What the hell is going on right now?  I know Aaron will break down tonight's game but I need to vent.  Why are the Celtics so soft all of the sudden?  Why isn't anyone stepping up in crunch time? 

I'm sick of seeing Doc laugh off bad calls with the referee when he disagrees.  Doc needs to flip out and get thrown out of one of these road games.   Do something to light a fire under the team's collective ass! 

Perk played 19 minutes and only had 2 points (both from the line) and 3 rebounds!  Really Perk?  It's time to man up and play like the beast you're supposed to be!

Leon plays only 6 minutes tonight.  6 friggin minutes?  Why all of the sudden does Doc feel like he needs to get Big Baby involved?  Leon hasn't done anything to lose his minutes so stop messing around with the rotation.  This isn't the preseason!

Sam Cassell is absolutely useless if he isn't knocking down shots.  Tonight he was useless as he went 0-5 from the field.  FREE EDDIE HOUSE!! 

Pierce and Ray need to stop playing like rookies.  These two are driving me crazy!!  Lebron had three fouls on him with about 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.  Lebron finished the game with three fouls!!  Pierce needs to attack Lebron and take the ball to the hoop.  Another foul early in the 3rd would have put Lebron on the bench for a good stretch.  When Lebron went to the bench at the end of the first half it was the only time the C's did anything productive all night long.  Ray needs to stop waiting until the second half to join the action.  Would someone please tell him the first half counts?

KG was solid but I'd love to see him go towards the basket a little more instead of always falling away.  On the road you need to force the referees to make calls and you're not going to do that by taking fade away jumpers.   

I still think the C's will win this series but this road thing is getting on my nerves.  It's strictly mental at this point and the fact that this team can't overcome that is really disappointing.  I'm sick of hearing them in the post-game interview talk about how they just need to come out with more focus and energy for the next game.  Stop talking about it and just get it done! 

Locke Flashback

The episode begins with a girl putting a record on and dancing around her room. It is around the 1960’s and we are finally getting to meet Locke’s mom, Emily. Emily’s mom enters her room and asks if she is going to meet “him” a man she doesn’t approve of. Emily becomes upset and runs out of the house into the rain. As she is running out of the house Emily is hit by a car. When Emily wakes up she is in the hospital she tells the nurse that she is six months pregnant. A little later Emily gives birth to a little boy that she names John. Some time later Emily and her mother are standing next to the incubator. The nurses enter and tell Emily that they are thrilled because John was the youngest premature baby to survive at the hospital. They ask Emily if she is ready to hold her child and Emily becomes upset and then runs out of the hospital room. Emily’s mom then asks the nurse about adoption options. Richard Alpert is outside of the nursery looking into the room.

Years later John is playing backgammon in the living room of his foster/adoptive home. His foster mom enters the room and tells John that someone is there to see him and urges John to be on his best behavior. Richard Alpert enters the room and tells John that he works for a special school and he believes John was special enough to attend. Behind John is a picture that looks eerily like the smoke monster. Richard notices this picture and smiles. Richard takes several things out of his bag and asks John to pick out the things that are his. John picks up a few things and Richard appears disappointed with his choices. Richard gets up quickly, collects his things and tells John’s foster mom that he isn’t ready for the school.

We are then introduced to high school John. John is banging to get out of a locker when a teacher opens the door. When John exits the teacher asks for him to join him in his office. While in the office John’s teacher suggests John attend a science camp with Mittelos Laboratories. John becomes angry and tells the teacher that he likes sports and doesn’t want to go to a chemistry camp. John’s teacher responds by telling John that he is not a jock and will never be a super hero. John responds by saying, “don’t tell me what I can’t do”.

Later we see John getting some physical therapy for his legs. After his session is done a man picks him up and wheels his wheelchair toward the elevator. The man stops at the top of the stairs and John looks nervous. The orderly pushing John is Matthew Abaddon. Matthew suggests that John go on a walkabout to learn about who he really is. John tells Matthew that he cannot go on a walkabout because he can’t walk. Matthew suggests that surviving his 8-story fall is a miracle and John would be surprised with what he can do.

Jungle

Hurley, John and Ben decide to make camp overnight because it is dark. The next morning John wakes up to the sound of someone chopping down wood. He gets up and walks into the jungle until he runs into Horace from the dharma initiative. Horace stops chopping and introduces himself to Locke. He says that he is building a cabin so that he and his wife can get away from the DI every once in a while. He then tells Locke that he has been dead for 12 years. Horace tells John that to find the cabin he needs to find him first. John then wakes up and finds that he was dreaming. He tells Hurley and Ben that they need to leave. Locke walks them to the DI grave and jumps in to find Horace’s body. He finally finds Horace and a map of where the cabin is in his front pocket. John offers to let Hurley return to the beach but he declines.

They head off and find the cabin easily. Hurley and Ben decide to wait outside for John. John enters the cabin and hears a rocking chair. He moves closer and Christian Sheppard is sitting, rocking in the chair. Christian tells John that he found the cabin because he was chosen. We then see Claire sitting across the room. Christian and Claire convince John not to tell anyone that Claire is at the cabin. John then asks Christian how to save the island and Christian smiles.

Freighter

On the freighter Michael admits that he told Ben who Keamy was. After Keamy beats the crap out of him for a while he pulls out a gun and tries to shoot him. The gun doesn’t fire and Michael therefore doesn’t die. Someone on the boat helps Desmond and Sayid by getting them a boat to return to the island. Desmond decides to stay and Sayid heads off to save his friends. Keamy gets knife happy and slits the doctors throat on the boat to make a point that he will kill the crew if they don’t help him get back to the island. By doing this he convinces the pilot to return to the island, even though it is against the pilots better judgment.

Beach

Juliet becomes upset with Jack who is not resting after his surgery. As they are speaking they hear a helicopter. A parachute falls from the helicopter and there is something inside beeping. Jack pulls it out and finds another satellite phone. The phone shows that the helicopter is moving away from them. Jack assumes the helicopter wants them to follow it.

Questions and Comments

- Why doesn’t Richard Alpert age?

- John has been followed by the “island” his entire life. Has everyone else been followed in some fashion or another?

- John tells his teacher “don’t tell me what I can’t do”. He has said this before when he was attempting to go on the walkabout (pre-flight) and was told that he could not because he was paralyzed.

- Why was Claire willing to leave Aaron and stay in the cabin with Christian?

- Why don’t Claire and Christian want other people to know that Claire is at the cabin?

- Why did Frank give the losties a satellite phone?

- Why is Keamy so gung ho about killing people on the island? Why are some people on the freighter nice and Keamy so cut throat?

- So is the freighter ahead of time on island or behind time?

I definitely had goosebumps watching this for the first time last night.  ABC and ESPN are planning to show additional pieces of the conversation as the Celtics continue through the playoffs and I can't wait to see more!

By the way...no disrespect to Ted Williams, but can Bill Russell get a tunnel or bridge or something named after him around here.  We certainly know that decision wasn't based on the number of championships brought to the city!

Other than that, tonight was a bloody disaster.  Boston came out flat... once again.  The bench wasn't able to rescue anybody this time.   We were porous on defense, embarrassing on offense and I have no confidence that we'll be able to make any road game even competitive from here on out.  Thank God for home court advantage!

The Celtics came out in the first, missed a couple of easy baskets, and Cleveland immediately grabbed the momentum-reigns and never looked back.  After the first quarter, Boston was down 32-13 -- we let the Cavs shoot 65% from the field, and at one point the score was 16-6, with Ben Wallace having as many points as the entire Celtics team.  It was that kind of night.  Boston made a couple runs to cut down the lead, rattling off 10 straight points in the 2nd and 7 straight in the 3rd, but both times we let Cleveland regain control with some easy 3 point shots.   

We're not going to dwell too much on tonight's performance.  With the exception of Garnett and Posey, the entire Celtics team was sub-par.  To paint a picture of the type of night it was, Boston didn't attempt a single free-throw until there was 3 and 1/2 minutes left in the first half.  To close out the 2nd quarter, Perkins airballed a 7 foot jumpshot, and in the third he actually attempted a 15 foot turnaround jumper while being covered by Ben Wallace (look at the picture if you think I'm making that up).  Delonte West played "Rover", wreaking absolute havoc on our offense.  Rondo had zero confidence in his jumpshot in the first half (he knocked down a couple in the second), effectively allowing Cleveland to ignore him.  Cleveland shot 54% from the field, 53% from downtown, dished 29 assists and only committed 10 turnovers.  West dominated Rondo, scoring 21 points and 7 assists (on 7-11 shooting with 4 3's), to Rondo's 7 points (on 3-10), 1 rebound and 0 assists.  

BOXSCORE 

MVC: We're giving co-MVC tonight to KG and Posey.  The only two Celtics who came to play.  Garnett finished with 17 points (8-13 shooting) with 9 boards.  Posey had 11 points with 3 3's.  Neither was spectacular, but they hurt Boston the least... 

In keeping with my post-loss venting sessions, there are a couple things I want to touch on.  First, the officiating was atrocious tonight.  Now, I'm in no way blaming the loss on the refs.  We blew it by playing terrible basketball, but were this a close game, my blame may lie on the striped shirts.   I'm not sure what our guys  need to do to get to the foul line, but they're getting roughed up out there and not getting any calls.  Second, it looks like we're going to get at least one Oscar-worthy performance from LeBron per game.  Tonight it happened on a flagrant foul on Posey.  LeBron was driving, Posey reached out to stop him -- obviously going for the foul, but he did go for the ball -- LeBron happened to drop his head and shoulders (as he usually does) and Posey grazed LeBron's neck with his hand.  The way LeBron dropped and rolled on the ground clutching his neck, you'd think he just had a run-in with the Boston Strangler.  Of course, once he made his point he jumped to his feet as if nothing had happened.  His act (and Varejao's just as bad) is getting old, quick.  The man is 6'9" 250.  Act like it.  My favorite part about all the LeBron acting is his new Vitamin Water commercial where he plays the defense attorney.  At the end of the commercial, as he proves his case, he says, "Besides, dude's fakin'".  Yes you are, LeBron.  Yes you are.

Lastly, we're going to dispense some amateur, outsider advice for Doc.  Number one, there's no reason that ice-cold Ray Allen should have 1 fewer field goal attempt than KG -- more importantly, there's no reason that KG should've only taken 13 shots.  Tonight he was all we had -- get him the ball.  Second, try throwing Eddie House out there.  If the Cavs are going to let Delonte West roam around and disrupt our offense, replace Rondo with House and let's make them pay.  There's a reason that we have Eddie -- for situations exactly like this.  That'll keep West where he should be (and where we know where he is) and let the rest of the offense function as it should.  Third, let's mix it up for Game 4.  We haven't won on the road yet -- let's try something else.  Sit Perk and start Posey -- or bring Ray off the bench.  Our defense is clearly better when Posey is on the court.  The only downside is matching up with Big Z, but Zydrunas is killing us no matter what we do, we don't have the height to deal properly with him.  At least with Posey out there we can cut down on the perimeter attacks and ensure LeBron is kept in check. 

That's all I have for you tonight.  I'm still confident we're moving on to the next round -- mainly because we kept LeBron in check for 3 straight games now (he was 5-16 tonight if you were wondering) and we seem invincible at home -- but it sure would be nice to win an away game. 

Thanks to Redsarmy

We can chalk the Celtics decisive victory up to two very important factors: Defense (of course) and our bench; mainly, Posey, Powe, Cassell and PJ. 

The game began like a nightmare.  Boston's offense mimicked the complete lack of flow from game 1.  The Cavs were triple-teaming KG on the block, not allowing him any good looks.  Not only was Ray Allen missing his field goals, he was missing free-throws as well.  Worst of all, the Cavs head coach Mike Brown, decided (intelligently) that he was going to let Big Z anchor the Cleveland offense.   Zydrunas scored the Cavs first 8 points (not missing a shot), Cleveland jumped out to a 12 point lead and it had all the makings for a looooong night in Beantown.

That's when Doc went to his bench, and the tide turned for good.   Posey did all the same, great Posey things he did in Game 1, Cassell kept his finger off the trigger and focused on getting his team good looks and hitting his open shots, Powe was a monster under the rim, and even PJ Brown got in on the action.  With the energy group on the floor, Boston quickly turned the deficit upside down, putting the Celtics on top (where they'd stay for good).  At the end of the half, the bench had outscored our starters 26-18 -- Powe had 9 points (and 6 boards), and we went into the half up 44-36.

Quarter number 3 began with a bang.  Ray Allen scored the first basket of the half on an easy lay-in (off an offensive rebound from a previous missed shot attempt), and Boston quickly rattled off 6 straight points (including 2 more from Ray on a pair of free-throws) before Mike Brown called a timeout.   It didn't matter.  Boston didn't lose an ounce of momentum and they completely steamrolled the Cavs in the quarter.  Not sure what happened to Ray Allen during halftime, but he came out playing masterfully.  Not only did he score 11 points in the 3rd (after being held scoreless for 72 minutes of basketball), but he orchestrated quite a few easy baskets for Boston.  Doc finally used Ray appropriately, getting him the ball off of screens.  Cleveland would double-team Ray as soon as he received the pass, and he'd hit the open Celtic.  Cleveland had no counter.

Boston's defense was astounding once again.  The Cavs began the game hitting 11 of their first 22 shots.  Out of their next 22, they only made 3.  One of the announcer made the comment that, "It is almost like there are 6 Celtics on the floor".  Not only did they keep LeBron in check, but nobody in red could establish anything.  Boston snatched 11 steals and held Cleveland to just 36% from the field.  However, the best defense was saved for James.   After shooting 2-18 on Tuesday, James only converted 6 of 24 tonight (including 4 bricks from downtown).   He finished with 21 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 7 more turnovers (to add to the 10 from game 1).   While the Cavs did a better job of getting LeBron in a position to score, the Celtics defense wouldn't allow it.  Hustling back on transition, what looked like easy baskets by James turned into missed layups (or no shot attempts at all) as LeBron was met by 2, 3 or sometimes 4 white jerseys between him and the rim.  I could gush about the Celtics defense for 10,000 words and I wouldn't be doing them enough justice.

MVC: Paul Pierce.  In the first quarter, Paul was the only Celtic doing anything productive on offense (scoring 7 points, after his anemic game 1).  He finished the game with 19 points (on 7-13 shooting), with 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals (and no turnovers).  Despite leaving the game for a bit with an injured thumb (he appeared to bend his thumbnail back at the start of the 2nd), his D on LeBron was top-notch again.  He's not intimidated by LeBron, and more importantly, he's up to the challenge of guarding him.  Congrats to Paul as well for winning All-NBA 3rd team honors (Garnett made 1st team, not surprisingly), although Pierce definitely should've been 2nd team of Dirk.  Just a great day for Paul Pierce and his fans.

A couple things to touch on before we sign off here.  First, LeBron James' crying, overreacting and over-acting on the court.  Just 2 days ago I got into a debate on the CelticsBlog forums about LeBron and whether he's a "crybaby".  Oddly enough, I took the stance of defending King James.  The discussion started over his over-acting on the flagrant that was called on Cassell during game 1.  My stance was that his reaction (while absurd) worked, he got the flagrant call and the opportunity to get some extra points out of the situation.  Did I necessarily agree with it?  No, but I didn't think we should attack LeBron over it, as he was just trying to put his team in the best position to win.  My stance was, and still is, that it is the ref's faults for being so easily swayed and the NBA's fault for doing nothing about all the flopping, whining and acting on the court.  Well, tonight LBJ took it to a whole other level.  First, he got a call on Posey when they both went for the ball along the sideline and LeBron literally propelled himself backwards as if he was shoved (even though Posey didn't touch him).  Worse, the ref was RIGHT THERE.  Incredible.  Second, and far worse in my opinion, was the call THAT HE GOT when he was driving down the middle and Pierce grabbed him, preventing him from attempting the layup.  LeBron wanted it to be a shooting foul -- it was called a blocking foul.  It truly could've gone either way.  LeBron had not, by any means, began an attempt to shoot or to get into a position to shoot.  But, it was obvious that that was what he was going to do once he took the next step... Pierce, wisely, stopped him before he got the chance.  Anyway, LeBron spend the next 5 minutes complaining directly to the refs.  He got in their huddle while the refs were debating, and he carried his whining all the way through while he inbounded the ball -- he literally stood there while he held the ball to inbound it, yelling at the ref.  Is there another player in the league who can show up an official for MINUTES in a row and not get a technical?  I still can't blame it on LeBron, but the league needs to do something about this.  It really turns off the casual fan and makes the league look tainted.

 Alright, I'll end my anti-acting rant now.  Boston played amazing defense, once again.  They kept LeBron in check, and minus the opening minutes outburst by Zydrunas, didn't let another Cav get anything going.  They had more energy, more desire, and the deeper team.  Our bench bailed us out, KG owned the paint (partially due to the fact that Ben Wallace left early with "dizziness" and didn't return), and KG's wingmen stepped it up.  I'd like to see if Boston can keep this momentum up and win a game on the road.

Lastly, let's calm down with the chants of "over-rated" and thinking that we somehow own LeBron.  I brought this up briefly after Tuesday's game, but last season Detroit had similar success at home against LeBron in the first two games... only to see him go off and single-handedly win 4 straight games (and the series).  He's still an unstoppable player, and although we've been able to keep him in check for 8 quarters, we can't realistically expect to keep it up.  LeBron is going to get his points... if he has to hog the ball to do it, he's going to.  My concern is how we'll match points with him down the stretch on the road if we get into a dogfight.  Up 2-0 feels good... but it felt great against the Hawks and we know how that turned out.  Beyond all that, though, just a great game by the entire Celtics team and coaching staff. 

Oh, and during the pre-game show Stephen A. Smith was talking about Tyson Chandler and said that he's, "long, lanky, and has long arms".   Just thought you'd enjoy that.  GO CELTICS!!!

Sometimes looking at the video montage the Celtics put together for pregame introductions "makes you feel like you drank 10 Red Bulls."

Round 2 of the playoffs brings old friend Delonte West back to town with the Cavs as he faces the team that he began his career with - the Boston Celtics. 

Delonte was shipped to Seattle in the Ray Allen trade on draft day last year.  He's now the starting point guard for Cleveland after being traded for a second time during the season.

If you're a fan of Delonte or even if you know nothing about him, you need to check out this video made during his time in Boston.  Words really can't even begin to decribe it.  Let's just say...Delonte is one unique cat!

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish...

OK, enough LeBron talk... the last thing I want to do is get that man all riled up.  On the flip-side, Boston's main cog, Kevin Garnett, was absolutely dominating.  He finished with 28 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.  He made two clutch baskets down the stretch to help seal the win.  He busted out of the gates, scoring 12 first quarter points, attempting to set the tone for Boston.  In the first half, he was an offensive juggernaut down-low.  Cleveland (like most other teams) couldn't handle him in the post.  Unfortunately, in the second half he reverted back to hanging out by the 3 point line... although one of his big, down-the-stretch shots was a 20+ foot jumper, so I'm not complaining.

Rondo was excellent at home, once again, notching 15 points (5-8 FG), 5 rebounds and 6 assists.  Rondo came out just as hot as KG and rattled off 8 of Boston's first 12 points.  He and KG were literally the only Celtics contributing on offense for the majority of the first half.   At one point, KG had 16 points, Rondo had 10, and the rest of the team had 9 combined.  The confidence and swagger were back for Rondo... now only if he can keep that up on the road.

Pierce and Ray Allen were a completely different story.  Ray was held scoreless for the first time in 11 years,  shooting 0-4, committing 4 turnovers and didn't get to the free-throw line once.  Pierce struggled even more, putting up a LeBron-like 2-14, with 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 turnovers.  He also didn't attempt a single free-throw.  You can't complain about a win, and Pierce was lights-out guarding LeBron, but these two need to come with something more in Game 2.  Perkins, on the other hand, picked up right where he left off in Game 7.  12 boards, 2 blocked shots and 7 points. 

Off the bench, Posey was tremendous and Sam Cassell (yes, THAT Sam Cassell) came up huge.  Posey did all the great James Posey things we've seen him do all year long... except he did them to LeBron.  Pierce go into early foul trouble and Posey stepped in and put the clamp on James.  Posey logged 25 minutes of PT, with nearly all of it guarding LeBron -- and you can attribute the King's terrible play on the defensive stylings of Posey.  He never let LeBron get into any kind of rhythm, and if you want the key statistic for the game, just look at Posey's +/-: 17+, the next highest player was KG with +7.  Posey was lights-out, and he had himself a pretty impressive offensive game as well, with 8 points and 2 three's.

BOXSCORE 

Cassell on the other hand, still has a bit of that gunslinger mentality, but tonight his shots fell.  He hoisted 8 shots in his 18 minutes, but made half (including 2 three's), and had 9 huge points in the 4th quarter alone.  As much as it terrifies me to admit, we may need Sam on the court late in games to hit some big shots for us. 

On the other side of the ball, Zydrunas had his way with us once more -- 22 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.  Ben Wallace was a non-factor, Delonte had a solid game but only managed 4 points on 2-10 shooting, and Wally hit some open shots, made a couple hustle plays, but came away with only 13 points with two 3's. 

MVC: Kevin Garnett.  He played 39 minutes of inspired basketball, dominating on both ends of the court.  Finally, FINALLY, a Celtic told the rest of the team to get on his back.  He made big shots at the end of the game,  locked down on D, and  didn't let his team lose tonight.

Lastly, the low score can be attributed to some sloppy play and some missed open shots, but both  teams played stellar defense.  This series is going to be a dogfight.  Doc kept screaming all night that we were playing into Cleveland's hands by slowing the ball down and getting stuck in a half-court basketball game.  Luckily, our defense was able to keep LeBron in check and come up with just enough baskets to win.  Next time, I fear we won't be that lucky.  LeBron can't be shutdown forever, but neither can Ray and Paul.  I am ready for Game 2.