Celtics Second Act Begins Tonight at the Garden

With a straight and vertical trajectory, the Celtics banner will take mere moments to find its way tonight from ground level to the ceiling. It was all most that quick in which the team’s fortune rose from that of an NBA lottery constant, to a playoff certainty, and finally to a champion.

But now as the Celtics embark on their second consecutive season of play back at the top of the NBA hierarchy, after over twenty years of being consistently removed from it, fans must recognize that much like the way in which cool fall temperatures are forcing us to close ours, the window of potential championship contention for the Celtics is not limitless and narrows more and more each season.
In fact, a poll of NBA general managers that came out this week may indicate that word around the league is that the Lakers, with the return of a healthy Andrew Bynum, have edged ahead of the Celtics in the race for the 2008 – 2009 crown. The same poll put the Celtics as favorites to come out of the east but trailing considerably in votes for the title behind Kobe’s squad.

What does all of this mean? Well nothing for certain accept that time moves on and with it past glories become just that, things in the past. So after a long awaited and well deserved ceremony takes place tonight on the Garden parquet around 7:38 PM the role of the Celtics turns from champions to defenders. The opportunity to defend is an awesome one and brings with it 82 unique and separate opportunities to prove that the Celtics are still a championship quality outfit while trying to fight off a nightly attempt by their opponent to knock the defending champion down a notch or two.

Rocker Warren Zevon once instructed us to “enjoy every sandwich.” Likewise, the Celtics and their fans should realize the fleeting nature of championship quality teams and enjoy each game that the C’s play at this level and try hard not too look too far ahead. Because as Patriots fans learned the hard way early last month, each team, no matter how dominant, is only one play away from having the script of their season thrown out and forced to be rewritten.