Boston 107, Miami 102

Great stuff from the Cs last night.

[recap] [box score]

In the absence of Paul Pierce, who is out until at least the weekend with the strained foot he suffered on Monday against the Wizards, many Celtics stepped up. Rajon Rondo was masterful all night, finishing with 22 points, 14 assists, and six rebounds. Kevin Garnett had one of his best games of the year, with 14 points, six boards, and nine assists of his own. Ray Allen had one of his best shooting nights in a while, hitting 7 of 15 from the field on the way to a team-high 23 points. Tony Allen struggled replacing Pierce in the starting lineup, but was vital down the stretch, forcing Dwyane Wade into a very difficult jumper with just over a minute to go and then picking Wade on the next Heat possession, nailing two free throws on the other end to give Boston a five point lead with 36 seconds left. (Give Doc Rivers credit for making offense-defense substitutions down the stretch to keep Allen on Wade.) Eddie House chipped in 16 big points off the bench, and Rasheed Wallace (7 points) and Glen Davis (6 points) came up with big contributions for the second unit.

Most notably, Boston pulled away in the fourth quarter, taking control of a tie game and outscoring Miami 33-28 in the decisive period. I'm not at all saying that the team is better without Pierce on the floor, but his absence forced them to actually run offense down the stretch, and they were undoubtedly better off for it. Hopefully, this serves as a nice lesson for crunch-time offense when Pierce does come back.

Boston's next game is Friday, against New Jersey. Pierce may be back for the game on Super Bowl Sunday against Orlando (2:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC), though if they decide to sit him until after the All-Star break, I won't be upset. The Celtics beat the Magic on Christmas without Pierce, and moreover, while a game like this is important, it's not as important as making sure the captain is healthy for the second half of the season.

Viewing Alert

Thursday night, 8 pm Eastern, in Boston, versus Chicago, on TNT.

After last season's epic playoff series, the two matchups between these two clubs have been blowouts in favor of the green and white. The Bulls lost three in a row last week, but have bounced back with wins over the lowly Wolves and Pistons, and are 6-3 after Christmas.

Oh, yeah, we beat New Jersey tonight. 38-22 after one; 71-35 after two. What more do you need, other than a sick Tony Allen jam on an alley-oop feed from Paul Pierce?

(Answer: A sick jam by Billy Sky, resulting in an elaborate shimmy from Brian Scalabrine on the bench. I'm working on finding it.)

Golden State 103, Boston 99

[recap] [box score]

"Annoying" is the word I will use to describe this loss. It was annoying for several reasons. First, it came the day after another annoying loss to a bad team, the Clippers. Second, we've now lost six in a row at Oracle Arena. Third, the officials in this one matched Delta Airlines employees in terms of incompetence. Fourth, we turned the ball over 25 times. And fifth, we blew an 18-point lead.

I'll try to tackle these one by one in reverse order. I'm not going to do bullets, because I have too much to say. Then again, I have to be up early to go to the dentist, so maybe I should do bullets. Nah, I'm too fired up to sleep at the moments. Narrative it is.

Blowing an 18-point lead. So, yeah, we had a big lead in the first quarter, gave up a few buckets to end the period, and then the second team came in and by halftime the lead was gone. The second team does this a lot; comes in with a big lead, decides to take the quarter off, and pisses the whole thing away. (You'll recall that this is what had Kevin Garnett yelling at Glen Davis in the famous crying incident last season). Oddly, the bench often brings us back in games after a sluggish first quarter. It's like they are paid by the NBA to keep games close, no matter what. Hmmmm. I probably shouldn't joke about that, or David Stern will revoke my League Pass and have my family killed.

Also, we shouldn't just blame the bench for blowing the lead. We should additionally blame the starters for not taking the lead back. Ray Allen hit something like six of his first eight shots and ended up finishing 10-for-21; Kevin Garnett never really established himself in the post against Vlad Radmanovic, of all people; and except for a flurry of threes in the fourth quarter from Eddie House and Rasheed Wallace (among a much larger hailstorm of misses), we didn't get much of anything out of the bench. House and 'sheed are bench guys, but hey, I was rollin'.

According to the Golden State broadcast, we had gone something like 88 straight games in which we had a 16-point lead at some point. I guess we were due.

25 turnovers. That's a season-high, thank God. The Warriors lead the league in steals, but some of that is due to the pace of their games and the relatively high number of possessions that result. They aren't a good defensive team, and yet at one point, it was as if C.J. Watson was wearing a green jersey, we were throwing him the ball that often. He had something like six steals in his first ten minutes of action and finished with seven. Also, when Tony Allen moves into your starting lineup, you are just going to turn the ball over more. That's a given. Five turns for Tony in 28 minutes, one fewer cough-up than team leader Rajon Rondo, but Rondo was so bloody masterful offensively (more later) that we are giving him a pass.

The officials. Just comically bad-slant-weird stuff from the crew tonight. Hard to say which team, if any, was favored. I'm obviously biased, but I had the Golden State broadcast on League Pass Broadband and the Warriors announcers spent as much time being mystified by calls against Boston as they did griping about calls against Golden State. I recognize that not everyone is Tommy Heinsohn, but when the your opponent's announcers ackowledge questionable officiating in their favor, that's generally a sign you're getting screwed.

A few things stood out. We got called for at least two and I think three offensive foul calls for pushing off with the off-arm while shooting a layup, a fairly high number considering this call didn't really exist five years ago. Monta Ellis actually got called for what my father has always referred to as "up-and-down," which was technically the correct call on the play, but I literally cannot remember ever seen it called in an NBA game. Davis left the game with a knee injury in the fourth quarter on a play where he was both dragged to the ground by his arms and body blocked by another player below the waist; no call. And Kendrick Perkins got called for the most ridiculous technical foul I have ever seen: Perk caught the ball in the post, went up for the shot, and made it despite being fouled (no call). While this was happening, Rony Turiaf came over to block Perk's shot from behind, only he was too late, and he ended up off balance, hanging on Perk's back, elbowing Perk in the head in the process (no call). Perk then shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly, a fairly natural reaction for someone who suddenly finds himself with a 260-pound Martinican hanging on his back (you're damn right I Googled "What are people from Martinique called?"). Turiaf went crashing to the floor, which was his own fault, and Perk gets rung up for ... what? Who knows? The point that Golden State got on the ensuing free throw might have come in handy.

(Also, I know Ronny is listed at 247, but this was the first game he's played all month, and this is the holidays. Plus, he's added at least three or four pounds to his beard since the preseason. I'm sticking by 260.)

Losing to bad teams. I spent a lot of time talking about this last year, too much time probably, but in the big picture, losses to non-contenders like the Clips and the Woyas don't really matter. They happen every season, and they frankly just aren't a big deal. We don't need to send a message to these teams, we don't have to worry about them gaining confidence against us. They are horseflies to be swatted away by our thoroughbred tail.

With that being said, home court advantage could be really important this year, and the freaking Kings just lost consecutive home games in which they first failed to score a single point in overtime against Cleveland and then blew a seven-point overtime lead to the Lakers before falling in double OT. With other teams giving away games to our chief competition, it'd be nice if we won most of the games we should win and all of the ones in which we have an 18-point first-quarter lead. And while I'm not panicking at all about this, you'd like to see us play with the same crunch-time killer instinct that guys like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant always have. I'm not saying we don't have it, just that I'd like to see it a little more often.

Now we're ready for some bullets, for the denouement. This post is a masterpiece.

• 30 points and 15 assists for Rajon Rondo one night after missing two potential game-winning free throws against the Clippers. A friend and I had a brief conversation before the game, as we wondered how Rondo would respond to the situation. With 12 points and seven assists in the first quarter, apparently. The old Rondo sulks, maybe refuses to shoot, and certainly avoids drives to the basket so he doesn't have to step to the stripe. The new Rondo goes for 30 and 15 and knocks down seven of nine free throws. I actually thought there were two occasions where Rondo sought out contact in numbers-up situations where he normally would have (correctly) given up the pill. It was as though he wanted to shake those free throw demons right away. Man, I love this kid.
• Wallace has stopped going inside. 'sheed started the season only shooting from the outside, and shooting well; he quickly moved to only shooting from the outside, but shooting poorly; then, after Doc Rivers apparently begged him to do so, he went inside for several games and was going great. He's now back to shooting almost exclusively from the outside, but he skipped the stage where he makes them. He hit a couple wide-open ones tonight, but he missed three that he shouldn't have taken. All five of his shots came from beyond the arc.
• On a related note, I hate that we took 19 threes against a team like Golden State, which has so little in the post. Turiaf was in just his second game back after a month-long hiatus, and Andris Biedrins played just 14 minutes in his first action since November 8. No one else on their team is a legitimate player in the post (and Turiaf is barely that). And yet we didn't pound it into the paint, even without Paul Pierce.
• Down 101-98 with 44 seconds left, Doc called a timeout and drew up a play for a Ray Allen three-pointer, which he always does in those situations. I generally hate that call, especially since Ray hadn't hit anything in a while. Forty-four seconds is too much time to force a three. Two points aren't exactly guaranteed, but defenses are generally so concerned about not giving up the three (especially with Ray and Eddie House on the court) that it's pretty easy to get to the bucket. A Rondo penetrate-and-kick probably results in a cleaner look anyway.
• Ray missed that three, but we got a stop on the other end and Golden State ended up fouling intentionally. Ray went to the line down three with under five ticks left. He made the first and then missed the second on purpose. What's noteworthy about this, for me anyway, is that Ray did what I've been saying for years that people should do in this situation: Throw a line drive at the front rim without going through your usual pre-shot routine or shot motion. The other team isn't expecting you to shoot out of rhythm; the element of surprise will be enough to get the rebound, if not often, then at least more often than taking a conventional shot with the intent to miss. Ray's execution was lacking -- his fastball was a little high and rocketed off the backboard without scraping the rim, resulting in a dead ball and Golden State possession -- but the idea was right.

Next game is Wednesday at Phoenix, where the Lakers just got their faces melted by the Suns tonight. A win in the desert would avenge an early-season home loss, but without Pierce, Boston's going to have to play awfully well to avoid a third straight defeat.

Catching Up

It's been...two weeks since you heard from me.

(Did I really just mark my return by paraphrasing a Barenaked Ladies song?)

Yes, two weeks without a post, part of which time coincided with a stretch where I was actually too busy to watch basketball, a concept I heretofore didn't think was possible (which may explain my poor GPA from the previous year). We've gone 4-2 in my blogging hiatus:

Boston 110, Memphis 105 (12/14) - Paul Pierce's 19 points led six Celtics who scored at least 13 in what I was told was a very entertaining game with a Grizzlies squad that is on the rise.

Philadelphia 98, Boston 97 (12/18) - The final two of Elton Brand's 23 points off the bench came on a tip-in with 7.7 seconds left, snapping Boston's 11-game win streak. I didn't get a chance to watch this one, either, but we had a 15-point lead in the third quarter, not the kind of margin we typically blow at home. Also, Rasheed Wallace was ejected for the first time this season.

Boston 122, Minnesota 104 (12/20) - I was supposed to watch this one in person but, as the folks at Delta/Northwest are about to find out, I missed it due to some serious ineffeciencies and incompetencies in their systems. Pierce had 29 points to lead seven Celtics in double figures, and made all six of his three-point attempts. Minnesota's leading scorer on the night? Jonny Flynn, with 21 points.

Boston 103, Indiana 94 (12/22) - I was able to get to Beantown in time for this game, and for a while, it hardly seemed worth my effort: The Cs trailed by 15 at the break. Despite playing without Kevin Garnett, who suffered a thigh bruise in the Minnesota game and was a late scratch, Boston need just more than seven minutes to erase that entire deficit, then put the game away in the fourth. It was a truly dominant second half, as Indiana scored just 37 points in the final 24 minutes. (This was one of those games were Indy was throwing in everything for the first half, then got cold in the second.) Ray Allen led Boston with 23 points, and Pierce scored 21 despite missing his first ten field goals.

Boston 86, Orlando 77 (12/25) - Christmas Day 2009 was better than the 2008 version (when the Celtics lost to the Lakers). Boston avenged an early-season home loss to the Magic with this road win. Offensively, Orlando was about as bad as you'll ever see a legitimate title contender be, scoring just eight second-quarter points. Boston was only marginally better, grabbing a 38-27 lead, but it was enough to hold on when things returned more to "normal" in the second half.

A little bit of good news/bad news for Boston. The good news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce; the bad news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce. The Celtics captain has a knee infection and is supposed to miss a couple of weeks. That we won such a big game without Pierce is encouraging, but we missed him two days later (see below) and it's a little unfortunate that we go into one of our big West Coast trips without our closer.

This was the second straight game with the Magic that could be called an abomination offensively for both teams (or, more charitably, a masterpiece defensively for both teams), which stands in sharp contrast to games 6 and 7 of last year's Eastern Conference semifinals, when Orlando made just about everything they put up on their way to stealing the series. I don't have an explanation for it, other than that these are the two best defensive teams in the East.

This game was huge, though, in terms of home court advantage (never too early to start thinking about that).

Los Angeles Clippers 92, Boston 90 (12/27) - A frustrating, annoying loss, sure, but one that probably doesn't matter. For the second straight year, Boston lost to the other team from L.A. in an eminently winnable game. (Walking out of the Staples Center last year while being taunted by Clippers fans is a low point in my life.)

Rajon Rondo will end up shouldering most of the blame here: Tied at 90 with 1.5 seconds to go, he missed two free throws, then allowed Baron Davis to catch the ball too easily on LA's ensuing inbounds play (though Baron still made a very difficult fallaway for the win).

Offensively, I'm still deciding whether I liked the call on our final possession, an isolation for Rondo at the top of the key with the shot clock off. The issue wasn't whether he was going to beat Davis off the dribble; he had been doing it all night. The issue is what happens once he does.

What happened on this occasion was that Rondo found himself in the clear, the Clippers' help arriving late. As he went to the bucket, Davis reached back and grabbed his right arm, smartly preferring to send the 53% free throw shooter to the line than give him a relatively uncontested layup.

What might have happened is that Rondo, after beating Davis, encounters one or more Clipper defenders, and kicks to an open teammate on the perimeter (Boston had four decent-to-excellent options from outside on the floor at the time: Garnett, Wallace, Eddie House, and Ray Allen).

The problem with what did happen is that Rondo is a 53% free throw shooter and has not, to my recollection, ever found himself in a spot where he was shooting potentially game-winning free throws. The problem with what might have happened is that NBA players tend to waste too much of the clock before making their move in these situations, and NBA defenses are usually pretty good about rotating to the first open man (it's the second pass that usually gets them). So Rondo, having started his move late, might have found a temporarily open teammate, but their shot might not have been a good one, and they wouldn't have had time to make the second pass to someone who was wide open. A high pick-and-pop with Garnett or something for Ray Allen coming off screens is SOP for us here, without Pierce.

On the other hand, Rondo is our point guard and our future, and at some point, he'll have the ball in his hands more often than not in these spots. On the road against the Clippers in mid-December, with no Pierce and the score tied, isn't a bad time to start breaking him in.

It's a shame that Rondo missed those free throws, because he had played a very strong game to that point, and it came on the heels of a 17/13/8 performance against the Magic (he had points/assists double-doubles against Philly and Minnesota, his fifth and sixth in the first nine games in December). He's playing more consistently aggressively than we've ever seen him, and I hope this isn't a setback in his mindset.

A couple of notes on other players:

Tony Allen has now played nine games on the season, starting each of the last two with Pierce and Marquis Daniels out. While he still has caused me to roll my eyes at times -- he's almost always in the wrong place on offense, and left two midrange jumpers against Orlando short before rocketing a third off the backboard -- he's acquitted himself pretty well, averaging eight points and four rebounds, and hitting double figures four times. Last night against the Clippers was his best game back: 10 points and 10 rebounds in nearly 40 minutes, with four steals, including two late in the fourth quarter that really should have saved the game for us. I still think we're betting off trading him once Daniels is close to coming back (Pierce should be back by then), but I need to give him his due when he deserves it.

Glen Davis made his return to the lineup against Orlando, prompting my buddy Joel to send this sarcastic text message (I'm paraphrasing): "Glad Big Baby has stayed in shape while he was out. He looks like he ate Eddie House." Davis did nothing noteworthy against the Magic, but had eight points and six boards -- five on the offensive glass -- against the Clippers. He also threw in a running left-handed hook which, it goes without saying, is not what I expected.

In a related story, Shelden Williams got the DNP-CD against the Clips, his second in three games, which means it looks like his run as a rotation player may be coming to an end. He's still around to help out in case of foul trouble/injury/Wallace suspension, but with Davis likely to get more minutes and he gets back into playing shape (has Big Baby ever been in playing shape?), I wouldn't expect to see Williams take his warmups off before garbage time too often.

TMJF:

The Wolves have played seven times since the last time I blogged, and have gone 4-3 in those games. They're also on a two-game winning streak, their first of the year. I haven't had a chance to see any of it, except the 110-108 win at Utah in which Jonny Flynn wasted Deron Williams on Minny's final posssession for the game-winning bucket.

Stat lines from the seven games are below:

Wolves 110, Jazz 108: 29 minutes, 11-19 FG, 4-6 3FG, 2-3 FT, 28 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts. 1 stl, 4 TOs

Clippers 120, Wolves 95: 30 minutes, 3-12 FG, 0-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 9 pts, 3 rebs, 3 assts, 3 TOs

Wolves 112, Kings 96: 26 minutes, 5-8 FG, 2-2 FT, 12 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs

Celtics 122, Wolves 104: 31 minutes, 8-15 FG, 1-3 3FG, 4-4 FT, 21 pts, 2 rebs, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs

Hawks 112, Wolves 87: 27 minutes, 5-13 FG, 1-2 3FG, 5-6 FT, 16 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs

Wolves 103, Nets 99: 37 minutes, 9-19 FG, 1-5 3FG, 3-4 FT, 22 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 4 stls, 3 TOs

Wolves 101, Wizards 89: 25 minutes, 2-12 FG, 1-2 3FG, 3-4 FT, 8 pts, 3 rebs, 6 assts.

Knee Injury Grounds Billy Sky

Second-year forward Bill Walker will reportedly miss six to eight weeks after tearing the meniscus in his right knee.

This isn't a terribly serious knee injury, so the fact that Walker has a history of knee problems shouldn't be too concerning. However, it does seriously hamper Walker's chances of cracking the rotation this year. Whether that was ever in Doc's plans is anybody's guess, but many fans -- myself included -- would like to see that happen. So while this is by no means a devastating loss, it is disappointing.

After rumors that he might miss the preseason, Tony Allen has been practicing some, and if he stays healthy, he stands to get minutes on the wing that don't go to Marquis Daniels and (perhaps) Brian Scalabrine. But just how many minutes that might be is very much an open question.

Media Day: KG, Tony Allen Injury Updates

Training camp for most of the teams in Association opens on Tuesday, which means that Monday was, in addition to Yom Kippur, Media Day around the league. And so while religious Jews spent the holiest of holy days at synagogue and fasting, those who worship the basketball gods first and foremost sat in front of their computers all day, eager for tidbits to break the basketball fast that is the NBA offseason.

The basketball blogosphere is atwitter -- and a-Twitter -- with coverage from Media Day around the league, but the truth is that Media Day is a little bit overrated, at least in terms of the quality of the information that comes out. To me, Media Day is exciting because it means the regular season is about a month away. But unless your point guard and presumed future of the franchise tells reporters that he can't play alongside the shooting guard you just took with the seventh pick in the draft, Media Day rarely produces more than sterile sound bytes about winning and being unselfish and being in better shape than last year.

Boston, however, was an exception, with a couple of items of interest regarding injuries. One is good, and one is bad. Sort of. (I'll explain in a moment).

First, the good. Kevin Garnett has apparently been participating in five-on-five scrimmages for the past week, and Doc Rivers said that there are no medical restrictions on Garnett as training camp opens. After a summer full of speculation regarding the extent of the knee injury that effectively ended the Celtics' title defense in February, this brings a sigh of relief to Celtics fans, albeit a conditional one; we similarly sighed last year when the team first announced that KG would only be out two or three weeks, and when he came back for four games in March, and when we were told he'd play in the last game of the season in preparation for the playoffs. And we all know how that turned out.

So Celtics fans who aren't inclined to believe a thing Doc and Danny say about KG's knee can be forgiven, although there's reason to think they're telling the truth this time. For starters, whatever incentive there was to keep everything close to the vest last year would seem to be gone at the beginning of this season, when the extent of the injury is known and the organization has had time to deal with it, basketball-wise. Secondly, and perhaps most telling, this would be a much farther-reaching level of deception, as Garnett and some of the players have confirmed his participation in the scrimmages. It would be more than just front office spin.

Now, the (kind of) bad. Tony Allen may miss training camp with an ankle injury that has bothered him for a while now. It's bad because Tony is a human being who feels pain, but basketball-wise, there's a rather substantial silver lining to this news.

First of all, even if Tony never plays again -- there's no indication that this is a risk; I'm just using the worst-case scenario for illustrative purposes -- it ideally wouldn't affect this year's team unless several other people got injured. Tony's minutes, all of them, should go to the newly-acquired Marquis Daniels.

Second, an extended absence would mean that Doc would have to give a serious look at Bill Walker. Ideally, the second-year man out of Kansas State would backup Paul Pierce at the small forward position; the only other three on the roster is Brian Scalabrine, who is more of a four defensively and is, frankly, a zero offensively. Walker's presence would create a second team of Daniels, Eddie House, Walker, Glen Davis, and Rasheed Wallace, allowing Pierce and Ray Allen more rest than they got last year (though both claim that minutes aren't really an issue). Walker spent most of his rookie season in the D-League and is headed there again unless he proves himself ready, and Tony's injury might give him that opportunity.

Chicago 128, Boston 127 (Triple Overtime)

Doc Rivers would be a heckuva basketball coach if he knew anything about basketball.

[box score] [recap]

For a guy who enjoyed a moderately successful 13-season NBA career as a point guard, Rivers' basketball instincts on the sideline often lead to some very curious decisions. He's been great in some respects with these Celtics, managing three star players, turning the defense over to assistant Tom Thibodeau. And he did many things right Thursday night, keeping Boston's head in the right place after Rajon Rondo whipped Kirk Hinrich into the scorers' table, pro-wrestling style, in the first quarter, and having the "we can win this if we want it" attitude even when the team fell behind 12 points with ten minutes to play. But when the team responded, proving him right, going on an 18-0 to take a 99-91 lead with 3:38 to go, he let them down.

Chicago cut it to 99-96 in the next 90 seconds, and that's when Rivers panicked. Reacting to a couple of good Chicago possessions, he inserted Tony Allen for Glen Davis to match up against Chicago's small lineup. It was a peculiar time for the move, since the Celtics were about to go on offense -- where the Davis/Salmons matchup favored them. Boston scored on that trip down the floor, but it was the next two possessions that killed them.

A Rondo-Tony-Ray Allen-Paul Pierce-Kendrick Perkins unit allows the opposition to devote two help defenders to stopping Pierce and Ray. With the Bulls giving those two no room, Boston's next two possessions ended in a contested layup and a very difficult runner by Tony at the end of the shot clock. Both missed. Chicago hit the shots they needed, and bingo -- overtime.

The NBA is all about matchups, it's true, and Davis-Salmons, as I said in my last post, favors Chicago. But in that situation, up five points with that little time on the clock, Boston has the advantage of not needing to play matchups. They were in the driver's seat. Another bucket or two seals the game, while Chicago needed to be almost perfect on both ends of the floor. That's the time to put the hammer down and put your best five out there.

Fast-forwarding, now, past a seemingly an endless string of big shots, to the end of the third overtime. Boston had the ball down one with less than a shot clock left, the beneficiaries of a shocking missed layup by Hinrich on the other end. Other relevant details include the fact that Pierce had fouled out, and that Ray Allen had, at the time, 51 points.

The play Rivers ended up calling was an isolation for Rondo at the top of the key. Rondo drove left on Derrick Rose and faked, only Rose didn't bite. Rondo went up for a difficult fallaway, which the much larger Rose blocked rather easily.

I can at least understand the rationale. Especially with Pierce watching from the bench, the Bulls would have surely run a second defender at Ray, willing to take their chances on a jumper from Stephon Marbury, Brian Scalabrine, Rondo, or even the uncharacteristically cold Eddie House. And Rondo has been to able to get to the rim against Rose throughout this series...

...with the exception of this game. While Rondo put up another gaudy stat line in a series during which he had been averaging a triple-double -- nine rebounds and 19 assists, with no turnovers -- he had been quiet scoring, with only eight points. Rondo has nights when he isn't aggressive, and on those nights, I don't think putting the ball in his hands is the right play. And by not running anything for Ray, there was no opportunity to make the Bulls blow a defensive assignment and let somebody slip a screen and roll to the basket. And, finally, Ray was video-game hot, hitting jumpers from all over the place no matter who was in his face. When Ray is going like that, anything he throws up has a good chance to go in.

Look, Boston could have done a million little things to win this game. Perkins left Brad Miller open for a three in regulation and an easy layup off an inbounds play in overtime (the first one). Pierce had a great look at the game-winner at the end of regulation and just missed it. Both Ray and House hit jumpers in overtime with a toe on the line, which my father has been telling me since I was old enough to listen is the worst shot in basketball. Pierce's turnover at 123-123 with 40 seconds left in triple OT was bad, and committing his sixth foul on the ensuing Joakim Noah dunk was worse. But Rivers' curious use of his bench and refusal to ride Ray has been a theme for the last two seasons, a theme easily recognized by any semi-serious fan of the team.

Whatever. This incredible series -- if not the best all-time, certainly the most entertaining -- goes back to Boston for Game 7, and I'll admit that for the first time, I'm afraid of the Bulls. I wasn't worried down 11 in the fourth quarter of Game 5 or down 12 in the fourth in game 6. But this series now has had seven extra periods, and Ray played 59 minutes in Game 6, Pierce 51. Chicago had to play those minutes too, of course, but they are younger, and deeper. And Game 7 is less than 48 hours away.

And the pressure is on the defending champs, too, to close it out at home after having squandered some good opportunities to have put the Bulls away. The Celtics have doggedly defended their title, and they will need that pride to carry them through.

Game 7 tips at 8 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, on TNT.

Boston 106, Chicago 104 (Overtime)

I hope you are watching this.

[recap] [box score]

Game 5 lacked the overall quality of some of the previous contests in this incredible series, but it ended up the same: A series of big plays from both teams down the stretch of regulation and into overtime, where the outcome was decided on effectively the last possession of the game.

Paul Pierce is going to grab the headlines, shaking off the torpor with which he seemed to be playing for much of the game to hit the game-tying basket at the end of regulation and three straight jumpers to win the game in overtime. But with Pierce struggling for much of the game and Ray Allen limited to just 26 minutes -- he fouled out midway through the fourth on two very dubious calls -- Boston wouldn't have even had a chance without the stellar play of Rajon Rondo, Glen Davis, and Kendrick Perkins. Rondo was only slightly less magnificent than he's been all series and Davis turned in another solid game, but Perkins played the best game I've ever seen him play Tuesday night.

The big fella played more than 48 minutes without committing a foul, two statistics that should blow the mind of anyone at all familiar with Perk or his game. He had his lapses, such as when he failed to stop Derrick Rose on a drive that put Chicago up four with less than two minutes in regulation, but immediately made up for it, blocking a John Salmons jumper after a Rondo drive to preserve the one-possession deficit. Perkins anchored the defense with seven blocked shots, and did a number of other Kevin Garnett-like things throughout the night, diving on the floor for an early loose ball and hitting Rondo with a nifty assist on the pinch post play. Sixteen points, 19 rebounds, seven blocks in 48 minutes -- and Boston needed every one of them.

Quick things:

-Chicago is kicking and screaming about the lack of a flagrant foul call on Rondo with two seconds left in overtime. They are almost surely right, but it didn't necessarily take the game away from them. Brad Miller would have gone to the line for two shots and Chicago would have had the ball on the side, but Boston was still up two. Assuming that Miller would have missed the first free throw (as he did on the shooting foul), Chicago would have only had a shot to win the game - and with no timeout left to draw something up, it would have been a difficult shot. Ben Gordon has specialized in making difficult shots in this series, but let's not act that Chicago would have won but for the lack of the flagrant. And besides, the failure to whistle Rondo for the Flagrant-1 isn't any weirder than fouling Ray Allen out on a double foul call after he got tangled up with Miller on a (moving) screen by Miller.

-Tony Allen played down the stretch in Ray's place, and in just a few minutes, showed why he doesn't play those kind of minutes very often. Doc doesn't trust him, and with good reason. I had just gotten done explaining to a friend that Tony has a low basketball IQ, when he grabbed a rebound in traffic and threw it to the first white jersey he saw -- Kendrick Perkins, running upcourt. Outlet passes to seven-footers at midcourt don't usually end well; thankfully, Perk was able to make the catch under control and get the ball to a guard. It wasn't long thereafter that Tony then fouled Gordon on a very difficult three-point shot, sending Gordon to the line for three free throws that temporarily tied the game.

-Chicago bailed Boston out by putting John Salmons on Pierce down the stretch. Salmons is closer to Pierce's size than Kirk Hinrich, but Hinrich has done a fantastic job on Pierce this whole series. Boston would have had a speed mismatch on whoever Salmons would have been guarding, but it's not like Boston was going anywhere other than Pierce down the stretch.

-I did like Chicago's four guard lineup, with Gordon, Hinrich, Salmons, and Rose playing around a big man. Boston's counter of the starting five sets up a Davis-Salmons matchup. When you create a mismatch on offense, you end up exposing yourself to the same mismatch on defense. But this clearly favored Chicago. Davis can't stay in front of Salmons, and while Salmons gave up a lot of size on the other end, Big Baby doesn't create for himself all that well. Put it this way: Who would you rather bet on in a one-on-one game? The answer is Salmons, and I expect Chicago to do this again in Game 6.

Speaking of Game 6, it's Thursday, back in Chicago, at 7 p.m. Eastern on TNT.

Boston 100, Philadelphia 98

[recap] [box score]

Last time I posted, I gave a couple of reasons why I'd rather play Chicago than Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs: Philly's playoff experience, and Chicago's lack of defense. Watching tonight's win over the Sixers, I thought of three more:

1. I hate the Sixers. Reggie Evans is one of my two or three least favorite NBA players, and rookie Marreese Speights seems to be following in his footsteps as a first-rate punk. Throw in Philadelphia sports fans, as a group the most obnoxious of any city, and there's not a whole lot to like. Any loss to them is liable to ruin my evening.

2. I want to watch Derrick Rose. I'm in law school, and final exams are coming up, and I only have time to watch the Celtics' playoff games, at least until exams are over. Watching Rose over a best-of-seven series would be great. But I'm not going to get that chance, at least not this year, because...

3. ...Chicago can't beat Orlando in a playoff series. Philly can, but Chicago can't. Although Orlando doesn't scare me too much, it'd be nice to not have to worry about them.

I probably won't get my wish, however, because tonight's win means that Chicago only has to beat Toronto Wednesday night in order to get the #6 seed. (A Philly loss at Cleveland would similarly do the trick).

On the other hand, I shouldn't be too disappointed, because the Celtics just beat the Sixers despite not having Kevin Garnett or Ray Allen. The only active member of the so-called Big Three, Paul Pierce, certainly led this victory, with 31 points in 31 minutes, but he didn't do it on his own. He got plenty of help, including ten points and four rebounds from Leon Powe in his return after missing 12 games with an injury. Tony Allen took over for Ray Allen and scored 18 points, and Glen Davis continued a recent stretch of big statistical games.

Final game of the regular season in Wednesday night, against Washington.

Tony Out Two Months

Thumb surgery.

So I'm clearly not TA's biggest fan, but this hurts a bit. We're used to playing without him - we've gone 12-3 in games he's missed this year - but he's still our only experienced backup wing player, and our best defender off the bench.

Fortunately, Gabe Pruitt has shown that he can be a contributor, and Tony is scheduled to be back for the playoffs, so we don't absolutely need to go out and make a trade. The only thing I worry a little about is wear and tear on Pierce and Ray Allen. Pierce is averaging 37 minutes per game this year, a full minute more than last year, and Ray is averaging 36 a night, just slightly more than last campaign. Neither has missed a game, either. That's already more minutes than most Celtics fans would like to see these guys play, and now they stand to see the floor even more.

The injuries to Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine have led Doc to play rookie and D-League callup Bill Walker some. Hopefully he continues to get some minutes spelling Pierce.

VIEWING ALERT: Tonight at Utah, 10:30 p.m. Eastern on TNT.

Boston 89, New Orleans 77

Nice to rebound from a couple of home losses to Western teams with a win on the road. We'll try to do the same thing tonight in Dallas at 9:30 pm Eastern (VIEWING ALERT) on TNT.

[recap] [box score] [highlights]

This game was really ugly through three quarters, and it didn't get much prettier in the fourth, except on the scoreboard. And it was the bench that did it for the Celtics. Tied at 64 heading into the fourth, it was seven and a half minutes before any of the Big Three (reduced to the Big Two due to a thumb injury to Ray Allen; more on that later) made a bucket in the fourth. By that time, Boston had a ten point lead. Glen Davis had a couple of buckets, but give most of the credit here to Eddie House and Leon Powe. House had eight of his 12 points in the fourth; Leon had seven of his 11 in the period. Good stuff from both of those guys. It's been a while since Leon's had this kind of game. Here's hoping he keeps it up, and Doc lets him.

So, yeah, Ray hyperextended his thumb somehow in the first quarter, and didn't play in the second half. He says he's going to try to play tonight, but he also said that he couldn't grip a ball last night, and I don't see how that's going to change in less than 24 hours. This will leave us awfully thin in the backcourt, as Tony Allen didn't even make the Texas trip with his own thumb injury. In Ray's stead last night, Gabe Pruitt started the second half, though House was clearly the more effective player. Still, it's hard to see a Rondo-House backcourt being able to effectively defend the much taller Dallas guards (Jason Kidd is 6'4", Antoine Wright is 6'7"). I imagine that if Ray can't go, Pruitt will start, and Rondo will probably go close to the full 48.

This injury also might affect Ray's ability to play in the All-Star game, his nomination to which I keep meaning to write about, but also keep running out of time. I am out of time now, as well. Maybe over the weekend.

Finally, having had League Pass for a year-plus now, I've heard most NBA teams' announcing crews, and none is more annoying than New Orleans'. I don't know how Bees fans listen to these guys every night. It's not just that they're biased, though they are. Most announcers for halfway decent teams are; I think the only team this year I've heard whose announcers aren't biased are the Sacramento Kings. Besides, it would be a bit hypocritical for a Boston fan to hate on biased announcing, as Tommy and Mike are the worst (best?) when it comes to that.

No, these guys were just flat-out annoying, the kind of people you roll your eyes at when you spot them from afar at a party. The color analyst is always making terrible jokes; I like a good (or bad) pun more than most, but there are only so many times that you can talk about Leon's "Powe-tential." The play-by-play guy is always encouraging these jokes, and I also thought he went a little overboard on a couple of crossovers by Chris Paul. They were nice moves, but not the anklebreakers this guy said they were, and besides, the guys whose ankles were allegedly broken - Gabe Pruitt and Eddie House -- aren't exactly institutions of the NBA All-Defensive Team. (For his part, the color analyst told Gabe Pruitt to "Dust your keister off, because he just dusted you!" after Paul took him to the cup. Ugh.) And the sideline reporter takes his job waaaaaaaaay too seriously. They do a promotion where the fans get to ask the broadcasters questions, and last night's question was "Which team besides New Orleans has the best chance to win the championship?" and while I actually can't remember what the sideline guy's answer was, he put way too much explanation in it for being a sideline guy.

Also, last night's trivia question for the NO fans was "Which Hornet won a championship with Boston last year?" and it was multiple choice -- and somehow 12 percent of the people texting in the answer got it wrong.

I'm convinced that those 12 percent were taking advantage of an ingenious plan a few of my friends and I dreamed up at a Clippers game this season. They have a promotion where you text the answer to a question they post on the JumboTron and you have a chance to win prizes, and we figured that we would just text a random letter (A, B, C, D) every night there was a Clippers game around the time they usually put the question up. Alas, you have to be present at the game to win - I think you have to go to some booth or something.

Boston 109, Minnesota 101

[recap] [box score] [highlights]

So it turns out that I was completely wrong, and that flagrant-twos do not result in an automatic suspension. So while Kendrick Perkins' foul on Jason Maxiell Friday night cost him ten grand, it didn't cost him a game, and he was in action Sunday. That turned out to be a very good thing, indeed, as our frontcourt rotation was nonetheless shortened, as Kevin Garnett missed this game, as he is apparently suffering from the flu -- an illness that may keep him out of Tuesday's matchup with Philly.

(That's a striking example of too many ases - as'? Can't be! - that I'm going to leave intact as a reminder to continue to work on my writing.)

I overslept and missed the first 18 minutes or so of this one, but it appears that after a fast Wolves start, the Cs jumped all over the young visitors with a 33-20 second quarter that resulted in a 62-44 halftime lead. Minnesota came back valiantly, but Boston hung on behind 36/8/6 from Paul Pierce, assisted by 22 points from Ray Allen, 14 points (including a dozen in the first half) from Tony Allen, and 12 points from Glen Davis, who started in Garnett's stead.

Al Jefferson is a monster, by the way, and his 34 points and 11 rebounds kept an overmatched team's faint hopes alive. Anyone who thinks that Celtics GM Danny Ainge ripped off Wolves coach/GM Kevin McHale (a former Celtics teammate) is crazy. KG was the key player to last season and I don't think Boston wins the title with Jefferson in his place, but in locking up a 23-year-old (22 at the time) power forward who is a 20/10 machine, McHale got good value for an aging superstar who was too long in the tooth to be the centerpiece of the franchise. This isn't anywhere close to as bad as the trade the Lakers pulled off with Memphis to bring in Pau Gasol last year.

Speaking of the Lakers, the Gasol deal was in response to the season-ending knee injury suffered by Andrew Bynum last January. In a cruel twist of fate, Bynum was injured Saturday night during a win over Memphis, when Kobe Bryant fell on Bynum's other knee after a drive to the basket. Bynum underwent an MRI on Sunday, and the results should be known some time on Monday.

I think ESPN's Stephen A. Smith overstates the case a bit -- as he so often does -- in the link above when he says that if Bynum is done for the year, their championship hopes end. It certainly weakens them, but without Bynum, they are still by and large the team that made the Finals last year. Lamar Odom should flourish stepping back into his starting role, and the Lakers should still be the favorites to come out of the West even if Bynum is on the shelf for the rest of the season.

Even if Bynum comes back at some point during the 2008-2009 season, however, there are implications for the rest of the league. He is bound to miss at least some time, and the Lakers will undoubtedly lose some games they would have won had he been healthy. Those few games could be crucial, as the team with the best overall record in the league gets home court advantage throughout the playoffs, including the Finals. The Lakers have nine losses, tied for fewest in the league with Boston and Cleveland (Orlando is one back in the loss column, with ten). While Los Angeles probably can hang on to home court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs even if Bynum misses the rest of the year (San Antonio is currently five games back), they are in serious danger of losing home court advantage to whatever East team they might meet in the Finals. Home court isn't everything, but when teams are evenly matched, as they are this year, it can often be the deciding factor (Cleveland, for example, hasn't lost a single game at home this season).

Such is the world of the NBA: one team's loss is every other team's gain.

Next game for Boston, as alluded to above, is Tuesday at Philadelphia. No national TV, though clear your calendar for Thursday night, as the Celtics host the Lakers at 8 p.m. Eastern on TNT.

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.

Boston 89, Charlotte 84

The Celtics followed a familiar pattern Saturday night, squeaking by a lesser opponent after blowing out Philadelphia the night before.

[recap] [box score]

Quick thoughts, since I'm in the middle of my contracts outline.

-League Pass Broadband cut out the first nine or so minutes of this one, so I didn't see Paul Pierce's quick six points in the first quarter. I did, however, see him score only five in the second and third quarters combined, only to notch eight in the final period. Even on a night where the offense wasn't coming easily to him, the fourth quarter is still his domain.

-Tony Allen played really well tonight. He was unselfish and made good decisions all night long. I was particularly pleased with his play at the start off the fourth. After Charlotte cut it to 68-67, Tony protected the lead by driving for a layup, and then, after a Raymond Felton turnover, kicked it to Eddie House for the three-pointer that made it a six-point game. It's always important to protect the lead like that. The starters would eventually lose that lead, but Tony really stepped up at the right time.

-I kind of like these Bobcats. The level of intensity and athleticism that Gerald Wallace plays with makes him a joy to watch; he's the kind of guy, like Detroit's Allen Iverson and Miami's Dwyane Wade, whose mix of talent and almost reckless effort makes basketball fun. This loss puts them at 5-11, but they've had a number of close losses this year. While they aren't constructed well enough to be a team about which you'd say that they are "almost there" and there problems go beyond needing to "learn how to win," they play hard and have some talented guys. If Felton had scored the ball better -- he had just four points on 2-of-15 from the field -- they might well have picked up win number six.

Three home games for the Celtics next week, starting with Orlando on Monday. The game is at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBATV, which means I won't be able to watch. That's probably good, since I have a lot of studying to do, but I'll peruse the box score and weigh in with a thought or two. Then comes the rematch with Indiana on Wednesday night, and then the fascinating Portland Trailblazers come to town on Friday. That one's on ESPN, so make sure you clear some time to watch.

Boston 102, Philadelphia 78

An outstanding performance on both ends from the defending champs. The Celtics held the Sixers to 28 points in the first half -- our best defensive half of the season, and Philly's worst offensively -- and the 76ers final total is only somewhat respectable thanks to the work of Louis Williams and Marreese Speights in a 31-point fourth quarter against our second- and third-stringers.

[recap] [box score]

Scoring in the NBA really doesn't get any more balanced than this. We scored 102 points tonight despite having just four guys in double figures, and no one had more than Ray Allen's 23. But all 11 guys who played scored -- Patrick O'Bryant's sweet jump hook on the second-to-last possession took care of that. Four guys off the bench had at least eight points: ten each for Leon Powe and Tony Allen; nine for Glen Davis, and eight for Eddie House.

Rajon Rondo again played great; he set the tone with three quick steals and finished with 12 assists. Kendrick Perkins also got off to a fast start, and had four blocks. Ray continued his torrid shooting, and Pierce didn't force anything (he shot just 1-for-6 in 27 minutes).

A few quick thoughts:

-Doc used a new substitution pattern in the first quarter tonight -- at least, I don't remember seeing it before. The first sub off the bench was Glen Davis, and he came in for Garnett. Usually, Doc removes Perk from the lineup with a few minutes remaining in the first, leaving KG out there to finish the quarter. That very well could be because Perkins is often in foul trouble, but I like the idea of resting Garnett in the first quarter if possible. It manages his minutes a bit better and gives us the option to go to him earlier in the second if the bench gets in trouble.

-Brian Scalabrine looks like he's made his way into the regular rotation. He's been playing pretty well, and I commend him for playing within himself despite the fact that every time he touches the ball the crowd yells for him to shoot. Still, if he's going to play meaningful minutes, he needs to be a little more aggressive, a little more like an NBA player. Too often, he's playing without conviction offensively. (On the defensive end, he's always playing hard).

-Tommy Heinsohn was back on the broadcast tonight, and late in the game, he mentioned the importance of the Celtics not being complacent when they play in Philly, because the Sixers were bound to be steamed about this blowout. He made reference to the next game being in Philadelphia, but it's actually back in Boston on December 23rd (look for me in section 312!). I think Speights' bush-league flagrant-two on Scalabrine in the waning moments took care of any concerns about complacency. Scalabrine was driving to the bucket for a reverse layup when Speights just reached out and shoved him in the back. It led to an ejection for Speights and a jawing match between Powe and Reggie Evans (this incident reminded of how much I hate Evans, by the way). I'm sure Boston will be plenty fired up on the 23rd.

-Tony played well tonight, but again he made the boneheaded play of the game. With time winding down in the third quarter, Boston was holding for one shot, though the shot and game clocks weren't quite synched; there was maybe a second and a half difference between the two. Tony drove for a layup and missed, and as the ball was coming off the rim, the shot clock buzzer -- which is quite discernible from the game clock horn -- sounded. Tony, who was in a great position to grab the rebound and lay it back in, apparently heard the buzzer and thought the quarter had ended, as he grabbed the ball and sort of tossed it over his head while walking backward. No harm, no foul, but it still bugs me to see stuff like that.

-Next game is Saturday night in Charlotte (7 p.m. Eastern, no national TV). Despite the fact that Friday's 115-108 overtime win at Indiana moved them to just 5-10 on the year, the Bobcats should have our attention. Though we went 3-1 against them last year, the one loss was in Boston in January, and we needed that miraculous House steal and Ray three at the horn to beat them in Charlotte in November. Of the other two wins, one was closeish and the other wasn't. And the Bobcats only had Gerald Wallace for one of those games due to various injuries.

In addition to Wallace, there are two Bobcats who are most concerning. The first is point guard Raymond Felton. Rondo has some trouble against quicker point guards, and Felton is one of the quickest. He averaged 17 points and nine assists in the four games against us last year, a few ticks above his season averages in each category.

The other is Jason Richardson, who averaged nearly 30 points per game in the first three contests with Boston last year (he was held to nine in the final game in April). Richardson is the brand of two-guard (think the Hawks' Joe Johnson) that Ray Allen has trouble with: a decent shooter with a good mid-range game who can get to the rim. That's the key matchup.

With Sean May and Adam Morrison continuing to disappoint, Bobcats coach Larry Brown has been going to some small lineups, with rookie D.J. Augustin joining Felton and Richardson on the perimeter. The selection of Augustin in this summer's draft left many scratching their heads, as Augustin and Felton are similar players and there aren't too many NBA teams who have been successful playing two guys who are each six feet tall, if that, alongside each other. I'm looking forward to seeing this lineup, and not a little bit because I have something of a financial interest in Augustin's development (I need him to average 24 mpg or more in a full NBA season after his fourth year in the league).

Perhaps the best news for the Cs is that while Ray Allen was the only starter to play more than 30 minutes against Philly, the Bobcats' big guns logged heavy mileage in the overtime win at Indiana. Felton played about 48 minutes; Richardson and Wallace each played around 42.

Boston 110, New York 101

Stagnant, pre-Big Three-style fourth-quarter offense made this one closer than it should have been, but it's nice to win a game over a decent team without KG -- and without Paul Pierce having to play Superman.

[recap] [box score]

Quick hit thoughts:

-I'm the first to criticize Brian Scalabrine, so I should give him some praise when he actually plays well. Starting in place of the suspended Kevin Garnett, Scal contributed, and not just with Scal contributions like rebounds and fouls. He actually hit three jumpers, two at the end of the third quarter, and the game-icer late in the fourth. He hasn't exactly earned all the money we've given him, but it's nice to see he has a good game in him once in a while.

-The bench played great in the second quarter; so great, in fact, that unless I'm mistaken, Pierce and Rajon Rondo sat the entire period. Particularly high marks go to Leon Powe, who I think got all 14 of his points in the second, mostly against everyone's favorite backup power forward, David Lee. Eddie House actually did some point guard-type stuff, including a few nice assists on fast breaks. I believe that the bench players hit their first ten field goal attempts. It helps, of course, that the Knicks have no interest whatsoever in playing defense.

-Nice to see Kendrick Perkins play as aggressively and as well as he did. The Knicks are basically playing without a center, and for all his offensive limitations, Perkins can score over guys like Lee and Zach Randolph. He even channeled KG a few times: hitting a wide-open Rondo for an easy layup; running the pinch post play with Rondo for another easy assist; and then a three-possession stretch where he kicked it out to Pierce for a three, blocked Wilson Chandler on the other end, and then hit an eight-foot turnaround bank shot over his right shoulder on the left side of the court. Not sure where it comes from, but I'll take it whenever we can get it.

-Defense wasn't great tonight, but the Knicks did only shoot 43 percent, and they're a team that likes to push the ball and put pressure on your defense. Considering we were without our best defensive player, I think we acquitted ourselves pretty well on that end.

-Even in victory, I'm not sparing Tony Allen. Tonight's example that he simply has no feel for the game of basketball: Up 12 early in the fourth, Tony gets the ball, wide-open, 17 feet from the basket, with two seconds left on the shotclock. This isn't exactly his shot, and he's been criticized for being a little selfish this year, but this is a time where no one would complain if he put it up. Instead, he kicks it to Glen Davis, 19 feet from the basket at the other elbow, who can barely catch the ball before the shot clock expires.

You can almost see what's going through Tony's head during plays like this: "I'm open, and the shotclock is running down, but Coach told me not to take so many jumpers. Baby's open. I'll pass it to him and show everyone that I'm not selfish."

Generally speaking, good basketball players "get it." There are obviously different degrees of this, but most good basketball players at least show a modicum of savvy about the game. Tony doesn't.

-Last thing: Does everyone on the Knicks have to be a punk now? This post from the weekend mentions the Jamal Crawford-Ray Allen skirmish from last preseason. It also mentions the Crawford-Pierce double ejection last MLK Day, but that was as much Pierce's fault as it was Crawford's. But it's not just Crawford. Nate Robinson is like the quintessential guy who shows up at the playground who no one wants to play with. Always complaining about a foul, always looking for a fight. Some might say it's a short-man thing, but being of rather diminutive stature myself, I'm not going to go there. Randolph started something with Powe in the first half tonight that led to double techs. Later, Randolph had words for Pierce for no discernible reason.

Those guys have always had that edge, though. What surprised me tonight was watching Chris Duhon drain a wide-open three, then turn and say something to the Celtics bench. He hit another wide-open three later, and again was talking smack.

Hey, Chris, I know you're not very used to hitting jumpers, but there's a reason we're letting you shoot: Compared to your average NBA guard, you suck at shooting. Talk all you want; we're not sending anyone out to guard you, because we don't think you can beat us -- and guess what? We're right?

Is this what happens when you let Isiah Thomas near a franchise? Everyone -- even Chris Duhon -- becomes a jerk? You're in the house of the defending champions, fellas, and the champs whipped you four times last year. You also play on a team that, despite a good start this year, has been the laughingstock of the league for the previous couplefew seasons. I'm not saying you have to genuflect, but maybe you shut up long enough to win a game.

EDIT: After I made this post, I saw this Ball Don't Lie post, which refers to this Boston.com blog post, which refers to some interesting post-game comments from Quention Richardson. Okay, Q.

Boston 103, Atlanta 102

You gotta hand it to the Hawks. Those guys are legit.

[recap] [box score]

Atlanta had every reason to give up in the second half Wednesday night. Already without starting power forward Josh Smith, they lost backup Zaza Pachulia to a shoulder injury in the second quarter. A 44-28 second quarter lead had turned into a 51-51 halftime deadlock. Undersized and in the second night of a West-to-East road back-to-back, nobody would have blamed them for packing it in. Instead, they matched the defending champs shot for shot, and after Marvin Williams coolly banged in his fourth three-pointer of the game with seven seconds left, they looked poised to finally do what they couldn't manage last playoff season: win a game in Boston.

Of course, in the end, The Truth had the last word. (How does Pierce's buzzer-beater not make this list of the Top Ten plays from the night's NBA action? Here are the highlights. Pierce's shot is near the end, obviously.)

I said during the playoffs that if it weren't our run at a championship at stake, I'd love what the Hawks were doing. A #8 seed with a 37-45 regular season record, they pushed us to seven games, and did so with swagger and attitude, a disposition that they weren't going to be intimidated. (Remember Zaza getting after KG in Game 6? And just for the sake of nostalgia, remember KG's revenge in Game 7?)

Same story this year. Atlanta came in undefeated, but I don't think too many thought they were capable of playing as well as they did, at least under the circumstances. Joe Johnson, the former Celtics first-rounder who terrorized us in the playoffs, was at it again. He had 28 points, including two impossibly difficult shots late (as well as the drive and pass that found Williams for the go-ahead three-pointer). Williams, Maurice Evans, and Flip Murray poured in long jumper after long jumper.

The Hawks are no joke.

-Boston's gotta start making open jumpers. That was the difference between the Atlanta game being a blowout or being a nailbiter; Atlanta made their threes and Boston didn't. Eddie House and Ray Allen combined to go 2-for-16 from deep, and trust me when I say that they weren't particularly difficult looks. Atlanta hit far tougher ones in going 13-for-22 from the arc.

-The officiating was universally awful in this one. The late foul call on Pierce blocking a Johnson drive was an absolute joke, but it made up for a Boston possession a few minutes earlier when Pierce didn't get a shot up before the shot clock buzzer, but the refs let it go, and the play resulted in an offensive rebound and a bucket. Boston shot a few more freebies than Atlanta did, but given their size advantage, that's no surprise. The officiating was bad, but it didn't favor one team over the other.

-I'm debating whether to start a regular feature in this blog called "What I Hate Tony Allen." Tonight's exhibits:

A)End of the first quarter, we're holding for one. Tony starts his move too early, putting up his shot with six seconds left. It misses, and Atlanta has enough time to get the rebound and toss it upcourt to Murray, who drained a 26-footer at the horn.

B)Early in the fourth, Boston's up 81-80, as the lead has been going back and forth. Eddie gets a steal and Tony's bringing it up on the break. About ten feet from the basket, with no defender pressuring him at all, Tony, without leaving the ground, flips the ball, underhanded, at the rim, squandering an easy two. It was honestly the weirdest shot I've ever seen in the flow of a basketball game. Tony wasn't being pressured; he didn't go up in the air with the intention to pass and then, realizing his target was covered, throw up a shot. He simply decided that a finger roll without jumping from 10 feet was the right shot for the situation. Okay, Tony. Seriously, where do these 23-point games like the one he had against Detroit come from?

-I know I already criticized Ray for his shooting, but I'll criticize him for his poor defensive rotation on the possession that gave Atlanta the late lead. As Johnson drove under the basket, Ray was in position to step in front of Williams in the corner. Instead, he stood between Williams and Maurive Evans, who was out on the wing. It's possible he could have been trying to guard both of them, but Johnson was already up in the air and it was going to be very difficult for him to see Evans. Ray failing to step in the passing lane could have cost us the game.

-Pierce is an absolute joy to watch right now. He's on the short list of guys in the league you want to have the ball in their hands with the game on the line.

-Next game is on Friday, against Denver (8 p.m. Eastern, ESPN). I'd like a win, but I honestly don't care all that much what happens. Denver's a Western team we likely won't have to worry about in the playoffs. We did what we needed to do this week: Beat Eastern contenders Detroit, Toronto, and Atlanta in the span of four days.

I probably won't watch this one live, as I've got an exam review past tipoff and then I'm hanging out with a few folks to celebrate the occasion of an out of town friend being in town for work. I should be able to get to the Denver game (and the Milwaukee game on Saturday -- 8:30 p.m. Eastern, no national TV) at some point, and I'll post some thoughts late Saturday or Sunday.

Celtics 94, Raptors 87

In his NBA preview column from October 28, ESPN's Bill Simmons -- the Sports Guy -- predicted that "[t]he Celtics will put the word 'defending' back into 'defending champs.'" Down 15 to Toronto midway through the third quarter Monday night in Boston, the Celtics proved him right. Paul Pierce reprised the fourth-quarter cold-blooded assasin role we've become accustomed to over the past year-plus, and a big nod to Kevin Garnett for keeping the team and crowd emotionally involved.

[recap] [box score]

A friend of mine who's a Lakers fan -- I know, I know -- sent me an email after the game. It read, in part, "Doc is hell-bent on killing the Celts [sic] repeat chances," illustrated by him playing Pierce/KG/Ray a combined 117 minutes tonight. His point is completely legit: The season's long, this one seemed out of hand, we just beat Detroit last night, we've got Atlanta on Wednesday. Plenty of coaches would have packed it up for the night and played the bench the rest of the way. Indeed, that's what Doc did in Indiana earlier this year.

There's something to be said, however, for sending a message, even this early in the season. Toronto's on the short list of Eastern Conference contenders. If we face them in the playoffs, they're surely going to remember this game, and how difficult it is to win in Boston.

That's a good thing for us. I don't expect Doc to pull out all the stops every time we put ourselves in this spot (and here's hoping it's not that often), but I do think he's tuned in to which teams are worth fighting against.

A couple of general thoughts about the game:

-Even in the first half, our defense wasn't that bad. Jermaine O'Neal had 19 at halftime -- he finished with just 23 and Kendrick Perkins ate his lunch on a few key possessions in the fourth -- but Chris Bosh was held in check, scoring just nine points in 40 minutes. Bosh came into this game with the third-highest scoring average in the league, at 26.7 per game.

Most of the damage was done by the Raps role players from the outside; Jason Kapono, Anthony Parker, and Joey Graham. Those three combined for 37 points.

Remember, though, our defensive success has been predicated around keeping people out of the lane and forcing the other team to make jumpers -- a lot of jumpers -- if they want to beat us. Graham scored eight points in the second quarter on a free throw and about 64 feet worth of jump shots. I guarantee that if you had told Doc and Tom Thibodeau that Joey Graham was going to be shooting 20-footers, they'd have been fine with it.

-71-70 Raps, eight minutes and change to go. We had three possessions to take the lead, and we got a contested three from Eddie House (blocked); an open three from Tony Allen (which he missed, rebounded, and committed an offensive foul trying to get to the basket); and a 19-footer from Glen Davis (predictably missed).

Garnett and Ray Allen weren't in the game and therefore were unavailable as options, but these can't be the guys taking the shots for us in those moments, at least not those specific shots. If Eddie gets a clean look, that's one thing, but Tony and Baby need to remember why the defense has left them open in those situations.

Next game is Wednesday night, 7:30 p.m. Eastern, in Boston against Atlanta. The Hawks -- the same Hawks who pushed us to seven games in the first round of the playoffs last year -- are 5-0, the last undefeated team in the East as of this writing (they are playing in Chicago Tuesday night). Atlanta's already won in Orlando and New Orleans this year, so they're a formidable opponent. However, they'll be without Josh Smith, who sprained his ankle Friday against Toronto and is expected to miss two to four weeks.

Atlanta, like Toronto, is one of these teams that will be gunning for Boston, and in turn, Boston will want to keep them from winning in the Garden. Boston will need to come out of the gate a lot faster than they did against the Raps.

I am not sad.

The only thing better than a night on which we kick Detroit's ass is a night on which we kick Detroit's ass while Rip Hamilton shoots 0-for-8, and then the Giants beat the Eagles in Philly. Given that I went 3-1 in fantasy football this week and I've got a case of TaB in my apartment, I'd say I'm having a good evening.

[recap] [box score]

Even fully recognizing that Detroit is still adjusting to Iverson and that Rip Hamilton's mind might be elsewhere, the Pistons are still not the kind of team you whip on their home floor, particularly when your two best players combine to go 7-for-25 and score 15 points between them. But that's exactly what the Celtics did Friday night against the Pistons at the Palace. Tony Allen scored 23 points to pick up Pierce, who was whistled for three fouls (and a tech) in the first quarter. Pierce didn't play at all in the second quarter, because we didn't need him. We outscored Detroit 30-10 in that period, turning a two-point deficit into a comfortable lead. Tony had 12 in the second, and Leon Powe had six. Hats off to Ray Allen, too, who scored 17 points. We've played two big road games thus far this year (Houston and Detroit) and Ray has come up biggest of the Big Three in both.

Doc called this one the best defensive effort of the year, and it's hard to disagree with him. The boxscore tells most of the story, but keep in mind that Detroit's final numbers are actually quite a bit better than they were for most of the game. The Pistons were 10-of-40 in the first half, and scored 29 points (our bench had 24 points by halftime).

Eddie House also hit three jumpers tonight, which means I can stop keeping track of how many games he goes without hitting more than one jumper. Hopefully this gets him going for good.

We've got Toronto Monday night in Boston (7:30 Eastern, no national TV), and the blowout tonight helps in that Pierce played just 28 minutes tonight and Garnett 33. That could be crucial, as this is just a brutal week, with Atlanta coming to town Wednesday, Denver in on Friday, and then a road date at Miwaukee Saturday night. The Raptors will be in the second night of a road back-to-back, as they beat Charlotte 89-79 Sunday afternoon behind 30 points and 15 rebounds in 43 minutes from Chris Bosh. I haven't had a chance to scout the Raps yet, but if I do, I'll post some thoughts. If not, I'll see you after the game.

Boston 96, Oklahoma City 83

That's how a possible "trap" or "letdown" game should go.

[recap] [box score]

A slow start, no doubt brought on by the big win last night, mixed with the enthusiasm of an upstart team taking on the defending champs. A fourth quarter with a turnover here, a blown defensive assignment there, a few garbage-time buckets for the opponent. But in between -- in the second and third quarters -- punishing basketball that puts the game out of reach.

Good stuff all around, though nobody played spectacularly. Four starters in double figures, 11 assists for Rondo, 11 first-half points off the bench for Leon Powe, stifling defense. Just takin' care of business on a Wednesday night in the Association.

Got what I asked for from Doc tonight, too, as Pierce played with the second team. Trailing 29-21 after one, Pierce started the second with House, Tony Allen, Powe, and Glen Davis.

That fivesome went on a 17-4 run over the first five-and-a-half minutes of the quarter, and while Pierce got it going with a tough three-pointer as the shot clock wound down, the rest of the scoring came from the second-stringers: nine for Powe on a combination of layups and free throws; a Tony Allen bucket in transition; a pair at the line from House; 1 of 2 from the stripe from Davis.

Pierce, however, was the catalyst, initiating the offense on every possession. He had but one assist during the stretch, but he ran the pick and roll with Davis that sent Baby to the line; he fed Leon for what should have been an easy layup (Leon missed but got the putback); and he penetrated and created opportunities for Davis and House that those guys missed.

Pierce is more comfortable and more effective initiating the offense than Ray Allen is, and as I've said, I think it's important to take primary ball-handling duties away from Tony Allen. Tony played much more within himself tonight, and he's clearly more comfortable playing off the ball in the halfcourt.

The rub is that this meant 40 minutes for Pierce on the second night of a road back-to-back. At this point, I'm not sure we can cut any meaningful minutes from any of the Big Three, but I do think that Doc should be quicker to get them out of games that are in hand. All three of them -- in fact, all five starters -- were on the court at the final horn, despite the fact that Boston led by 15 with 4:37 to go (and OKC never got closer than 12 the rest of the way).

This was a problem last year, too. I don't know why Doc does it: If he just forgets; if he wants the starters to be able to have the feeling of finishing the job; or if some ideal of professionalism prevents him from playing the bomb squad. Whatever it is, he needs to get over it. It's tiring these guys out, someone could get hurt, and I'm just waiting for the always-competitive KG to get into a fight under two minutes with the game well in hand.