Celtics Play Like Champs to Take Series Lead

The Bulls showed their true selves as the young Coach Vinny del Negro looks on with disdain.

We were all worried. Yes, we had a huge game from Ray Ray to beat the Bulls at the buzzer in Game 2 and were one free throw make away from winning Game 1. Had Allen missed that final shot, we may have certainly been in a surprising 0-2 hole. Let's just say we were lucky to get out of Boston locked up with the feisty, pesky Bulls 1-1. But we were worried. We escaped with a respectable record. The two games had been far too close for comfort. In the last week of the season, we had completely destroyed the 8th (almost 7th) seed Sixers without Pierce, Allen, Rondo, KG, Powe, Scal, etc., etc. How could these young Bulls look so calm and have such great individual efforts in many of the players' first playoff experience? It was all too unsettling and many C's fans that I know of were hoping to at least get one game out in Chicago. The fans there would undoubtedly be fired up (think Atlanta 2008). Fortunately, the Celtics did everything right and played like the champs to send a message to the Bulls that the first two games were essentially flukes.

From the opening tip, the Celtics showed their aggression and energy, almost immediately shutting up a raucous Chicago crowd and effectively denying any energy the Bulls might have had. Paul Pierce (who some say "showed up" for this game--he'd been averaging 20.5 ppg for the first 2 games...good enough for me, I say), was as hot as my laptop when the little fan thing doesn't turn on for a while. He started the first quarter 6-6 and really just owned John Salmons. It was good to see that those few days off before Game 3 allowed Pierce some much-needed rest to get his legs back under him, and it showed. He ended up with 13 points in a pivotal first quarter that set the tone for the rest of the game. Pierce finished with a game-high 24 points, highlighted by 4-8 shooting from downtown, one of which should have been a 4-point play, as Salmons bit on an upfake, collided with Pierce, who shot the ball and drained it. He lifted his arms as if to ask, "Where the FUCK was that foul? lol, but I made it anyway and I'm awesome."

For some reason, ESPN.com or NBA.com had no pictures of Paul Pierce doing anything. So this was as close as I could get to the said play. Except it was in Chicago, and there was more "WTF?" in his face...

It's just great to watch our team when we're clicking, isn't it? I mean, we play as a TEAM. At this point, we're so comfortable with each other that there's no need to really think too much...just go out and play. That's the ideal thing you want. Of course, you'd like some basketball IQ (which abounds for the C's), but along with that, you want to treat the game just as it is: a game. This comfort level, when everyone's feeling it, translates into championship basketball, the type of which was on display throughout Game 3. Rajon Rondo is the MVP of the playoffs thus far. Ray Allen has picked himself up nicely after Game 1, but Rondo has been the most consistent, energetic, smart, and aggressive player on the court. In terms of others around the league, you could argue Chauncey Billups of the Nuggets is playing better, averaging something like 33 ppg with 0 turnovers and 12 3-point FG made in 2 games (approximations...too lazy to look them up, but I think they're pretty much on). However, Rondo just does more. He scores, he rebounds, he passes, he steals. In fact, he's leading the Celtics in PPG, APG, RPG, and SPG. How many point guards are able to do that? Incredible. He's averaging nearly a triple-double for the series with 22.7 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 9.7 apg, and 4 spg (and .33 blocks per game). He's driving and getting layups, and shooting (and knocking down) longer-range jumpers (he's 2-4 from 3 point range). He continued his stellar offensive and defensive play last night, going for 20 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 steals in just 33 minutes. Here's some original research I just did regarding Rondo's shot selection, looking specifically at his jump shots and how much improved he is. We all know that when he gets past the D into the paint, he's either gonna get a layup, make a sick pass, or get fouled. But, especially last year, his jumper was his weakness. Watching him this whole season, you can easily see how much better he is and how hard he's worked on it. Through Games 1-3, Rondo's knocked down 11 actual jump shots out of 24 attempts. That's good for a 46% clip. To put that into perspective, Paul Pierce has hit 18 jump shots out of 43 attempts, good for 42%. Granted, Pierce has taken more and that's more of his game, but it just shows that Rondo's more confident in shooting the ball when his defender (rightly) respects his speed and goes under picks set for him.

Rajon Rondo is developing a jumpshot. This could be as huge as Happy learning how to putt.

Glen. Davis. How much can you say about him stepping up? He's been phenomenal and consistent this whole series and he put up a box score for the ages in Game 3. He had 14 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 steals, and 3 blocks. Holy cow. He's got such active hands that he one-upped our point guard in steals and tied him in assists. When you get that type of production, the W will most likely follow. His jump shot is becoming a thing of beauty and he has developed a very respectable free throw percentage. KG's absence is much more palatable they way Davis is playing.

Big Baby leads the fastbreak after one of his 6 steals. The Bulls had 22 turnovers.

Ray Allen was, once again, very consistent and efficient, getting 18 points on 6-12 shooting, including 3-4 from beyond the arc.

Marbury showed signs of his old self, aggressively driving to the rim. White Kirk Hinrich is scared.

One last note on last night's play. Stephon Marbury deserves a lot of credit for the way he's been playing. It has been admittedly spotty, that's for sure. But he's carried himself with a great air of confidence in himself and his teammates, something that was certainly lacking with the debacle in New York. He's stuck with it and taken Doc's advice to shoot more (who would ever think that a coach would ask him to do that?!) and just play ball. Last night he did that. And it wasn't just in garbage time, either. He played important minutes during a stretch in which Rondo was on the bench due to foul troubles that group on the floor effectively kept Chicago from clawing their way back in. Overall, Steph shot 4-10, including 1-1 from three (13 points) and went 4-4 from the line. He dished out 5 assists and grabbed 3 boards in 24 minute of play. Quite effective, I'd say. Good for you, Steph, that's exactly what we need out of you. Keep it up.

Isn't is great to see Steph enjoying the game and his fellow teammates?

Oh, and how about Scal?! I'm only being half funny here. The guy's taken some scary hits in the head this season, but he's stuck with it, being a vocal supporter from the pine and now that he's back in action, even he contributed, knocking down a baseline trey with zero hesitation. Perhaps a sign that he's not worrying about his head, he soared in to try and grab a defensive rebound in traffic. Balls to the wall, Scal. That's Celtics basketball. You keep it up, too.

The two Bulls' "superstars" were shut down by the Celtics vintage team defense. They forced Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose into 7 turnovers.

On Garnett. Apparently, KG's practicing with the team, i.e. in practice sweats and posting up Perk, etc. Whether he's working toward a comeback or just being camaraderious (?) with his fellow teammate, it's certainly a good sign, I think. We'll see...

Game 4 on Sunday at 1 pm. If we play like we did last night, we'll get the win and come back to Boston to try and close this series out. The win in Chicago was very important, not only to take the series lead, but also to give us confidence that we can win on the road in the playoffs vs. young, upstart teams like the Bulls. This was something we weren't able to do against Atlanta (or Cleveland) last year, leading to 7 games in each of the first two rounds. Fewer games=fewer players on the Celtics who are tired=better chances of winning games. Go C's.