Three seasons ago, The Boston Celtics finished the year with the second worst record in the NBA. It seemed that the Celtics long history of winning had vanished and the standards couldn’t have been any lower.  Since then the Celtics have acquired star players such as Ray Allen, Rasheed Wallace, and Kevin Garnett. Now, the standards couldn’t be any higher for the 2009-2010 season. Coming off an incredibly memorable 2008 season highlighted by winning the NBA finals, the Boston Celtics came back for the 2009 season ready to defend their title.

The Celtics returned just as strong as the previous season and finished the year 62-20. Unfortunately, Kevin Garnett was sidelined due to a knee injury just before the end of the regular season. The Celtics were greatly affected by this loss; they were defeated by the Orlando Magic in the Conference semi-finals.

Optimistic Boston fans looked towards the 2009-2010 season for a more successful and healthy season;  after the off-season, the Celtics took the floor for their first pre-season game with a healthy Kevin Garnett and the addition of  Rasheed Wallace, four time All-star winner and it looked like Bostonians might have something to cheer about at the end of the season. Boston came out looking like they had something to prove as they started off the season 23-5 including a very important win against the Southeast Conference leaders, the Orlando Magic, on Christmas day.

After this game however, Boston lost 5 out of its next 8 games. This is mostly because of the illnesses and injuries the Celtics have faced lately. The Boston Celtics are still one of the favorites to win the NBA finals. Boston will be working hard to bring banner number 18 to the TD Banknorth Garden, but at this point the most important thing is staying healthy.