This column originally ran in The Standard-Times on May 27, 2006.

By Nick Tavares

Maybe it was the lockout. Maybe it was the entire Portland Trail Blazers being arrested. Or maybe it was one too many Shaq-to-Kobe highlight reels in too short a span.

Whatever it was, a few years ago I felt myself mentally checking out of the basketball scene, specifically the NBA outside of the Boston Celtics.

And even the Celtics, for all their successes and failures in the past five years, only held my attention through certain stretches out of a sense of obligation. This was the first team I followed religiously, after all. It was hard to completely throw them under the bus, no matter what Rick Pitino did to the team.

But the fade wasn't immediate. It was a slow, gradual draining of enthusiasm. I followed every NBA playoff and final for the last few years, obviously, watching San Antionio, Los Angeles and Detroit win the last seven world titles between them, but the energy in the games, from my standpoint, was lacking.

But it was never really obvious until this year.

This season, we may have played witness to one of the greatest first two rounds the NBA has ever offered.

Phoenix battling back to burn the Lakers. LeBron and the Cavs slipping past Washington and Miami holding off the upstart Chicago Bulls were just a few samples of the joys of watching the first round of action.

The second round, however, was epic.

LeBron James, before our eyes, grew into the superstar that should dominate the league for the next 10 years, and in the process, likely felt the sting of defeat that could translate into a hunger to win for years.

But they weren't just beat. They stretched the superior Detroit Pistons to seven games, frustrating their usually infallible defense and keeping the best-oiled machine in the game on the edge for six of the seven games.

And out west, the Mavericks took seven games to finally slip by their Texas-rival Spurs, while Phoenix ended the Los Angeles Clippers' most memorable season since moving to L.A. in seven games.

Both series were thrilling and both renewed the sense that the NBA is in the middle of a long-overdue rebirth, in terms of entertainment and the quality of basketball being played.

But on Wednesday night, and again on Thursday, it struck me how sad the state of the Celtics has been.

Sitting in my section 22 seat to watch Pearl Jam for two nights in the TD Banknorth Garden, my eyes kept floating up to the Celtics banners, which the band had left hanging in the rafters.

Looking through their dynasty in the 80s, the 70s titles, and the last days of glory in '84 and '86 left me recalling the end of their glory era, my first real memories as a sports fan.

And while the current team has hope with Paul Pierce, Al Jefferson and a host of younger players who could be something special someday, it was obvious that they're not yet. And they might not be for a while.

While the NBA experiences some of its most exciting playoff series ever, while Steve Nash, Rip Hamilton, Dwayne Wade and Dirk Nowitzki hold court in the conference finals, the Celtics are home, an afterthought in a Sox-crazy town (though still miles ahead of the beyond-dysfunctional Bruins).

With the seventh pick in next month's NBA draft following years of great drafting by Danny Ainge, this could be the end of a tedious 15-year rebuilding plan.

No, Larry Bird isn't walking through that door.

But it would be great if someone would.

Nick Tavares is a columnist for The Standard-Times. Contact him at ntavares@s-t.com

Date of Publication May 27, 2006 on Page C03