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Fan Press - Submission #25

By Jared Spinelli

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.

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