It's Highly Suspicious That I Find Myself The Victim Of A Hit Piece On The Exact Day The Celtics Prepare For Game 1 Against The Cavs

Winslow Townson. Getty Images.

To win an NBA title, it requires an extreme level of mental toughness. Through the good moments and the bad, you have to keep your focus. There will be times when an opponent tries something to get under your skin and throw you off your game, and the true sign of mental toughness is not even being phased, letting them know that they can go as low as you want, it's not going to matter

We've seen what happens when a team fails to keep their mental composure, just look at the Nuggets' ass whooping last night. They couldn't play through the physicality, spent more time crying to the refs than figuring out how to beat the Wolves, and they were promptly run out of their gym. 

I find myself in a similar position today as the Celtics play Game 1 of their second round series against the Cavs. With this being such an important playoff run, it requires all of us to do our part. The players have to be locked in, I have to be locked in, you have to be locked in, it's a collective effort. Mental toughness is paramount. Ignore the noise and focus on the task at hand.

Sometimes, that noise comes via a very random hit piece, with that hit piece coming from inside the house

I'll be honest, it's all a bit confusing. Nate saw my blog late last night, decided it was the softest blog of all time and he couldn't post it (therefore withholding clicks/pageviews) only to then write a blog himself that he knew would go up (because he controls it) and in said blog uses screenshots and excerpts from the blog he said wasn't worthy of being on Barstool Sports all to do what? Try and bury or clown me for my take that what Jamal Murray did last night was fucked up, an embarrassing look, and that he'll probably get suspended for it? The horror!

You know, perhaps I should have seen this coming had I not been doing my part and staying locked in preparing for battle against the Cavs. I get the sense that Nate has had this very strange hard on for me for a few days now. You see, around 5 days ago Nate wrote a blog about Nickey Smokes' pit stains (what a knee slapper!) and included this line in it

 I only sweat that much when I see a missed call from Dave, because my mind immediately assumes Greenie slipped in a racial slur in one of his 8,000 word Celtics breakdowns that I "read" and "edited". 

???????????????

What the fuck is that? This must be one of those "jokes" and "comedy" and "humor" Nate raged about in his hit piece last night. Hand up, I guess I don't really see the humor in suggesting someone drops racial slurs in their blogs while also talking about how you don't actually read or edit a blog as the Editor In Chief. The more I think about it, maybe Nate simply didn't have time to read and edit my blogs because he's being hounded by the greatest minds in comedy for his joke writing skills after that one went live. Is he the real reason the Tom Brady roast was so funny? The evidence is starting to be overwhelming.

Then again, maybe he's just looking for a way to make an appearance on The Unnamed Show or something around some sort of fake blog beef? Unfortunately, I have bad news there. I am nowhere NEAR the level of needle mover that would get any of Whit, Dave or Kirk to give two shits about. I'm a basketball blogger who wrote a basketball blog (that was correct). That's it. 

But then I started to think even more about it, and none of it makes sense. It's way too random and way too much of a coincidence that this hit piece came out just as the calendar flipped to May 7th, which is Game 1 of BOS/CLE. It's sort of like when the hit pieces about Dave used to drop right before an earnings call. Those were ordered hit pieces that were put out to distract Dave and throw him off his game on such a huge day. Considering Nate and I have talked a total of like 5 times in 9 years, something doesn't quite add up.

Who would want me distracted today? Who would want me not locked in mentally ahead of a huge playoff game/series? Once I started to look closer, it became more and more obvious who could have ordered this hit.

1. Pat Riley

If we're going to talk about someone putting out a hit, we may as well start with the Mob Boss himself. The motivation is clearly there, as Pat Riley hates the Boston Celtics with a passion. The Celts just kicked the shit out of Riley's Heat so severely it sent them into a rebuild, and as we know, Riley is connected everywhere. Especially the media. Then I started thinking how does this tie into the Cavs? What was Pat Riley's connection there? Easy

Michael Reaves. Getty Images.

Ah yes, Max Strus. Former Heat and now current Cav, it all makes sense.  A guy who is still upset the Celts cut him in favor of Tacko Fall, a player who has a history against BOS, it's pretty obvious what Riley is trying here. He wants me off my game so that the Celts forget to check Max Strus and limit his open 3PA, which is key for the Cavs in this series. Sorry Pat Riley you old fuck, it's not going to work this time.

2. The Los Angeles Lakers

It's pretty well known that I despise the Lakers with every fiber of my being. Watching their demise brings my life immense joy. So how are they involved in this? Well, after counting titles not even won in LA, the Lakers and Celtics are tied with 17 NBA titles. By the looks of things, the Celts are well positioned to re-take the lead this postseason, as long as everyone stays locked in. Given the natural rivalry between the two franchises, they cannot be overlooked here.

So what's their connection to CLE? Easy. How do the Lakers (aka LeBron) do anything? Klutch Sports Group. We've already seen them put out a hit piece during these playoffs, remember the Shams article that came out 2 seconds after the Lakers were eliminated?

Where do we think this came from? Klutch. So what's their connection to the Cavs? One quick look at the Klutch client list tells you everything you need to know

Rick Osentoski. Getty Images.

Darius Garland. The starting point guard of the Cleveland Cavaliers. You don't think Garland would benefit from me being off my game? How he performs against the best defensive backcourt in the NBA is going to be a big factor in this series. His playing well is important, and that's what Klutch cares about. So what do they do? They do the Lakers' dirty work and help put out the hit piece as a way to distract me in an effort to try and prevent the Celts from winning their 18th banner. A tale as old as time.

3. Danny Ainge

I'll admit, this option hurts. Danny Ainge and I have had quite the history together. I pretend like he knows who I am and cares what I have to say, he continues to live his life without even knowing I exist, it's brought us some of the best experiences of my life. Without Ainge, there is no 2008, there is no Tatum/Brown, there is no Brad Stevens etc. I owe that man everything.

But you know what? It's only been a few years, but Brad Stevens is showing that he may in fact be better at this job than Ainge. Coming off an Executive Of The Year award, maybe the jealousy is eating away at Ainge. He doesn't want Brad to replace him in Celtics history, which will probably happen if Brad builds the team that gets us that 18th banner, something Ainge couldn't do. 

The connection to the Cavs is obvious

Kirk Irwin. Getty Images.

Where do we think Donovan Mitchell came from? The Jazz. Who do we think traded him? Danny Ainge. If the Cavs are going to have any chance in this series, who needs to play out of his mind? Donovan Mitchell. Of all the players to be locked in on, Donovan Mitchell is at the top of my list. He's where all the attention has to start, so I can understand why Ainge would want me distracted. The best way to keep his spot in Celtics lore is to be the latest GM to win a ring while in Boston, and to do that he's going to need a big series from Mitchell. 

It hurts, but I can't rule it out.

So while I'm sure as stoolies you prefer I go all Castalleni or whatever on Nate for his weak attempt at a hit piece, I know a staged hit when I see it. It coming today of all days pretty much solidifies it. Just like we saw with Tatum on that Martin play, it's eyes forward and we're off to the FT line. We have bigger fish to fry, and now is certainly not the time to have some sort of random blog drama/war. Not when a championship is at stake.