This evening the Boston Celtics begin a quick hitting west coast swing: a short but tough stretch lies ahead. The trip, including contests against the Portland Trail Blazers, Pheonix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, takes the C’s into early February.
No one would claim that these four games will make or break the Boston season, but the 2010-2011 campaign for Doc Rivers’ squad will definitely be tested while in the Wild West. Tonight against the Blazers, the C’s have their work cut out for them. Portland is playing decent basketball, having gone 4-1 in their last five games. They will be perhaps a little deflated, however, as that one loss mentioned came in their most recent outing. The Blazers are battling in a competitive northwest division and should be a more formidable foe than their overall record of 25-21 suggests.
The Suns are a similar story. The Celtics will fly into Phoenix just after their bout in Portland tonight to take on the sub .500 Arizona ballclub. Like Boston has dominated the Atlantic division in the East, L.A. has dominated the Pacific in the West. Phoenix basketball’s shoddy record is at least in part an effect of Kobe Bryant and the Lakers’ run on the NBA.
This brings the Celtics fan’s attention to Sunday’s game. The contest against L.A. will be the game of the week for all of the Association. It overshadows the NHL All Star game in a big way, there is no football to compete against, and nobody except Brian Cashman is bellyaching about baseball yet. Kobe v Shaq will be set in a vacuum of sporting inactivity. The game would normally be a large stage, with the storied rivalry that the two teams have among each other, but this single contest will likely produce 75% of SportsCenter highlights to begin February.
The 33-13 reigning champion Lakers will welcome the 34-10 Celtics into L.A. in only the rudest ways possible, aiming to maim the C’s aging lineup with an onslaught of points and Jack Nicholson rants courtside. Should Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, potentially Shaquille O’Neal and Kendrick Perkins take all of the fanfare in stride, they have a shot to make a statement in Hollywood. The world will be watching. But will the Celt’s come out on top and head into Sacramento with their heads held high, or will a deflated Boston club carry a loss on its shoulders into northern California? The momentum they begin to gather tonight could be telling.