Written by Chris Manix at YahooSports.com
Danny Ainge couldn’t have predicted this. Who could? Four years ago Ainge, the silver-haired Boston Celtics general manager, orchestrated the deconstruction of a fading contender. On Monday he was celebrating a trip to the Eastern Conference finals, while wishing his owner, Wyc Grousbeck, good luck in Tuesday’s draft lottery; Boston, owners of Brooklyn’s draft rights, have the best statistical chance of landing the top overall pick.
“Now that,” Grousbeck said, “is how you go to the lottery!”
Indeed. What a season. Boston is conference finals-bound, courtesy of a 115-105 win over the Washington Wizards on Monday, and on Tuesday will position itself to add another elite player to the mix. It’s like being handed a bag of cash, then having someone knock on your door the next day and hand you another.
Beating Washington wasn’t a surprise. The home team controlled this series. Of course it won in the end. Isaiah Thomas (29 points, 12 assists) was brilliant. Kelly Olynyk (26 points) was too. The Wizards expected problems from Thomas. They were ready for Al Horford. But a 48-5 battering from Boston’s bench? A 71 percent shooting night from Olynyk? When Washington tried to claw its way back into the game in the fourth quarter, Olynyk (14 points in the fourth) was there to beat it back.
As Thomas walked towards the interview room, he slapped hands with Celtics president Rich Gotham and pointed to Olynyk walking in front of him. “There he is,” Thomas said, smiling. “The new King of the Fourth.”
It’s Cleveland’s conference, but Boston’s message on Monday was unmistakable: We’re coming. The Thomas-Horford combination has been complemented by rapidly developing young talent. Marcus Smart didn’t make a shot in Game 6; he made four – including a pair of threes – in Game 7. Jaylen Brown, an afterthought in the first round, played nearly 20 minutes on Monday.
The Cavs have won eight straight to open the playoffs, and will be heavy favorites. The Celtics? They expect it – and they are OK with it.
“We know it’s going to be tough, but at this point anything can happen,” Thomas said. “And we really believe it. They didn’t give us a chance in this series, they didn’t give us a chance when we were down 2-0 in Chicago. We got the No. 1 seed and they didn’t give us a chance. They don’t ever give us a chance, and we just keep going. We don’t care about what others say.”
Ainge is the architect of this stunning rebuild, but don’t expect him to croon about it. Success is fleeting, Ainge reminded a reporter, and this game has a way of humbling you. Ainge was a member of Boston’s 1986 championship team, which celebrated a title in June and the addition of Len Bias, the No. 2 pick, weeks later. Bias died shortly after the draft, a devastating loss no one saw coming.
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