"A game of poise ... "

That's how Tommy Heinsohn described last night's contest, as the Celtics maintained their cool (rather than panicking like they did at the end of Game Five) and were able to silence a lot of critics by closing out a series on the road with a 89-81 victory over the Pistons (sports.yahoo.com) ... Suddenly, it was the (supposedly) mentally tough Pistons who lost their composure, standing dumbfounded with that "deer-in-the-headlights" look as they squandered a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter ... even though the refs did everything in their power to help keep Detroit in the game*.

However, nothing could overcome a dominating performance by the C's in the fourth quarter, where Paul Pierce scored 12 of his team-high 27 points in the final stanza (he almost single-handedly outscored the entire Detroit team himself, who had just 13 points in the quarter). Meanwhile, they limited the Pistons to 33.3 percent shooting in the fourth, while forcing the team into committing six of their 13 turnovers during the final twelve minutes! Not bad for a team that can't finish off opponents and crumbles under the playoff pressure, eh?

So now, it's the Finals matchup that the NBA suits and ABC advertising execs have been praying for (possibly by sacrificing small farm animals in the name of their dark gods): Celtics versus Lakers makes its return after a 21-year absence ... Unfortunately, it seems that everyone is favoring the Black Mamba and his La-La Land lackeys, but we'll see if The Truth and his crew have a little more gas left in the tank.

Game One starts Thursday, baby, I can't wait!




* Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, as I'm really only focusing on that one horrendous offensive foul call where Hamilton just bowled over Pierce - as he hit the three pointer while falling away, mind you - and yet Bennett Salvatore took away a potential four-point play that would have gotten the Celts back within two. Not that it matters now anyway, but Michael Wilbon did call it "the worst call in the playoffs in history" after the game on SportsCenter, so you can't exactly charge me with homer-ism on that one!

The Onion just can't get enough of Paul Pierce ...

First they accuse him of using a spitball during a game, now they're looking at both the strong side and the weak side to his game (theonion.com):

Is Pierce the most underrated or the least overrated shooting guard in the playoffs?

STRONG SIDE:

• Special headband allows him to read opponent's minds
• Although his shooting takes advantage of the characteristics of Newtonian space-time, Pierce accomplishes this without conscious thought
• Good at giving convincing high-fives when teammates miss free throws
• Kevin Garnett
• Extremely large hands allow him to fake a pass with two fingers while shooting with the other three
• Although he is at the exact same skill level as him, he is much nicer than Evil Paul Pierce
• Huge toes allow for awesome pivots

WEAK SIDE:

• Somehow wears headband at a jaunty angle
• Laser vision is just the "pointer" kind, not the "death ray" kind
• I-didn't-foul-that-guy face not incredulous enough
• Terrified of little Celtic-guy drawing
• When donating money, seems to favor children
• Name more of a white-shoe lawyer name than a scrappy-point-guard name
• Always hangs out in the seedy "Way Downtown" part of the key

Rondo and Perkins are young ...

... so we can forgive them their sins in the closing moments of last night's nail-biter (sports.yahoo.com).

Perk'd-Off had perhaps the best game of his young career, with 18 points (8-11 FG) and 16 rebounds ... of course, he kind of disappeared at the end of the game (only six points and three boards in the second half), and picked up a silly technical foul for arguing with the referee at a point in the game when you MOST DEFINITELY should not be picking up technicals (of course, Rasheed Wallace - supposedly a saavy veteran himself - also picked up a tech at an inopportune time, so maybe we shouldn't be too hard on the big lug for getting emotional).

As for I've Got a Rajon Rondo, he just was not showing much poise out there on the court during a high-pressure postseason contest, throwing ridiculous passes all over the place in the fourth quarter for anyone to get their hands on ... Cassell and House can't buy time on the floor right now (Rajon played all of two minutes in the game), so he needs to calm himself down now that Doc has seemingly decided to give him control of the team in this series; hey Rondo, no need to dish the ball behind your back or lob a high-archer about five feet above Garnett's head when the game's getting close, okay?

However, with all of that negativity out of my system, let's focus on the positive - the Celts now have a 3-2 series lead with a chance to close out the Pistons (gulp) on the road ... Well, lemmee just slide back into a little bit more negativity, as the C's did themselves no favors by nearly choking away a 17-point lead at the end of the fourth while in the friendly confines of the Garden. Seriously, if you looked closely enough, you could see every Celtics players' asshole collectively puckering up through their shorts as the score continued to get tighter in the fourth (my apologies for the graphic visual).

Luckily, the C's were able to survive, and - in the end - Detroit may be the ones who come out of this thing the worse for wear ... In the closing moments, as Rip Hamilton was getting away with putting Ray Allen in a goozle (en.wikipedia.org) whilst going for a rebound, he somehow - even after several replays I still couldn't see how it happened - hyperextended his elbow and actually had to leave the locker room area after the game in a sling.

Obviously, no one wants to see a player get hurt, but (without the services of their leading scorer) the Pistons might have a much harder time putting that home-court advantage to good use come Friday night ... We shall see.

It's never too early to talk about breaking up the band ...

Leave it to good ol' Way of the Ray (igtc.com) to already declare this season a failure ...

All flaws are exposed in the playoffs, and the warts and blemishes of this Celtics team are shining through.

- The Celtics need a young SG/SF. Ray Allen: Are his days as a NBA starter over? Just a dud during these playoffs. Is it age, injuries, or personal problems? The only trade value that Allen has for this upcoming season is to bring back bad contracts and a quality draft pick, say from the Knicks. Ray Allen, Davis, and a future first to NY for Curry, Richardson, and the sixth pick?

- The Celtics need a starting center. Perkins, Powe, and Scalabrine for Brad Miller.

- The Celtics need a young PG. Sam I Am, more like Sam He Was. Just dreadful. Has Doc Rivers sucked the life out of him? He had played decently during the regular season. And Rondo, very mercurial. An injured Billups would be taken advantage of, by most other NBA starting PGs, but Rondo is struggling.

- The Celtics need a scorer off the bench. Could be the place for Ray Allen, or a free agent signee.

- The Celtics could really use a low post scorer. Ray Allen for Zach Randolph and the 6th pick. Danilo Gallinari would be a nice substitute for Allen.

- Doc Rivers, how much longer will he be allowed to torment Celtics fans? Enough is enough with this playoff liability.

- The upcoming NBA Draft. Teams will be willing to trade away their first round picks. Will Celtics ownership allow Ainge to acquire an extra draft choice
or two and suffer the pangs of added luxury tax?

Robin Lopez, Marreese Speights, Joe Alexander, J.R. Giddens, all players who could help the Celtics.

And on that optimistic note, bring on the Pistons! I'm ready for Game Five, baby!

Anything but a blowout ...

That's all I was hoping for in last night's game - whether the Celtics won or lost, as long as they remained competitive and exhibited the kind of intensity that they had during Game Three, then I would have been happy and upbeat about their chances for coming out in this series on top.

Sadly, that's not how things went down (sports.yahoo.com) ... Sure, there were plenty of moments when the Celts came back and made the score close, but - to be perfectly frank - those brief runs did not instill me with a great deal of confidence, as there was just no passion behind those outbursts. In the end, the C's just had no business winning that game.

Now, all of that positive energy that Boston built up with their first road win in the playoffs has been (seemingly) squandered away ... Obviously, the series being tied up at 2-2 is not a death knell which signals the end of the C's postseason run by any stretch of the imagination, and yet I can't help but feel that the guys lost an opportunity to really "step on their chests" (as Tommy would say) and take control of the series.

Oh well, that just means that the Celts will have to work that much harder tomorrow to break the tie and get back in the drivers' seat ...

I'm glad the Pistons are in a "must-win" situation now ...

All of the basketball experts (and Dick Vitale) are flooding the airwaves with declarations that Detroit has to win tonight's game, or else the series is over ... and quite frankly, I'm happy to hear it, because they've been using that kind of talk to describe the Celtics in damn near every game of the playoffs thus far.

Boston must win versus the Hawks in Atlanta.
Boston must win against Cleveland in Game Six.

It's nice to see someone else having to face that kind of pressure for a change ... of course, watch this statement come back to bite me in the ass when this series suddenly stretches to a seventh game :(

And where have they been hiding THAT for the last six road games?!?

The word "security blanket" had been used several times by various media pundits prior to the start of the Eastern Conference Finals, in reference to Boston's ability - however remote - to secure the NBA title without having to win a single contest away from the friendly confines of the TD Banknorth Garden; in other words, since the C's technically didn't have to win a road game, why should they get all worked up about their "little" six-game skid?

Well, once the Pistons yanked that security blanket away on Thursday, like Linus having his little blue comfort object torn asunder by Snoopy (celticsbeagle.net), the C's were effectively out of excuses ... It was either win at the Palace of Auburn Hills or go home.

Well, looks like that was exactly the motivation they needed to finally break out of their "on the road" doldrums, as Boston jumped out to an 11-0 lead to start the game and never really looked back, taking a momentum-shifting 2-1 series advantage with a 94-80 victory (sports.yahoo.com).

Who knows? Had the Celts taken care of business in Game Two - like they were expected to - and gone into last night's contest up two to nothing, perhaps they would not have had the intensity and focus necessary to drown out Detroit's fans right from the start, and might have found themselves losing their seventh straight road game ... After that, the pressure to keep the series from being tied up on Monday - by going "par for the course" in Game Four and losing yet another road game - would have been even greater on the team, and they very well may have fallen once again, so that (instead of now possibly tackling Game Five with the mentality of closing out the series), they would have been staring down another must-win home game at the Garden.

Yes yes, causality (en.wikipedia.org) can be a tricky thing; in effect, losing their first home game the other day could have been the best thing to happen to this ballclub ...

In any event , we can all stop talking about this "futility away from home" nonsense now, reaffirmed in the knowledge that the Celtics are, in fact, a good road team (imagine that, a team that went 31-10 on the road during the regular season actually being described as "good") ... Not only did Boston hold a double-digit lead throughout almost the entire game, but it was their ability to rebound in the face of adversity that really boosted my confidence levels:

First, both Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett picked up two early fouls in the first quarter (Kevin's second coming off a particuarly putrid call by the referee wherein Rip Hamilton was actually grabbing his arm but was still able to draw an offensive foul call, bleh) ... While the Pistons used this opportunity to - briefly - take the lead, the Celtics' bench bounced back from a subpar Game Two performance (including the previously non-existent entity known as Sam Cassell hitting a couple of shots) to put the road team decisively back in control.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the comeback mounted by Detroit in the fourth quarter ... Now, while I hate using it as an excuse, I'm really going to have to call out the officiating again; while the C's weren't doing themselves any favors with some sloppy play (Rondo's attempt at a full-court bounce pass at one point was particularly egregious), the refs were just not going to call anything in Boston's favor. It was almost getting to the point where it was laughable, the disparity between the ticky-tack calls being called on the Celts, versus the slapping and mugging that the Pistons were allowed to get away with (I can laugh now that the C's won, rather than punching a hole through my television set in frustration).

My qualms with the zebras aside, all that matters is that the Celts were finally able to overcome a huge pyschological barrier that had been plaguing them since their first-round matchup versus the Hawks ... Winning a road game in the playoffs is possible, guys, so just remember that come Monday night.

So much for that ...

Y'know, it would have been - I'll use the word "interesting" - to see these Celtics become the first NBA ballclub to capture the championship having never won a playoff game on the road.

Unfortunately, after last night (sports.yahoo.com), this team can no longer use homefield advantage as a crutch ... Now, there are no more excuses - they have to step up their game and get a couple of wins in Detroit if they want to advance to the next level.

The good news: Ray Allen finally found his shooting touch (25 PTS, 9-16 FG, 2-4 3PTers). The bad news: So did Chauncey Billups (19 PTS, 5-10 FG, 7-8 FT), who has apparently bounced back from his hamstring issues ... not to mention the fact that the C's exhibited some pretty significant defensive lapses during the fourth quarter, which just cannot happen during Games 3 and 4.

However, there's no reason to panic just yet (the series is only tied at 1-1 after all) ... In fact, I experienced a strange sense of calm after the final buzzer sounded; I don't know if it was confidence that this team can finally put an end to this road-playoff drought (or acceptance that Banner No. 17 will have to wait at least one more year), but I'm actually looking forward to seeing how the C's respond on Saturday.

Celtics get more "love" from The Onion ...

I swear, someone who works over at the parody website The Onion must be a Celtics fan; I've catalogued their previous references to the team here and here, but today brings yet another example ... Now, the writers had their pick of any player currently in the league to choose from, and yet our very own Number 34 gets the "honor" of having his name appear in the following headline:

Paul Pierce Accused Of Using Spitball

Now, this isn't so much an article, as an excuse to post the most revolting picture of a basketball that I have ever seen ... Seriously, I do not want to know what they did to give that ball it's unique "look", because - lemmee tell you - that doesn't look like spit :(

Can you help Ray find his shooting touch?

Alright, at this very moment the Celts are preparing for Game Two in their series matchup against the Detroit Pistons, and no player on the team has more to prove right now than Ray Allen ... For whatever reason, one of the most clutch scorers in the game today just has not been able to find his legendary shooting touch.

So, what happened to it? Where did it go? Why has it remained "hidden" over the last few weeks? Well, I'm afraid I don't have the answers to these questions, but (through the latest in my long line of crappy Flash-based video games) I'm hoping to give all of you a visual representation of Allen's quest to rediscover his stroke ... Hey, that shooting touch has gotta be around here somewhere, so why don't we all pitch in and help him find it?

INSTRUCTIONS
Keep your eye on the ball! Try to guess where the "hidden item" is by clicking on the correct cup with your mouse.

Off to a good start ...

[The Celtics] are a great team 1 through 12. Against a team put together like this, you almost have to do everything right, especially here in this building. You have to do everything right.

-- Shaquille O'Neal, 3/27/08

Isn't one of Shaq's nicknames "The Big Nostradamus"? Well, he certainly foretold the Celtics' postseason future, as their Game One victory over the Detroit Pistons leaves them at a perfect 9-0 in the Garden (sports.espn.go.com).

Of course, once Thursday's Game Two is over (no matter what the outcome), there's still the little matter of going oh-for-six everywhere BUT Boston ... We've come this far, the team needs to finally bring some of that defensive intensity with them on the road; I really am not looking forward to a Game Seven against this Pistons club, I'll be honest with you.

Another person who probably isn't looking forward to the Eastern Conference Finals going to a Game Seven is Ray Allen, since it would just give him one more game to not hit the rim (38 MIN, 9 PTS, 3-10 FG, 0-1 3PTer) ... Really, I don't want to dump on the guy, but did you see that airball he hoisted up at the start of the game? It's not looking good for Teh Jesus right now (and yet, the Pistons must be shaking in their boots at the possibility of Ray catching fire before all is said and done).

Still, even if Allen continues to struggle, we always have KG to pick up the slack ... Amidst continued criticism (including from yours truly) about playing tentative basketball during these playoffs, Garnett whipped up a brilliant performance in this game (26 PTS, 11-17 FG, 9 REB, 4 AST, 2 BLK); despite a continued reliance on the outside jumper, Kevin did take the ball inside against Rasheed a number of times, while helping to keep Detroit's big mouth man largely ineffective (11 PTS, 3-12 FG, 0-3 3PTers).

So far so good, now let's see what happens in Game Two!

"Shit, I should'a ran into a camera ... "

That's a direct quote from Garnett's postgame interview following the C's Game Seven victory over Lebron and his Cavaliers ... He was referring to Paul Pierce's little collision with a cameraman prior to halftime, which left him hobbling to the locker room (to the abject horror of many a Celtic fan).

Luckily, that thigh bruise could do little to stop the Truth, as our captain proceeded to lift the team onto his back and provide a postseason performance for the ages (44 MIN, 41 PTS, 13-23 FG, 11-12 FT, 5 AST, 4 REB, 2 STL).

Bron-Bron might have put together a pretty impressive outing himself (45 PTS, 14-29 FG, 3-11 3PTers, 14-19 FT, 6 AST, 5 REB, 2 STL), but it wasn't enough to put an end to Boston's dominance at home in the postseason (8-0 and counting) ... Even with that scoring output, James still tried to pull out every trick in the book to get the refs on his side (flopping and writhing in agony at the slightest physical contact).

I think Pierce put it best during the very same postgame interview, when he described Lebron as "a helluva complainer" ... Heh, he was attempting to say "competitor" and "player" at the same time, but instead came up with a delicious - and very appropriate - Freudian slip.

Now, it's time to move onto the matchup that everyone's been waiting for ... The Pistons-Celtics rivalry is alive once again (now someone remind me, is Rasheed supposed to be McFilthy or McNasty?)!

Road worriers

The Celtics continue to struggle away from the Garden, as tonight's 24-point loss at the Quicken Loans Arena will attest to (sports.yahoo.com) ...

On the one hand, Lebron James had another subpar performance shooting from the field (21 PTS, 5-16 FG), but did have eight assists against just two turnovers ... Meanwhile, Pierce (14 PTS, 3-8 FG) and Allen (10 PTS, 4-12 FG) revisited their shooting woes from Game One.

So, we find ourselves in a similar spot now, as the momentum of the series suddenly shifts to the Cavs' favor ... and yet, I'm not really worrying too much about this loss. After all, losing to the Cavs on the road isn't neary as embarrassing as losing to the Hawks (although 20-point losses still aren't that easy to swallow).

Basically, I'm just focusing on the fact that the C's have the numbers on their side, and (until they actually lose a game on their homecourt) there's really nothing to get too worked up over yet ... Am I right, folks?

The Celtics' defense is guilty of regicide ...

... because we're just killing King James right now!

Instead of bouncing back from an absolutely abhorrent Game One outing (which most expected him to do), Lebron put in another subpar performance last night (sports.yahoo.com), shooting just 25 percent from the field (6-24 FG, 0-4 3PTers) with seven turnovers! Never mind that some of those shots weren't even close, as the "Chosen One" airballed a couple of jumpshots, and even blew another easy layup - shades of the closing moments from Tuesday's affair - near the end of the third quarter.

For those of you who are keeping score, that puts Lebron's semifinals shooting numbers at a head-scratching 19 percent (8-42 FG) whilst averaging 8.5 turnovers per game (he's averaging 7.5 assists per game) ... For someone who's supposed to be the best player on the floor, those kind of numbers just aren't going to cut it.

Of course, that all could change in the blink of an eye come Saturday night ... As we all know, this Celtics club has yet to prove that they can put the defensive clamps down come playoff time when faced with a hostile crowd, and the Clevelands fans are sure to give Number 23 their full support.

Hopefully, the C's have learned their lesson and won't give Lebron the opportunity to regain his confidence ... They need to shut him down for the full 48 minutes, get further inside his head and leave his teammates with no hope of coming back from an 0-2 deficit.

Remember, everyone was feeling pretty confident after the first two games of the Atlanta series, so this is no time to start getting cocky again ... Let's say I'm "mildly optimistic" heading into Game Three, and leave it at that (so as not to jinx the whole thing).

Bill Simmons doesn't (didn't?) like our chances ...

Let's delve into the archives and see what the Sports Guy had to say about a potential Celts-Cavs playoff matchup back in February (sports.espn.go.com); remember, this was right after the big trade which netted Cleveland their new crop of players (Delonte, Wally World, Ben Wallace, Joe Smith):

Anyway, I thought the Cavs could win the East before this trade, simply because none of the Eastern teams have someone who can match baskets with LeBron in a close game. Now? They're the favorites. Look, I love the Celtics, I watch them every game, it has been the most enjoyable season in 15 years. ... But a playoff series almost always comes down to one question as long as both sides are relatively equal:

Which team has the best guy?

Well, LeBron is better than anyone else in the East. So if you were beating Cleveland this spring, it was happening because your supporting cast was significantly better than LeBron's supporting cast. That's why this trade was so dangerous for Boston and Detroit; it shortened the sizable gap between guys 2 through 12 on Cleveland and guys 2 through 12 on Boston and Detroit. Now LeBron has four shooters who have shot 40-plus from 3-point range at least once in their career (Wally, Delonte, Boobie Gibson and Sasha Pavlovic), three seasoned rebounders (Wallace, Smith and Anderson Varejao), a scoring center (Zydrunas Ilgauskas) and, best of all, no Larry Hughes screwing up everything. LeBron is in a much better place than he was last year, and what's even more frightening is that he has been playing out of his mind since last April. I know the Celtics are 41-11, and I know the Pistons have been there a million times ... but still, how could you bet against LeBron in the East when he's playing like this?

So, will the Cavs' bench be the deciding factor in Game Two? I guess we'll find out soon enough ...

Cuckoo Lebron-za!

Okay, I don't think we can rely on King James putting up those kinds of numbers (sports.yahoo.com) for the entire series: he went for the rare quadruple-double (12 PTS, 2-18 FG, 10 TO, 9 REB, 9 AST) and absolutely blew an easy layup in the closing moments that would have tied the game at 74 apiece.

Meanwhile, Kevin Garnett (whom I described as a "shrinking violet" during the fourth quarter in a previous post) played like the true MVP that he is and attacked the basket in the final stanza to give Boston back the lead ... He became a much-needed source of offense in this game, as Pierce and Allen combined to put up Lebron-like numbers, and in this case that wasn't a good thing (4 PTS, 2-18 FG, 10 TO).

Overall, it wasn't the prettiest game of basketball I've ever seen, but the C's continued their perfect streak at home, and - for right now - that's all that matters ...

Relief: a Game Seven collage

Once again, here are some snapshots from around the Web following the Celtics' decimation of Atlanta in Game 7:

Click for larger image

Screengrabs were taken from the following sources:

forum.connpost.com
sports.espn.go.com
sports.espn.go.com (2)
comcastsportsnet.viewernetwork.net
ajc.com
hotlantahawks.com
celticsblog.com
youtube.com
nba.com
celticsgreen.blogspot.com
squarespace.com
nytimes.com
fark.com
boston.com
bostonherald.com
flickr.com
redsarmy.wordpress.com

Bring on Lebron!

Okay, everyone take a deep breath ... Now that this sordid little business with the Hawks is over and done with - and that was quite the exclamation point the Celtics laid down on Atlanta (nba.com) to wrap up the series - we can all cleanse ourselves of any thoughts about "biggest upset in NBA playoff history" or "first-round chokers" and instead re-focus our energies upon the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Of course, while a 34-point ass-rompin' will certainly do wonders for any Celtics fans' confidence level, we won't do ourselves any favors by completing dismissing some glaring deficiencies which came up during those three road losses ... Namely, the Celtics have yet to win on the road in the postseason.

Let's be realistic, folks - the trepidation and downright confusion displayed by this ballclub in the face of a hostile arena (cheering on a marginal playoff team at best) is not a good sign for upcoming confrontations against the likes of Cleveland and their fans ... not to mention possible future encounters with the cacophony created by boisterious Detroit and Los Angeles fanatics.

On the other hand, I guess we can all take comfort in the fact that - since the C's earned homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs - these difficulties may not even play a factor in Boston's title aspirations ... Why, if my calculations are correct (that degree in mathematics sure comes in handy!), the Celts will simply have to go undefeated at the Garden to guarantee themselves a championship!

That's not asking too much, right guys? Right?

"The wheels are coming off ... "

That's how Mike Gorman described the game after Pierce received a technical for throwing his headband to the floor in the four quarter ... and it's simply mind-boggling to consider a 66-win club falling apart like this against such a young and inexperienced bunch like the Atlanta Hawks (sports.yahoo.com).

Time to face the truth (no pun intended): no matter what the outcome of Sunday's Game Seven, the Celtics are officially "damaged goods." There's just no way to sugarcoat it, they are cracking under the pressure and it's only the FIRST FRIGGIN' ROUND.

How are they going to react when (if?) they're put up against the Cavaliers' home crowd? Or the Pistons'? Or the Lakers'? Or any number of future opponents that they may encounter on the road in the postseason ... again, assuming that they come through on Sunday, and I can't believe that I'm actually entertaining even the slightest notion that they may not.

Now, I don't want to appear like I'm abandoning ship and jumping off the bandwagon (although it certainly must appear that way to anyone out there reading these words), but it would be foolhardy not to acknowledge that all of the confidence and goodwill built up by the C's during the regular season is evaporating before our very eyes ...

We're seeing Kevin Garnett go from hard-nosed psychopath during the games that "don't count" to a shrinking violet that throws horrible pass after horrible pass in the fourth quarter rather than take the shot himself. We're seeing Doc Rivers (who was given a free pass for his past coaching indiscretions) make head-scratching moves like play Sam Cassell in the fourth over Rajon Rondo. We're seeing Ray Allen (a clutch shooter who won us any number of games thanks to his last-second heroics) take a pull-up three-pointer with fifteen seconds on the shot clock in an ill-advised attempt to give Boston the lead, when we could've taken (close to) the last shot to tie the score and send Game Six into overtime.

Seriously, these things just should not be happening, and yet they are; this must be how Dallas Mavericks fans were feeling last year, like the entire basketball world was going topsy-turvy (Cats and dogs living together! Mass hysteria!) ... I must reiterate, even if the Celts go out Sunday and do what we all expect them to do, how is this experience going to effect future performances? Will it toughen them up and make them stronger (as some of the "talking heads" were hoping when it looked like we were headed for four straight blowout victories), or has it "exposed" some very serious weaknesses in the Celtics' armor?

I dunno, perhaps we all need to calm down and revert back to previous expectations ... When Ray and KG were first brought on board, no one was thinking championship right away. It was more like fans were saying "Hey, give these three superstars time to gell, let them put on a good show in the semifinals before being eliminated so that they can build on something for next season".

However, the C's just kept winning and winning and winning ... and suddenly, Banner Number Seventeen didn't seem so far away. Alas, perhaps that was just wishful thinking from a fanbase starving for some playoff success after a twenty-plus year title-less drought.

I guess that (for me personally) I'll just go into tomorrow's contest cheering on the Green and White, and then see what happens from there ... Win or lose, I still think the Pierce-Allen-Garnett triumvirate can lead us to the promised land; it just might take a little longer than some people - including me - would've liked.

The Celtics are a Two-Face (like the Batman villain, if that helps you)

From the Worcester Telegram & Gazette (telegram.com):

The NBA is promoting its playoffs with clever advertisements featuring two half-faces forming one head. In one ad, half of Kevin Garnett’s face makes up one side and half of LeBron James’ face forms the other side.

Apparently, the Celtics enjoy the ads so much, they’ve decided to display a split personality.

At home, Boston makes up one side of the face, playing like the team that compiled the NBA’s best regular-season record. On the road, however, the Green show a different side and haven’t been able to beat the worst team to make the playoffs.


At 8 tonight at Philips Arena, the Celtics have a chance to shed their reputation as a two-faced team. The top-seeded Celtics visit the No. 8 Hawks, needing a victory to capture the best-of-seven opening-round series. If the Hawks beat the Celtics for the third time on their home court in the series, Game 7 will be played on Sunday at Boston’s TD Banknorth Garden.

The Celtics built the league’s best road record (31-10) during the regular season, but have gone 0-2 in Atlanta in the postseason. As Garnett pointed out, Philips Arena has rocked during the playoffs like he’s never seen it before, but every building is loud in the postseason. That’s no excuse for the veteran-laden Celtics not to handle Atlanta’s athletic, but young and inexperienced team.

By owning the homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, the C’s don’t need to win on the road to capture their 17th NBA championship. But they’d have to be perfect at home. That would be a tall order — and not just later on in the playoffs. The Celtics don’t even want a seventh game at home against the Hawks, and can avoid that pressure-packed situation by ending the series here tonight.

“It’s going to be an amazing atmosphere down there,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said, “and we’re going to have to go in there and play like (Wednesday). If the offense isn’t as good as it was (Wednesday), then we still have to win the game with our defense.”

In winning their three home games in this series, the Celtics have outscored the Hawks by average of 103-81 and shot 47.4 percent. The Hawks have failed to win any of the 12 quarters at the Garden so far.

In losing their two games in Atlanta, the Celts have been outscored by an average of 99-92 and have shot only 42.7 percent. The teams have split the eight quarters, but the Hawks have prevailed when it counts the most. Most importantly, Boston’s defense — the NBA’s best during the regular season — has allowed the Hawks to shoot 47.6 percent in Atlanta, compared to 39 percent in Boston.

Okay, so the Celts have this home-court thing pretty much down pat ...

... now if we can just transfer that intensity and defensive focus over to the state of Georgia (sweet Georgia) then we might actually have a shot at moving on to the next round! Hey, I know it's asking a lot for a 66-win club to come out victorious against a number eight seed that couldn't even eke out a .500 record in the regular season, but I think we can pull it off, right guys?

Seriously, it's been proven any number of times that the Celtics are at least twenty points better than the Hawks; last night's 110-85 outcome (sports.yahoo.com) was just the latest example ... Now, with a chance to finish off the series Friday night, this Celtics team simply has to come out and prove to all of the (suddenly voluminous and stentorian) naysayers that they have the mental toughness necessary for the postseason and will not get rattled on an opposing team's home floor; after all, I'm still confident that the Celts will advance, but they haven't exactly done themselves any favors by appearing "spooked" when put up against an inferior opponent's boisterous crowd (I'm sure the Pistons are just licking their chops at the prospects of getting the C's within the friendly confines of the Palace at Auburn Hills).

Look, you can blame dirty plays and the shot clocks and poor officiating all you want, but the fact remains that a young and inexperienced ballclub stifled the Celts twice in the playoffs already; there's no way we can erase that from the record books now. However, they took care of business at the Garden last night and have now put themselves in perfect position to at least place those forgettable performances behind them and get back on track ... Time to close this one out, boys; on Friday we leave the Hawks in our rear-view mirrors on the Drive to 17 (TM)!