Foil in the Oven: Three Wins, THE HARD WAY

This wasn't pretty but it was a signature Celtics win, regular season style. The Big Three all got theirs, and a role player stepped up. Often times during the regular season, that player might have been Rajon Rondo. Or, it might have been James Posey, Leon Powe, or Glen Davis off the bench. In this case, that player was Kendrick Perkins. Perk has had a great series, but his performances in games 1-4 pale in comparison to what he was able to put together last night. Perk had 18 points, 16 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, and even shot 100 percent from the free throw line! He was only there twice, but a stat is a stat.

Early in the game, a fan was put on the Jumbotron holding a sign that showed Robert Parish on one side and Perk on the other with the captions "The Chief" and "21st Century Chief" written on them. I thought the sign was ridiculous, and verbalized my thoughts pretty clearly. However, Perk silenced my criticism by playing what was hands down the best half of basketball that we have seen from him. The big man had 12 points and 13 boards in the first half and was a defensive force. More importantly, he only had one foul (which shouldn't have even been called), so he was able to log a lot of minutes.

Perk was impressive throughout the second half as well, but his second half game lacked the discipline of his first half game. I think that this statement is accurate, but it could just be a blanket statement that I'm making out of my frustration over the technical foul that he drew. That almost sunk us. Perk is one of those guys who contests every foul that is called on him. I knew the whistle was coming as soon as I saw it. He was a little to emphatic, and he has to know that once they've T-d up an opposing player (Sheed) for arguing a call, they have to do it to you too if you clearly give them a reason. I don't want to take anything away from the big man, because we needed every one of those 18 points and 16 boards. I'm just saying that he needs to work on keeping his emotions in check. This will also most likely prevent him from picking up two fouls in the first four minutes of every game.

I'd be lying if I said that the fourth quarter didn't concern me a little bit. There was a point towards the end of the third when I thought we were going to run away with a 20 point victory. Instead, we almost blew it. Paul Pierce expressed concern after the game, stating that they might not have been able to win that game if it was being played in Detroit. So, guess that in itself is reason for concern. But, again, this is not Atlanta. The Pistons don't ever go away, and it would have been very unlike them to not make a run throughout the entire second half. On top of that, the Celtics didn't play a great game. Rajon Rondo made a lot of mistakes and missed A LOT of layups. The contributions from the bench were minimal. There were a lot of problems with this game.

Doc brushed the point guard problem under the rug last night in the name of taking a must-win game. Cassell was horrible, and Doc clearly has him on a short leash. Eddie House managed to play only nine seconds despite checking into the game more than once. It will be interesting to see what turn this will take tomorrow.

Clearly I couldn't have been more wrong about Tony Allen. I stick to my reasoning. He has been a strong defender for this team all season. Scal dressed last night instead of him. The ultimate slap in the face. If that doesn't cause Tony to get his shit together, nothing will.

I haven't even mentioned Ray Allen, and I really meant to. Obviously he was great, and very clutch. I also haven't mentioned the fact that Sheed shot 9 threes and made 6. He's ridiculous.
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Babcock swung by the apartment yesterday. Although we all communicate daily via e-mail or phone about material for the site, we rarely have the chance to collaborate in person because all of us have a lot going on. So, the opportunity for some in-person collaboration, free from the creative impediment that generally accompanies e-mail and phone correspondence, is rare and can often be valuable. This was a case in which things worked out well. I had finished work at two o'clock. He had gotten out of work in Boston early. Both of us were going to game 5, but with different groups and plans. So, time was of the essence. Despite what people tell you, this is truly when you will be the most creative and powerful because if your project is well-executed it will possess an element of spontaneity that would otherwise be lost.

I had been working on a design for a new Boner Salad t-shirt, and I had hit a wall. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Boner Salad, it is the most bad-ass band that has never recorded a song. A dream that we had, along with Gilby and Smokey, Boner Salad was to be the manifestation of everything that we find bad-ass in the world of music. The first album was to be called Teabag, and the lyrics were to be hard-hitting. The album art would be unrivaled by anything previously released. The energy and aggression of each track and each performance in the album tour was to be so great that people would leave each experience changed in their thinking and want to spread the word of Boner Salad to everyone that they could. But, things never really worked out. Gilby plays the bass, and has experience playing it in a punk band. Babcock plays the guitar. Neither Smokey nor I play instruments, and I don't really think any of us are screamers. And, it would be hard to trust any new comers with our dream. The mission statement of Boner Salad is not something that can be put to paper.





Anyways, I had been working on a new design for a Boner Salad t-shirt, and I had hit a wall. I knew that the theme of the shirt was going to be a burning angel, but that was about as far as things had gone. When Babcock arrived, I knew we would have a sick shirt made in no time. Adorned in sick aviators as usual, I knew his energies were exactly what this project needed. The man is proof that the spirit of Gonzo Journalism still lives in 2008, even if it is only in these less mainstreamed forums. We talked Celtics for a bit, and then went to work. When he left to drive over to North Station, I think we both felt pretty pumped about the final product.

Here it is: the newest Boner Salad t-shirt, available both in red and white .

Just remember, you could donate to cancer research by buying that shirt. Sick.

Also, here is the shirt that has been our best-seller so far.

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This piece from Rolling Stone, from the Hunter Thompson commemorative issue, has always stuck with me. This is probably mostly because I would love to get my hands on one of those books with the bullet holes in them. I realize that having the book can never replace the experience of actually being there with the man and having him shoot your book. But, nevertheless, I would love to get one of those books. It's like having an autographed copy, but more badass.

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I'll be in Mexico until Monday. I am still planning on watching game 6, and if need be game 7. However, I don't anticipate being able to blog about them. See you all next week. Buy some shirts.