Amen, brotha.
What a way to respond to Game 1! The moral victory that night, which saw us come back to within 4 points after being down 28 is Celtics basketball. That's just how champions play. The Orlando Magic, on the other hand, are not champions. They were out of this game from the get-go and never mounted any sort of comeback or displayed any sort of energy throughout the whole game. This is one of the main reasons as to why the Celtics can win this series. Let's start with the players who were mere footnotes to House's shooting barrage.
Kendrick Perkins. What a beast. Sure, he makes stupid plays all the time, but he's getting better and better at making fewer and fewer mistakes. He's taking on probably the most dominant big man in the game today and holding him down. Howard only had 12 points and 12 rebounds. In Game 1, he only had 16 points. Perk did a fantastic job defensively last night, limiting his fouls while pushing Howard out of the low post and forcing to take awkward hook shots. He ended up shooting 5-13 from the field, which is a sucky percentage for anyone, but even more so for someone who only plays his game 1-6 feet away from the rim. Offensively, Perkins was more efficient and effective: 16 points on 7-10 shooting, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. Gotta love the stat stuffer.
Smmmooooooooooth (as the other side of the pillow?)
For the second series in a row, Ray Allen returned to form after a very off game. He scored a (quiet) 22 points on 7-15 shooting, including 2 threes. He too filled out the stat sheet, grabbing 6 boards and handing out 4 assists. He played the most minutes out of anyone (41) and, although I'd like to see him rest in these blowouts, it was somewhat necessary that he get his rhythm back and get his stroke going before we head into Orlando to try and retake homecourt advantage.
J.J. Redick: The New Machine. "Argrggrgrgghhhh!"
Glen Davis was especially efficient tonight. Although he got into early foul trouble, he ended up with only 3. He played solid defense on the quicker and longer Rashard Lewis, he and Scal holding him to a "more-than-it-seems" 17 points. Big Baby shot 4-5 from the field, 5-6 from the charity stripe, and had two steals, one of which was mighty purrty as he poked it away from Lewis as he tried to cross him over.
Pierce and Allen get some much-needed R&R as the Celtics cruise.
Paul Pierce played just 16 minutes, scoring only one basket: a three from the top of the key to open the game. He was plagued with foul trouble throughout, but this rest for him is the most deserved and needed. He's had a couple games here and there, especially in the Chicago series in which he's looked just...tired. Getting essentially 3 days off before Game 3 on Friday should help get his legs as fresh as possible to try and take that game.
Um, and one? Howard is pushing Rondo...so yeah. Whatever, look how HIGH HE IS!!
Rondo. What more can we say about him? The kid's a floor wizard. A mix of Bob Cousy's crazy-ass passes, Magic's scoring abilities, and Jason Kidd's rebounding talent. After a poor shooting night in Game 1, I knew and he knew that the remedy was to attack the rim and continue to do so. As Rondo goes, so does the team, as cliche as that sounds. He had another triple-double, bringing his total to 3 for these playoffs, tying Larry Bird's team record. One more would tie him for the record held by Jason Kidd in the 2002 playoffs (Anyone find this sketchy? Oscar Robertson, who averaged a trip-doub for a whole season never had more than 4 in the playoffs? Did his teams just never get far?). Rondo's line: 15 points (7-19 shooting), 11 rebounds, 18 assists, 2 steals, and only 3 turnovers. For the entire playoffs, he's averaging 18.3 ppg, 9.6 rpg, and 11.9 apg. Pretty dayum impressive. Oh, and to top it all off, to get the needed points for the triple-double, Rondo took a pass from Eddie House, drove straight down the middle, got up so that his elbow was above the rim, and DUNKED it as Howard and Lewis watched. No easy layups? I thought that was everyone's mentality for the playoffs, but Orlando was way to soft in this one. Not championship mettle, if you ask me.
The new defensive set: The Scal-D, in which Scal sneaks up from behind as Big Baby and Pierce surround Howard. Works like a charm.
Now, shall we move on to the bench? Once again, these mofos contributed greatly. Let's start with Brian "Jackie Moon" Scalabrine. What an underrated defender! Keeping the lanky and quick Lewis from going off is a tough job and Scal definitely helped out. He ended up shooting 3-4 (2-3 on threes) with 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocked shots! Can I get a hell yeah?? I never thought I'd say this last year, but thank god we have him. He's become a great off-the-bench asset for us.
That guy in the green shirt will be havin' NONE of that!
Now, onto the hero. Eddie "Go Ahead, Make My Headband Spin" House. Man, when he catches on fire, no one, I mean NO ONE can stop that. He's got the quickest release in the game and can change the arc of the ball so dramatically that he can get it over anyone. The plays the Celtics run for Eddie are great. My favorites are the little flare screens, in which he sets a screen for the ball handler and then runs over to the baseline as screens are set for his man. It's beautiful. Thing is, they've got no one capable of staying with him (did you see J.J. Redick trying to keep up with him?). After knocking a deep two in Rafer Alston's face, he got so angry he bitch slapped House's head! (Suspension, please.) What happens the next play? Oh, just another three from House to close the third quarter. And the fun would continue into the 4th, highlighted by a great 4-point play in which House got the ball off over backup PG Anthony Johnson as he hit his arm. That's kinda when you know you've got the hot hand. Fun fact: House scored the most points off the bench in a playoff game for the Celtics since Kevin McHale got 33 (or something) in 1993. Nice company.
If Bennett Salvatore had been watching, Alston would have been automatically ejected from the game. Not like it mattered!!! Boo-yah.
I know it's just one game, but you've gotta think the momentum of this series is directly in the Celtics' hands. We had the moral victory in Game 1, losing by only 5 points. We blow Orlando out of the building in Game 2 without our Captain for basically the entire game. Heading down south, I've got total confidence that we can take a game and at least get homecourt advantage back. Perk just needs to keep Howard contained and their shooters just can't get open looks enough to get hot. They have no penetrating game like we do (Rondo, Pierce) and we've got much more solid shooters, if we resort to that (seriously, who would you pick, Ray Allen or Redick? Yeah, thanks.)
I can't decide which angle's the best. It's all so good!!
And just one more picture to give some love to the ol' timers:
Imagine sitting next to or behind these guys?!?! Wow. Experience of a lifetime.
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