Boston 119, Sacramento 100

Seriously, it's getting difficult to write when every game is a blowout. Not that I'm complaining.

[recap] [box score] [highlights]

Sluggish start, followed by a 40-19 second quarter that put the game effectively out of reach.

Quick notes:

-Eddie House is shooting the hell out of the basketball right now. In three of his last four games, he has gone over 20 points, doing most of his damage -- as he is wont to do -- from behind the arc. A then-career high seven threes (out of 11 attempts) against Miami on January 21; an identical deep shooting performance against Dallas on Sunday; and then eight-for-nine from downtown last night. Throw in his zero-for-one from Orlando, and over the last four, he's hit 22 of his last 32 triples -- 68.8 percent. I remember hearing (unsubstantiated) rumors a few weeks back that Danny Ainge was after Orlando's J.J. Redick because we needed a shooter off the bench; so much for that. (I can't quite put my finger on it, but the thought of Kevin Garnett

-Leon Powe got some run tonight, but Brian Scalabrine was out after suffering two concussions in three days. He got one against Dallas, apparently, and then was fragged by Patrick O'Bryant during Tuesday's practice. I feel bad for Scal, because they showed an interview with him on last night's broadcast, and he looked really disappointed. I don't blame him; the guy finally gets some real playing time and sheds his victory-cigar role (though the fans still implore him to shoot every time he touches the ball0, and then he gets knocked out of the lineup for a week or 10 days. It's only a few games, but when Doc Rivers is your coach, a lot can happen in those few games. He could lose minutes back to Powe, or Doc could forget his name or that he's on the team, or could decide that Patrick O'Bryant needs more PT, or that Sam Cassell would make a good power forward.

Leon missed two dunks tonight. I told you he was out of rhythm.

-Tony Allen returned to the lineup tonight, and played very well. driving, dishing, playing under control. Tony plays well just often enough that I can't bring myself to say, "Screw it, let's trade this guy for whatever we can get," but is generally so inconsistent and dumb on the court that I can't bring myself to like him, either. In truth, we can't really get rid of him, because he's our main backup on the wing and he's the guy on the second team who can create his own shot (I know, I've said this all a million times), but man, does he drive me crazy. Here's hoping that he wasn't really injured during his 11-game hiatus, but was at some basketball IQ camp with Gerald Green for three weeks, learning how to play the game.

-Paul Pierce picked up three fouls in the first quarter and had a blah scoring night, which is awesome for one of my fantasy teams. I'm playing the best team in the league and should win in rebounds and blocks (I have Shaq and Samuel Dalembert), while he's good in assists and steals (he has Chris Paul, and my guards are of the scoring type). Points will be the deciding category. Pierce's off-night is added to an off-night from Vince Carter to begin the week (though VC bounced back nicely last night) has him slightly off the projected pace, while I'm bolstered by Mo Williams' 43 two nights ago against Sacto. I just might be able to squeeze out a 3-2 win, giving me the all-important psychological edge as we look ahead to the playoffs.

Not that you care.

You might care, though, that the Celtics' next game is Friday night in Detroit, on ESPN at 7 p.m. Eastern. The Pistons seem to really be struggling this year, and have recently moved Rip Hamilton to the bench to make room for Rodney Stuckey in their lineup alongside Allen Iverson. Still should be a good game, as these teams are rivals, it's always fun to watch Iverson, and Stuckey's an intriguing young player. And there's always a strong possibility that Rasheed Wallace will pick up a technical foul -- he leads the league with 12 and is well on his way to the suspension threshhold of 16.

Plus, there's always a chance that Hamilton will kill somebody on the court, then turn to the ref and complain that he was fouled.