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.

Ye gods!

I'm not sure who did what to please them, but the NBA deities sure are looking favorably on the C's these days. Check out Hollinger's playoff odds - including the odds of winning the title. I'll give you a hint - nobody else cracks 15%. Methinks green enthusiasm is running a little high.

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Pinch me, I must be dreaming.

#2 with a bullet.

Leaving the Chicago Fire like a fish without a bicycle kick.

This is an astonishingly excellent goal by the Revolution's Taylor Twellman:

Papelbon on Letterman.

Bring on the duck boats

It's a good world series when my biggest disappointment is that we didn't get to watch it snow in Coors field during a game.

As tribute to one of the few men to win a championship for the Red Sox in the last century, and who will likely soon be our ex-center fielder, I offer this exerpt from Fox's 'sounds of the game'

CLAYTON: Wait, wait. You say that if somebody steals a base in the World Series...
COCO: Yeah, only one, though - the first stolen base - Taco Bell will give one taco to everybody in America.
CLAYTON: Everybody what?
COCO: In America.
CLAYTON: That day?
COCO: I don't know, it doesn't say.
CLAYTON: What the hell you talking about, it's gotta be that day.
COCO: But there are only like two more hours left in the day.
CLAYTON: So what? That's what the deal has to be. How you gonna come in and say 'I ain't got my taco'? You could go to every Taco Bell in the world and say that. 'I ain't got my taco.' How they gonna know?

Thanks for everything, Coco. A year later my wife still can't believe that's your real name, even after several dozen conversations on the topic.

Just call them Celtics Midwest

Kevin McHale proving once again he bleeds green.

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Jump on board.

Don't miss the Kissing Suzy Kolber Guide To Being An Insufferable A--hole S--thead F--kface Fan Of Boston-Area Sports Teams.

Manny Being Manny.

Amen.

Dancing, Sox-style.

Papelbon is a goof:



NTTAWWT.

This just in.

This just in:

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics consummated the largest trade in NBA history today, as the Lakers sent disgruntled star Kobe Bryant to the Celtics for Tony Allen, Esteban Batista, Glen Davis, Eddie House, Dahntay Jones, Jackie Manuel, Kendrick Perkins, Scot Pollard, James Posey, Leon Powe, Gabe Pruitt, Rajon Rondo, Brian Scalabrine and Brandon Wallace. Lakers owner Jerry Buss said, "Kobe Bryant has had a long and glorious career here in Los Angeles, but it's time for him to go somewhere else. Somewhere else far away."

Sources close to the Lakers confirm that the team entertained offers from other teams, some of which were more attractive, but that Buss was adamant on sending Bryant as far away as possible. At a distance of 2600 miles from Los Angeles as the crow flies, Boston is farther from Los Angeles than any other city with an NBA franchise. League sources suggest that Buss had lobbied NBA Commissioner David Stern to award an expansion franchise to Yellow Knife, Yukon, but apparently he was unwilling to put up with Bryant any longer.

At a news conference, Lakers sources proclaimed that they had received fair value in exchange for Bryant. Assistant General Manager Troy Wolters said, "We're confident that at least some of these guys belong on an NBA roster. Our training camp should be pretty interesting." Off the record, however, some members of the Lakers organization expressed embarrassment that the team had traded for Scot Pollard.

The trade leaves the Celtics with four stars in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Kobe Bryant, but with no other players on the roster. Sources close to the Celtics confirm that the trade was held up in the final hours as the Celtics organization obtained an interpretation of NBA rules that will permit the team to place its second-round pick in the 2008 NBA Draft on the floor as a fifth player.

Happy 30th, Paul Pierce.

And a happy birthday to Doc Rivers, too.