Ole- the matadors [ Celtics ] rout the bulls.

When our Cs take to the arena and play an inspired game- total team effort on the part of the starting five- as they have done during this latest winning streak, there are very few teams who will be able to keep up with them.

This latest was a rout in every sense of the word, [ in spite of some terrible 3 pt. shooting [ 1-9 ], and a 12 shot differential in free throws against us ], which included a last second 3 point garbage shot to close the gap to only 12 pts. for the final score.

Rondo has been setting a frenetic pace in dishing out the assists, in spite of his playing with injuries, albeit non-major ones [ we all keep our fingers crossed whenever we see him hit the deck, as he has become the glue that binds this team in a cohesive way ] and has a killer instinct when going in for his patented lay-up to keep the opposition defense honest.

Garnett has been playing with reckless abandon this season, and apart from his now being completely healed- finally, my impression is that he's thoroughly enjoying the experience of playing with Shaq, which rubs off in other areas. He's back to being the great defensive prescence that has been his mainstay for so many years, and with the knowledge that any one of his team mates is able to be a scoring threat at any time, that pressure has been removed from him. Double team him today at your peril.

Allen remains an incredible player, who continues to run rings around those guarding him, who are at least a decade younger, and while he has the occasional off shooting night, he can almost always be counted on to come up with a key shot at the right time, in order to help carry the team to victory, while his defence has improved tremendously over the past seasons.

Pierce is ' The Truth ' and our captain continues to manage to take over games when he has to, which happens with less frequency than in past seasons, as this is one team that plays as a unit.

Shaq has been a revelation to all the nay sayers who had him washed up, but at 38 and counting, he has been showing everyone why he's one of the greatest to ever play this game. ' He's got game '

Owing to injuries- O'Neal, West, Perkins- the second unit is still struggling and have not been playing to their full potential, but have still been managing to just about hold their own.

I'm looking forward to the time when all, hopefully, will be healthy, as that will be one unstoppable team. The Celtics are on the move to banner no. 18.

Lygafe

Lionel Gaffen / Fotomix