So much for the post-championship doldrums this summer. Today's Boston Herald and especially Boston Globe articles are littered with with news items that will keep the Celtics fans on the edge of their seats for the next few weeks to months.

Celtic fans that wear green-colored glasses knew that the Celtics had the Laker right where they wanted them when they lulled the Lakers by giving them a 24 point lead early in the 2nd quarter. And for good measure, they pulled the blanket over the Lakers eyes with a nice comfy 20 point lead mid-way throught the 3rd quarter. Other pixie dust the Celtics used included having two of the starters hobbled by injuries ( Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins) and giving the previously clueless Lamar Odom an all-star caliber 1st quarter as he went 6 for 6 with 5 rebounds.

The Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 108-102 in Game 2 in Boston, in a game where most fans would have expected the final score to be closer to 108-88. After being down by 24 points with 7:30 left in the game, the Lakers got charged up and crept to within 2 points with 1 minute left in the game. The Lakers played determined basketball during the stretch, forcing turnovers, rebounding and more importantly making 5 threes with their best shooting team on the floor: Vladimir Radmanovic at power forward, Sasha Vujacic and Kobe Bryant at the wings, Derek Fisher at point guard and Pau Gasol at center.

The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers completed their 2008 version of greeting each other in Game 1, with Paul Pierce leading the Celtics to a 98-88 victory. After being down 51-46 at the half, Pierce scored the Cs first 8 points in the 3rd quarter and allowed the Celtics to take control. Mid-way throught the 3rd quarter, Pierce then went down with a strained knee after colliding with Perkins, shocking the Boston crowd as he was carried off. After a couple of lead changes, Pierce returned triumphantly to give Boston the lead for good at the end of the 3rd with consecutive 3-point shots. It was a heroic moment for Pierce and the Celtics.

Through history, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have always been radically different teams and it is so this time around, their 11th meeting in the NBA Finals.

The Celtics are Ministers of Defense and the Lakers are the Lords of Offense. But of course, the Celtics are a very good offensive team and the Lakers play good defense as well. But the contrast in style is clear and is illustrated in the points per 100 possessions stats for offensive and defensive efficiency at ESPN for these playoffs.

Doc Rivers probably was feeling some vindication and calm. My favorite line is where he said "I guess if you were going to go to the finals, I don't think you could have scripted a better way than the way we are going." He was referring how the BIG THREE moniker actually turned into a BIG BULLSEYE, especially during the playoffs.

The silver lining to that cloud was that in hindsight, Doc felt "it was helpful for us to be a target". Atlanta, Cleveland and Detroit gave the Celtics their best shot, played their best ball, and you can see that Doc was content to be the last one standing in the Eastern Conference, getting stronger each series. After all, it was the plan all along, Doc just didn't let anybody in on the secret plan of packing in 20 games for fun before regrouping and playing serious ball in the Finals.

Sounds good to me. More games, more looks, more chemistry, no problem. Against the more rested and obviously more talented Detroit team, the Celtics took care of business in short order. And they did it playing defense-oriented games, per usual, holding the Pistons to an average of 80 points in the victories in Games 1, 3 and 6, and also won it offensively in the Game 5 shoot-out.

Game 6 in Detroit, and nobody expected the Celtics to win, at least not me. But hey, it was time for the real Boston Celtics to show up in these playoffs . . . on the road . . . and finally get it done in the 4th quarter. Celtics defeated the Pistons winning 89-81 going away after coming back from a 10 point deficit early in the 4th.

The Celtics hung on to win Game 5 against the Pistons to take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. This time the mantra during the 4th quarter time-outs had to be "it's the turnovers stupid", as the Celtics frittered away an awesome 17 point lead in the 3rd quarter, engineered in a big way by Ray Allen. However, leaving the door open in the 4th quarter is getting habit-forming for these Celtics, as they just seem to have lost some sense of direction when they get a big lead. Call it taking care of business, which they did better than most teams during the regular season.

If the Celtics would have won this game, it would have to have been gift-wrapped by the Pistons in the 4th quarter. But there is no NBA team that is that generous at this time of year. Pistons defeated the Celtics to even the series with a 94-75 victory in Detroit, but the Celtics fought hard to keep this game from being more of a blow-out than it was.

Detroit played inspired ball to win Game 2 by a score of 103-97 and wrested home court advantage from the Celtics. The day before, they practiced at Emerson College, presumably ate some local cuisine, found their shooting stroke during Game 2, and now are going to Detroit needing only to win their home games to move on to the Finals, ergo they ate, shot and left, albeit successfully.

When Dan Shaugnessy takes on a subject, you know the sky is falling. Poor Ray Allen. He's not pistol whipping the competition with his vaunted jump shot, and there is Shaugnessy right there with so many other sports analysts putting pressure on the Celtics shooting guard. The Celtics win Game 1 against Detroit, and the story line is how Ray Allen is stuck in neutral. The reality is that Ray Allen is quietly leading this team behind the play of Pierce and Garnett. Oh, and the solution to getting out of his slump is to watch this video.

The Celtics controlled the 2nd half of Game 1 and comfortably defeated the Pistons 88-79. The Celtics' ball movement and pace were to their liking, and that energy carried over to the defensive end as well where the Celtics forced 15 turnovers and 10 steals. While the Celtics shot an impressive 52% from the field compared to 42% by the Pistons, it seems that they missed a bunch of bunnie shots, such that the Pistons should be thankful they they didn't get blown out this first game of the Eastern Conference Finals.

As predicted, the Piston and Celtics are indeed at the top of the Eastern Conference heap. The Pistons didn't really have too much opposition on the road to the finals while the opposite has occurred for teh Celtics. Two nail-biting playoff series against the Hawks and Cavaliers for the C's were physically demanding compared to the Pistons challenges by the 76ers and the Magic.

However, the two 7 game series have actually given the Celtics more chances to play alongside one another and get to know each other better. Let's be honest, the Celtics didn't get a chance to face much adversity during the regular season, except for a Garnett injury that the Celtics easily overcame with little fan fare. So these two grind it out series for the Celtics can be considered as character-building for this team.

I watched the whole Game 6 thing from the pre-game to the final seconds, and like many Celtics fans, were furious. As sloppy as it was, the Celtics would have won that game if the officials didn't mail it in for the LeBrons - I really believe that now.

To keep things in perspective for the disgruntled Celtics fans, you have to give an allowance for some playoff dysfunctionality for a team that set a record 42 game turnaround during the regular season. I mean, it's not supposed to be that easy to go from last to first, rags to riches, etc. That only happens in the movies . . . and the NBA wants the fans to know that . . .

The Celtics will win tomorrow, and we fans will continue to have the chinese water torture of the road losses and 7-game series against Detroit and then likely face the Lakers in the marketing coup staged by the NBA. Yes I'm cynical, but you would be too if you were a Celtics fan after Game 6, where the Cavs squeaked by 74-69.

Celtics win 76-72 in a defensive struggle of titanic proportions. The carnage included the great LeBron James going 2-18 and the all-stars Pierce going for 2-14 and Ray Allen 0-4 AND going scoreless for the first time since 1979. Put those remarkable numbers aside, and you have to elevate Garnett to MVP status -oops, he got bumped on that one, make that player of the game for doing what he's been maligned for not doing enough of in his career. Against the big front line of the Cavs, KG embarked on a 28 point scoring night and more importantly came up clutch on not one, but two occasion in the closing minutes of the 4th quarter.