Pride or Fanhood

So Tuesday night, as I was preparing for my onslaught of finals this week, I was keeping on an eye on the Celtics-Cavs game via gamecast expecting brilliant star performances and perhaps an upset victory. While KG showed up in a big way, carrying most of the offensive load for Boston on the night, and once again proving himself to be one of the most reliable players in the league, Lebron was nowhere to be found. Ten turnovers, shooting 2 out of 18 from the field including rimming out a game tying layup with just seconds left to play. One of the worst games of his career and one of the worst in recent memory for an MVP caliber player in the post-season especially.

Yet, sitting at my laptop, studying some genetics and noticing the game's score slowly increasing in a way that could only be described as Eastern Conference basketball, I could feel myself hoping that the Cavaliers would hold on for the win, despite shooting a collective 30.7%. I'm sure though I was rooting more for a Boston loss than a Cleveland W. The reason? Primarily, because I have been telling people ever since the week of the draft, "Oh, the Celtics won't be that good," or "There is no way they could win a championship." They've got three guys, a decently talented young PG and for all I'm concerned, that's about it. How these are the pieces to win a championship in a league filled with the most talent it has ever seen, I'm not exactly sure.


Despite my pessimistic attitude towards the C's, I'm a big fan of Garnett and Ray Allen. They are likable guys. Garnett is the definition of a fierce, passionate competitor and who can't get behind a guy like that? Not to mention he is an avid soccer fan and so am I. And, Mr. Allen has the most revered shooting form in the NBA and loves to come up big in the clutch.

All this being said, I'm torn. It's the March Madness syndrome. Whether or not you've got money on your bracket, you expect/hope all 63 of your picks turn out to be the right ones and you root for that (exception being that you pick against your #1 team - you shouldn't ever bet against your team, it's a bad deal anyway). But the Celts aren't my number one, so here am I having to pick between my pride and my main men (thanks Ahmad Rashad).