Spring Is In The Air

I think we are all a little giddy today!

Watching the game yesterday was pure joy! Finally we saw celtics basketball and celtics DEFENSE again!

When we play like that we can beat anybody!

Personally (and possibly for everyone else, media, etc.) I assumed the Celtics weren’t showing up to the playoffs. They’d been mentally beaten down this season due to injuries and whatnot along with the notion that KG will not be walking through that door being presented to them just before the playoffs. They were a mentally depleted team and the Bulls were capitalizing on this., which to me explained the first two games. The Bulls were very hot and the Celtics were cold. Then, this game happened.

I’m not sure what the Celtics did prior to this game, but to me this was the Celtics saying to themselves ‘Wait a minute, we’re still the champs and we’re a much better team than the Bulls’. What should be scary to the Bulls is that the Celtics are now playing their game. I’m sure they were confident in knowing that the Celtics were off their game and felt that they could aggressively attack them possibly advancing to the next round. Unfortunately for them, Stella got her groove back and if the Celtics continue to play at this level they could not only could advance to the next round but to the ECF. Again, that’s if they continue playing like this.

What differentiates the Celtics from the Bulls is the ability to handle pressure. The Bulls had every right to be confident coming into this game. They were playing great and could have won two games in Boston. Now, all that they had to do what head to their home court and use the energy from the crowd to prevail. Seems like an easy task? Absolutely not. Talk about the worst time to underestimate a team and the wrong team to underestimate. Which is why the Celtics performed better under the pressure – losing a game on their home court and now being considered the underdog by many. How did they respond? I think you all saw the score of last nights game.

Nice job by Simmons with the reverse jinx.

For all us diehards it was pretty predictable that the first offensive set was going to Pierce and pretty predictable that Pierce was going to be large in their arena. So no surprise there.

Were the Bulls bad or were we good? It was our hands. Our guys had hands in the passing lanes all game and they did the fundamentals well, like boxing out. Even, I have to admit, Mikki.

I was not for Scal coming back this year but he looked fine. Glad to be wrong on that one if he can go all way.

I’m trying to not get too excited about Rondo, but, man, that kid is good. The no look bounce pass to Big Baby was a beauty. Baby’s block on Noah was pretty athletic as was his steal and dunk vs Gordon.

A lot to like in this game.

Business as usual. The Celtics are professionals. I am still proud to be a fan. This is still a special group of people

Rondo doesn’t for sure and Ray has incredible endurance. Perk seems to be able to do 38 minutes very hard and not wear down. PP does get effected often over 38. The bottom line is we really only need maybe 8 minutes of rest between Rajon and Ray, 16 or so between baby and Perk, and maybe 6 for PP in a close game. We have the horses to do this with marbury, eddie, scal now and maybe Tony for a few rotations. Its pretty tough to look at this and think if they could handle it mentally, if you could roll out KG for 12-16 minutes we might be able to do this. Even a KG just swarming around on d and resting Perk and Baby. I wish we knew how risky that is and if its possible he’d play

your team playing the way it can and destroying it’s opponent. My heart just warmed when they finally put the wall up about 10 – 15 feet away from the basked. “No ones coming in here.!” I was glad to see they were able to put up this kind of effort without KG.

Doc’s rotations were great. TA played. Walker played. Pruitt played. Scals played. The Truth is healthy and not indifferent. Everyone got lots of rest. BUTTT. Is anyone concerned about concussions. Did anyone notice Perk and KG bumping heads on the bench? They were reacting to a play by one of their teammates and seemed to accidentally bump heads. They were both laughing. Could the laughter be due to both suffering concussions and acting irrationally for the moment. It was funny in a relaxing game.

Also, the Comcast pre-game show had an interview that Danny did last nite with another channel (the other channel let Comcast use it). Danny was smiling and laughing and looked great which is good news.

is genuinely happy this morning is clear—For the first time in the 2009 NBA playoffs the Boston Celtics played Celtics basketball. What they were playing in the first two games remains unclear. But whatever it was, it was making me a bruins fan in a big hurry.

The team that showed up last night can actually fulfill expectations of continuing to compete each round until eliminated. The team that showed up the f irst two games looked like it was ready to roll over and play dead.

The question that remains is this:

If we get to the ECFs and KG doesn’t improve, will he still play? It seems to me that KG would have played in the first round if asked. But Doc said no in part to save him for the ECFs and maybe the Finals. I’ll be curious to see how this plays out.

If they played like they did last night over 7 games, could they in fact defeat clev or la?

I’m dubious.

If the Celts go in Sunday and then back to Boston & play their game, they’ll be fine.

They got lured into the Bulls frantic style in Games 1 & 2. Pierce and Allen don’t have to play like that to win.

You can’t deny the Bulls young talent though. If Thomas can grow his game, he & Rose will be a force for years to come.

it’s good to be confident as long as we stay focused. the Bulls won’t miss that many shots and we may not shoot as high a fg %. The only thing we can control is how hard we play defensively. If we play hard and the refs don’t take the game away from us we should be there at the end of the game in a position to win. I htink game 4 will be close until the 4th when one team wil make a run and take it

Bulls are on the break and Rose- like a good point guard should- decides to go to a shooter in the corner who is spotting up for the three. Great idea only Rondo who is flying back on D has the same thought and he intercepts the ball halfway and takes it back the other way. It was a great play not only because of Rondo’s physical ability ( speed and jumping) to make the play but more importantly because of the thought process involved in making that steal. Rondo KNEW where Rose as going an