DHL Dan CCXI - Roots

A few days before the Indiana Pacers got buried by the Boston Celtics in the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals, Shank took a look at Pacers coach Rick Carlisle:

Retracing the deep Celtics roots of Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while anticipating the Celtics raising Banner No. 18 to the rafters later this year …

▪ The Indiana Pacers are the only team standing between the Celtics and another trip to the NBA Finals. The Pacers, down 2-0 entering Saturday night’s Game 3, are coached by Rick Carlisle, a 64-year-old NBA lifer with a million connections to New England and the Celtics.

Carlisle ranks 12th in regular-season victories by an NBA head coach with 943. Red Auerbach ranks 13th with 938.

I knew him when he had hair. (Rick, not Red.)

Carlisle was a handsome, 24-year-old, piano-playing psychology major from the University of Virginia when he showed up at Celtics free agent/rookie camp in the summer of 1984. He was a third-round pick, which meant we initially paid little attention to him in those summer-night scrimmages at Marshfield High.

DHL Dan CCX - Underwhelming Competition

With the Boston Celtics in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, Shank's a little worried about the competition:

The competition thus far isn’t helping the Celtics prepare for a title run, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while waiting for some serious basketball competition …

▪ Seriously. I’m ready for the Celtics to start the playoffs now.

Bring on the Knicks, Pacers, Nuggets, Mavericks, or Timberwolves. Let’s see some nail-biting, down-to-the-wire, blood-and-thunder basketball. The Celtics’ upcoming run through the conference finals and NBA Finals should be wildly entertaining.

Certainly these upcoming series have to be better than the boring matchups we watched in the first two rounds as the Celtics toppled tomato cans from Miami and Cleveland. How did the Fort Wayne Pistons and Washington Generals not wind up on Boston’s dance card?

In Round 1 against Miami, the Celtics had leads of 34, 29, 28, and 37 points in the games they won. In Round 2, their average margin of victory was 15 points and they lost Game 2 by 24.

Let me ask … were any of you on the edge of your seat, or otherwise entertained for one perfunctory second of those two series? It’s always great to see the locals advance, but this was dreadful competition. Those were series that only Johnny Most, Tommy Heinsohn, Sean Grande, and Scal could love.

The level of competition, one way or the other, is out of the hands of the Celtics. I don't see any reason to make an issue out of it, but there's your take if it really matters.

DHL Dan CCIX - Underwhelming

A formulatic beginning to what looks to be a mailed-in effort by the Shankster:

Celtics-Knicks and Bruins-Rangers? The Boston-New York playoff duels would be good times, and other thoughts.

Picked-up pieces while dreaming of Celtics-Knicks and Bruins-Rangers in simultaneous conference championships at the two Gardens …

▪ Celtics-Knicks. Bruins-Rangers. Boston-New York. The New (1995) Boston Garden and the vintage 1968 Madison Square Garden. The Sports Hub vs. The Fan. Matt Damon vs. Spike Lee. Williams vs. DiMaggio. Real clam chowder vs. Manhattan clam chowder. “Cheers” vs. “The Honeymooners.”

When you start a column out like that, you get the feeling that this is indeed a DHL delivery, first class.

DHL Dan CCVIII - The Porzingis Effect

Shank considers the impact of Celtics center Kirstaps Porzingis' calf injury during the playoffs:

Wondering about the Porzingis effect on the Celtics’ chances, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering if the Celtics can win a championship without Kristaps Porzingis …

▪ As the Celtics prepare for a Round 2 Tomato Can, one can’t help but wonder how they’ll fare if forced to play the conference finals and (presumably) NBA Finals without Porzingis.

The Big Fella suffered a soleus strain in his calf in Game 4 against the Heat Monday and is on the shelf indefinitely. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo sustained a similar, non-contact injury April 9 against the Celtics and did not play again prior to the Bucks’ elimination by the Pacers Thursday night.

Watching Porzingis limp off the court in Miami, I thought of the 68-win Celtics of 1972-73, who were stopped in the conference finals by the Knicks after John Havlicek injured his right shoulder fighting through a Dave DeBusschere pick in the third game of that seven-game series. Hondo missed Game 4 entirely and came off the bench in the final three games, but he was a shell of himself and scored only 4 points when the Celtics were routed at home in Game 7.