Believing

Wow.

What a basketball game. There are those few games a year where it feels like something truly transcendent happens, and while you are watching those games, you can feel it. You know that it's going to change the perception of a team, of a player, and not just in the way we typically vascilate from game to game once the playoffs start. I remember feeling that way watching the Game 4 of the Boston-Cleveland series in 2010, when it finally seemed like that Celtics team was good enough to win a title, and when Rajon Rondo decided it was time for the world to take him seriously as the star of the team. I felt that way in Game 4 of the 2008 Finals, when the C's overcame a 24-point deficit in the third quarter to win on the road and take firm control of the series. Last night's game was in that vein.

It had all the makings of a perfect drama. We knew this game was going to be fought incredibly hard on both sides – that the Heat were not going to let Boston come into their building and steal one, that the Celtics were not going to let Miami and their crowd prevent them from continuing their improbable run. Neither team gave up, and in a crucial situation for each like we saw last night, that's really all we should want. We saw what may end up being the “turning point” in this 2012 Boston Celtics season, the game a champion's season-in-review DVD would use to set up all the theatrics that follow.

In a narrative sense, this was a matchup of the World's Best Player, the League's Best Closer, and the Heat's Worst Abdomen versus Grit, Grind, and Guts. In a basketball sense, this was a matchup between a Big Three (I'm including Chalmers as the third wheel here, not Bosh) and a Complete Team. In a present-as-history sense, this game was filled with moments that will be dissected for months, and while it did not decide the series, it sure felt like it has that potential. LeBron was LeBron, Wade was Wade, and the Celtics still came out on top for the third straight game.

This Celtics team finally looks like they have what it takes to win a title. This is not to mean they look unbeatable, or that they won't lose the next two games and be done for the season by the time the next workweek begins (though I don't think that will happen). But Game 5 showed us that yes, this team can take continuous punches from the world's best players, withstand the fury, and emerge victorious. It's a feeling about a team that brings to mind the same feeling many Celtics fans and NBA fans had in the 2010 playoffs, after that most recent thrashing of LeBron at the hands of men in green.

The 2010 team had its up and downs for sure, storming out of the gate, fumbling late in the regular season, and fighting through some tough matchups in the playoffs en route to their Finals appearance. This 2012 version has endured a similar rollercoaster ride, really only becoming a visible threat as the season drew to a close, and only being taken seriously after their Game 4 vctory in Boston. The big similarity between them, in my eyes, is their series-altering wins against LeBron James and his teams.

It would be wildly misplaced to assume that since their 2010 brethren made the Finals that this team is now destined for the same path. However, they stand one win away from a matchup against the Best In The West, and I like their chances, even if they lose Game 6 at home. That next series would be an even tougher battle that would require a much high level of focus and execution. Earlier in these playoffs, I had little hope that they would even reach the Finals, nevermind have a chance against the then-seemingly-unstoppable Spurs or hypertalented Thunder. Now? Anything is possible.