Bean: A descent into ‘Season from Hell'

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It's weird that a season in which a team rattles off a 16-game win streak and eventually earns the No. 2 seed in their conference could be considered a "Season from Hell," but here we are. 

Hell. The worst. Insert Sandler singing "Somebody Kill Me Please" and LeBron standing behind the curtain, Lovitz-style. 

With Thursday's news that Kyrie Irving will be shut down for the rest of the regular season and playoffs, two things are now true. For one, the star-studded Celtics will not reach the NBA Finals, something that was at least possible even without Gordon Hayward. 

The other is what should hurt the most: The Celtics' injured list is quite possibly the best team in the Eastern Conference. Irving and Hayward was the best one-two punch in the East for exactly five minutes and 15 seconds and now the thing that reunites them is their unavailability. Then there's Marcus Smart, who remains out with the hand thing, and Daniel Theis, who was much better than expected in his rookie season. 

Spoiled Boston fans might not see this as the end of the world, and technically they're right. Both Irving and Hayward are expected to be at full health next season, when LeBron might be elsewhere and the East should be theirs for the taking. Plus, the Hayward-less C's weren't actual championship contenders anyway, since the Warriors or Rockets figure to steamroll whichever team does make it to the Finals. 

Yet that doesn't quell the frustration of expecting to have at least one star - the best you've had in years - in the postseason and then going to nothing. Kyrie and no Hayward was still exciting given that this team is filled out by Al Horford, future 10-time MVP Jayson Tatum and future President of the United States Jaylen Brown. Now, the Celtics go from having at least one of the best players in the league with young studs around him to a young, thin team with a great coach. The latter is no sure thing to win a round. 

So, will the Celtics still be exciting the rest of this season? Of course. What Tatum and Brown do in the playoffs should only make C's fans salivate more for what this team will look like when they're flanked by two of the best veterans in the league. 

Yet it won't be the long run we all envisioned when Danny Ainge fleeced the Cavs for Kyrie. That, presumably will come next season. 

Celtics fans have had to be patient throughout the post-Pierce rebuild. Mostly, it's because the always-aggressive Ainge knew it was better to stockpile assets and wait for the right moment to pounce rather than frivolously spend for something that might not work. 

Yet Ainge did his job and it left the Celtics with one of the best rosters in the league, and one that should continue to improve and still be great if and when LeBron goes west and the Warriors eventually disband. 

So, this year isn't the year. It's been a great year, but it isn't the year. That should come. The important thing here is that Jaylen Brown is going to be President of the United States. 

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