Bedard's Weekend Briefing 06.14.19: Bruins, Celtics will have serious losers lament this offseason

Good morning!

A few random thoughts while I wonder how long the party is going to last in Toronto...

• If I told you before the season — before Kyrie Irving's moodiness, Gordon Hayward's struggles and the Bruins' tightness from the top six — that the St. Louis Blues and Toronto Raptors would be the teams standing in the way of NHL and NBA titles for the Bruins and Celtics, you probably would have been planning your place on two parade routes that very day.


• Yet here we are, after watching the Blues hold the Stanley Cup in TD Garden and the Raptors knock off the decimated Warriors, with both of Boston's winter teams left only to watch the victory celebrations.


• And while sports fans around here certainly don't want for title parades thanks to the Red Sox and Patriots (seemingly every year), there are many fans who are more passionate about the Bruins and Celtics. Longer title droughts mean more time and energy invested in rooting for those teams.


• For those fans, who bleed green, and black & gold more than the other colors, they are going to think about these seasons for a very, very long time. That the Warriors lost Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, and that the Lightning, Capitals, Penguins, Sharks and Knights were all knocked out ... it really doesn't get better than that when it comes to favorable championship conditions.


• And the Celtics regressed, mostly thanks to internal dysfunction. The Bruins' best players were far from their best when it counted the most. There are going to be a lot of What ifs? for Celtics and Bruins fans, especially if Kyrie walks and the Bruins have to make hard choices with their roster.


• This was probably the best shot for both teams to end their title "droughts" — especially when you compare the rosters of the eventual champions to the Bruins and Celtics — and there's a decent chance it will take even more time and energy to get back to this point again. That's going to make these seasons and the disappointing endings burn even more for the months and years to come.


• Hey, but the Red Sox have won two-straight games ... so that's something, right? (Sorry, probably way too soon). At least the Patriots will be back in five-plus weeks.

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