Celtics brought a knife to a gun fight

Memo to Doc Rivers and the Boston Celtics:

You are no longer playing the Orlando Magic. This Laker team is not going to cower based on Boston’s bullying reputation alone.

You are no longer playing against LeBron James. Kobe Bryant is more concerned with actually being the best than he is with being considered the best.

As stated previously, these are not the 2008 Los Angeles Lakers.

Boston, you have a problem.

Unlike Amar’e Stoudemire, you won’t hear anyone in the Boston locker room saying that any man wearing a Purple and Gold jersey got “lucky”. But that’s exactly the problem. The inevitable has already sunk in. You can see it on the faces and hear it in the voices of the Celtics.

Usually the biggest bullies on the block, the Celtics were sent home crying to their mommies after Game One of the NBA Finals.

Tell yourselves it was only one game if that helps you get through the night. Just know the history behind Phil Jackson and what always happens after he wins that “one game”.

Convince yourselves that the horrible officiating cost you any chance of victory. Just know that you went to the line more times than the Lakers and that there were more men in foul trouble wearing Purple and Gold than there were sporting puke green.

Continue to think that your swagger and bravado alone will carry you through the series. Just know that the Lakers aren’t short on confidence at all.

Boston, you have a problem.

You walked into a dark alley, an alley you’re very familiar with. So familiar, in fact, that you even hid a large sum of cash arrogantly knowing that you’d be able to get that money back unharmed. So confident that you’d walk out unscathed with your cash in hand, you decided you only needed a knife for the job.

Waiting at the end of that familiar alley was a familiar foe, but something seemed different. You knew those eyes but had never seen that look before.

Then…

The flash of steel followed by the sound of one bullet being put in the chamber.

Boston, looks like you brought a knife to a gun fight.

Unfortunately, this is not the NFL where one game decides the champion. This is the NBA where it takes four…make that three more wins to be declared the best.

The Celtics were lucky as the Lakers only fired a warning shot at the ground.

The problem is you’re the mighty Celtics and you’ve got pride. You’re not going to run. You’re just going to stand there. So now you’re stuck dancing for the rest of this series as shot after shot ricochets around your feet.

Boston, you’re far from dead but you’re dead wrong if you thought this series was going to be a knife fight.