I’ve gotten some slack over the months about over-Rondo-ing on this blog. I talk about him too much. I give him too many props. I hype him up too much. There is a reason I’ve been doing this all season long: Rondo is that good. For you fast-readers and skimmers out there, I’ll say it again: Rajon Rondo is THAT good.

I'll be watching this all day. All day.

What a combo last night.

The Celtics backcourt last night was the game changer: Rondo and Eddi3 Hous3 were on fire and controlled the entire tempo of the game. Oh yeah, and that Ray Allen was pretty good, too. The Magic never stood a chance with Alston playing anti-awesome (re: slapping Eddi3 Hous3 because he drains shots over you? Grow up.) and JJ cooling off after a hot first quarter (again, another coaching flaw for Stan Van Gundy: when a streaky sharp shooter like JJ gets going, you ride him while he’s hot; you don’t relegate him to the bench in favor of Mickael Pietrus). Last night marked the return of Playoff Rondo– who was on hiatus since Game 5 v. CHI:

• Smarter decisions – Rondo was doing what he does best: penetrating, drawing defenders, and finding open guys in the post and on the wings. Did you see some of the passes he made last night in that first half? He was Magic Johnson and John Stockton in white/green flashing #9. Rondo knew when to push last night, and when to slow it down. Rondo created the offensive rhythm for the ENTIRE team and made them offensively efficient– hardly a wasted possession.
• Good ball movement – Rondo read the defense on every possession and moved the ball DIFFERENTLY each time. One of the biggest differences in his play last night compared to Monday was his ability to keep the Magic defensive guessing: who’s getting the ball and where is the option… Rondo was like a DJ in a bumpin’ NYC night club: he served up different mixes every time that we didn’t want the night to end. House. Scal. Ray Ray. Perk. Everyone got touches last night. The team had 34 assist off of 41 field goals. Only 7 baskets when unassisted– that is an amazing statistic.
• +25 - Speaking of statistics, Rondo had a game high +25 +/- rating, drawing a stark contrast to Hedo’s -26. This is what happens when you have a point guard that puts up triple double numbers and is a LOCK DOWN perimeter defender. We’ll take this chance to say CONGRATULATION to Rondo for earning 2nd Team All-Defense honors alongside teammate KG. By the way, Rondo’s triple double last night was his 3rd of the post-season which ties the Celtics franchise record of most triple doubles in a postseason held by… Larry Bird.
• Emotional leadership – Throughout this season, we’ve seen the great moments of Rondo emerging as a floor general, but also seen his breakdowns in court leadership. Last night, however, we saw a familiar PG that gave the other 4 players in white/green the confidence to play well, and the faith that everything was going to be alright because they trusted the guy handling the ball. He had the intensity last night that I love: when Orlando was trying to crawl back, a scrawny but explosive 6-1 guard drop a dunk while the boys in blue can only watch. I’d call this the “Tiger Woods” moment: play hard and don’t let up. Ever.

Other important happenings from Game 2:

• Doc’s lineups – Doc must have read my post yesterday, right? Great job, Doc, of playing the lineups that were playing well, and not defaulting to the “gotta play these guys because these are my starters.” Scal and House boosted their real estate ten-fold last night and made them viable options in important game time minutes.
• Pierce’s rest – What better gift in this series that has the tough schedule of night-on/night-off than to give Pierce about half a game’s rest? The Magic should expect him to come out firing in Game 3. But SVG won’t prepare well for this because, well, he’s an idiot.
• Perk – Perk outplayed Dwight Howard in every regard. Did you notice that Dwight Howard had 0 blocks last night? Despite his tactic of pushing guys in the back while in the air (tell me you notice that?), he couldn’t get body position in the paint to block shots. Zero blocks. Zero.
• Last thought on Rondo - What a strange player. Looking at his numbers each night, the dude is a statistical oddity. There are nights when he puts up 6 points and 17 assists, while other games you’ll see 26 points and 8 assists. My buddy Sean pointed out last night that Rondo was stealing rebounds from teammates, which was true. But, here is the deal: I think you take the whole package. He was intense, he was energetic, and most importantly, he wanted and NEEDED the ball in his hands as much as possible last night. If we can see that kind of focus and efficiency that we saw in Game 2 at the cost of taking a few boards away from teammates, so be it. This is the PG we’ve seen through most of the Bulls series and the one we need to move past Orlando.

Endnote  •  Yesterday, my endnote was about how I wanted to see a Kobe/Lebron finals matchup. After watching the crap last night from the Staples center, I change me mind. I hope Artest and Battier just shut Kobe DOWN and shut Kobe UP in game 3. Hey Houston: control the freakin’ tempo and don’t let this turn into a track meet. Use your strength, use your size.

Come on Joey, just give them 1 round...

Right up in ya, Kobe.

What sound do keys make when they hit each other? I thought maybe “cling-cling”, “clang-clang,” or maybe “clink-clink”, but none of those sounded right. So I went to the source: Google. I tried searching “sound keys make”, “sound when keys hit each other,” “sound of keys clanging against each other,” and a few more variants. Needless to say, I am an idiot.

Why the necessary search for the sound keys make? I was trying to come up with a clever way of titling the “KEYS” to the game. Terrible. Terrible.

Anyway, here are some CLING-CLINGs to BOS v. ORL Game 2:

• 

  Come out firing like RAMBO.

  Come out firing – Bring the intensity and focus for the first 12 minutes. Of course we want to see this intensity and focus for the entire game, but it will be crucial early on. Play hard defense, dive for loose balls, stay 100% on. At the slightest sign of digression, Doc needs to call a timeout.

• Use the bench – Game 7 of the CHI series and Game 1 of the ORL series saw the rebirth of the Boston bench. A Celtic Renaissance, perhaps? Guys like Scal and Steph provided a strong lift to the team both offensively and defensively. On the other hand, the Magic bench consists of battle-tested guys like Battie, Gortat, Pietrus, Anthony Johnson… If the only thing you can think of is “Thank god Battie drove Pierce to the hospital in 2000 after being stabbed 11 times” and “Whoa Gortat is ugly”, then you are among many. The Magic bench is about as deep as a $25.99 Target kiddie-pool.
• Ball movement – Get into an offensive rhythm where multiple guys get good looks: Ray catching and shooting off screens, Pierce with some penetration to get him to the line or that 18-footer, Rondo getting some good floaters, etc. Get into a rhythm early on get the confidence back.
• Perk being Perk – I talked about this at LENGTH in a previous post, but the big guy has got to just play lockdown defense. If Orlando looks to be catching on fire from the perimeter, Perk’s performance could be the game changer.
• 

  Rondo being Rondo and quasi-posterizing Jermaine O'Neal.

  Rondo being Rondo – Why stop with Perk being Perk? Rondo needs to be Rondo: our fearless point guard that is aggressive and confident– two things he seemed to leave at home after Game 5 in Boston during the CHI series. He hasn’t looked right since Game 5. I hope it’s not injuries. I hope it’s not in this head. Maybe fatigue? I hope it’s not anything besides a few bad games. He stole the spotlight from everyone in games 1-5 v. CHI when he was averaging a triple-double and making plays happen for himself and teammates. We need this Rondo back. Make good decisions. Play defense like the 2nd team all-defender that you are. Be aggressive. Be confident. Penetrate. Create.

• Pierce being Pierce – Why the hell not? One thing I’ve really noticed during these playoffs is that Pierce has had a knack for turning the ball over. Out-of-character turnovers, too: getting the ball poked away while waving off teammates, or when spinning, or getting caught making a lazy passes. Pierce isn’t finishing well near the hoop either (plenty of good looks in Game 1 when getting fouled during a layup). I’m not looking for a super hero performance, just a clean Pierce game where he can put up 22 points and plays solid defense.
• Team defense – Simple as that: play good team defense and don’t get lazy.
• Doc – Call timeouts. Use your bench. Talk to your players. At times it looked like Doc just took a backseat role in Game 1, which I didn’t like. One of the reasons the Celts won Game 7 against CHI so easily was because Doc played the guys that were playing well. He saw the game and responded– Doc gave minutes to the guys that were playing well. He didn’t quickly default to “gotta put in my guys because their my guys”– Doc read the tempo of the game and mixed his lineup with benchers/starters accordingly.

Endnote  •  Denver is kind of playing out of their minds… I think the Nuggs stand a better chance of matching up against the Lakers, anyway. But, I want the Lakers to make the finals. I need the Lakers to make the finals. I want Lebron to rock the house that Kobe thinks he built. I need Lebron to rock the house that Kobe thinks he built. Go Chauncey + Freak Bird.

Just disgusting. So gross that the dictionary has no word to describe this. BLAAAAAUOOOUUUUUUUUUEEEEE (the sound of me vomitting all over my pristine MacBook)!!!

You know the scene. You know what I’m talking about… background noise cuts out. The character on the screen looks around. She knows something is up, but doesn’t know what. Then a crash– a sudden crash. Or maybe a knock. Or maybe a door. The character realizes the killer is in the house.

Most scary movies set this scene up so well. You know what I’m talking about.

Dead? Right? No. Always the same scene, always the same ending.

The character knows that she is in trouble. She tries to call 911, but realizes the phone has been cut. Then the power goes out. Knowing that the killer is honing in, she runs upstairs. In a panic, she doesn’t grab anything as a weapon to defend herself for the upcoming attack on the staircase. Sure enough, as she runs upstairs, the killer suddenly appears to a the striking musical montage that supports the surprise attack. There is a scuffle. The struggle ensues. She escapes upstairs as he follows. Then, after a series of lucky events, she kills him by either knocking him upside the head or when he jumps through the window as she moves out of the way.

These scenes are all the same. The buildup to these scenes are all the same. The ending to these scenes are all the same. You know what I’m talking about.

Sometimes the audience wants to see a different ending: they want to see the killer take care of business and kill the main character. Just once, we want a different ending.

Watching last night’s game was like watching this all too familiar scene: in the last few matchups with the Magic, the Celts have fallen behind big… mounted an epic comeback… and then fallen short.

The same scene, over and over again… Just once, I want to see a different ending. Hell, I want a different beginning.

But you know what? I’m not worried. It’s a 7 game series. There is no sense of urgency emanating from my keyboard; just anticipation for game 2.

Looking at the box score, there are a few stats worth pointing out:

• Ray Allen: 2-12 FG, -15 +/- rating
• Rondo: 2-12 FG, 7 TOs (he had like 15 in the entire 7 game CHI series)
• Scal: 10 points on 3-5 shooting, +22 +/- rating

Be, Aggressive. B-E Aggressive.

Rondo’s turnovers and shooting were atrocious. Ew. Gross. I am the BIGGEST Rondo fan around, but last night was beyond bad. Fatigue and injury could be at fault to describe the poor shooting and poor passing we saw last night. But what about the bad decision making? I’ve always been fine with Rondo letting the ball roll before picking up the ball to prevent the clock from starting… but remember when Alston was inching forward and closing in and Rondo wasn’t quick enough to get down and snatch it up? Very un-Rondo like. Remember when Rondo made the early/poor pass that bounced off of Ray’s knees… Very un-Rondo like. I actually bet Rondo had more than 7 turnovers last night but was only credited with 7. This is got to get cleaned up. Are his ankles ok? It has me wondering. Game 7 v. CHI and game 1 v. ORL were not great. Even game 6 of the CHI series wasn’t a great game (yes he had 19 assists, but that was through 3 OTs and with a teammate dropping 51 points– this is when assists can be a deceiving stat). I think we just saw some poor decision making that game, and things will get cleaned up after talking to Doc and after watching tape. I do, however blame part of this on Doc for not taking him out when pushing to make things happen, but can understand why he was kept in– he is a lockdown perimeter defender and they were playing a team hot around the perimeter. But if it’s his ankles… that is another problem. As long as Rondo is aggressive and makes better decisions, he will fulfill his role in helping this team win.

Maybe a starting-Scal for game 2? Unlikely, but a good thought.

The big issue we had last night and will continue to have this series isn’t around Rondo’s decision making or Ray’s shooting, but with how we guard Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. They are athletic bigs that make difficult matchups for Big Baby and Pierce. Scal did a much better job of covering Lewis and Hedo last night than Baby… but it’s too bad we can’t see how Bill Walker would fare against Lewis. I had mentioned this last night in a live-game-chat, and seemed to be greeted with hesitation. Then this morning on Sports Radio, it seemed those guys agreed: Bill Walker is an incredible athlete who can jump to the moon, is quick, fast, and strong enough to not get pushed around by Lewis. He matches up pretty well and isn’t a meathead like Tony Allen (TA is dead in my book– he needs to be done for good). I know we won’t see Walker, but I think some combo of Walker/Baby/Scal work really well against Lewis and even Hedo if Pierce gets burned.

Like I said in my previous post,

Look, you can read Orlando like an open book: Dwight Howard can score at will if he gets within 3 feet of the basket (usually off a dunk– he had 201 this season) and they have a handful of decent outside shooters. Stop 1 of those two things and you have a victory. Easy as that.

Still true, folks. Still true.
Orlando had a pretty hot night of shooting… but they also almost gave up a 28 point lead. A 28 point lead. That’s a lot of points to give up in a short amount of time. They have no coaching, they have no self-discipline, they have no strategy. Boston is the better team, and better teams prevail in the playoffs.

If Wednesday comes and we see the same pattern of Orlando pulling away big with the Celts making a late run, then maybe we have some serious coaching issues to address.
But, I am not concerned. The Celts just have to be the Celts, and they can even win the next 4 games straight if they stick to their game plan and limit the number of brain-farted plays.

You know what I’m talking about.

Endnote: apparently the secret to beating the Lakers is getting smacked in the face without a foul call (Battier) and getting a haircut that either screams “Team Pride!” or “Whoa I was drunk last night!” (Artest). Either way, go Rockets.

Battier getting messed up.

Hmmm.

We all know what “Manny being Manny” is about.
But what about a more positive twist about someone being someone? What about Perk being Perk? Tonight, Perk needs to be Perk. For the series, we need Perk to be Perk.

Perk being Perk.

The Boston Celtics and the Orlando DwightHowards have split their season series 2-2; the first two games went to the Celts (with KG) and the last two went to the DwightHowards (1 without KG, 1 basically without KG).

• Game 1: 12/1/2008, Celts 107 – DwightHowards 88
  In 43 minutes, Dwight had 14 points on 5-12 shooting, 15 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 turnovers, and only 1 foul. We shouldn’t fool ourselves about taking away rebounds and blocks from Dwight– he’s going to get his 15-4 and that is fine. He’s a great help defender on a team that really doesn’t play good defense. He’s going to get his 15+ boards because no one on the floor in blue/white goes into the paint and because he is a freak of nature that can leap over tall buildings in a single bound. If we can hold Dwight to having 15 DEFENSIVE rebounds, then we are in great shape. If Dwight starts racking up offensive boards and firing the ball back out to his perimeter-minded team, then we may have some problems.
• Game 2: 1/22/2009, Celts 90 – DwightHowards 80
  In 38 minutes, Dwight had 11 points on 4-10 shooting, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, 4 turnovers, and 6 fouls. Seeing a pattern here? Contain Dwight’s points in the paint and you win. As well as Orlando shoots the ball, it won’t be raining threes all night long. They average almost 22 3pt attempts a game, which ranks first in the NBA. Orlando only makes about 35% of their 3s, which ranks 10th in the league– they’re not that good of a three-point shooting as many people think.
• Game 3: 3/8/2009, DwightHowards 86 – Celts 79
  The game was never really close, so Dwight only played 28 minutes. The Celts shot like crap this game (39% FG and an appalling 20% from 3-FG) and were never really in it. The offense wasn’t there. This game was an easy one for Orlando.
• Game 4: 3/25/2009, DwightHowards 84 – Celts 82
  This game featured KG playing 17 minutes and a dramatic comeback from a 3rd quarter 16 point deficit. The Celts chipped away at the lead to get it down to 1 point, but Pierce’s layup was blocked by none other than Superman with 4 seconds left in the game.

There is 1 thing that I noticed about Orlando’s 2 wins: the Celtics gave the games away to Orlando. Orlando didn’t win these games because they outplayed the Celtics, the Celtics just didn’t have it those days. Look, you can read Orlando like an open book: Dwight Howard can score at will if he gets within 3 feet of the basket (usually off a dunk– he had 201 this season) and they have a handful of decent outside shooters. Stop 1 of those two things and you have a victory. Easy as that.

Keep yelling, Stan. Keep yelling.

Did I also mention that Hedo Torkougly is still injured? That Rashard Lewis is still injured? That Courtney Lee is out from his sinus surgery (whatever that is)? That Stan Van Gundy is a terrible coach whose coaching philosophy revolves around yelling nonsensical phrases at his players in frustration instead of understanding how to make decisions that can get his team a win?

The Celtics just finished a grueling playoff series where they literally scraped out a victory against Chicago. They had to win by stepping up an infinite number of times, through clever coaching, and literally had to dig down to get to every last bit of energy to gut out the win.

The Magic are the ones in the position to be nervous, but certainly not the Celts. If Perk is Perk and can contain Dwight, get into your bomb shelters: the Magic will be dropping 3’s like there’s no tomorrow– statistically, we are ok with that move, Stan.

{ Endnote: are we guaranteed to play the teams with the UGLIEST players in the league? First the Bulls with Joakim, and now the Magic with Hedo? What about the Cavs… ? Delonte? Varajao? Z? Ugh, too many to list. }

The Truth of the series: the Celts were the better team.

All good stories have great endings. This one has a great ending for a two reasons:
1) the Celtics won
2) Joakim Noah will be ugly from home

Game 7 reminded me a lot of the Seinfeld series finale back in 1998. My friends and I were obsessed with the show, and there were plenty of debates about whether the writers/producers did a good or bad job of ending one of televisions best comedies.

Quick rundown of the episode:

• NBC calls back Jerry and tells him they are going to pick up his show that he and George wrote many years before (that was eventually dropped)
• NBC gives their private jet to Jerry/George/Elaine/Kramer for a trip to Paris before Jerry and George move out to LA
• The plane makes an emergency landing in a small town in MA
• They do nothing as a guy gets mugged and get tossed in jail under the town’s good samaritan law
• To build a case against them, the lawyers bring back all of the old semi-regular characters (the low talker, Soup Nazi, Steinbrenner, Jackie Chiles is their lawyer, bubble boy, etc.) to testify about how mean and terrible these 4 people are
• Jerry/George/Elaine/Kramer get put in jail (was this all done from memory? Yes, yes it was.)

There were two different schools of thought on this episode: it needed to be the best episode out of any to close it out OR just be good enough to to close out the show in a respectful way.

This Celts/Bulls series game 7 reminded me of the Seinfeld finale because something so great had to finish in someway, but in the ending, we were taken back and reminded why we gave this series unconditional love (both Seinfeld and Celts/Bulls ’09). Game didn’t need to be “the best” game out of the 7 game series like so many thought, but it just needed to have an ending that was fitting and appropriate for the tone of the series… just like the Seinfeld finale (my thoughts? school of thought #2: just be good enough to to close out the show in a respectful way).

Last night’s was the 2nd least exciting game of the series. There were no egregious amount of lead changes… overtimes… no game-tying shots… no game winning shots… but it was still a close game that could have gone either way in the final 2 minutes. We’ve been so spoiled and now even conditioned to expect 25 lead changes and an additional 5 to 10 to 15 minutes of play like we’ve seen before. If the game didn’t meet these expectations, then it wasn’t an exciting game like many wanted and expected. All over the internet, people were clamoring that this couldn’t go down as one of the best playoff series if game 7 didn’t look, act, feel like 5 of the other games in this series.

Are the Bulls and Rondo squared away now?

I’m sorry, but all of them were wrong. This game didn’t need to be that nail-biting / oh-my-god-I’m-going-to-vomit type of games to cap off one of the best playoff series in NBA history. First of all, 5 out of the 7 games were decided by 3 points or less. 11 points separated the winners and losers in those 5 games. 4 out of those 5 games went into OT. 2 of the 4 games that went into OTs when into multiple OTs– 1 of which went into 3 OTs. How can you argue that this wasn’t ONE of the best playoff series ever played even if game 7 wasn’t like the others?

Right before the most exciting defensive play of the game...

We still had some memorable moments, most notably being Derrick Rose’s unbelievable block on Scal’s breakaway dunk. The reason this game had the best ending to one of the best playoff series ever played is because the better team prevailed. That’s the mark of why this game was the perfect ending. If the Bulls would have won, then many would argue it’s because they were the better team, when in fact they weren’t. I’m sorry, but in 2 games this series, the Celtics played defense, had bench help, and executed on offense like they’ve done all season long: games 3 (the Celts blowout victory) and 7 (where the Celts were in the driver’s seat for most of the game until they couldn’t hit their FTs in the 3rd quarter). The better team prevailed, which makes this an appropriate ending to a wonderful series.

Eddie was a game changer on BOTH ends of the floor, which means he'll see some more PT against the Orlando Dwight Howards

I’ve barely had time to catch my breath and already we are preparing for the Orlando Dwight Howards to come town tomorrow night.

I’m going to close with my favorite story about last night.
After the Celts won last night, they did the gentlemanly gesture of shaking hands with their formidable foes, they did their interviews, they did the press conference, they showered, and then they headed to their cars to go home. Somewhere in there, Doc and company held their post-game meeting where they had their one real chance to savor their victory and reflect on what happened in the last 2 weeks. When the Celtic players returned to their cars, there was homework for Sunday.

“The Celtics were confident enough going into Game 7 that the coaches slipped scouting reports on the Orlando Magic players into the players’ cars before tip-off.

“They have a chance to look at their books, study their books . . . when we come back we’ll have a game plan,” Rivers said. – Frank Dell’Apa, Boston Globe

As Pierce said after the game, “… But, hey, you know, we still are the champs until someone knocks us off.” Couldn’t have said it any better myself.

Mission: accomplished.

Game 7.
8pm.
Winner plays Orlando in the Eastern Conference Semis.

I can’t concentrate. I have all of this work to do, but can’t focus at all.
Procrastination came knocking and I decided to take a picture of my Rondo jersey hanging on a hook in my bedroom door. I touched them up on photoshop and decided to post about it because what else should/could/would I could be doing right now?

This is a product spawned from the inability to focus and complete a few simple tasks before the viewing party for game 7.

To follow along with the theme of photos, I figured I would post some of my favorite images from all of the 6 games so far; I ensured to pick at least 1 from each game. There might be about 5-7 more random posts today because I don’t know what else to do with myself before 8pm.

After Pierce hits what would become the winning shot in game 5. I love his composure in this image, his solitude that reflects the days of old when would carry this team on his back without 2 hall of famers at his side. Just the Truth and 19,000 of his closest friends.

I love this image because it is a visual shooting lesson by Ray Allen. His shoulders are squared up, body is aligned and upright, eyes ahead at the hoop, elbow in, guiding hand just off the ball, plenty of lift from his legs. It's beautiful and smooth. He poured in a career playoff high of 51 points in the 3 OTs.

I mainly love this image because of how Rondo stretches his body out, and you know he'll land flat on the floor. It gives an odd sensation of calmness even though if you were watching this in real time you wouldn't get that same feeling. I like that Rose is in the picture to reflect on this PG duo we've seen all series.

There are plenty of reasons to enjoy this image. I love the intensity, I love the fact that the Celts won this game. I love that KG's energy is still felt despite him not being in uniform. I hate this image because KG is suited up in a 3-piece rather than green. I also really appreciate how much self-respect and self-restaint and self-discipline Ben Gordon has not to punch KG right in the face.

Often times if you get stuck in Doc's doghouse, you stay in Doc's doghouse. Baby was never really there this season, but there were plenty of times when I thought Baby should have been there. I was very anti-Baby for so much of this season, and have been glad to be on the wrong end of that prediction. The maturation of one Big Baby has been fun to watch, and yes, I am saying it... I can't wait for Danny to lock up Rondo AND Baby this off-season with some good money and good years. The Celts have been slow/patient about developing Baby and they've done a bang-up job. His bball IQ, unique physical skills, and killer hustle energy make him an important part of this playoff team.

For all of the reasons outlined in many of my playoff posts, I can't stand Joakim. But his steal, coast-to-coast run, ability to run and finish on a foul, causing Pierce to foul out while also securing the game for his team... Yeah, I might even sport a Joakim jersey if I was a Chicago fan. But I am not one, so I can hate his ugly face. What a jerk for stealing that ball... This image brings back slight discomfort because I know what happens in about 3 seconds after this picture was taken-- giving the sports world a game 7 for an already insane opening series. Kudos for Chicago for drafting him and sticking with him. But seriously, how ugly is he?

Another image to show this PG duo in the series-- Rose will improve his ability to defend quick and aggressive point guards as he develops. He is too fast to not be able to guard players like Rondo-- only a matter of time. But on this play, he did the right thing-- Rose followed Rondo's body and not the ball, waited for Rondo to lift, and because Rose is stronger/faster/quicker/more athletic, waited that nano second for Rondo to jump, and then Rose exploded into the air to block the shot to finish the game. Unreal defensive play. Breaks my heart to see this image.

Rondo punching Brad Miller in the face at the end of game 5 won the game for the Celts. Who knows who would have won this game if Miller had been given the contact-free lane and nailed his floater without much time on the clock. Rondo made the hard foul, knocked around Miller (did he actually loosen some teeth?), and kept the Celts lead safe.

How can we not end with this one? Game 2 (which I was there for), Ray hits a a cluther than clutch clutch clutch 3 of Joakim to win the game by 3. Ray Allen for Congress: The Bailout Man. Mr Smooth. AAMCO: Get your clutch fixed with Ray Allen. Need I say more? Smoooooooth. This also marks the beginning of what would be about 98409389480980 more game-tying or winning shots. MVP is now being spelled RAY in the Oxford English Dictionary. Word.

Wear your GREEN tonight, Celts nation.

You know it also rains a lot in Chicago?

I wish I could just watch this series as a basketball fan. Imagine not really caring who wins this game and just watching it each night? It would have all of the intensity and entertainment value you’d want in sports without any of the consequences.

But I’m on the other side of the fence.

This series is sucking the life out of me… emotionally and physically. During one of Ray Ray’s game tying shots yesterday, I think I suffered a level 2 strain in my left calf sustained during a repeated jumping celebratory act.

But I absolutely love every minute of it.
I’m so pumped with adrenaline and excitement over the fact that I am lucky enough to be able to watch this series at it unfolds, and also at the same time if my Celts have the testicular fortitude and grittiness to pull this one out.

As much as I am loving this series, there are consequences: a fist round exit after a banner year.

We all knew that the Celtics were going to have a tough time repeating this year… At the start of the playoffs, there were two reasons (that were pretty much in our faces) standing in the way of #18: injuries and Lebron James.

We knew the Bulls were going to be the toughest low seed in the East, but I can’t imagine ANYONE (I repeat, ANYONE) could have expected this. Of course no one wanted to play them (the team has been spot on since acquiring Brad Miller and John Salmons at the trade deadline from the Kings– the Bulls were one of the few teams wealthy enough to pick up their inflated contracts; by the way, both guys killed us last night and were clutch throughout all of the OTs). We can now add the entire Bulls team to the short list reasons making it all the more difficult to win #18.

Important interjection: I am not heading to the standard Boston sports fan default mode of pessimism. I can’t. I see too many reasons for the Celts to win and too many reasons for the Bulls to lose. I will give the Bulls as much credit as anyone– they have truly shined and surpassed any expectation laid upon them by their toughest critics (read: owner Jerry Reinsdorf) and shown 2 things: 1) how hungry this young team really is and 2) that the front office has assembled a team for the first time since 1998 that could potentially be a title team in the next few years (holding onto Ben Gordon this off-season is key for them).

But even with all of that, I am still 100% confident, hopeful, and faithful that the Celts win game 7. It’s a veteran team that doesn’t shrink when they have to close come up big. It’s a veteran team that knows how to close out game 7 series (did two of them last year). This team has been here before. The Celts just have to win. End of story.

Quick things from last night (in bullet points because there are so many things I’ve already talked about and more that I want to talk about):

• Rondo showed signs of mortality last night– 8 points on 4-17 shooting, getting into a scuffle with Kirk Hinrich and risking an ejection (will Chicago fans place a reward on his head soon? Will Rondo wake up with a horse’s head beside him a la Godfather style?)… but then again, RR still managed to drop 19 assists and pull 9 rebounds last night.

• Ray Allen was clutcher than clutch last night– 51 points on 18-32 shooting, and I can’t even count on one hand how many game tying or lead changing shots he had last night from the 4th quarter through the OTs: 1) makes a 28 footer with 9:14 to go to make it 81-89, 2) makes an runner from 8 feet with 8:32 to make it 84-91, 3) makes a 28 footer with 6:43 to go to tie it up at 91, 4) makes a 16 footer with 1:49 left in regulation to go up 101-96, 5) makes an 23’-8” jumper (when his toe was on the line and over Joakim for the second time this series) in the OT #2 to cut the lead from 115-116, 6) makes a 25 footer with 7 seconds left to tie it up at 1180 and send it into OT #3, 7) makes a 21 footer with 1:57 in OT #3 to make it 123-123.

Not the last shot I wanted.

Why the ball was not in his hands for the final shot is beyond me. If I could write a thesis for a PhD about why he should have had the ball on the last possession in OT #3, it would be like this: “Ray Allen should have had the ball on the last possession in OT #3 because he scored 51 points and an efficient 18-32 shooting.” That would be it. My entire final PhD Examining Committee would nod their heads in agreement, stand up and clap, and name a building after me once I delivered my one sentence doctorate paper.

I’m going to prepare for game 7 like Doc and the men in green will prepare for game 7: working under the assumption that we will have our starters and a bench as deep as 2.5 men– Scal (1 man), Eddie House (1 man), Tony Allen (1/4 of a man), and Steph (1/4 of a man). It’s the same thing for game 7 that it has been for the entire series: better help defense, picking up guys on the weak side, better transition defense, good ball movement when in half-court set to get a quality shot, not punching Brad Miller in the face, double Gordon on the perimeter, collapse on Rose in the paint, blah blah blah blah.

But how is game 7 going to affect them if the Celts advance to the EC-semis?? There will only be a few days of rest for them and plenty more or Orlando because they’ve closed out their series. Here are the total minutes for each of the important players (of course I am talking about the starters):

• Rondo-  280 minutes in 6 games, average of 46 minutes per game
• Ray Ray- 245 minutes in 6 games, average of 41 minutes per game (played 59 minutes in game 6)
• Pierce- 269 minutes in 6 games, average of 45 minutes per game
• Big Baby- 259 minutes in 6 games, average of 43 minutes per game
• Perk- 235 minutes in 6 games, average of 39 minutes per game
• KG- 0 minutes in 6 games, average of 0 minutes per game

Perhaps the last one (KG: 0 minutes) is the one that stands out the most to me.

What would happen to the psyche of the Bulls (and the Celts for that matter) if KG was suited up on Saturday. This is the only thing that can happen in this series that would make people feel something that they have not felt yet in this series: complete shock and surprise at a level that could literally cause multiple organ failure.
I’m not holding my breath about the KG thing, but what if…?

If we all send "Get Well" cards from Hallmark, will that help? We miss our binky.