End of the line..

So the Boston Celtics 2008-09 season ends. I was at Game 7 the other night, and just didn't have a great feeling going into it. This team certainly had alot of heart, and gave it their all, but at the end, they ran out of steam. The Magic were simply a younger, healthier team. A better team? No-not in my opinion. I'm not going to go the "if we had a healthy KG" route. I think we matched up well with the Magic, but could've used another long body to cover Rashard Lewis. After the game, I had a chance to wish some of the team, including Clifford Ray, Paul Pierce and Kendrick Perkins, a good summer. Perk seemed pretty upbeat and Pierce seemed quite frankly, exhausted. The fans at the Garden have just been great all year. I have to say that we Boston Celtics fans are an intense, relentless bunch. There was a point in Game 7 with about 10 minutes left in the 4th, that the fans "saluted" the Celtics. It was becoming clear that the game was slipping away, but during a timeout, the Garden crowd rose as one, chanting "Let's go Celtics!" It was awesome and gave me chills. The cameramen all focused on different parts of the arena, and the jumbotron operator showed shot after shot of fans screaming, clapping, yelling and generally showing the Celtics that they have been, and always will be behind them. It was truly amazing. There are of course some offseason questions for the C's. Will Stephon Marbury, Leon Powe and Eddie House be around next year..? Will assistant coach and defensive genius Tom Thibodeau take a head-coaching job in Philly..? Will the Celts make any moves regarding this summer's draft? (our 1st round belongs to Minnesota as part of the KG deal, but Danny Ainge has expressed interest in perhaps making moves to get another pick) How will the Big Ticket rebound (no pun intended) from off season surgery..? These questions and more will be answered in the coming months. So now it's time to get a bit more interested in the Red Sox and figure out just who I want to see win the O'Brien trophy. I'm leaning towards Cleveland, but with the Celts out of the mix, I really cannot get too excited about the NBA right now. As a basketball fan, I'll certainly watch the Finals, but it obviously just won't be the same. Here are a few pics I took of the last game of the 2008-09 Boston Celtics' season...