Celtic Surprise? Not Really

Admit it — you're not really that surprised the Boston Celtics are in the NBA Finals for the second time in three years, are you?

Okay, maybe you are. And considering the Celtics' form from Christmas to Easter, that seems pretty understandable. However, think about what you thought before the playoffs began and then apply the following caveats of "LeBron won't make the big leap" and "Vince Carter will be unreformed when it matters most."

The natural order of things would have then morphed your expectations into the Celtics becoming favorites to represent the East in the Finals. By the time Game 5 in the Cleveland series rolled around, the Celtics looked much stronger than they had at a comparable point in their 2008 title run when looking at playoff results only.

Yes, the Celtics were downright awful at points in the regular season. They seemed to not like to play together and had a knack for blowing leads. Yet, they still won 50 games and were on course to be a juggernaut by Christmas. That total is just seven (or four) less than the team they will be playing in the Finals. The 2001 Lakers, who most regard as the best playoff team of the last 10 years, if not the best team overall, were just six wins better that year than the Celtics.

What should make the Celtics' run to the Finals less of a surprise than has been perceived in some circles is that this season has been a more parity-oriented season regarding many playoff teams. Cleveland's 61 wins were the lowest to lead the league since 2004, and in only three of the last 28 full seasons has the best record had as low a win total as in 2010. The top four teams in the East were practically a given from the first month of the season on, with a clear demarcation developing between one-two and three-four later in the season.

The West saw all the playoff teams play with seven games of each other, and all with 50 wins or above. Mind you, one would think that these factors should have led to longer series and more than one overtime game in the entire playoffs, but it helps to explain why conditions may have been better for a four-seed to advance to the Finals this season.

It would be a gross oversimplification to say that regular seasons don't matter at all. But if your core nucleus has had as many recent problems with injuries as the Celtics, and that same group has been to the top of the mountain, that group can be forgiven for not going after the 1996 Bulls if it so chooses.

The Celtics' collective experience is such that of the 12 players who have played playoff minutes this spring, only bit players Marquis Daniels, Nate Robinson and Shelden Williams don't have championship rings. Only two players on the Cavs (one, ironically enough, was former Celtic Leon Powe) and one on the Magic possess the jewelry that nine Celtics have.

One of the players that won a championship in 2008, Rajon Rondo, was, for lack of a better word, green two years ago. The question was asked if then second-year Rondo could possibly distribute the ball to Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen well enough to deliver the Celtics a championship. The answer was obviously yes. It would be a better question in 2010 to ask if Garnett, Pierce, and Allen can adequately augment Rondo well enough to give the Celtics four more wins and another Larry O'Brien Trophy.

It's been written and said many times, and will be written and said during the Finals, but it bears reminding that without the Celtics' general acceptance of Rondo being the team leader, the much-predicted second round exit to the Cavs would have surely been a reality. Furthermore, Rondo's 29-18-13 in Game 4 of the Cleveland series was one of the best all-around playoff performances by a point guard in the last 10 years, and maybe even the last 25, since Magic Johnson was at his peak. It's amazing to see Rondo's development from a player that never looked like dominating in college at Kentucky to a top-three point guard in the NBA.

It would be easy to discount the latter part of Boston's series against Orlando after the Celtics lost Games 4 and 5 to let the Magic back into the series after being down 3-0, something that had never been done in Celtics history. However, Orlando being down 3-0 was a product of the Celtics' taking Games 1 and 2 on the road, something that had never been done in Celtics history in a seven-game series.

The Celtics' run to the NBA Finals has not been typical of a conference champion by any means. Once the team found its groove in the Miami and Cleveland series, though, it looked like having every chance of playing into June and coming home with another trophy.