Bring on the Lebron's

It’s been a fun two night’s in the Garden. While the crowd clearly favored the Bruins crowd Monday night, the Celtics still showed up Tuesday night. The Celtics may have let the Heat back into the game late in the third, but the Celtics held on to beat the Heat and win the series 4-1.

While the first obvious thing noticed in this game was how quiet the crowd was in the Garden (very dissapointing) it was evident the Celtics were ready to play. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen continued to be the best Celtics as neither of them seemed like they could miss and were driving on the Heat all day. Pierce finished with 21 and Allen finished with 24. It took a little bit but Rajon Rondo finally had a game we all expected him to have against Carlos Arroyo going for a 16/8/12. He was consistent with his jumper (6-16) and he was able to drive the lane and find the open man no matter where they were. The starters shined  for the Celtics tonight, which was good, because the only player who double digit minutes off the bench was Davis (24).

Then in the second half, it was almost as if the refs wanted Dwayne Wade to put on a show. It looked like the 2006 Finals all over again. Almost every drive Wade took was given a foul call and the Celtics quickly picked up fouls making them less agressive on offense and defense. Instead of driving, the Celtics were taking way too many jumpers and they didn’t hit a FG in the final 6:37 of the third period. It looked a little too much like the regular season Celtics, the same one’s that slacked in the second half and let teams back into, and win games. The Celtics didn’t let that happen tonight, hitting timely shots down the stretch and getting timely stops.

Now the Celtics face off with the Cleveland Lebrons in the second round and we have nothing to lose. Were the team that has won a championship recently. They are not. The team needs to win to most likely keep it’s best player around and Lebron is trying to cement his legacy as the next Jordan and he can’t do that without a ring. The Celtics have beaten those demons and now they are the team with nothing to lose. Yes, they’re legs are running out, but they’ve won. That can’t be stressed enough. The Celtics also just proved they can stop a super-star driven team. Yes, the Cavaliers are a damn good basketball team. Antwan Jamison gives them an option they never had before and they can play almost any kind of line-up. At the end of the day, however, it goes through Lebron, and the Celtics can’t stop it (no one can) but they can slow it down and stop the other players from beating them.

You asked me a month ago, and I would say the Celtics would lose this series in at most 6 games. Now I give them a chance in this series. The Celtics are back to playing their brand of basketball, and not the brand we’ve seen this year. No, we’re talking the kind where they give a shit on every possession, play stifling defense, trash talk the other team and KNOW they’re the best team. The all heart team we saw the last two years. The series starts next week and already I am looking forward to it.

~Benti