Let’s not call C’s success just yet

If Celtics history means anything — and it does, right? — then there’s no room in the trophy case for silver linings, life lessons and “moral victories.”

There is no such thing as glasses half-filled. You either win or you lose. No in between, no participation ribbons, no attaboys.

In that spirit, I’m confident the late, great Red Auerbach would be spinning in his grave over the concept that this Celtics season was already stamped a success when A) the Green made it to the Eastern Conference finals, and B) the ping-pong balls finally bounced their way in the NBA draft lottery.

Red never wanted the Celtics cheerleaders. He kept a rotary telephone in his D.C. apartment — that’s what Wyc Grousbeck told me — ’til the day he died. So, no, he wouldn’t have been ordering up any “Eastern Conference finalist” banners to be suspended from the Garden rafters, the way the Bruins used to do with their hokey “Adams Division champions” banners.

I’ve felt this way throughout this spring’s NBA OK tourney — that to pronounce this season a success was, and is, an insult to Celtics coach Brad Stevens and his players. However . . . Gotta say this: It’s impossible not to admire the Celtics for what they accomplished at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena earlier this week. Trailing 0-2 against LeBron James and the mighty Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals, and with an out-for-the-season Isaiah Thomas remaining back in Boston to get his gummed-up hip looked at, the Celtics were supposed to get out of the way as quickly as possible. They were going to lose, and lose badly, and then the rest of the basketba l l world would kick back and enjoy Cleveland-Golden State III in the NBA Finals.

But the Celtics’ comeback victory in Game 3 will be remembered as one of the best efforts in franchise history, regardless of how this series turns out. They trailed by 21 points with six minutes and change remaining in the third quarter, and, what, they won?

Avery Bradley’s rim-circling 3-pointer fell in? Marcus Smart scored 27 points, with 19 coming in the second half? Jonas Jerebko tossed in a 20-footer to give the Celtics a 108-106 lead with 30.3 seconds remaining?

Did all that happen? It did, and it’s a game, and an effort, that Celtics fans will never, ever forget.

Which brings us to Tuesday night’s Game 4. Considering the C’s had a 16-point lead in the second quarter, it’s not unfair to put it out there that this one was “winnable.”

But Kyrie Irving went on a tear after LeBron James had to sit down for a while and think about the litany of dumb fouls he’d committed, and, well, what are you going to do?

But let’s remember that the Celtics were humiliated in Games 1 and 2 at the Garden, trailing by as many as 50 points in Game 2. After that, all they had left was the hope that they could play with some pride. They did better than that: They won Game 3.

Even better, they pushed the Cavs around a little, dented them. They rattled LeBron. He has gone from dismissive of the Celtics to saying this after Game 4: “(T)hey play with a lot of pride. And then you add the green on their back and this is history, this is a franchise that you kind of, no matter who’s out on the floor, you have to play for that franchise and play for pride.”

Red would have liked that. He wouldn’t have told you he liked it, but, yeah, he’d have liked it.

I remain in the camp that refuses to label a season a success when the playoffs are still going on. It’s a loser’s mentality, and it certainly doesn’t fit in with the ongoing narrative of a sports market that over the past 15 years has produced a combined 10 championships from all four teams.

Did the 2007 Patriots have a “successful” season because they went 16-0 prior to the postseason?

That the Celts might get past the Cavs isn’t/wasn’t as possible as people think. Game 3 proved that. Oh, it is/was absolutely darned near impossible, and it would have been/could be an upset for the ages, inspiring books, documentaries and maybe even a Broadway musical, but, as Rocco Lampone said in “Godfather II,” “Difficult, not impossible.”

Let’s not turn this into Lake Placid, folks.

The Celts had a very successful regular season. They had an extremely successful night at the lottery.

The playoffs? I’d still like to see how it ends, if that’s OK with you.