The Celtics in Boston at this hour are more popular than free food. They are the biggest story in the NBA, their TV ratings are off the charts, and we cover them the way Fox News covers Donald Trump, the way CNN covered Barack Obama.
Never is heard a discouraging word. Normally skeptical reporters turn to jelly around this team. Everything is awesome. We are all Baghdad Bobs. We are all Tommy Heinsohn.
Je suis Johnny Most.
Truth be told, it has me a little off my game.
The scalding Celtics play the world champion Warriors at the Garden Thursday, and New England is agog. The Celtics have won 13 in a row and the Warriors are the greatest team on the planet, perhaps the best ever assembled. Our parquet floor is suddenly the center of the NBA universe. Everything is coming up Green.
Decades of covering teams in this town have trained me to be cynical. Lord knows we’ve had a lot of championships, but there’s usually some case to be made about questionable coaching, nasty personalities in the locker room, buffoonery in the owner’s box, or a team that is more lucky than good.
I’ve occasionally harpooned the Patriot dynasty for their arrogance and astounding good fortune. The Red Sox get roughed up for being unlikable, often more about style than substance. The Bruins never get kid-glove treatment, as frustrated hockey fans are ever-ready to storm the Garden with pitchforks in hand.
The Celtics, meanwhile, are impervious to skepticism. Danny Ainge is a latter-day Red Auerbach, Brad Stevens is Coach of the Year, Kyrie Irving is the best acquisition since Kevin Garnett, Al Horford is Anything But Average, and Jayson Tatum is Rookie of the Year.
The Celtics are going back to the Finals, and the ceiling is unlimited because the team is young, Gordon Hayward hasn’t even really played yet, and Danny still has a raft of draft picks. It’s a Hub Hardwood Hakuna Matata.
I could stop the music and remind you that this franchise has won only one championship in 30 years. I could complain about the price of tickets, the noise in the arena, and remind you that maybe the Celtics are simply early-season beneficiaries of a bored Cleveland team and a putrid Eastern Conference. I could suggest that we slow down the train. The Celtics can’t possibly be as good as they’ve looked this year.
But there’s no need to get into any of that. With the streak intact and the Warriors in town, everyone is wearing green-colored glasses.
I spent Wednesday afternoon in the NBC Sports Boston offices (formerly Comcast Sports New England) in Burlington and had to douse the heated Green Teamers with a fire hose to get them to stop gushing about the Celtics.
Celtics TV ratings are up 144 percent from last year. The Celtics-Nets game on Tuesday got the second-highest rating for the team since 2012. Before this is over, Brian Scalabrine and Abby Chin are going to be bigger than A-Rod and J-Lo.
Kidding aside, the Celtic story is truly amazing. When Hayward crashed to the floor in Cleveland on opening night, many of us realigned our projections for the season. After they lost the home opener to Milwaukee the next night, I figured they were on their way to 48 wins and an earlier exit from the playoffs.
Then came 13 in a row. They won without Horford. They won when Tatum turned his ankle. They won without Irving. They won with Irving wearing a mask. They won with Aron Baynes starting at center. They won with German rookie Daniel Theis getting significant minutes. They won with late-game help from Shane Larkin, the son of a Hall of Fame shortstop.
Ainge truly is a superior judge of basketball talent, one of the best since Red. Irving is a top-10 talent, sharing and expanding the skills of Cousy, Tiny Archibald, and Sam Jones. Tatum is the best Celtics rookie since Paul Pierce.
And Stevens is the best coach since Gene Hackman.
I’m looking for him to call the Picket Fence play against the Warriors Thursday night.
out for
the season
Gordon Hayward
Dan Shaughnessy can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com
