I once read an interview with Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins about their hit "Today." It is an upbeat song with a catchy hook repeating "Today is the greatest day I've ever known." He explained that he was at a low point of depression and writers block when he was inspired to write that. The message he was trying to get across is "it can't get any worse than this, so today is the greatest day - there's nowhere to go but up." Yup, that's kind of how I feel about game 3.
We can't play any worse than we did in the first quarter. Wally, Delonte, Big Ben, and Joe Smith can't collectively hit on all cylinders like that again. Rondo can't play that bad again. The Celtics can't keep losing on the road.
So today is the greatest day, because we won't see that kind of stink bomb of a game again (at least this series). They got it out of their system. Now the better team can rise to the occasion and win on the road, silencing critics (for the moment).
In a wierd way, I am pretty confident going into game 4. Sometimes this team plays better when they feel like there's a challenge ahead of them. Maybe after winning two games, they once again thought they could let up just a bit. You'd think that they would have learned from the first round, but I think this is a subconcious thing. If we could just get someone to hypnotize these guys and convince them they are preparing for that Texas Triangle series all over again, maybe we'd never seem them lose another game on the road.
Still, they got their wakeup call in game 3. They have to be tired of answering questions about why they can't play as well on the road. Now they can use that motivation to go out there and play like the team that they are.
The road to the title inevitably has its ups and downs. Right now we're feeling a little down after an embarassing loss. It's a great day to turn that around.