Ping! Powe!

Consider this a tribute.

Champs!

Just in case y'all didn't hear, Celtics won.

:)

SweetDue, this Bud's for you!

Leon's world.

So how are the Lakers going to adjust to take away Powe in Game 3?

Rondo!

Celtics-Suns

I got a chance to see the Celts live this past weekend, when they made their one appearance in Phoenix this year. It was definitely very festive, as Suns fans were WAY into Shaq (already lots of Shaq jerseys in the stands). Nash is always a treat to watch; Phoenix really should have won by much more than 8 points, as they fumbled away many of the brilliant opportunities Nash created with his passing.

I'm sure that I haven't been able to see as many Celts games as the Boston dwellers, but I think I must have gotten one of the Celtic's worst efforts of the year. They couldn't shoot, but more importantly, couldn't/wouldn't rebound. Rebounding was Shaq's one big contribution for the Suns in this game, but I don't think his presence was the main factor. I watched the Celtics make very little effort to even get close to the basket for offensive rebounds. I was surprised to see such passive glass play - your thoughts?

Chris

This just about sums it up.

A brainteaser for someone with a little free time

Who exactly is Art Garfamudis? I know the name is likely to be an anagram or something like that, but I don't have the time to figure it out.

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Defensive efficiency.

Matt Yglesias:

Before the season started, I thought the weakness of the Boston Celtics was going to be defense. Ray Allen seemed like a clear liability, Paul Pierce is unimpressive, and look beyond the "big three" I didn't see much of anything to help out on this end. Kevin Garnett, obviously, is brilliant defensively, but it's a team game. Boy oh boy was I wrong about that. Boston's defense is not only the best in the league, they're by far the best in the league, a fact that may be somewhat obscured by the fact that they play a middling pace whereas San Antonio and Detroit go at a crawl.

The chart plots points allowed per hundred possessions relative to the league median. The very worst teams in the league -- New York and Minnesota -- both allow 5.7 more points per hundred than the median. Boston, by contrast, allows 5.5 fewer points per hundred than does the next best team. In short, not only is Boston the best, but the gap between the best and the second best is enormous. They're leaving everyone else dead in the water.