Celtics (W) vs Rockets (L): 103-92 Blountiful!?

This one's going to be short folks because I came pretty close to a DNP-CD tonight. That's Did Not Publish-Celticsblog Decision, due to the annual sinus infection that accompanies the coming of spring.(this is what I get for not drinking hard on St. Patricks Day. Alcohol kills everything, right?) However, due to the importance of the game, I had to suck it up enough to provide the Celtic Nation with something.

Here's what you need to know:

The Celtics never trailed in this one and led by as many as 20pts.

While part of the Celtics success tonight can be hung around the fact that most of the Rockets couldn't hit sand if they fell off a camel, the C's also played some decent defense tonight. Lot's of hands deflecting passes in the lanes, poking balls loose, marking thier man relatively closely, etc. I won't overblow it, but it was an improvement overall, IMO.

Mark Blount showed up tonight, after Raef got into foul trouble. Blount was the benefactor of the C's driving and kicking out to him for his trademark baseline 15fter. He played some defense tonight and did a nice job, not only staying out of foul trouble, but also affecting some shots on the interior.

The C's moved the ball well, changed up tempo and attack, working both inside and out. The guards brought the attack to the Rockets and guys like 'Toine and Al Jefferson did thier fair share of post work as well. The C's also benefitted from Yao Ming getting into foul trouble in the 3rd, when he collected 3 fouls within a 3 minute stretch.

PP and Sura both got tossed with less than a minute left in the game. Not sure exactly what was said, but the two had to be seperated more than once. No punches were thrown.

This was one of those nights where one team showed up ready to play and the other pretty much didn't. Both teams were on hot streaks and it was inevitable that one team had to cool off. Them's the breaks and I'm glad it wasn't us.

Player of the game: Mark Blount (god help us all)

22pts/6 rbs/2 blocks in 27 mins on 11-16 shooting. And he actually played some defense too.