smith to relieve Ray Allen, and add depth to the bench. Most importantly, Ainge has to lay the groundwork to be able to sign and rebuild around Dwight Howard the following year. He also has to begin imaging a world without Doc Rivers, since it doesn’t seem likely he’ll be sticking around forever. One bad trade doesn’t have to define Ainge, but unless he learns his lesson and gets Howard, this year’s biggest trade will haunt Ainge until the day he dies as Boston’s most hated man.

            As for the Celtics here and now, sadly they proved what everyone has been thinking for the past two years. The tank finally ran out, and they just couldn’t run on fumes anymore. Time betrays us all, and the Celtics are living proof of that. But time marches on, and so must the Celtics.