I enjoyed when the Utah duo of Stockton to Malone honed picking and role-playing under coach Jerry Sloane and when Larry Bird was “The Man” for the Boston Celtics. And who can forget the hard-court duel between Boston and Los Angeles, of Bird and Magic Johnson, of Robert Parish and Kareem Abdul Jabbar?

Being someone who once played the sport, I was amazed by these two teams, the skills of their players, the tactics employed by their coaches, and the way they played the game with such determination and knowledge of basketball. Such qualities have made both teams the most successful teams in the NBA in terms of the number of championships they have won. The Lakers have 14 with the latter during the final year of the Kobe Bryant-Shaquille O’Neal partnership in the 2001-2002 season while the Celtics won it last year after a 22-year drought. And being a Celtics fan, it was a sweet, sweet triumph to savor.

The triumvirate of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett has shown that superstars can put their huge egos aside, get along pretty well, and work towards the team’s common goal of winning the championship. They have proven their critics wrong and the Big Three want more, much more. And the man responsible for bringing them? Coach Doc Rivers must be credited for having the vision to accomplish this feat.

During the start of this season, expectations have been high. Now that they’ve gotten a taste of what it feels like to win a championship, the next item on their agenda is to successfully defend their title. They started out impressively, going 8-2 through their first 10 games of the season with their latest loss coming at the hands of the Denver Nuggets. They then went on a franchise-record 19-game winning streak that ended on Christmas Day when Bryant and the Lakers finally played well to a great basketball result. Boston still possessed the best win-loss record in the league at 27-3.

That suddenly changed in the next game, they were blown out by a struggling Golden State Warriors team. It was the first time Boston had suffered back-to-back losses in the season. However, it did not end there. Suddenly, the team found itself incapable of a win as they suffered losses from low-ranked teams like the New York Knicks and Charlotte Bobcats, in addition to losses against potential title contenders like the Portland Trailblazers, Houston Rockets, and Cleveland Cavaliers. His record now stands at 31-9 in 40 NBA games.

I can’t believe the misfortune the team is going through lately. Gone is Boston’s stingy defense that limits their opponents’ ability to score. Gone is the Celtic pride that Garnett used to have when the team was on its 19-game winning streak. They seem to be like an average team playing an average game. And I hope Rivers can solve the mystery, and fast. The season is now in its middle part, when the teams win and the team standings begin to take shape to determine which team will go to the playoffs. And if the Celtics really want to defend their crown and win the title, they had better show it on the basketball court day after day and not just pay lip service to it.