The C's Ring In An Opening Night Victory

The first game of the 2008-09 NBA season for the Celts started off somewhat like the end of the 2007-08 season - once defence was on lockdown, there was no way the C's were going to loseas the Celts beat their second round opponents from last year, the Cleveland Cavaliers, 90-85. The Truth, Paul Pierce, was on point with 27 pts (2 of 4 from the 3-pt arc) and got some timely help from Rajon Rondo (14 pts, 6 assists, 3 steals, 2 TOs) Tony Allen (11 pts) and Leon Powe (13 pts) to help overcome a sluggish first half.

But there were definitely things to work on. While the D forced 21 TOs by the Cavs, the Cavs outrebounded the Celts (41-36) and shot better from the FT line (72.7%-61.8%). If LeBron made those late game FTs, the Cavs may have stolen the game out from under the home team. This game is one of those that you'll breathe a little easier knowing that you basically played one half and still came away with a W.

Below is Pierce's and KG's reactions from Game One of 82:

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A Garden Party Fit For a Champion on Tuesday

The season opener for the Celts tomorrow will feature new kicks (for KG) and new threads (for the team) for this special night, according to the Celtics Blog over at boston.com. Here is the breakdown:

Kevin Garnett will wear a special edition Adidas shoe for Tuesday's season opener; only 17 pairs were made, to commemorate the Celtics' 17 championships. Each pair will be signed by Garnett and auctioned off online to raise money for the Celtics Shamrock Fund. The Celtics will also wear a special edition white, gold, and green jersey on opening night that features a championship patch, as well as gold detailing on the front and back.

Here's the pic of the shoe:
Pretty sweet; especially with the auto on the pair. I'll be on the lookout for the auction (to see if it is online) and post the link, if one becomes available. I hope that the jerseys will become available like the St. Patty's ones.

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KG and Ray Allen on Letterman

Just in case you missed it (like I did), here's the segment David Letterman did with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen of the 2008 World Champions Boston Celtics on the 18th:

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My veiled threat has been answered...

Click on the image to get it... (you know you want a taste of this old-school goodness)

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And the winner of the first product endorsement of the NBA Finals goes to...

PG Rajon Rondo for this new drink called "Purple". The pitch:

Yo...I started drinking this new healthy drink called Purple - The bottle says it's the most powerful antioxidant beverage on the planet. Supposed to help the body recover so day after the NBA Finals I started drinking it. One of their mottos is "It's all good" - I like that. Plus they are focused on social causes so it really is all good. You can check them out at drinkpurple.com. I made a little video about Purple yesterday - check that out too. I'll holla

Rondo, you had me at drinking. Now do as he says and check out the vid below...



*Update* - Just saw this on Boston.com Celtics Blog:



All I know is that adidas better be coming out with that 2008 Parade T-shirt or some people are going to get hurt. I'm not saying nuthin'.

(Video via his blog over at Yardbarker).

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What "17" Can Do For You

*Post-it Note - Please keep in mind that I have limited resources at work.

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There's no way Jack Bauer would've shot 6 for 19 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals

How did a 21-point first quarter lead turn into a six-point loss for the Purple and Gold? Simply put - it wasn't in the numbers for the player formerly known as Black Mamba.

Kobe Bryant was in the role of drive and dish man; trying to get his teammates behind him and they were hitting their shots which got them the healthy lead midway through the third quarter. However, Kobe was off track points-wise and never found his stroke, which he needed in the worse way when the Celts decided to "compete" at both ends of the floor.

After this game, Paul Pierce should switch jersey numbers with Mr. Bryant with his Jack Bauer-esque lockdown on the league MVP as the telling excerpt from Marc Stein's Game Four piece on the Worldwide Leader's website details below:

It's the unavoidable conclusion when a 24-point lead -- at home -- isn't enough for No. 24.

The 24th Finals game of Kobe Bryant's career had the Celtics trailing by 20 points halfway through the third quarter, unable until 4:07 remained in the game to snatch their first lead and then showing their steel from there by refusing to give it back ... all while Bryant could finish with only a measly 17 points on 6-for-19 shooting.

The Celtics are one game away from putting the 17th Banner hanging from the rafters this fall. The Lakers may have the colors of royalty but on Sunday, it's more than likely that it will be the Celtics who will be coronated; much to the chagrin of the anti-Jordan in LA.

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Your Random Facts for June 10

Here are some semi-random thoughts before Game 3 tips out in LaLa Land:

• ESPN's Stu Scott is basically one conversion to Judaism away from singing Candy Man in some sort of Rat Pack tribute act in a show off of the main Vegas strip.
• The real crime is not that the new Coldplay song "Viva La Vida" sounds like a U2 rip-off, it's that Apple hammered that fact home with it's new commercial.
• Home cooking may not help the Lakers if they can't seem to get more aggresive in order to get to the fouls line (something that Kobe didn't do that much in the last two series).
• One full spin of Man Raze's CD Surreal and you realize that Phil Collen has more to do with of the success of Def Leppard vocally than you may thought before you listened.

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The Healing Power of The Truth

Celts lock down Lakers in the fourth and take Game 1 by 10. Read here for the details.

Then compare and contrast the hyperbole from LA Times' Bill Plaschke (a hack living on borrowed time) and ESPN's Chris Sheridan. So, let me get this straight - either Pierce is an Oscar-winning actor in faking his knee injury or that he'll need a leg transplant during the layoff in order to play on Sunday. It's amazing that these two people were looking at the same person. I guess in a world where sports journalism and tabloid reporting are becoming more and more similar, any angle is a good one; especially when you're the first one to report it.

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Bob Ryan goes after ESPN's Sports Guy

It appears that Bob Ryan has something against the Worldwide Leader's biggest web page producer. In yesterday's blog post on The Boston Globe's website by Mr. Ryan, the heralded columnist goes right after Bill Simmons (albeit without naming him specifically) concerning the history of the Celts/Lakers rivalry. Ryan goes so far as to try to discount Simmons by calling him a "false prophet". He also stated that Simmons failed do his homework in regards to Simmons' recent magazine column.

However, I think that Ryan's growing dislike for Simmons may have blinded his judgment as he failed to recognize the fact that Simmons was going for the absurd angle on the argument and trying his best to be like the acting "editor-in-chief" Ocho Cinco aka Chad Johnson. But even though Ryan may have been wrong in calling out Simmons on this one doesn't make him any less right on his assessment of the over-hyped Sports Guy.

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Your Random Facts for May 13

Still wondering what would make Katie Holmes to butcher her hair other than being denied her postpartum meds by her husband/handler Tom Cruise, here are today's random facts:

• The Jekyll/Hyde post-season continues for the Celts as they let a win slip through their fingers last night against the Cavs. So, now it's a best of three against King James and his court of jum-shooting jesters. My money's still on the green but some better looks on offense and better bench play needs to be there in all three games for a chance to win (unlike last night). The one good thing is Mama James will not be on the floor in Beantown.
• Are you ready for an updated Electric Company? Sesame Workshop does and if they can get young cats like Morgan Freeman back in the day, so am I.
• Part-time lead singer and full-time addict Scott Weiland went to jail to serve his 8-day stint for the DUI from last November yesterday. It will be interesting how he get out in time to play the Rock the Range fest on Saturday. but knowing how things work in La La land, he'll get some sort of work release.

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Your Random Facts for May 7

Trying to see through last night's funk that was Game 1 of the Cavs versus the Celts, here are your facts for today:

• Want to major in the GTA4 lifestyle? Go to SDSU and pledge Theta Chi.
• Marvel movies that are coming up - Iron Man 2 in April 2010, Thor in June 2010, First Avenger: Captain America in May 2011 and The Avengers in July 2011 so says Reuters.
• Lastly, there are no decent regular CDs released this week but if you're in the mood for some good music, you might want to check out Snack Time by the Barenaked Ladies. From what I've heard, it's really an all-ages listen.

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Your Random Facts for May 5

Like Rajon, still shaking the cobwebs out from yesterday's blowout and a pre-Cinco De Mayo party. So, here's your random facts for today:

1. Friday's predictions went 0 fer 2 with the Celts taking all seven games to beat the Hawks and Iron Man not quite doing as well as I thought but the film might still make it to #1 all-time for the first week of May if the weekend figures are recalculated according to Variety.
2. Best Quote of all time - "It's kind of freaky knowing you're diving into somebody's grandpa," said center fielder Coco Crisp (from The Boston Globe's article on fans who want their ashes spread at Fenway with the main subject sharing a first name with yours truly.)

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Your 5 Random Facts for May 2

Left here wondering where all of the good things will happen next, here are the 5:

1. O'Meara's Restaurant, aka Hank's Lookaround Cafe, has closed its doors according to DCRTV.com. Unfortunately, the closure was just the other shoe waiting to drop once the hours of operation were moved to weekends only.


2. Clemens has been reported (By the New York Daily News) to be involved with John Daly's ex. Judging from the last two women who have been linked to Clemens outside of his wife, it just proves the saying that Texans do like everything big.


3. (In the Larry King voice) Iron Man will break the record for biggest take in the first weekend in May - you heard it here first!


4. In another prediction, the Celts will win tonight by 8 points or more thus closing out the Hawks season.


5. Last night's Office was not one for the archives. It was meandering and directionless with one funny bit (Creed's response to Pam's vision issues). With only two more episode left in the season, the show needs to go out stronger than last night's one.

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Celts knuckle down the Sun by 20

I haven't said too much about the season since really it's all just window dressing for the main event - the playoffs. But with Boston taking their recent Texas sweep, it has become apparant that this team has the chemistry and more importantly, an identity to win it all. Case in point, the Celts dismantle a team like the Suns, who were starting to win after incorporating Shaq into their rotation, behind KG's 30 and their now-traditional team D. Here are the highlights courtesy of ESPN and NBATV:



After this season is over, this team will be adored like the last great Celts team of '86 (even if they do not win a title) with KG as the role of The Resurrector, Allen as The Dagger and Pierce as The Glue.

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Two Minds - The Boston Celtics St. Patrick's Day Alternate Jersey

Last year, since the local 5 (at least for me) was just dreadful to watch, I decided to take a year-long sabbatical from watching the NBA in any form. But, after missing out on Oden and Durant but getting Allen and Garnet instead, I'm back with the Celts and the NBA in general in true "bandwagon" form, which didn't prepare me for the wardrobe change on Tuesday; otherwise known as the St. Patrick's Day Unis (pronounced You-knees).

As the saying goes, I'm of two minds on the subject of the these Alternate Jerseys and the Celts' Saint Patrick's Day one in particular. When I first tuned in to watch the Celts/Rockets game, I did a double take. To me, it thought that it was a college game with Notre Dame, which doesn't fly with a Michigan State fan at all. And since Boston College is the neighborhood big time team and has a gold-ish hue in their team colors, the initial look made the jersey seem it was made more for the Road to the final Four than the Road to the NBA Championship. Plus, the white block name lettering on the back when everything else was gold seemed cheap.

But as I was fixing to go full on with the urge to hate on the St. Patty's jersey, I looked at it again and noticed how cool the gold script looked against the Celtics Green. The gold clover was silly (in a good way). The white stripe in between the two bands of gold really accentuates how classic the jersey could have been if it was an actual organic (meaning back when the franchise was relatively new) creation versus the new and tired tradition of professional teams whoring out their fans by coming up with multiple alternate game jerseys just to generate additional revenue. And at $75, it's not a decision to make lightly.

Does anyone else out there have an opinion on this jersey specifically or alternate jerseys in particular? I'm ready to break it down wit the best of ya.

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Please wake up, Bob Ryan

I didn't have really much else to talk about today. That is until I came across this little "blog" by one of the best sports writers today, Bob Ryan. I'm sure that you might have heard of him as he shows up whenever ESPN needs a great pinch hitter on The Sports Reporters, Around the Horn, or PTI. Hell, he did so well with those show that NESN (that's New England Sports Network in non-acronym form) gave his own PTI-style show called The Globe 10.0. So, he knows his stuff.

But on this one post, I would have to give him an alarm clock so he can a real wake-up call. Here's what I mean (excerpt from the aforementioned "blog"):

For you young'uns, as well as impressionable elders, let me remind you what a proper Supporting Cast in the NBA really is.

What it isn't is the one the Celtics have at the present time. From roster spots 4 through 12, the Celtics are the most impotent team in the NBA. You must accept this, or else there is no chance of us having a decent conversation. The new trio of stars is a nice start.

A nice start. Period....

Mr. Ryan continues to laundry list the former bench players of the great Celtic teams of the 80s and early 90s. I would do so here but I hate being redundant for duplicity's sake.

The fact is that on principle, I do agree with his sentiment. There's no way that the Celtics, comprised the way they are now, would ever come close to resembling a complete and solid playoff team back then. However, he fails to factor into his playoff contender roster calculation a few variables that have transpired since those thrilling days of yesteryear:

• The age of the Salary Cap, which prohibits stockpiling undiscovered or underutilized role players for years until they were needed. Can't pay people for not contributing right away anymore.
  
• Not only one but two years of expansion, which diluted not only the game play but the player pool. Kinda hard to keep good players when there are more teams who can snatch them up by offering more money.
• The introduction of upside, which made GMs go after younger players who did not have the strong fundamentals down and more times than not needed on-the-job training to get those skils perfected. This shift towards "potential/upside" raw players versus "proven" winners has single-handedly killed the game to the point that the NBA had to establish an age-requirement just to prevent the GMs from putting it completely in the grave.

In the type of shape that the Eastern Conference is in, the Celtics do not have to be like they were in the 80s. Shoot, if LeBron and his band of unreknowns could make it to the NBA finals, it's not hard to imagine the Hydra-head of the Celtics getting there too. So, Bob (if I can call you that), please wake up and live in the now..

Wait a sec, since I can't be a young'un (3 weeks until 38th birthday people!), I must be one of those impressionable elders. Aww, crap...

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Image of the Day for 08-03-07

Promise that this is the last Celts post for a little while.
But, wasn't long before the bug acquisition was used to get more season tix, huh?

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Image of the Day for 08-01-07

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press via the Boston Globe

Looks like I'll have to ask for a #5 Celts jersey for my birthday this month. Huzzah!

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It's all New England, all the time at the Worldwide Leader

With all the crap that was being dredged up like barbaric mongrel fights, gambling scandals, steroids use, and rampant doping, a day like today is what the sports world needed; at least in the New England region of that world. And thankfully, ESPN has covered it all for you. Here's the short list:

• Jeff Chadiha writes about how Adalius Thomas is the one, not Randy Moss, who will determine the fate of the Patriots' season since the defense lost the AFC Championship last year by giving up a 21-3 lead and Thomas plays a position where the Pats are becoming pretty long in the tooth. Wow, that's very insightful. I bet anyone who watched that same game in January (especially in the fourth quarter) would've never noticed that one. Sorry, you might think that this load of sarcasm is unwarranted but really, who couldn't see that the biggest free agent out there this past off-season would be a key ingredient. I'm sorry but I think that even with my limited writing abilities, I could've written that column.
• Right before the close of the trading deadline, the Red Sox pick up former stud closer now set-up guy Eric Gagne from the Rangers' fire sale for mere junk. This acquisition comes right on the heels of dumping Joel Pineiro to the Cards for the always used "Minor League Player To Be Named Later". Right now, the Yanks are wondering what it will be like to be home for the bulk of October.
• And who could forget the biggest trade in history (outside of video games) that involves only one player from one side and five players plus two draft picks from another? Yes, this may be the year that I plunk down the money for a KG jersey. And there is already speculation that a team with the hydra head of Pierce-Allen-Garnett and a bunch of 10-day contracts from the NBADL still might not be enough to win the Eastern Conference championship. Are they for real? If the Cavs could win it with basically just LeBron (finally taking over in most of the games that he plays), the Celtics should borrow an old line from their Yawkey Way brethren and say, "Why Not Us?" And I would agree since Detroit is one year older with an embattled coach, Miami is just old, the Wizards will never play D and Cleveland will suffer a sophomore slump this upcoming year. This lull of power in the Eastern Conference is primed for a Boston renaissance. Mark my words, people.

Sorry fans of in other regions of the nation and the world, today, the sun rises and sets on the six collective states that comprise New England. And as a former Maine townie, this comes from the heart - Go TEAMS!

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