Way to Rebound, Boys

Well, back to business. This is a bigger win than probably most people thought for a few reasons. One, after the Celtics got their other gargantuan  win streak snapped back on Christmas Day (that was a great present), they went on an AWFUL 2-7 run vs. completely awful teams like the Warriors and Portland and Charlotte. This time was different. The game was much closer (only a one point loss...still sucked the big one though). And think of this: we had basically the same team out there that was there on Christmas Day vs. the Lakers (albeit, KG was about 50% I'd say and Scal was out), but the Lakers were at full strength with Andrew Bynum. We lost that game by 9 points. Fast forward to a couple days ago where they DON'T have Bynum, but we cut the deficit to ONE point in overtime in a game we definitely should have and could have won if it weren't for some shitty calls and an abundancia of turnovers. 

That being said, it was fantastic to see the boys rebound off of that tough and draining loss just a night before. The C's took over in the second half, weathering the storm of Al Harrington ("BURIES IT! RIGHT IN HARRINGTON'S FACE!!" remains my all-time favorite call in all of sports, but I digress), and David Lee (probably the best white, American born player in the league. Seriously, there really is no one else). Pierce led the way with 26 points and a really pretty three pointer as the shot clock was going off with a guy right on him. Niiiiice. Rondo nearly had a trip-doub with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. The Ticket seemed back in line with 16 points on 7-15 shooting and 11 rebounds. Ray Ray was strokin' it yet again from downtown going 4-8 from deep. Powe and House provided the necessary spark off the bench to give the Celtics the W against a team that had beat the Celtics last time out. Yeah, we're talking about the Knicks here. Good job.

I couldn't find the picture of the aforementioned play, but here's another one of Pierce taking Harrington to school.

After taking that Lakers loss to heart...and body and soul...the other night, I came to realize a couple things. One, we still have the second best home record in the league, behind the 23-0 Cavs (we're a modest 30-4 at home). We are also tied for the most wins on the ROAD in the league with Orlando (18-7). Also, we've played more games than anyone else and more back-to-back games than I can remember in a looooong time. The All-Star break next week will be much needed. Our strength of schedule (i.e. composite winning percentage of the teams we've played thus far) is .501. To put that into perspective, the Lakers have had an SOS of only .494 and the Cavs a mere .486. In other words, no need to worry with a loss here and there the rest of the way. We've "earned" it in a way. Of course our expectations are going to be high, but we were fooling ourselves to think that the Celtics were gonna go 30-0 or whatever the rest of the way. 

Always remember, we're still the defending champs, baby!!

I searched "Green 17" in Google Images, and this guy came up. So I naturally used him.

P.S. Paul Pierce is just 38 points away from netting 18,000 for his career. Yay!

P.P.S. Look for the U2's new music video for "Get on Your Boots" later today. It's pretty cool!!

Until then...