Patriots fans can now find solace in that according to most NBA experts that they and the Celtics were underdogs when playing for the championship in their respective leagues.  Sounds pretty laughable doesn't it?  An 18-0 and 78-24 team viewed as the presumptive underdog?  As a fan of both the Celtics and Giants, all I need now is for the Steve Phillips' of the world to tell me how the Yankees won't win the World Series in 2008 and I'll be a very happy man.

If you've read my earlier columns, you'd know I've made clear my displeasure of these so-called "experts" not giving enough credit to the Boston Celtics.  Whether it was the league not liking the "bland, pale, un-marketable" franchise, which boasts the most tradition and titles.  Or ex-coaches, execs, players and commentators harboring old bitter feelings of jealousy, racism and hatred of the once and now proud franchise. 

The experts said the Celtics were stuck after the lottery balls went awry.  Blasted them for only getting Ray Allen and then questioned if they'd gotten rid of too much for Kevin Garnett.  Then went on to criticize the team as having no depth, "The Big Three and Scalabrine."  After that it was questions of age or if they could all jell and co-exist on the floor at the same time.

There were then questions as to whether the Celtics could topple teams in the Eastern Conference such as the Cavs, Pistons and Bulls.  Following that it was the matter of the Celtics being able to win against quality teams, then quality teams from the Western Conference, then win against quality teams on the road, then quality teams from the Western Conference on the road. 

Had the Celtics not lost KG to injury for a short stretch after the All-Star game and had they not just coasted down the stretch (though they won more of those games than not at the end) the Celtics probably could've bested or tied the Bulls record of 72 wins.  But it wasn't about the regular season for these Celtics, they had far greater aspirations as mentioned right from the beginning but few seemed to be listening or believed their lying eyes.

When the Celtics got to the playoffs questions arose about Doc Rivers ability to win in the post-season.  The Celtics at times during the Atlanta series never looked better or worse than they did the entire season.  The naysayers rose up again, if the Celts couldn't win on the road they were toast.

The Celtics then got to what ended up being their most difficult series against Cleveland.  Yet even as Boston knocked out the Cavs in a hard fought seven game tilt against the defending Eastern Conference Champs and quite possibly the best player in the world in LeBron James.  The experts seemed to forget those two "inconvienent" facts and still wouldn't give Boston any credit.

Moving onto Detroit, most picked the Pistons because they were battle tested, playoff proven and could win on the road.  Fair enough, though Cleveland and James had singlehandedly dispatched of them with ease in last year's Conference Finals.  What did the Celtics do but win more games on the road than Detroit did, including the series clincher on in The Palace at Auburn Hills.

Finally to the NBA Finals where everybody was drooling over Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson and how they'd breezed through a seemingly tough but beat up Western Conference and this time unlike the regular season they'd be bringing Pau Gasol. 

But to paraphrase the late Senator Lloyd Bensten, "the Boston Celtics had seen the Atlanta Hawks, they'd played the Atlanta Hawks and the Los Angeles Lakers were NOT the Atlanta Hawks."  Old "Head and Shoulders" wouldn't be passing "Red."  Kobe was barely Michael Cooper let alone Michael Jordan.  There was no Shaq, no Magic, they certainly weren't Worthy and By Scott did they ever get Kareem'd!  Heck after game six the Lakers might've well been that other team from L.A.

Perhpaps the "experts" were just trying to keep everyone interested by creating far sexier storylines than a 66 win team in the regular season coasting to a championship.  Be we fans know better, we know if the C's had lost, it would've rivaled the biggest choke 'round Boston since Billy Buck.  Instead the Celtics celebrated their first title since that fabled year of 1986 and brought it back home to Beantown, even though only one in five dentists agreed that they were truly the best.

If you're a twenty-something basketball fan like myself, chances are you have a vague memory or don't remember the battles of the 1980's between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, let alone the 1960's.  No right around when I started following the NBA the Celtics and Lakers were just miserable.

Robert Parish and James Worthy were on their last legs and winding down brilliant careers.  Instead it was Magic the coach being about as successful as Magic the TV host (by the way where have you gone Tommy Davidson?)  Dee Brown vs. Nick Van Exel didn't exactly engender any thoughts of Hondo vs. West.  And chants of "Beat L.A." were mostly limited to hopes of finishing ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers when it came time for the NBA Draft Lottery and the ping pong balls.

Those were some dark days indeed.  While the Lakers made it back with their 3-Peat, including an additional finals apperance, the Celtics though almost coming within two wins of facing the Lakers again in 2002, mostly wallowed in tragedy (Len Bias, Reggie Lewis) bad luck (Tim Duncan) and cheap stupid owners (trading Chauncey Billups and Joe Johnson).  However, now that's all over and both teams are back at the top, just like they should be.

Both teams have some striking similarities: Both coaches formerly played for the New York Knickerbockers, both Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce either wanted out of their respective cities or were almost traded away and both Kevin Garnett and Pau Gasol have helped in shifting the burden from the other stars (Bryant, Pierce, Odom and Allen) and have raised each respective team from a middle of the pack squad to an elite contender.

I don't know that it will be as heated as in the past but for one thing it should be fun.  I mean really when's the last time in any sport recently that we got a chance to see two classic throwback rivals play for a title?  Perhaps one would have to go back to Super Bowl XXX between the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers or back in the 1977, 1978 and 1981 season's when the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers squared off for the first time since 1963, after meeting all of those years between 1941 and 1956, where generations had heard but still had not come to see live. 

This will be a lot more historic than just a typical NBA Final.  This one is for Cousy, Russell, Hondo, Bird, McHale, Parish, Kareem, West, Baylor, Wilt, Magic and Worthy.  You want this one because you don't want to lose to "them," no matter what side you're on.  And more importantly you're not playing just for who is the best team this year in this league in this final matchup, you're playing for who is ultimately the best franchise.  Enjoy!

Do not believe what they are telling you, we are a championship NBA team and we will crush all of the other teams, do not be mistaken, praise Bob McAdoo.  Is Isiah Thomas serious, because Baghdad Bob and Tokyo Rose would've quit by now! 

Thomas said of the Atlantic Division cellar dwellars and their 8-22 record, "I believe that one day we will win a championship here."  I certainly don't know where you're getting all of this "WE" stuff from Zeke, because you're not part of the equation.  You can't make this stuff up, Joe Torre is given his walking papers, if the Giants get destroyed in Tampa there's a 30% chance Tom Coughlin could get run out of town and yet Isiah Thomas is allowed free reign in Manhattan?  Obviously there is no accountability at the top and things have been so bad that Phil Jackson couldn't be wooed here and Larry Brown couldn't win here.

How fans contiually fork down good money to watch this dreck at The Garden is beyond me.   

Other classics by "Zeke the prophet.": 

"The CBA is not bankrupt and collapsing all around you."

"Seriously you would have loved the Buffalo Raptors."

"Do not believe that man behind the curtain, Eddie Curry does have a heart."

"Yes Jamal Crawford, would you rather I signed Cindy Crawford?"

"Johnny Most is a liar, Bird did not steal the ball and he certainly did not pass it underneath to D.J. and as far as laying it in, I do not know what you are speaking of."

"Win or die I say and Mr. Dolan he likes living, this is not a slow death."

"Larry Bird is overrated because he is white."  (Oh wait he really did say that).

"Why would we shake their hands?  The Bulls are not better than us, Michael Jordan is not better than me, a curse be upon them."

"Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley and John Starks won't be coming back through those doors, nor will Rick Pittino, so consider yourselves lucky."

"I am not a prophet but a quack, oops."  (Well finally some candor and honesty Isiah).

The Boston Celtics haven't sniffed an NBA title in over 20 years and still there are some mighty jealous and bitter "experts" out there who as much as they hyped them in the pre-season, refuse to give them any respect after what they've done thus far into the 2007-08 NBA regular season.  Usually I'm of the opinion that one must accomplish something before we're ready to annoint them a legendary team or a Hall of Fame player, but in this case I dare somebody to tell me the Celtics aren't for real.  If you'd like to argue San Antonio, Dallas, Detroit and Phoenix are as good or better that's fine, just know that Boston is more than worthy of being in the conversation when it comes to the league's best.

The Celts are an NBA best 26-3, tied with the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls as far as being on pace for what for them was a final record of 72-10 including an NBA Championship.  In a way those two teams have quite a bit in common in their makeup and the criticisms levied upon them.

1.) They're too top heavy and old and have no bench: The Bulls had their "big three" of over 30 all-stars in Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.  The Celtics have Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.  The Bulls actually did have some pretty decent role guys like Toni Kukoc, Ron Harper, Steve Kerr, Luc Longley and Randy Brown.  While the Celtics have guys like Rajon Rondo, Eddie House, James Posey and Kendrick Perkins.

2.) They don't play anybody and would never measure up to the great teams of the past: While those Bulls may not have had the kind of competition that teams of say the 1980's NBA did, like the Celtics, Lakers, 76ers, Pistons, TrailBlazers, Rockets etc.  However they did have Jordan and they did win 72 games through no fault of their own.  The same can be said of these current Celtics.  Critics saying the C's schedule has been too soft and home heavy in the early going.  First off there's only about 5-6 teams in the entire league considered to be elite contenders and everyone knew the Eastern Conference already stunk right off the bat.  It's not the Celts fault that the Bulls, Heat and Knicks have been total flops, that the Nets got old and the Cavs are an exposed one man show.  Everybody keeps on trying to bring the Celtics down at every turn and they're just plain misguided.

What more can I say about the Celtics who have already eclipsed their season win total of a year ago (24) with 26 wins?  They've already won more games at home than last year with a 14-1 mark this season and on the road they're 12-2.  They also lead their division by 11 games at this point.

Against teams that were in the playoffs last season, their record is 18-2.  However people still knocked them for not beating the elite of the West or winning out West.  Well I guess beating the Nuggets at home by 26, the Lakers at home by 13 and Warriors by 23 doesn't matter.  Nor did their current West Coast jaunt, where they went 4-0 with quality wins over the Jazz and Lakers once again.  The Celts have also had winning streaks this season of 9, 8 are currently on a 6 game run to date and have yet to lose back to back games this season.

Their three loses all came down to the wire as well.  They lost in Orlando with a chance to win on a last second three-point attempt by Pierce.  In Cleveland they lost when Allen astonishingly missed two free-throws in the closing seconds.  And they more than held their own against the Pistons at home for three plus quarters and rallied at the end before Chauncey Billups was fouled and iced the game with 0.1 remaining. 

Certainly there's still quite aways to go in this NBA season, but the C's can only be judged on the cards they've been dealt and what they've accomplished thus far.  To disrespect that would be like saying the Pats season means nothing at 16-0 before they've even had a chance to play a playoff game.  The Celtics deserve better than the snide commentary of pundits thus far. 

Do you hear what they're saying across town about Willie Randolph?  It wasn't too long ago those same things were said about Joe Torre around here.  While I too was clamoring for Gene "Stick" Michael and Buck Showalter to come back and replace Brian Cashman and Joe Torre, after what has transpired this season I'd have to say keep Joe.

Now you'll ask of me, "but Mike, what if Yanks fall apart in the ALDS or get stung by Boston in the ALCS or the Mets in the World Series?"  First of all let's see the Mets hang on for a playoff spot.  But all kidding aside, what Joe Torre has done this season warrants at least another year and a World Series Championship, well you can practically name the new stadium after him for all I care.

Put aside the fact the Yankees have reached the playoffs 13 years in a row, including all 12 of Torre's.  Ignore the fact that they are the Yankees, have a huge payroll and a slew of All-Stars.  By no means am I calling them underdogs, but it seems all Torre does ever since he got here in 1996 is overcome adversity.

Obviously there's some dynasties like the Yankees of the 1960's and Boston Celtics of the 1980's who kept everything together just a little too long.  However, ask fans of two other dynasties in the 1990's like the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bulls if they would have wanted ownership to bring back Jimmy Johnson and Phil Jackson?

You don't know what you've got until it's gone, hopefully Joe stays.

Could it be Reggie Bars at The Garden?  No not Madison Square, but Boston Garden.  Though Reggie Bars in Boston sounds strange enough.  Of course I'm talking about Reggie Miller possibly joining the Boston Celtics.

This of course is a somewhat odd couple of sorts, considering Reggie Miller is a guy who played his college ball at UCLA and spent his entire career with the Indiana Pacers to just come out of retirement randomly to play for the Celts.  Then again Michael Jordan came out of retirement to play for the Washington Wizards  (at least Reggie's got 'em beat there) so what do I know?  In addition anyone who remembers before the Spike-Reggie feud at that other Garden, there was the trash-talk-athon between Reggie and Larry Legend during the playoffs in the early 1990's.

This couldn't be any worse than the Pats signing Vinny Testaverde or the Sawx bringing back Ellis Burks.

All in all, no matter what Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, Reggie Miller and the rest of the Celts will be on TNT an awful lot this year. 

I've been constantly going back and forth on the Boston Celtics trading for Kevin Garnett.  Listening to talk show hosts, fans and pundits on WEEI and ESPN as well as reading up on everything in the Boston Globe and Boston Herald.  The conclusion I've come to is this: When's the last time you've heard the words Boston Celtics and NBA Finals uttered in the same sentence in late July, early August?

Those thoughts right there are enough to make it worth it.  Sure the Celts are mortgaging the potential future of five players and two first round picks and folks are saying this team will be old and gray in four to five years time.  However do you really want to wait around another four to five years to figure out if Al Jefferson and Gerald Green with an older Paul Pierce can be NBA title contenders?  Because I at least know this now, for the next four to five years the Celts with potentially the best trio in the league in a weak Eastern Conference will be a shoe-in for 50 wins, Atlantic Division titles, Eastern Conference titles and quite possibly an NBA title.  The fact that I can even say that makes this deal worth it.

It is a testament to the ownership who are finally ready to spend what it takes to put a winner out on the floor.  Finally the Celts have brought stars to Boston, stars that want to play in Boston.  With apologies to Antoine Walker, the Celts have been searching for a second star to help Paul Pierce, they've now given him two.  After a huge drought from the Bird, McHale, Parish era, the Celts are back on the map and you can be other players (Chris Webber, Troy Hudson?) have taken notice to the Celts willingess to spend and are going to want to play with guys like Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.

All three guys are quality character stars who are hungry for a title.  In fact, if not for a draft day trade between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Milwaukee Bucks, Allen and Garnett may have been teammates.  And one could sense from Pierce's smile at the press conference that he was like a kid on Christmas Day.

What this trade isn't, is a desperation move like signing Dominique Wilkins.  Prematurely dealing Chauncey Billups and Joe Johnson for the likes of marginal players like Kenny Anderson, Rodney Rodgers and Tony Delk.  The years of M.L. Carr, Rick Pitino and Dino Radja are long gone, as are the excuses and curses of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis.

The Celtics have a new trio, (not 'The Big Three') and a ticket that says: Boston Celtics Welcome Back to the NBA.

Kobe Bryant's father's nickname was "jellybean."  So why can't Kobe's nickname be "beantown?"  I know a Los Angeles Laker being traded to the Boston Celtics doesn't make much sense but the again neither did Celtic fans chanting MVP, MVP for Kobe this past February at Boston Garden.

When Kobe came into Boston and poured 43 points on the Celts, the crowd went wild and Bryant for his part was most appreciative.  The Celtics are at a pivotal moment in the franchise's history and are in dire need of a franchise player who is still in his prime.  Why not take a shot, what do you have to lose?

Besides the Boston fans would love the move as a comittment to winning again.  They've already lost out on the opportunity at a potential franchise player in Greg Oden or Kevin Durant.  And later next week might again be reminded for the 4th time how much it stung to miss out on Tim Duncan in the draft lottery ten years ago.

It's much easier to win in the Eastern Conference, which would be attractive to Bryant.  He could be the man in resurrecting title town of the NBA.  With the Detroit Pistons no longer invincible and the Cleveland Cavaliers made it on the back of LeBron James.  Imagine what the Celtics could do with Bryant teaming up with Paul Pierce?

Pierce could be Bryant's Pippen in a way Lamar Odom never could.  If there were to be a deal the Celtics have many chips including the 5th overall pick, Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Delonte West, Ryan Gomes etc.  Even if the Celts traded Pierce who grew up a Lakers fan in California and the 5th overall for Bryant, they could still build their young nucleus around Bryant. 

The Celtics wisely passed up Allen Iverson and Kevin Garnett and while it's probably a pipe dream at best, the should try to strike while the iron is hot.  Go get Kobe Bryant and team him up with Paul Pierce and make the Boston Celtics matter again!

Is there any reason left to be a Boston Celtics fan anymore?  Just makes one wonder what the Celts might've given Doc Rivers had he actually won a championship.  The contract extension just another bad move by GM Danny Ainge.

What exactly has Rivers done to warrant an extension?  Some young players have shown some improvement, but the team as a whole has regressed under his tenure. 

Rivers won the NBA coach of the year award while with the Orlando Magic, but even with Tracy McGrady, his Magic blew a 3-1 series lead in the 2002-03 playoffs.  As for his time in Boston, the team won a division title in his first year, the first since 1991-92 in an albeit watered down Atlantic Division.  The Celtics then proceeded to get smoked by the Indiana Pacers in game seven at The Garden. 

The win totals have dropped significantly, from 45 to 33 to 24.  This past season was an outright embarrassment, one the Celtics haven't seen since the M.L. Carr taxi squad days of 1996-97.  It included a season of a horrific trade for Sebastian Telfair, a franchise record 18 losses in a row and a string of purposely tanked games down the stretch.

The Celts obviously have a few nice chips in Al Jefferson, Gerald Green and Delonte West.  However with Paul Pierce becoming seemingly injury prone and older and with virtually no point guard, they better pray that if they're so fortunate to be able to draft either one of them, that Greg Oden and or Kevin Durant turns out to be the real deal, otherwise the long drought will continue in Boston.

     The Boston Celtics are the most storied gloried franchise in the history of professional basketball.  Winners of a record 16 NBA titles with 29 Hall of Famers, the Celtics mystique and tradition in recent times has gone the way of the old Boston Garden and its parquet floor.

     The decline of the Celtics has seemingly coincided with that of the NBA.  Some might say that Red Auerbach got off easy and you can sure as hell bet he's rolling in his grave all the way to China. Sure they won a division title two years ago, but anyone attune to NBA history knows that a team with a tradition from Bill Russell and Bob Cousy to John Havlicek to Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, division title doesn’t cut it.

     Of course every team goes through their dry spells, until you notice that since the last Celtics won a title in 1986, the Red Sox have won a World Series and the Patriots have won 3 Super Bowls.  In fact the only team in Beantown saving the Celtics from complete embarrassment is the Bruins, because let’s face it misery loves company. 

     The decline all started back in 1987 when a young superstar named Len Bias, an All-American out of Maryland whom the Celtics chose with the 2nd pick overall, died of a cocaine overdose before he would ever lace ‘em up for Boston. 

     Then the team continued to get older, Dennis Johnson retired, Danny Ainge was traded for the immortal Joe Kline, Larry Bird’s back and Kevin McHale’s knees were shot and Robert Parish couldn’t log the minutes of a starting center anymore. 

     Perhaps the biggest blow to the team was the death of their leading scorer all-star forward Reggie Lewis in 1993.  When practicing in the off-season Lewis collapsed and subsequently of cardiac arrest. 

     After many ensuing losing seasons, the Celtics could not even rely on the luck of the lottery balls to turn themselves around.  After going 15-67 during the 1996-97 season the one silver lining was that Tim Duncan was going to be the number one overall pick.  The San Antonio Spurs inexplicably won the lottery and the rest as they say is history.

     During this time the rival Los Angeles Lakers had fallen apart as well after the Magic Johnson era was over.  However as the Lakers started to rebound with Shaq and Kobe, the Celtics continued to stumble over their own feet making poor coaching hires in M.L. Carr and Rick Pitino as well as poor draft choices.  Even when they hit on an occasional good pick like Chauncey Billups and Joe Johnson, the organization would become impatient and trade them away for journeyman vets.   

     Recently the Celtics have gotten back to some semblance of respectability reaching the playoffs the last 4 seasons in a row.  Paul Pierce has become a huge part in that revival as the face of the franchise and the teams’ lone all-star.  However during this time the Celts have been unable to find another star to compliment Pierce in order to put them over the top.  Thus this season has become the start of another re-building era.

     Granted the Celtics have some promising young players in Al Jefferson, Delonte West, Gerald Green and Ryan Gomes but it appears that a championship team is still light years away. 

     Perhaps what is ailing the Celtics is that they need another Larry Bird just like the NBA needs another Michael Jordan, because neither has been the same since.  What Boston, a city that has had a contentious relationship with its own black athletes in the past including even amazingly Bill Russell, needs a young star black superstar like LeBron James or Kevin Garnett to sign with them.  Much in the way that Reggie White broke the stereotype in the early 1990’s that superstar black athletes didn’t want to play in Green Bay when he signed with the Packers and ended up winning a Super Bowl, restoring that franchise back to its past glory. 

     Like Charles Barkley said on TNT during the NBA all-star weekend last year, the NBA sorely needs the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks to be elite playoff caliber teams.  Barkley is absolutely right, I say forget competitive balance.  New York and Boston making the playoffs virtually every year works for baseball and last time I checked St. Louis and Detroit were playing in the World Series, so you can have your cake and eat it too.

     It would also help if big market franchises with storied traditions had winning records, such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers.  You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t exactly care for parity in the NBA and think that they including the other 3 major pro sports leagues could use some contraction. 

     Imagine how much more enticing the league would be with Shaq in New York, KG in Chicago, LeBron in Boston and Duncan in Los Angeles.  Talk about some star studded teams and rivalries to boot, which would really add some much-needed juice to the league. 

     A giant step toward a great revival for the NBA is to have your most historic cornerstone franchises return to a level of greatness.  One that seemingly starts with restoring Celtic Pride in Boston.