A big thank you goes out to the fans that started the "Rondo's better" chant last night. Cheers to Red's Army and the other blogs that came up with the idea. Well done Celtics fans. Well done.
- For those that missed it, Bibby didn't stop talking before the game. He kept taking shots, now at Perkins, saying "I don't know where he all of a sudden got this tough streak from." He isn't the first to call out Perkins for being a louder talker now that the team is good. But wait a minute, shouldn't you talk trash only when you know you can back it up? What sense would it be talking trash when your team is totally outclassed and losing every night? What idiot would keep talking smack in that situation? Oh, that's right. Just you Bibby.
- What concerns me much more than Bibby's mouth is the elbows and shoulders of the young Hawks players. Perhaps mistaking cheap shots with "physical play," we saw a few plays that got Garnett and others a little hot under the collar. Not to mention giving Pierce a stinger. Atlanta knows they have no shot in traditional terms, so they are going to grasp for anything they can to gain even a little edge. Which is why I can't fathom why Doc would leave the starters in well past the 4:00 mark when the team is up by 20. KG was getting pretty fired up after that Horford elbow. I know he plays with passion, but you can't let some kid bait guys into something that might get them suspended.
- The only other thing I'm concerned about is the Celtics preparation for the next round. How long has it been since we've had a good game against a quality opponent? Two weeks ago we lost to the Wizards and it has been all Knicks and Nets and Hawks since then. What good is that? If your varsity team scrimmages against the JV team too much, they won't be ready to play the other varsity teams. As it is we haven't seen anything near the Celtics' A-game yet. They haven't been clicking on all cylidars in part because they haven't had to. Here's hoping they can sharpen their focus in the next round. They can't take LeBron lighly or he'll light it up.