By Matt Richardson

Okay, who’s ready for LeBron’s inevitable 13-18, 36 point, 12 rebound, 8 assist tour de force perfromance at home on Saturday? Through the first two games, LeBron is shooting 8 for 42 (or .190% for you math majors out there). 20% shooting? Clearly, Tuesday’s game wasn’t a fluke. The Celtics’ defense, and in particular James Posey, certainly seem to be bothering King James.

A microcosm of the Celtics’ defensive strategy was evident in the third quarter when the C’s were turning the game into a laugher. LeBron had the ball on the left baseline, looking to back down Posey. Posey immediately shaded him to the court side, inviting him to go baseline. As this was happening, Leon Powe shifted over to take away the baseline, leaving Lebron trapped between two defenders with few options. The outcome was an airball. The point is, it’s obvious that LeBron’s .190 shooting isn’t solely due to him being “off” or not liking the rims in Boston.

As an aside, after watching Posey play defense, grab key rebounds and hit big shots in the playoffs, in retrospect it’s amazing that the Celtics were able to just pick this guy up off the street. Paul Pierce also deserves credit for his effort in hounding James. The execution isn’t quite on par with Posey, but the spirit is clearly there.

For the record, I loved Joe Smith’s knee pads, which were taken straight out of the 1992 Pat Ewing catalogue. If you recall, it was Smith who was selected #1 overall in the 1995 draft, four spots ahead of Kevin Garnett. Smith and Garnett seem attached at the hip, linked by that draft, this series by making Kevin McHale look like a cement head.

Breaking news: Apparently Ben Wallace had an allergy attack in Game 2, resulting in him playing only 4 minutes. Wallace has been allergic to the basket for his entire career so one would’ve thought this would’ve been under control by now.

“Don’t look now, R. Allen woke up” was the text message I sent to a friend at 8:47 last night. My friend is a UConn alum and loves all things Husky, to the extent that she was excited to go to a Sixers game because Kevin Ollie was on the team. Ray’s dismal Game 1 was vexing to her, and it seemed we were in for more of the same in Game 2 as the first half came to a close. But, he came to life to start the third quarter and his jumper with 9:07 left in that frame gave the C’s an 18 point lead. Welcome to the second round, Ray. Better late than never.

All of you conspiracy theorists out there can stop worrying. The Celtics actually were awarded MORE free throws than their opponent last night, for only the second time in their nine playoff games. I expect a shift back to the normal 2:1 ratio in favor of the Cavs when the series moves to Cleveland.

I’m going to try to confirm this today, but I’m beginning to think that “Ilgauskas” is Russian for “I must break you with knees and elbows”. Take it easy, big fella, or we’ll send Big Baby in to body slam you. Big Z is having a heck of a series so far, though. He’s the Cav’s leading scorer and is shooting a robust 57% from the field.

Switching gears a bit, Chauncey Billups’ injury looked, um, painful. Pass the Vicodin. I’m officially avoiding slippery surfaces for a week or so.

Finally, I know everyone has been eagerly awaiting the Mike Brown Glasses Update. Last night, Brown sported a pair of conservatively styled metal framed glasses to match is dark gray suit. For the record, that’s two pairs of glasses in two games, making this one of the more interesting subplots of the series. We may need to bring in Elton John for color commentary. I guess I can’t really relate to this because I replace my one pair of glasses roughly every five years, when the nexus of “hopelessly out of style” and “irreparably damaged” combine to suck my old pair into a black hole. Rest assured that I will keep a diligent watch on further eye wear developments.

By Kevin Henkin

Steve Miller may be the Gangster of Love but the Boston Celtics have firmly established themselves as the Gangsters of Team Defense. In this order, it was defense, depth and determination that were the drivers behind Boston’s decisive Game 2 victory over Cleveland, 89-73.

As noted above, Boston’s defense was once again stifling, especially over the final 40 minutes of the game in which Cleveland scored only 52 points. Most notably as part of that defensive effort was the fact that LeBron James was held in check for the second straight game. He finished with 21 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, which isn’t a bad line for most of the other 359 players on NBA rosters. Throw in the 6 for 24 shooting and the 7 turnovers, however, and it adds up to another sub-par night for King James. Not reflected in the box score was the continued frustration exhibited by James in the face of constant help defense that prevented him from gaining access to the paint and forced him to resort to jumpers that continued to elude the inside of the rim.

The only Cavalier who achieved any kind of success on offense was Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who finished with 19 points but did most of his damage early by scoring 10 points in the first quarter when it was still a game. Otherwise, only Wally Szczerbiak scored in double figures for Cleveland, with 13 points on 4-11 from the field. Notably absent from the offensive flow for the Cavaliers were the point guards Delonte West and Boobie Gibson, who submitted a combined 5 points and 5 assists on 1-7 shooting with 3 turnovers. In total, the Cavaliers shot 35.6% for the game.

The utter lack of support from James’s teammates was brightly contrasted by the enormous contribution that Boston received from its bench. When Sam Cassell and James Posey entered the game with 2:49 left in the first, the proverbial light switch finally came on for Boston. Up until that point, the Celtics were losing 21-9 and looking flat on both ends of the court. Cassell instantly revived Boston’s stagnated offense by knocking down his first jumper and subsequently led the way to an 8-3 run to end the quarter.

Cassell’s final line of 3 assists and 9 points on 4-12 from the field doesn’t do justice to the enormous impact that he made in the first half of the game. He scored all 9 of his points during a stretch when his team desperately needed a hot hand. Especially during the second quarter, Cassell also answered some recent critics of his shoot-first style by aggressively finding teammates with some terrific passes.

The second quarter was highlighted by an emphatic breakaway dunk by Garnett that he followed up with an equally emphatic high five to bossman Danny Ainge standing in the crowd. Garnett’s sick behind-the-back pass to Leon Powe, a play truly reminiscent of Larry Bird, must also be mentioned. Also worthy of note was that, throughout the remaining three quarters, multiple Celtics players diving hard for loose balls became a common sight.

Although Cassell cooled off in the second half, he handed off the baton to a suddenly revived Ray Allen, who finally found his stroke in the third quarter and helped stake Boston to a 20 plus point lead that they would hold onto for the remainder of the game.

Looking forward, Celtics fans have to cautiously wonder which version of their team will show up to play in Cleveland on Saturday. Regardless, it seems clear thus far that the Boston supporting cast runs deeper and better than Cleveland’s, which is bad news for a team with only one real go-to guy. Boston has also discovered some success in defending LeBron James in a way that so eluded the Detroit Pistons last spring. These two factors alone, as well as their held serve at home and remaining home court advantage, have the Celtics in apparent prime position moving forward.

In short: Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.

Until Saturday…

By Matt Richardson

Oh my God.

I need to say it one more time, just to achieve some closure on the twenty-five other times I shouted the phrase during Tuesday night’s turnover-infested crapfest. On the obvious plus side, at least the Celtics won the crapfest. Imagine what the Cleveland fans must have been thinking in the wake of that three hour mind-numbing marathon. First they have to live in Cleveland, and now this. It all seems pretty unfair.

On any other given night, I’m thinking that LeBron James could probably shoot better than 2-18 coming off a leg amputation. Therefore, you’ve got to give credit where credit in due in Boston’s effort to keep King James in check and to hold the Cavaliers to 30% shooting overall. Boston’s own 42% shooting looked downright Artis Gilmore-esque in comparison.

Giving equal credit to the other side, the rotation of the Cavalier bigs makes it very difficult for teams to score inside the paint. Even so, I can’t shake the idea that the Celtics would have scored 15 more points in this game if it weren’t for all those unforced turnovers. Anyway, here are some other thoughts that I’ve complied on the game, some of the in-game commercials and on the series in general:

It was the Rajon Rondo show in the first quarter, capped off by him patiently setting up Posey’s fall away trey with only seconds remaining. This was after Tony Allen defied 12-1 odds by not dribbling the ball out of bounds prior to getting it to Rondo. It was an excellent overall performance by Rondo so I was left wondering why he ended up playing only played 30 minutes. He was not in early foul trouble and only finished the game with 3 fouls. Leading me to…

Sam Cassell. We’ll start with the bad, because I must acknowledge that in Game One it was outweighed by the good. In the second quarter, Boston descended into what I affectionately call The Sam Cassell Quicksand Offense. During that span, I wrote down “Can we please put Rondo back in?” That was followed by Cassell’s face rake flagrant foul (oops) on LeBron. After that, Rondo returned, immediately pushed the pace, set up Garnett for an easy lay-up and then scored on the next possession.

While acknowledging that Cassell’s shooting in the fourth quarter helped to win the game, I still come away feeling that whenever he is in there, it instantly becomes “The Sam Cassell Show”. Apparently, however, Mike Fratello and Sam share the same agent because Fratello lovingly referred to Cassell as a “shotmaker” throughout the contest.

One final note on Sam: I love the way he shoots free throws. He just steps up to the line, takes a couple of dribbles and lets it go. No muss, no fuss, no blown kisses or secret messages to the kids. He just grips it and rips it, baby. Conversely, every time I see Paul Pierce contorting his body in preparation for a foul shot, I cringe.

A quick aside on Mike Brown: If I’m the Cleveland Cavaliers, I’m not looking for a coach who has color coordinated designer eyeglass frames. Picking those out just seems like wasted time, and I won’t even draw the obvious Belichick comparison. I know the NBA has higher sartorial expectations of its coaches. Obviously baseball and football are in a different game-day category and hockey is a distant third due to the preponderance bad haircuts and polyester. Regardless, Brown’s carefully selected eyewear just seems like a bit too much attention paid to a trivial detail. What color are the frames if he wears a blue suit? Does he match the frames to the suit or to the belt and shoes? Does he have cordovan colored frames? What’s the rule on frame color shades after Labor Day?

Here’s a brief recap of the third quarter, taken directly from my notes:

7:55 3rd Quarter: This game sucks. Score: 45-44

6:40 3rd Quarter: Fouls on the last four possessions and counting.

It’s at this point that I begin to pay more attention to the non-game action.

First, we are presented with the Dodge’s new Journey crossover vehicle. I think I understand the whole crossover thing. The U.S. automakers are correct to shift their focus away from their gas guzzling monster SUV’s. That said, it seems like Dodge built this entire ad campaign around the fact that you can store stuff under the seats. When was the last time you were packing the car and found yourself at an impasse because you couldn’t find room to pack away that extension cord? “Hmm. If only there was room for this small item UNDER THE PASSENGER SEAT, THEN ALL OF MY TROUBLES WOULD BE SOLVED!!” Um, call me crazy but can’t you just put all of that stuff, you know, in the trunk? And unless you spend a majority of your free time picnicking, camping, or drunk driving, is an in-floor cooler really going to influence your buying decision? It reminds of when Pontiac built the Aztek and the ad campaign focused on the ability to set up a tent in the cargo area. I think Pontiac sold 7 Azteks.

Also, the Old Spice deodorant commercial has been driving me crazy. It’s the one with the guy sliding all the way around third and into home while talking about Old Spice? During his seemingly endless slide, he brags about how Old Spice is THE game-winning grand slam, break away dunk, shorthanded goal, straight arm tackle of deodorants. Straight arm tackle? I need some further explanation on this. I know what a straight arm is, and I know what a tackle is, but I’m not quite sure what the combination of those two things might be. Does Pepper Johnson teach this technique? Did Brian Bosworth try to straight arm tackle Bo Jackson? Doesn’t anybody read the ad copy before it goes into production? And what about the actor? He certainly looks the part of the beer league softballer who takes it all just a little too seriously. Can’t he speak up so he doesn’t sound like a moron in the ad?

The intense action in the fourth quarter eventually drew me back into the game. The end of the game has been dissected enough already so I’ll instead leave you with these important questions to ponder:

Who the hell is Bill Engvall? The ads for his show seem to presume that we should all be deeply familiar with his work by now. And is it really true that all of the highest rated shows in cable history are on TNT? Don’t other cable shows like Orange County Choppers or Dangerous Catch give TNT a run for their money? Thankfully, for tonight anyway, the Arbitrary Gods of Broadcasting Rights have given us the choice to switch back to Mike and Tommy. Until then…

By Kevin Henkin

I’m at the game again, in this case Game One of the Eastern Conference Semis between Boston and Cleveland, so I’ll be offering my thoughts in stream-of-consciousness style as the evening progresses. Here goes.

Pregame Fluff

Before the game, I run down Wally Szczerbiak’s game logs from the Round One series and find myself startled. No, not by his atrocious defense because that kind of thing generally doesn’t show up in the box score. Rather, I am shocked by his line from Game Six, the series clincher. It’s widely known that Wally had a big game with his 26 points in that game but I didn’t realize that he took 13 shots from behind the arc in 33 minutes. 13? Even Antoine Walker thinks that’s just plain ridiculous. To his credit, Szczerbiak did knock down 6 of them, but still. Hey Wally, let’s see you do that ^&%$ again. Seriously. I double-dog dare ya.

As I’m flipping through the 2007-08 Media Guide for the Cavaliers, I recognize a little difference between their publication and those from, say, the Charlotte Bobcats or the Minnesota Timberwolves. The difference is that Cleveland’s guide is all business. Unlike the guides from those lesser teams, the Cavs’ guide only presents the cold hard facts about their players. There’s none of this “Player A says his likes are the Shrek movies and receiving free cars and dislikes include practices, country music and mean people who boo him.” This is the media guide of team that takes itself seriously. Good for them.

Just before the start of Game One of the series against the Hawks, I wrote that the Boston Garden was amped to the max. I was mistaken. THIS is amped. Higher level series, higher level of intensity. Makes sense.

First Quarter

In the first four minutes, it’s the Celtics who look tight, shooting 0-6 with alligator arms and generating almost no second chance opportunities.

At 8:13, Paul Pierce picks up his second foul on a ticky-tack call. Next! James Posey comes in to take over the Lebron assignment.

Rajon Rondo has obviously come to play. After bringing the crowd to its feet with a sublime Kidd-like touch pass under the basket to set up a Kendrick Perkins dunk, he converts on three consecutive runners. Somewhere, Jim Paxson punches a wall for trading the pick that resulted in Rondo for a true JAG by the name of Jiri Welch.

LeBron blows by Posey and draws the foul from the last line of defense in Perkins. Even so, it a bright spot in an otherwise pedestrian quarter for King James, who finishes with 5 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist on 1-4 shooting. Szczerbiak hoists up an 0-5 line but takes some comfort in the fact that the Celtics haven’t yet isolated Ray Allen against him on defense. At the end of the quarter as time expires, Posey sinks a killer three.

Both teams have done an excellent job of establishing position on the boards, as evidenced by their combined total of three offensive rebounds for the quarter.

Second Quarter

For all of his energy, Anderson Varejao is having trouble sticking with Garnett. I wouldn’t have called that one ahead of time.

Sam Cassell knocks down his first jumper after talking some smack to Delonte West. Although I couldn’t catch the full exchange, it was something about West’s mother being overweight and crashing through the wall yelling Kool-Aid.

Leon Powe is playing poorly. It’s as if he thinks he’s still in Atlanta. Doc Rivers doesn’t seem to notice because he keeps him in the game.

It’s halfway through the second quarter and neither Paul Pierce nor Ray Allen have scored a point. Even so, the Celtics still lead 29-24, mostly on the backs of Garnett and Rondo, who have 22 of those 29 points.

At 5:35, Sam Cassell commit’s a flagrant foul on LeBron. No easy lay-ups in the playoffs, yada yada. On the two possessions that follow, Szczerbiak knocks down consecutive twenty footers in an effort to make me look foolish.

With 0.2 seconds left, Rondo draws an unlikely blocking foul on LeBron James (his first). James looks up at the official from his spot on the floor as if to say, “Um, you might want to check with Commissioner Stern before making that call.” Regardless, the call stands and Rondo knocks down his freebies to finish the half with 15 points (5 of 6 from the field) and five assists. James, meanwhile, finishes with 10 points on 1-6 shooting but with the benefit of 10 trips to the line.

The Celtics lead 41-37 after two quarters. This game isn’t going to be displayed in art museums anytime soon. Regardless, if you were to tell me that the Celtics would take a four point lead into the locker room after getting a combined 2 points from Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, I’d happily take the result.

Third Quarter

At 8:23, LeBron picks up his third foul. The devil and his compadres put on his winter coats as a precautionary measure in the unlikely chance that LeBron fouls out.

At the 5:00 mark, the Cavaliers stretch out to a 14-0 run. Eventually, the run is stopped by a Kendrick Perkins free throw. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen continue to conduct their own little masons convention until Pierce finally converts on a left-handed runner in the lane. Mike Brown wants us all to see the Celtics Dancers again so he calls a timeout despite his team’s dominating run.

At 2:12, LeBron picks up his fourth foul and heads to the bench. Pandemonium ensues.

Anderson Varejao draws a hard foul. While at the line, the crowd starts a “Sideshow Bob” chant. It’s funny because it’s true. Sideshow Bob can’t cover Kevin Garnett either.

At the end of the third quarter, in which the teams combined to score 27 hideous points, the Celtics have somehow clung to a 53-52 lead.

Fourth Quarter

James Posey hits a big three early in the quarter. Sam Cassell follows suit on the next possession but the Cavaliers respond with their own 5 point run. For the record, that would’ve been the spot when the Hawks curled up and died. Cassell pushes Cleveland’s veteran poise a bit further, however, with another dagger three, prompting another Cleveland timeout. 7:54 left and Boston leads 64-60. The way things are going in this game, a 4 point lead potentially has some legs.

Sam Cassell, filling in the role of deadly shooter for the erstwhile Ray Allen, has 8 enormous points in the quarter, keeping the Celtics ahead with their thin 3 point lead.

At 2:58, Pierce causes LeBron to travel. Another time out.

Boobie Gibson ties the game with a tough three. The Celtics are going to need to do a better job of covering Boobie. On the other end, it’s more rough and tumble and eventually the Celtics turn it over on a shot-clock violation. Every spot for position, every loose bounce is desperately contested.

After a Cleveland miss, Sam Cassell of all people tears away the rebound and is subsequently knocked to the floor by Ilgauskas. The big Lithuanian knees Cassell in the head for good measure, but Cassell knees the Cavs in the groin by knocking down his free throws.

With under a minute to go, Garnett puts the Celtics ahead with a nifty move to the basket, determined not to settle for the jumper.

After sneaking into the lane, LeBron misses a bunny in traffic and Posey recovers the ball. He’s fouled with 8.5 seconds left on the clock. Posey ices the game by increasing the lead to 4 with his freebies. After a timeout, LeBron misses the desperation three. Rondo comes away with the ball and dribbles the ball to freedom as the game clock ticks away to 00.0.

Great game. Scary game if you’re the Celtics on your own court and you beat the Cavaliers by 4 with LeBron scoring only 12 on 2-18 shooting. One thing is clear in the aftermath. I’ve said it already but the point deserves reiteration. These aren’t the Hawks. The Cavaliers just keep coming. They don’t lower their heads. They don’t get flustered by loud opposing crowds. They appear to pay no attention to big runs by either side. Like the seasoned team of veterans that they are, they just keep coming.

Until Thursday…

By Kevin Henkin

Wow. Crisis averted, and in resounding fashion with a 99-65 Boston win. After dealing with a noisy chorus of doubters and some well-deserved criticism for letting this series go seven games, the Celtics did their answering on the court by delivering an epic beating of the Hawks in the deciding contest. This wasn’t the kind of game that warrants a traditional recap so we’ll zoom right past those formalities and skip ahead to summarize the facts, comment on some key moments and theorize what the game means in terms of looking ahead to the next series.

Facts: In this case, the numbers do a decent job of selling the story of total domination (although the early start to garbage time in the third quarter softened somewhat the severity of those numbers). For the game, the Hawks shot a hideous 29.3%, scored 65 points, turned the ball over 9 more times than Boston and even lost the battle of trips to the stripe, which had been their one consistent and meaningful advantage in every other game in the series.

This was clearly a message game for Boston. The Celtics might have been tempted to ease off the gas pedal and allowed for perhaps a more graceful exit by their young opponents. We’ll never know, however, because such potential benevolence evaporated when Marvin Williams laid a senselessly vicious clothesline on Rajon Rondo as the Celtics’ floor general hung precariously in mid-air.

Indulge me with a quick aside on this play, if you will, because it really is worth some deeper examination.

Are you familiar with the concept of cognitive dissonance? It describes when a person filters information that conflicts with what he or she believes in an effort to ignore that information and reinforce those existing beliefs. In short, it’s a measure that a brain takes to protect its owner from a messed up head in the wake of his own inexplicably bad behavior.

Observe cognitive dissonance in action within Williams’ comments after the game: “I saw it on TV and it did look pretty bad, so I can’t argue that at all. I just want Rondo to know that I would never try to hurt him.” Except he did try to hurt Rondo. At the very least, Williams threw his body at full velocity into Rondo at the moment of his greatest vulnerability, hooked him around the neck, then allowed gravity to take its full course. After the play, and before he was rightfully tossed from the game with a Flagrant 2 foul, Williams looked satisfied with what he had done and made the rounds to celebrate high fives with his teammates. I hope Williams enjoys his warm mental security blanket.

On the play, Hawks Coach Mike Woodson reflected, “It probably did energize them some. But I don’t think that was the difference in the ballgame. We struggled right from the start.”

He’s right on all both counts. The game was already over and the play released the Celtics from any responsibility to make the good sportsman’s gesture to ease up. Following that play, Boston took out the anvil and laid it down upon the heads of the Hawks until the word humiliation crept into the minds of most observers.

The other singular play worth mentioning had no effect on the final score but sent an important message, to both the Hawks and the Cavaliers. The play was a pick-of-a-lifetime set by Kevin Garnett on Zaza Pachulia and the message was Daddy don’t take no mess. Recall that it was Pachulia who had made a concerted effort to earn Garnett’s ire earlier in the series with his nose-to-nose tough guy preenings. One could say that the intense Celtics big man waited patiently in the weeds before delivering his official response. Upon further reflection, the play was just so Garnett. The pick was physically devastating but it was technically clean and thus free from the risk of suspension and it was made only after the game and series were well in hand in Boston’s favor.

Some may say that the Celtics still have something to prove after dropping those three regrettable games on the road. Maybe so, but followers of the green have to feel some of their swagger creeping into their bones after watching their team respond the challenge of a Game 7 that never should have been with such effective resolve and outright determination. If I’m Cleveland, I’m frankly a little scared by what I saw in the series clincher, regardless of the court on which it was played. Until Tuesday…

By Kevin Henkin

The best way to boil down this series between the Hawks and the Celtics is to say that it’s truly been a tale of two cities. In Boston, the Celtics dominate the Hawks in nearly every facet of the game and win by a comfortable margin of about 20 points. In Atlanta, the Celtics defense softens, their bench contributions dry up and the Hawks grow a temporary backbone. In Game 6 in Atlanta, it was the Celtics’ turn to suffer the worst of times as they dropped yet another disappointing road game to the Hawks 103-100.

The contest started out in Boston’s favor with Paul Pierce leading the way on Boston’s offense, scoring 8 of his team’s first 10 points on 4-4 shooting. The Celtics maintained momentum throughout the quarter and came away at the end of it with an impressive 32-20 lead.

That momentum wouldn’t last long because the Hawks would bounce back with a lopsided quarter of their own in the second, outscoring the Celtics with a 29-18 effort. Atlanta’s bench outplayed Boston’s in that frame and throughout the rest of the game, with the most notable contributions coming from ZaZa Pachulia (who looks and sort of plays like Jeff Foster following a two month bender) and Josh Childress. The duo out-hustled the opposition and were a ubiquitous and difference-making presence on the offensive glass all night long. At the half, Boston carried a tenuous lead of 50-49 into the locker room.

The third quarter was tightly contested between the two teams, with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen leading the way on Boston’s offense and Atlanta hanging in despite Josh Smith’s foul trouble and Joe Johnson’s minimal (to that point) contributions. Although Boston played well throughout much of the quarter, their defense faltered at the end as the Hawks hit 9 of their last 12 shots.

As has been the case throughout the series, the Hawks received favorable treatment from the officials, finishing the night with a 47-25 free throw advantage. Despite this, Mike Woodson was given a technical after arguing a rather obvious foul call against his team under the basket. In fact, Woodson was so upset that his novelty mustache nearly peeled off. Later in the quarter, Woodson’s apparently pending make-up call came against Leon Powe. It was Powe who had been knocked to the floor seconds before but was still inexplicably whistled by Bob Delaney despite the fact that the official was nearly thirty feet away and hindered by a view obstructed by half the players on the court. Yes, it’s a petty complaint but in a game that was eventually decided by 3 points, blown calls like this tend to loom large in retrospect.

In the fourth, the teams exchanged multiple lead changes for a time until again, on their home court, it was the Hawks who held their poise and eventually pulled ahead with the lead. Down the stretch, Boston made some uncharacteristic mistakes, including a bad pass from Garnett that led to a turnover and an ill-advised runner by Rondo that forced the issue on offense and led to another empty result on offense. Of note, Doc Rivers removed Rondo from the game following that play, which was at about the four minute mark, and kept him sitting for most of the remainder of the game in favor of Sam Cassell. The move was more about making a point to the young floor general than favoring the veteran Cassell, who submitted another off night on Atlanta’s court, shooting 2-8.

The other major sea change for Boston was the sixth foul call on Paul Pierce halfway through the final frame. It was a ticky-tack call off the ball while Pierce was fighting for position against Pachulia. Of note, 3 of Pierce first 5 calls against him were blocking fouls that could have gone either way. On his way off the court, Pierce earned a tachnical foul call for removing his headband and tossing it to the floor in disgust. Maybe when Pierce, you know, establishes himself as a player in this league, he’ll perhaps enjoy the benefit of the doubt on these types of flimsy calls. Somewhere, I know, Violet Palmer smiles at this weak officiating.

Enter the last two minutes and Joe Johnson connects for yet another big, tightly contested three. After that, the game generally became a battle against the clock for Boston, one that they would lose yet again in Atlanta.

Because the patterns have been somewhat firmly established by now, anyone who has been watching closely has to expect that come Sunday, the Celtics and Hawks will convene again, the Boston Celtics that people have become familiar with this season will show up again in their home whites and appropriately vanquish their inferior opposition. That’s because it’s their turn to have the best of times. Thus far, anyway, the tale has remained true.

By Matt Richardson

Good news from Boston: The line at Tobin Bridge is considerably shorter after the Celtics took care of business in Game 5 by blowing out the Hawks. Some thoughts on the game and the series as we head back to Atlanta for the game tonight.

Thus far, Rajon Rondo is setting an NBA playoff record for “floor burn to foul shot ratio”. Do you realize that he’s only taken a grand total of eight free throws in this series? EIGHT? It seems like he spends 11 minutes per game splayed out on the floor after layup attempts, yet he’s averaging 1.6 FT’s per game. Somebody needs to remind the officials that hip-checking the point guard into the stands on drives to the hoop is a foul, even if the defender doesn’t make contact with his arms. Clearly you wouldn’t expect a team loaded with respected veteran players with the best regular season record in the NBA to get calls like that in the playoffs at home. Note to the officials: You’re all missing a hell of a series.

Memo to Al Horford: enough with the flexing after making a basket. First of all, you’re clearly in decent shape but you’re no Kevin Willis in the pipes department. Every local yokel gym in America has 20 guys with more muscular definition than you. If that is going to be your schtick, you need to bulk up. Second, these things are best done in moderation. You’re an NBA player, you are supposed to make shots. You don’t need to preen after every made basket. Antoine Walker eventually figured out that he should break out the wiggle sparingly, and only when victory was assured. You look like an idiot when you have three flexes in a game that you eventually lose by 25 points. It’s like Chris Canty celebrating a pass defended with the Patriots down by 3 touchdowns, or the time Irving Fryar celebrated his Super Bowl TD against the Bears, which made the score 46-10. I know you’re a rookie so I’ll cut you some slack, but figure it out soon, young fella.

At one point in the second quarter, Doc had the oldest possible lineup in the game short of activating Jo Jo, Danny, Tommy, and Couz. Cassell, P.J. Brown, Ray Allen, and James Posey were all on the floor together, with an average age of 35 years old. I think Doc wanted to balance it out by playing Manny Ramirez, Jr., but he was napping. And kudo’s to Doc for playing every possible player in non-garbage time minutes last night. All those coaches that go with tighter, more defined rotations during the playoffs? Morons. When TNT flashed a picture of Laurence Maroney in the stands, Doc hustled over to see if he’d suit up and run a few off tackle plays.

Editor’s note: I started out the series watching the games on TNT but quickly became aggravated by their inexplicable lack of replays. Stockton: “Rondo drives hard to the basket and HORFORD BLOCKS THE SHOT AND GRABS THE REBOUND. Rondo’s neck appears to be broken and he’s convulsing on the floor. Bibby dribbles left and gets it into Smith and they call a 20 second timeout. I’ll tell you Mike, this has been an exciting series so far. And speaking of exciting series, The Closer returns with all new episodes this summer…”

Is anybody else having trouble distinguishing between Ray Allen and Sam Cassell on the floor? Both have numbers in the 20’s, have the shaved head look, and just bear a striking resemblance to each other in game action. And I’m watching the games on a 42” inch high def LCD TV, with my glasses on even. It’s only when a shot clangs off the rim that I realize that it’s Cassell (just kidding Sam, we love you, 13 pts in 15 minutes baby!).

Editors’s Note: I’ve had that same issue of mistaking Ray Allen for Cassell and vice versa. One of them is going to need to grow some bushy facial hair pronto. For pragmatic purposes, I suggest a hideous Kevin Youkilis mountain man goatee.

Memo to Tony Allen: You are wide open behind the three point line for a reason; the Hawks want you to shoot it because most likely it will be an airball. Unless you’ve spent the last few years slowly building up a resistance to iocane powder, do not play their game. Interestingly, Tony’s 3 pt FG % this season .316 matched his career 3 pt FG % (.316). At least he’s, ummm, consistent.

Editor’s Note: Tony Allen. Ugh. I actually lobbied for him to play considering his sometime ability to defend on the perimeter but I didn’t think he’d actually, you know, shoot the ball. If I’m Doc Rivers and I see TA spotting up from behind the arc, I immediately start yelling at him like I do to my dog when he poops indoors. “TONY, NO! PASS THE BALL! BAD TONY!!” For what it’s worth, I’m officially tired of Tony Allen. I can easily see him in a Timberwolves or a Grizzlies uniform next season.

Josh Childress’ hair is generating an unbearable amount of “Fletch” references. Does Chevy Chase get royalties every time somebody says that Childress is 6’5”, with the afro 6’9”?

Editor’s Note: I watched Fletch roughly 8,000 times in high school. How did I ever miss this joke?

Last night Childress spent a lot of time covering Rondo. Maybe I’m crazy, but I think Mike Woodson has figured out the Mike Bibby can’t stay with him. And yes, most teams find that their 6’8” small forward is the best player to guard the opposing PG. Speaking of Childress, remember Bill Parcells used to label players JAG’s, or “just another guy”? Childress and Marvin Williams to me are prototypical JAG’s. Other than Childress’ hair, I can’t find anything remotely compelling about either one of them. It’s like the old Folgers commercial: We’ve secretly replaced your coffee with Folgers Crystals. See if YOU can tell the difference (this Folgers Crystals reference is copyrighted by Kevin Goyette © 1994). In short, if Woodson secretly replaced Childress and Williams with two guys from the D-League, would it make any difference? And these guys were drafted 6th and 2nd overall, respectively. Now that I’ve said this, watch Williams go off for 37 points and a game winning running hook shot over McHale and Parish.

Anyway, enough with my musings. Here’s to a convincing road win to close out this series on Friday (toasting with a glass of wine just handed to me by Vizzini).

By Kevin Henkin

It’s almost as if those two games in Atlanta never happened.

In Game 5, much like their first two games of the series on their home court, the Boston Celtics submitted a methodical, defense-driven performance that drove the Atlanta Hawks down to the tune of a 110-85 drubbing.

The Hawks offered a couple stretches of defiance, most notably with a 9-0 run that reduced the Celtics’ 15 point lead at the half to 8 in the early part of the third quarter. Otherwise, Boston was able to maintain their steady pressure throughout most of the game, outscoring the Hawks in each of the four quarters.

Boston’s Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all played well, combining for 61 points before earning an early exit from the game in the fourth quarter. Pierce came out strong with 10 points in the first quarter and it was Ray Allen’s shooting in the third quarter that drove the Celtics offense and helped them to maintain a comfortable lead.

The bigger difference from the Atlanta games, however, was the stronger contribution from Boston’s supporting cast. Leon Powe in particular contributed a monster effort, especially in the first half, after a dismal performance in Atlanta. Powe set the tone early on the offensive glass and also drew two key charges, the second of which sent Hawks star Joe Johnson to the bench with early foul trouble and thus stalled the Hawks offense. Sam Cassell also recovered from his poor play on the road by hitting a series of daggers, finishing with an uber-efficient 13 points on 6-8 shooting in under 15 minutes.

There was again a large disparity in freebies allocated, with Atlanta earning 29 trips to the line versus Boston’s 15 (it was 23 to 9 in Atlanta’s favor after three quarters). Even with that benefit, though, Atlanta wasn‘t able to overcome Boston’s strong play on both ends of the court.

Perhaps the defining moment of the game for me was halfway into the first quarter. Garnett had been jawing with Josh Smith after some back-and-forth physical play between the two big men and he goaded Smith into taking an ill-advised 18 foot fall away. After Boston controlled the rebound, Garnett waited for a pick on Smith to step into an open 18 footer of his own, which he sunk. And therein lies the difference between a very talented and athletic young man and a very talented older veteran. In short, the Hawks have some nice players but they’re just not ready for this yet.

Now this curious series heads back to Atlanta for some more drama. This is where it gets interesting again because no one is surprised when the Celtics beat the Hawks at home. The surprise comes when the 66 win team gets whipped by the 37 win team, regardless of the fact that it’s on the road.

It seems clear that the Hawks cannot beat Boston at home so Game 6 isn’t exactly considered a must-win for the Celtics. Regardless, Boston’s older veteran squad would benefit from an early wrap-up on Friday night, especially considering that the Washington Wizards were able to stay alive by beating an uninspired Cavaliers squad in Cleveland. To earn that Game 7 bye, the Celtics will be challenged to find a way to win on the road against a team that clearly takes on a far more dangerous persona on their own home court. By now, nobody expects the Hawks to go gentle into that good night in front of their own fans. It’s back to the trenches and it will have to another war of northern aggression for the Celtics to come away with the victory.

By Kevin Henkin

I confess, I have Phil Jackson on the brain these days.

Maybe it’s because I’m just about to finish reading a book by Jackson called The Last Season: A Team in Search of its Soul. The book is about the Lakers and their journey through their doomed 2003-04 season. If you recall, that was the year that both Karl Malone and Gary Payton jumped on board for their own chance at title glory. Their arrival caused many pundits to laud the Lakers as title favorites. As we now know, of course, the Lakers lost in the Finals that year and it wasn’t even Jackson’s last season at the helm because he returned a mere year later. Although now stale, Jackson’s series of ramblings in that book nonetheless have me thinking quite a bit about the Celtics and their current predicament.

One of the constant themes throughout Jackson’s book is his repeated assertion that the NBA regular season is borderline meaningless. It’s how he justifies allowing his cornerstone big man Shaquille O’Neal to annually show up to camp out of shape and to vacation on the court (and frequently off it) through much of the eighty-two regular season games. Such an attitude may be offensive to basketball purists (including, ironically enough, Jackson’s own Chicago Bulls teams) but there just may be a wise and pragmatic upside to such a belief system. Or, to put it another way, there may be a very real downside to taking abundant success in the regular season too seriously.

Exhibit A: Your own Boston Celtics. If you recall, this was a team that faced its own fair share of doubters entering into their first season together. Then the games began and those doubters were forced back into the shadows, humbled by how wrong they had been proven to be. Sixty-six wins later, the Celtics were considered favorites heading into the playoffs. The first two games of the series against the Hawks showed more of that same success. During those games, one had the sense that the Hawks were cowed by the overwhelming odds that had been laid against them.

Then it happened. The Hawks returned home, unexpectedly became emboldened by their youthful athleticism and their feisty home crowd, and they realized that Boston’s 66 six regular season wins versus their own 37 meant that Boston had earned one more game at home in the best of seven series, and absolutely nothing else besides.

The truth is, the Celtics did take their regular season games more seriously than most of their opponents because their primary players were out to prove something. Consider the fact that all three of the Celtics’ big stars played for very mediocre teams last season. As a result, all three were finding their impressive legacies tarnished. They therefore came into this season seeking redemption and had seemingly been handed it without yet proving a damned thing in the playoffs.

When the Hawks eventually landed their first haymaker on the chin of the Celtics in Game 3, Boston’s players appeared almost stunned, as if to say, “Who do you young upstarts think you are? Don’t you read the papers? We’ve already been unanimously anointed by the media to be the winners of this series. Haven’t you heard? These games are a mere formality. WE WON SIXTY-SIX GAMES!!!”

Now the series stands at two games apiece and the Hawks know exactly what the Golden State Warriors knew last year, namely that playoff games are won in the trenches, not on the pages of a newspaper. That an impressive regular season pedigree means nothing beyond the benefit of that extra game at home. All it takes then is to win one of those vaunted road games and the terrific regular season of your opponent becomes reduced to nothingness or, perhaps more fitting, an embarrassing footnote.

Now here we are heading into Game 5 and the Celtics find themselves, much like the 2004 Lakers, a team in search of its soul. That Lakers team, despite their talented veterans, never found their soul because they never really decided who they were. Was it Kobe’s team or Shaq’s? Were they committed to the Triangle Offense or to Gary Payton’s insistence on being the floor general? Too many questions remained unanswered and they eventually lost despite their lofty expectations.

The Celtics now have some decisions to make, too. Are they really as defense-minded as they’ve established themselves to be during the regular season, because that reputation has suffered considerably over the last two games. Players on defensive-minded teams, after all, don’t stall to watch their own shots fall or complain to officials before racing back to cover their man on the other end. Faced with the challenge of a young, long and athletically superior team, are the Celtics willing to offset that athleticism by banging hard down low and by adding an additional emphasis on rebounding (and that’s wire-to-wire, guys, not in spurts)? Is the coaching staff willing to shift strategies despite what worked so well for them during the regular season? For example, considering that James Posey is the team’s only other consistently effective perimeter defender (and even he looks like he’s lost a step of late), are they finally willing to re-insert Tony Allen back into the rotation?

This truly is gut check time for the New Big Three, especially considering how they’ve largely been abandoned by their supporting cast these past two games. Their respective legacies couldn’t fairly be defined by their losing teams of recent years but all’s fair to throw those stones if they falter now. In short, it’s time for the Celtics to answer those questions in order to find their collective soul, to find out who they really are.

By Shirley Coshatt

The Celtics came out strong to start the game. Atter shooting their way to a 16-3 lead in the first three minutes, it seemed as though Game 3 had indeed served as a wake up call for them. Then, the momentum swung back to the home team, driven in part by the two fouls apiece picked up by Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo. The Celtics’ shooting then went cold. After starting the game at 6-7, they then went 3-10 and allowed the Hawks to go on a 9-0 run. Garnett finally hit a jumper to temprarily stop the bleeding but the kids from Atlanta counterpunched again and tied the game at 24. By the end of the quarter, the Hawks led 29-24.

The Celtics started the second with a lineup of Leon Powe, James Posey, Ray Allen, Big Baby Davis and Sam Cassell. The Hawks built further on their lead, which grew to 37-29 with 8:01 left in the half. Garnett then drove to the hoop and caught ZaZa Pachulia with an elbow. Pachulia took offense and went none-to-nose with the Celtics’ star, throwing in an apparent head butt for good measure. To Garnett’s credit, he backed off and kept his arms to his side, but Sam Cassell and Joe Johnson then became engaged until the officials and coaching stafgs interceded. Garnett was assessed a technical for the elbow he threw and Pachulia, Cassell, and Johnson were all given technicals for their part in the fray. Later, they showed film of Kendrick Perkins and Marvin Williams both stepping one step on the court before being pushed back by the coaches. It is possible that the league may suspend them for that one step but that decision will come later. After the technicals, the Celtics crawled back to within 3 as the score at the half WAs 51-48.

The Celtics started off strong in the third quarter as Garnett quickly converted a layup, giving Boston their first lead since the first quarter, at 55-53 with nine minutes to go in the third. It seemed as though the Celtics had at last righted their ship as they began to play consistent defense again and convert with flow on offense. They ended the third quarter with a 75-65 lead.

It didn’t take long for that hard-fought lead to evaporate. The Hawks started the quarter on an 8-0 run and kept coming at the Celtics until they eventually tied the game at 79 and then took the lead for good at 81-79 with seven minutes left in the third. At that point, The Joe Johnson Show was officially underway. The former Celtic (as you’ve heard roughly 58,000 by now) outright dominated the team that drafted him. If there were any lingering doubts about Johnson as a bona fide star, they disappeared with his fourth quarter performance last night. The Celtics simply had no answer for him on defense and could not match his production at the other end of the floor. In the rare instances when the Hawks missed in the final frame, one of their teammates was usually within position to grab the rebound and start the possession anew. The poise that was absent from the Hawks in the first two games of the series was in full view last night and it was the veteran Celtics squad who looked lost in the woods down the stretch. The final score was Hawks 97 and Celtics 92.

Of note, the officiating in this game was inconsistent and often one-sided, as evidenced by the free throw disparity. The Celtics shot 18 free throws while the Hawks shot 33. Any momentum that the Celtics might have started was quickly stopped by touch fouls while they were being hit and grabbed at the other end.

In fact, the non-call on Josh Smith’s body bump on Rajon Rondo’s breakaway layup could be viewed as the turning point of the first quarter. The play was essentially a four point swing because the Hawks quickly converted on the subsequent five-on-four mismatch with Rondo still knocked to the floor. The play also fired up a tame crowd and the game immediaately took a different tone afterwards. All of that said, the officials didn’t lose this game for the Celtics, who once again failed in their team defense in three of the four quarters.

Overall, they allowed the Hawks to shoot 48% while shooting only 41% themselves. Defense is the key to the playoffs and while the Celtics had the best defense in the regular season, we didn’t see much of it in these two games in Atlanta. Boston was also out-rebounded 37-36 for the game after holding a 9 rebound edge in the first quarter. Rebounding shows effort and desire and it wasn’t there for the Celtics in the fourth quarter especially. Lastly, the Celtics were especially woeful at the stripe, missing 8 of their 18 freebies.

The Celtics must now regroup as they head home with a series tied that they were expected to sweep. Despite the home court advaantage, they must make adjustments and win Game 5, or their dream season may quickly turn into a nightmare.