NBA: Rebirth in Boston

It's been almost a month since Rick Pitino disappeared from town, and since that day in January, the Boston Celtics that he tried to coach during the past three and half seasons have suddenly appeared.

Throughout the past few weeks, under interim head coach and long-time Pitino assistant Jim O'Brien, the players that seemingly tuned out Coach Pitino have been all ears for Coach O'Brien.

O'Brien has shortened the bench to help his players get into a comfortable rotation, which has helped the C's forge into the eight and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference at the all-star break.

Led by the teams co-captains, Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce, the Celtics are playing with a new found confidence and swagger that was not often seen throughout the Pitino era. Rather than micro managing every drive down the court, Jim O'Brien has allowed his players to go out and do what they have been doing for most of their lives, simply play basketball.

When Rick Pitino first mentioned leaving his job as coach of the Boston Celtics, he stated that if the team defense didn't drastically improve, he would have no other option but to let someone else come in and give it a shot. Ironically enough, since Pitino left, the Celtics have gone 10-5 while lowering their points allowed from 98ppg to 91ppg.

After being booed off the Fleetcenter floor in more than a few games earlier this season, the Celts have finally given the home crowd something to cheer about with the effort and passion they have shown in each game, win or lose.

After a recent six-game winning streak, the C's suffered a minor setback against the Toronto Raptors. However, unlike the Pitino led Celtics, O'Brien's team came right back in their next outing to knock off the team with the second best record in the Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks.

Enough can't be said about the efforts of Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce. Although they are not winning these games on their own by any means, their leadership and effort can not go unnoticed. It is a disgrace that neither one of the Celtics captains were named to the all-star team.

Walker is averaging 22.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game at the break, easily all-star caliber numbers. It would be one thing if Antoine played in the Western Conference with names like Webber, Duncan, Garnett and Wallace to see if he was left off of the team, but he is arguably the best power forward currently playing in the Eastern Conference. Employee #8 knows his time will come again, but right now he is focused on the bigger picture, making the playoffs.

You could also make a strong case for Paul Pierce to be playing in this weekend's all-star game. Averaging 24.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game at the break, Pierce is clearly one of the top small forwards in the East.

All-stars or no all-stars, the Boston Celtics are finally playing as a team, with each other and for each other.

Jim O'Brien should be commended for the job he has down so far, and having the interim label taken off of his title as head coach would be a good place to start. It has only been 15 games, but the players clearly love playing under O'Brien and trying to fix something that is finally working right would not be in the team's best interest at this time. The Celtics just had a big name coach and it didn't work out, so they should give O'Brien every opportunity to become the head coach for years to come.

With a playoff spot finally in their grasp, I'm expecting the Celtics to continue this push as they begin the second half of the season.

It will be an uphill climb since they open the second half on a seven game road trip, but if they keep playing with the fire they have in this past month, anything is possible.