凯尔特人重返总决赛对波士顿和 NBA 都有好处
【中美创新时报2024 年 6 月 6 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）凯尔特人进入总决赛对波士顿和 NBA 美国来说都是一个伟大的进步。当联盟的标志性球队出现在其展示活动中时，联盟总是会受益匪浅。《波士顿环球报》记者丹·肖纳西（Dan Shaughnessy ）对此作了下述报道。
随着凯尔特人周四晚上与小牛队进行第一场比赛，我们可以期待杰森·塔图姆和杰伦·布朗与达拉斯超级巨星卢卡·东契奇和凯里·欧文的两周激烈对决。
凯尔特人进入总决赛对波士顿和 NBA 美国来说都是一个伟大的进步。当联盟的标志性球队出现在其展示活动中时，联盟总是会受益匪浅。
与纽约洋基队、绿湾包装工队和蒙特利尔加拿大人队一样，凯尔特人队也是他们运动的代名词。20 世纪下半叶，当羽翼未丰的 NBA 逐渐成熟时，比尔·拉塞尔、鲍勃·库西和雷德·奥尔巴赫将波士顿的镶木地板放在了全国体育地图上，并在 13 个赛季中赢得了 11 次冠军。
在随后的几十年里，随着火炬从拉塞尔和萨姆·琼斯传递给哈夫利切克、考恩斯、马克斯维尔、伯德、帕里什和麦克海尔等人，凯尔特人队继续赢得冠军——20 世纪 70 年代两次夺冠，80 年代又三次夺冠。也是在 80 年代，拉里·伯德和魔术师约翰逊与迈克尔·乔丹和总裁大卫·斯特恩联手，使 NBA 成为一个全球娱乐实体。
虽然凯尔特人的骄傲和花园神秘感在很大程度上延续了下来，但当伯德和他的队友于 1986 年 6 月 8 日赢得他们的最后一冠后，这支球队的冠军之路就此终结。
从那天起，虽然 NBA 的迷你王朝在洛杉矶（总共 17 次夺冠，与波士顿相同）、芝加哥、圣安东尼奥和湾区蓬勃发展，然后灭亡，但凯尔特人只赢得过一次冠军——在 2007-08 赛季，凯文·加内特、保罗·皮尔斯和雷·阿伦在六场比赛中击败了湖人队。
现在凯尔特人再次成为夺冠热门。
在 35 岁的乔·马祖拉的执教下，凯尔特人本赛季赢得了联盟最佳的 64 场比赛，季后赛战绩为 12 胜 2 负，有条不紊地击败了迈阿密、克利夫兰和印第安纳的番茄罐头。凯尔特人队才华横溢、阵容深厚、休息充足，并且为首发中锋克里斯塔普斯·波尔津吉斯（小腿受伤）的回归做好了准备，波尔津吉斯自 4 月 29 日以来就没有上场过。达拉斯-沃斯堡地区以外的几乎每个人都认为波士顿会获胜。
塔图姆和布朗是丹尼·安吉（在奥尔巴赫的指导下学习）选中的超级巨星，他们已经在一起度过了第七个赛季，并将第二次参加总决赛。两年前，凯尔特人队以两比一领先勇士队，但在最后三场比赛中输给了斯蒂芬·库里、德雷蒙德·格林等人。
“我们可以从总决赛的经历中吸取教训，”塔图姆上周末表示。“这次经历大不相同。显然我们以前也经历过，但最终失败了。这是再次进入总决赛的绝佳机会。你并不总是有第二次机会。”
凯尔特人队还有后卫朱·霍勒迪（他曾随雄鹿队赢得总冠军戒指）和德里克·怀特，这两位球员都是篮球运营总裁布拉德·史蒂文斯的绝妙收获。我们不要忘记 38 岁的艾尔·霍福德，他职业生涯季后赛出场 181 场，早就该获得自己的第一枚总冠军戒指了。
小牛队是 5 号种子，常规赛只赢了 50 场，两场输给波士顿（凯尔特人队在三月份以 28 分的差距击败了他们）。达拉斯队在赛季中期进行了一些交易，在最后 20 场比赛中取得了 16 胜 4 负的战绩，然后在季后赛中取得了 12 胜 5 负的战绩。小牛队最好的球员是 25 岁的东契奇，他是来自斯洛文尼亚的伯德克隆人，保证能带来娱乐，并有可能独自赢得至少一场比赛。
小牛队还有欧文，他是波士顿体育界的恶棍之首。欧文是 NBA 历史上最有天赋的全能后卫之一（别忘了他和勒布朗·詹姆斯在克利夫兰一起赢得了总冠军），他只为凯尔特人队打了两个赛季（2017-19），但却得罪了比比尔·莱姆比尔、乌尔夫·塞缪尔森和亚历克斯·罗德里格斯加起来还要多的 Hub 体育赞助商。
波士顿球迷对欧文的仇恨似乎无穷无尽。第一次出现仇恨是在凯里在绿湾的第二个赛季前夕违背了与凯尔特人队重新签约的承诺（“我没有发挥出最好的水平”，欧文周一承认）。这引发了欧文和新英格兰体育迷之间长达五年的对骂。
2020 年，当时还是布鲁克林篮网队成员的欧文在常规赛前在镶木地板上焚烧鼠尾草。那个赛季晚些时候，在篮网队淘汰凯尔特人队的季后赛系列赛中，欧文踩踏了凯尔特人队神圣的中场标志，然后成为看台上扔水瓶的目标。这导致欧文被指控“潜在的种族主义，对待人们就像对待人类动物园里的人一样”。
一年后，凯里将波士顿球迷比作“被轻视的女朋友”，然后在季后赛中对花园球场的观众竖中指。几个月后，欧文冒犯了全人类，转发了一条反犹太主义的社交媒体帖子，导致他被自己的球队停职（布鲁克林的管理层表示欧文“不适合与篮网队联系在一起”）。
欧文实际上毁掉了他组建的篮网梦之队（包括凯文·杜兰特和詹姆斯·哈登），由于拒绝接种 COVID 疫苗而错过了很多比赛，最终被交易到达拉斯。他是杰森·基德的小牛队的模范公民，小牛队在 44 年的历史上只赢得过一次总冠军（2011 年）。
季后赛的推动力将凯里和卢卡推选为 NBA 历史上最好的后场组合。
这引发了有趣的争论。
勇士队的球迷喜欢库里和克莱·汤普森，而洛杉矶的球迷则支持魔术师约翰逊和拜伦·斯科特，或者杰里·韦斯特和盖尔·古德里奇。迈克尔·乔丹和罗恩·哈珀对公牛队来说相当不错。
当然，凯尔特人队也有候选人。约翰·哈夫利切克偶尔会和乔·乔·怀特搭档后场。丹尼斯·约翰逊和安吉一起赢得了两次总冠军。雷·阿伦和拉简·隆多在几个赛季里是一对很好的组合。
再往前追溯，奥尔巴赫在 1958-61 赛季的三个完整赛季中，曾有四名名人堂后卫在同一支冠军球队效力。库西和萨姆·琼斯一起打了六个赛季，共赢得了 16 枚总冠军戒指。
周四晚上凯尔特人队和小牛队比赛开始时，库西的 14 号球衣和萨姆的 24 号球衣将高高悬挂在场边。
题图：卢卡·东契奇（左）和杰森·塔图姆将成为本届 NBA 总决赛的焦点。ERIN CLARK/GLOBE STAFF
附原英文报道：
Having the Celtics back in the Finals is good for us and good for the NBA
By Dan Shaughnessy Globe Staff,Updated June 5, 2024
Luka Doncic (left) and Jayson Tatum will be two players in the spotlight during these NBA Finals.ERIN CLARK/GLOBE STAFF
With the Celtics tipping off Game 1 against the Mavericks Thursday night, we can look forward to a fortnight of fury featuring Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown against Dallas superstars Luka Doncic and (gulp) Kyrie Irving.
Having the Celtics in the Finals is a great development for Boston and NBA America. The league is always well-served when its signature franchise is featured in its showcase event.
Like the New York Yankees, the Green Bay Packers, and the Montreal Canadiens, the Celtics are synonymous with their sport. In the second half of the 20th century, when the fledgling NBA was coming of age, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, and Red Auerbach put Boston’s parquet floor on the national sports map, winning 11 championships in 13 seasons.
In subsequent decades, as the torch was passed from Russell and Sam Jones to men named Havlicek, Cowens, Maxwell, Bird, Parish, and McHale, the Celtics continued winning championships — two in the 1970s and three more in the golden ’80s. It was also in the ’80s that Larry Bird and Magic Johnson teamed with Michael Jordan and commissioner David Stern to make the NBA a global entertainment entity.
While notions of Celtic Pride and Garden Mystique have largely endured, the franchise’s stretch of championship regularity stopped after Bird & Co. won their final crown on June 8, 1986.
Since that day, while NBA mini-dynasties thrived then died in Los Angeles (17 total championships, same as Boston), Chicago, San Antonio, and the Bay Area, the Celtics have won only one banner — in 2007-08 when Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen crushed the Lakers in six games.
Now the Celtics are favorites to win again.
Coached by 35-year-old Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics won a league-best 64 games this season and are 12-2 in the playoffs, methodically toppling tomato cans from Miami, Cleveland, and Indiana. The Celtics are talented, deep, rested, and prepared for the return of starting center Kristaps Porzingis (calf), who hasn’t played since April 29. Just about everyone outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth region is picking Boston to win.
Tatum and Brown, superstars drafted by Danny Ainge (who learned at the foot of Auerbach), are in their seventh season together and will be playing in their second Finals. Two years ago, the Celtics led the Warriors, two games to one, before dropping the final three games to Steph Curry, Draymond Green & Co.
“We can learn from that experience being in the Finals,” Tatum said last weekend. “This go-around is a lot different. Obviously we’ve been there before, we came up short. It’s a great opportunity to make it to the Finals again. You don’t always get a second chance.”
The Celtics also feature guards Jrue Holiday (who won a ring with the Bucks) and Derrick White, a pair of terrific acquisitions by president of basketball operations Brad Stevens. And let’s not forget 38-year-old Al Horford, who has played in 181 career playoff games and is overdue for his first ring.
The Mavericks are a 5-seed who won only 50 regular-season games and lost two of two against Boston (the Celtics beat them by 28 in March). Dallas made some midseason trades and went 16-4 in its final 20 games, then 12-5 in the playoffs. The Mavericks’ best player is 25-year-old Doncic, a Bird clone from Slovenia, guaranteed to entertain and likely to win at least one game all by himself.
The Mavericks also have Irving, the capo di tutti capi of Boston sports villains. One of the most talented all-purpose guards in NBA history (don’t forget that he won a championship with LeBron James in Cleveland), Irving played only two seasons (2017-19) for the Celtics, yet managed to offend more Hub sports patrons than Bill Laimbeer, Ulf Samuelsson, and Alex Rodriguez combined.
Boston fans’ hatred for Irving is seemingly boundless. Bad blood was first spilled when Kyrie reneged on a pledge to re-sign with the Celtics on the eve of his second season in Green (”I wasn’t my best self,” Irving acknowledged Monday). This triggered five years of dueling insults between Irving and New England sports fans.
In 2020, then a member of the Brooklyn Nets, Irving burned sage around the parquet floor before a regular-season game. Later that season, in a series in which the Nets eliminated the Celtics from the playoffs, Irving stomped on the Celtics’ sacred midcourt logo, then was the target of a water bottle hurled from the stands. This led to Irving’s charge of “underlying racism and just treating people like they’re in a human zoo.”
One year later, Kyrie compared Boston fans to a “scorned girlfriend,” then flipped off the Garden crowd in the middle of a playoff joust. A few months after that, Irving offended all of humanity, retweeting an antisemitic social media post, which resulted in him getting suspended by his own team (Brooklyn’s front office stated that Irving was “unfit to be associated with the Nets”).
Irving effectively set fire to the Nets’ Dream Team he’d assembled (including Kevin Durant and James Harden), missed a bunch of games because he refused to get a COVID vaccination, and was eventually traded to Dallas. He has been a model citizen for Jason Kidd’s Mavericks, who’ve won one championship (2011) in their 44-year history.
There’s a playoff push to anoint Kyrie and Luka as the NBA’s best backcourt of all time.
This makes for interesting debate.
Warriors fans like Curry and Klay Thompson, while folks in LA can make a case for Magic Johnson and Byron Scott, or Jerry West and Gail Goodrich. Michael Jordan and Ron Harper were pretty good for the Bulls.
Naturally, the Celtics have candidates. John Havlicek occasionally paired in the backcourt with Jo Jo White. Dennis Johnson and Ainge won two championships together. Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo were a good combo for a couple of seasons.
Going back further, Auerbach had four Hall of Fame guards on the same championship team for three full seasons from 1958-61. Cousy and Sam Jones, who played six seasons together, combined to win 16 rings.
Cousy’s jersey No. 14 and Sam’s No. 24 will be hanging high above courtside when the Celtics and Mavericks get started Thursday night.
