When Rick Pitino resigned as head coach of the Boston Celtics in the first
week of January, it seemed as though the Boston franchise had hit rock bottom.
The Celtics were 12-22, and far away from the top of the Eastern Conference.
Pitino's team had lost their last seven of eight games, and team morale was
at a season low. Pitino himself was surrounded by criticism to a point where
at times he appeared pale and unhealthy. Pitino later admitted he wasn't
getting too much sleep during that stretch of time. This escalating matter
came to a halt on Sunday, January 7, when reports broke that Pitino would
resign, effective immediately. It became official the next day.
In came interim head coach Jim O'Brien, the long-time associate coach under
Pitino, following Pitino to some of his previous stops. Most fans expected
more of the same under O'Brien, reason being is that O'Brien and Pitino have
similar coaching styles, thus the reason why they were together so long.
However, the Boston team responded to O'Brien, and in the Celtics first game
of the Post-Pitino era, they played aggressively and intensely, narrowly
losing to one of the best teams in the NBA, the Portland Trailblazers. However,
it didn't take long for the Celtics players to respond to O'Brien. As of
February 3, the Celtics are 8-4 under O'Brien, including a current five game
winning streak - the franchise's longest since 1995. Pitino never won five
in a row.
With the Celtics' success under O'Brien, curiosity is running rampant around
the FleetCenter: will O'Brien be back next season if they continue their
success? Right now, it's all a very cloudy situation. The Celtics may be
sold to a different owner, with one of the potential buyers being a group
including Larry Bird. Danny Ainge, former Celtic player and NBA head coach,
has also shown interest in the team, wanting to take the position of Team
President. If Ainge does indeed become President, he will most likely bring
in his own group of coaches, which would signal the end for O'Brien. The
Celtics will settle the executive issues during the offseason - a bit far
down the road from now.
That Celtics' five-game winning streak had the Celtics playing their best
ball of the season, possibly longer. The Celtics are now in the running for
the eighth spot in the playoffs. Two teams separate them from the spot -
the Indiana Pacers, whom they beat in overtime previously, and the Cleveland
Cavaliers. Boston is finally playing as a team, with their defense stepping
it up in recent weeks. Maybe the coaching change was just what this young
team needed.
Somehow, someway, O'Brien is getting the job done in Boston, giving Celtics
fans a tunnel of hope. The Celtics are winning, and you couldn't have said
that many times in the past three years. Only time will tell if O'Brien can
take his team through the NBA season and make it into the playoffs for the
first time since Larry Bird led the Celtics in the early 1990s.
"When I had money, I was an animal. I was so belligerent. I was so cantankerous,
so persistently disregardless. I wasn't that nice of a person. Just because you buy
mansions and cars doesn't mean you know what money is worth. I lost all across
the board. My life has been a total waste."
