Back to Reality

It was nice to see the Boston Celtics out on the floor tonight instead of whatever team that was playing against the Hawks in games 3 and 4. Great ball movement, hard work on the defensive end, clutch shooting. Just a great performance all-around. I'll also take this time to apologize for my harsh comments about Sam Cassell. I think I was a little caught up in the paranoia over the possibility of seeing everything this team has worked so hard for crumble right before my eyes. After seeing someone like Rondo orchestrate the offense so well, it's not easy to get used to watching a shoot-first point guard. But, that's what he is, so it's only natural that when his shooting is off, he's not going to look good. But, Cassell has had many more good games than bad since joining the team, and I think he could be big for us down the stretch.


Line of the night in the stands:

Dick Bavetta called a bullshit 3-second violation on the Celtics for like the fifth time of the night, and a guy three rows above yells "How about a you're too fucking old for your job violation Dick!" It was great because it was true. It was also original (unlike "get off your knees, you're blowing the game!"). Finally, it gave double meaning to the word dick. Maybe you had to be there to appreciate this trifecta so rarely achieved by the drunken heckler, but I don't think so.

Finally, great job by the Celtics tech crew to put together those videos set to the Rocky IV training music. The sequence in the middle that featured a slew of sick Hawks' dunks made me feellike I was Apollo Creed taking the lights-out blow from Drago. The funny thing is that when they showed all the clips from the press conference of Celtics guys saying "we need to get back home. We need a serious lift from that crowd", the training montage started and the crowd was quiet. I looked around. It wasn't that they weren't excited. It was that this video was so intense and everyone was so jacked up and ready for the game to start that, much like KG down on the floor, it was all they could do not to throw up in their food. As I'm sure you saw on TV, the noise picked up. Can any readers please send that montage along should it ever hit youtube.: