From the outside looking in, you could have said that the Celtics’ season was pretty much over. A couple of weeks ago Rajon Rondo tore his ACL and was ruled out for the rest of the season. The loss hurt many fans as well as the players, but no one believed their season was over. The players in the locker room were motivated by the loss of their star point guard to perform more as a team and play as one unit, rather than plan the offense around what Rondo can and can’t do.

Last weekend however, another major loss was dealt to the Celtics season. The surprisingly productive rookie Jared Sullinger was ruled out for the rest of the regular season due to back problems.

Sullinger was producing a solid amount and was becoming a key to the foundation of this team. His loss gave the Celtics less room to work within terms of what they can do to make the team better, whether it was start Sullinger or use him in any potential trade talks. In one week’s time, the Cs went from possible championship contender to a team that will be lucky to make it to the playoffs. That viewpoint however, like I said, was only from the outside looking in.

The one thing that many people overlook when they see the Celtics is the amount of heart and pride that the players bring to the table. The amount of passion that these guys have is second to none.

Ironically enough, the team’s biggest loss could end up being its biggest gain. This team is motivated to prove something to the rest of the league: they’re not going to give up.

Right when you wrote them off, they came knocking back on the door. Don’t look now, but they have won their last five games without their star point guard and are poised to be a threat in the Eastern Conference. They are taking it one game at a time.

This Celtics team might be aging, and they might not be able to handle the run-and-gun offense that some teams are bringing to the table. However, what we all need is to have patience. We need to be patient with this team because they will come through in the end. After all, there are 17 championship banners in the rafters for a reason. This team is not going down without a fight—they have too much pride for that.