Now that my heart rate's finally back to normal, I think it's time to write an ode to Eddie House.

Let's just talk about one play. That steal at the end of the game. Sean Grande was going for "House stole the ball!" along the lines of the immortal Havlicek play, but for me, the moment it brought back was different. I'm not old enough for the Havlicek stole the ball play, nor do I give this play the same gravity (that was the conference finals on the way to a ring, this the semifinals). The voice that played in my head was not Johnny Most but Mike Gorman's:

Pass deflected by Eddie House! Picked off by Pierce... Ray Allen for the game!

The Charlotte game earlier this year and this one means that Eddie House has now given us two victories with "clutch steals". He has really given us all we can ask for from him, especially after being relegated to the bench for the majority of the playoffs.

Here's to you Eddie House. And for the record, we can beat Detroit without Sam Cassell (in fact we've done it twice) so here's hoping you're our energetic, sharp shooting backup PG for many series to come.

Now that the alien that replaced Rajon Rondo in Games 2 and 3 has been banished back to Zuluthx, I think it's time for a healthy dose of calm down.

For all the people who said they would rather have Wally than Ray Allen or Delonte over Rondo, that's just madness. And this isn't even Sparta.

How about this for perspective? Remember that historical 66 game win season we just had? In that record breaking regular season, the Celtics ALSO lost both away games in Cleveland when they were playing at their best and their opponents didn't have playoff level intensity and crowds. We've had a hard time winning over there ALL YEAR. Please think about that when you use these two games to decide whether or not Jesus still has game, or Rondo should have been packed off to Seattle. Technically, the Cs now have a better winning percentage over the Cavs in the post season (3-2) than in the regular season (2-2). The Cavs have been tough for us to beat all year. It's not that our playoff game is somehow infinitely worse.

Seriously, I seem to remember that season ending pretty well for us. We supported all of them through those two losses, why not now?

Hey you guys, remember when Evil itself came to Boston and complained (ironically) about the negativity here? Don't feed him, please.

Honestly, Paul and Ray had terrible, terrible shooting nights. But to immediately call for their retirements/heads (especially Ray's) is a bit far, no? So they had an off night. So did LBJ. You don't see large numbers of Cleveland fans saying LeBron James has hit a wall or something because of his performance tonight, do you? They see it as an aberration, and we should too. I mean, remember when both of them had that terrible shooting night in the first Phoenix game, and people were saying Ray was too old, or whatnot? I seem to remember that being an aberration and both of them recovering quite well. Similarly, I think the fact that this is the first time Ray's been scoreless since his rookie year actually bodes WELL for us, since you're pretty much guaranteed he'll get better. But hey guys, we've seen this before? Somewhere toward the middle of the season, Celtics fans on forums everywhere were calling for us to trade Ray Allen. And lo and behold, he got over his slump. Didn't we learn from that? No? Oh well.

I would also point out that Ray was 0-4. He only took four shots. Who knows, if he had taken 14 like Paul, he might be 10-14

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On a totally unrelated note, if LA wins its game tomorrow, I reserve the right to retrospectively laugh at all the people who said this was the most competitive Western Conference EVER. Seriously, are we going to see all sweeps? If I could change my playoff predictions, all my Eastern series game # predictions would be longer and my Western ones shorter.

So... What just happened? Celtics win game 1 76-72... LeBron goes 2-18, Jesus goes scoreless, Rondo plays least minutes of all the starters even though he and KG were the only ones keeping the C's in the game...Wha? Why? What?

Can someone explain how that game just happened? The planets must be aligned backwards or something. Will game 2 be more normal? Do we want normal if we get 2-18 from LeBron?

On the note of Rondo related rants (you'll notice I have a lot of those):

Why doesn't Doc ever play Sam WITH Rondo? Sam is basically a SG here (he's had no assists for the last 2 games, at least), yet he eats into Rondo's minutes when it's clear that Rondo's having a good night and he's not. On that note, why can't Eddie House get minutes at EITHER the 2 or the 1?

And so is RayRay! If you go to NBA.com's video section, you'll notice that Rondo's dunk over Maxiell is listed as THE #1 dunk of the ENTIRE SEASON, placing it above Lebron and Kobe's respective highlights.

Right after that, you'll notice that Ray Allen's buzzer beater at Charlotte is the #1 Play of the Season. Man. Great moments.

Also, there's an 'official' Rondo highlight film up summarizing his claim to the most improved player award. It's awesome, in a mighty sort of way.

You know your team has been out of the playoffs too long when...

This playoff run is going to give Celtics fans collective heart attacks, just as much before it as during. For instance, I read some random fan's entirely conjured scenario about how the Hawks could upset (not... saying... anymore...*has fingers crossed behind back) and it almost caused me to keel over during work.

Interestingly, this particular scenario involved getting Rajon riled up enough to do something stupid. I don't know what surprises me more, that anyone could provoke Rondo to lose his cool THAT badly, or that people other than me think that we can't win without him. Play smart Rajon!

It's official, Rajon Rondo pwns the Knicks. All the time. He was 11 of 15 tonight. They should have just let him take over instead of letting Sam Cassell miss half a dozen shots (7 of 18 playing SG most of the time), but I won't complain since Cassell hit a few nice ones down the stretch too. But in the fourth quarter I wanted the game plan to be all Rondo, all the time (as the world SHOULD be). Seriously, 23-10-5? Can this team get any more awesome? Could Isiah be any more fired?

As the Eastern conference playoff seeds become more finalized (what's with the Cleveland-Philly game? Who actually won?), it is time for a few playoff/general observations.

First of all, there should be a ban against Pistons-Spurs games. Just in general. I could see a game like that involve roughly 90 free throws, and the score would still be something like 78-76. They're allowed to play anyone else (Celtics-Pistons would be exciting, Spurs-Celtics, even Spurs-Nuggets has the potential for entertainment, heck I'd take Spurs-Heat for the hilarity factor), just not each other. The only other thing more mind boggling was the 70 points on either side game between the Jazz and the Hornets. How did that one happen?

Also, the Utah Jazz scare me a lot. I feel like they're the team in the West that no one really talks about that has the potential to upset the pecking order in the playoffs. Especially if they manage to get home court. What's up with their home record? Is that arena rigged or something?

Right now, the Bulls-Bucks game is 136-115. WITH 6 MINS LEFT IN THE 4TH. What's going on today??

Edit: That game ended 151-135 with Ramon Sessions getting 24 assists and Chris Duhon getting 15. That has to be at least a record for the last couple of seasons. I don't know what to think, other than maybe both teams treated it as an exhibition game. Still, I'll be fangirl bitter about those numbers getting the attention rather than Rajon's.

This is a warning to Steve Nash and Chris Paul- be wary.

If things stay the way they are (unlikely, because in the West breathing at the wrong moment can make you drop in the rankings) the Spurs would meet the Suns in the first round. This would be potentially disastrous to Steve Nash's manhood. Why? Bruce Bowen.

In the second round, the Spurs would meet the Hornets (should they knock off Dallas, which I think they would). Result? Bruce Bowen vs. Chris Paul's manhood.

It seems that that man has a personal vendetta against these two guys' cajones, for whatever reason. I don't think I need to link the youtube videos here. Everyone knows what I'm talking about. It's sad because these two actually fall under the "players I like that are not Celtics category" (I also apparently have a soft spot for point guards). I can only hope they come out of this year's playoffs unscathed, and we don't have to start a support group for their significant others.

Let me preface this with saying that I am a perfectionist. An overachiever. I'm also the type of person that, when playing video games, yells at my own guy and tells him how much he sucks when he isn't pwning the enemy hard enough. This mentality easily carries over to basketball.

That being said, I have to say that the Celtics have been playing suck-tastic basketball since the New Orleans game. That's right. Suck-tastic. It's a word now.

But Infanta, you say, they've won 5 games and most of them by large margins. I know. But I think that even the games we won, we did it in a suck-tastic manner. Turnovers were everywhere. Rotations were confusing if not terrifying. And people just didn't care. People everywhere, fans, players, Doc, said that it didn't matter because they were set for the regular season, getting ready for the playoffs, resting starters, etc.

I say none of that matters. The real contenders, the real competitors, they give it their all every time because they want to be the best that they can be every time, not only because they want to win a championship. Arrogance, complacency, whatever you want to call it, is an insult to your opponent and an insult to yourself. A team that doesn't know how to handle winning... that's not what the Celtics of old were like. That's not pride. Pride would dictate you fight hard all the time.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining about the stars resting so they're fresh, they don't get injured, etc. My problem is with everyone's attitude.

Enough with that philosophy stuff.

Guys, stop sucking. You're better than that. And remember, even if you win while sucking, it doesn't count.

Celtics 94 Rockets 74. It's over guys.

We've swept the Spurs and the Rockets in a two day span. Truly a great, great year for Boston.

First of all, LeBron James is a monster. I admit it. And I fully agree with the guy who said that 'LeBroned' should be a verb.

That being said, I think the guy who got LeBroned tonight was Ray Allen. Don't get me wrong, LeBron James had a much more well rounded night, nearly getting a triple double. But can't the fans give a little love to Ray, who hit the critical three's, kept the East going, and scored 14 points in 3:15? (I for one didn't even know that it was POSSIBLE to score 14 points in so little time.) Perhaps maybe co-MVP? I mean, this was the guy who was supposed to be vacationing in the Bahamas, yo.

I think the problem is that Ray is a relatively quiet, unassuming guy (relative in the NBA of course). He can't really be the face of the NBA, the way LeBron can. But he's the one with the game high 28 points. I think really, we need to give him a little appreciation. For all the people who say he's going down hill, consider his 14 points in 3:15 on still recovering ankles.

And for all the guys that said he didn't deserve to be an All Star: neener, neener, neener

I feel vindicated. So I'll shut up about this now.

Ray Allen To Replace Caron Butler in NBA All-Star Game

,

NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2008 -- Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen has been named by NBA Commissioner David Stern to replace injured East All-Star Caron Butler (left hip flexor strain) of the Washington Wizards for the 2008 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 17 in New Orleans.

Allen will be making his eighth NBA All-Star appearance.

I think they've figured it out. Glen Davis was hurt tonight. Scal was hurt (not... too troubled by this one). Rondo got poked in the eyeball (I hope he can still see!). They've figured out that if there ARE no Celtics to play, then they can beat the Celtics by default.

Other random things:

If the Kidd trade with Dallas is so final that he won't even play for NJ tonight, is he technically now a western conference player?



Why is it that Boston always seems to really struggle against teams that aren't that good? They're always really ready to go when they're playing the good teams, but then really keep you at the edge of your seat sometimes against teams you think they should be able to easily blow away.

Well... there you have it. With their record, I kinda thought Boston deserves at least two All Stars (ie Ray Allen should be in there), but it is not to be. Plus, this means Detroit has three All Stars. I acknowledge they're a great team and certainly contenders in the East, but 3 for them and only Paul Pierce for Boston?

" Ray Allen, Milwaukee Bucks guard and budding NBA superstar, is drawing raves on and off the court, hailed by admirers as "not an asshole" and "a reasonably decent human being.".....

..."That's unbelievable," said Karl, whom Allen has never threatened physically."

...

Continued Patrick: "It's nice to know that in this day and age, there are still athletes out there who say 'thank you' when you give them a new car for making the all-star team."

Damn he was young back then. But seriously, Ray is severely under-appreciated, not just for being a decent human being, but as a player. Also, I wish I got a new car every time I succeeded at something.