The Cavaliers get the privilege to be up close and personal when the Celtics receive their Championship rings and have a 17th banner hoisted to the rafters of whatever the hell they are calling the 'new' Boston Garden these days. Will they take advantage of every Celtics' fans dream?
Thanks, but no thanks.
The Cavs will be preparing for the game in the locker room, thumbing their proverbial noses at the Celtics as they celebrate last year before commencing this year. LeBron James, for one, has no desire to watch the Celtics enjoy one last 2007/08 moment that partly came at the expense of his Cavaliers.
"We don't need to be out there watching that; we need to get ready for the game," James said before the team left for Boston. "Congratulations to them. But we're not [like] the fans of Boston. We don't need to be out there clapping for them getting rings."
Some, however, would say that the Cavaliers should watch the ceremony, use it to get hungry for the same thing to be happening at The Q about 365 days from now. To that, Lebron doesn't mince many words -
"It's stupid."
Fair enough. What does all that celebrating do for a team anyway? Ask the Miami Heat, who had a great time getting their rings a couple years ago, basking in the glory of their NBA Title, the 4th for Shaq and 1st for Dewayne Wade. It didn't do them much good once the ball was tipped as the Bulls, a team the Heat dispatched of in the playoffs on their way to the title, blew out the Heat by 42 points. So much for momentum.
For my part, I'll likely avoide all the pre-game suck up to the Celtics. Congratulations for winning the Title, it was well deserved, but after being all over TV for the past 5 months I have had enough of Garnett, Pierce and Allen celebrating to hold me over for awhile. I have no need to dwell on the past when the future looks so promising. The Cavaliers come into a season with the highest expectations since Mark Price and Co. were battling Michael Jordan and the Bulls every year. Now, it is the Cavaliers that could have the best player on the planet. I like this side much better.