So, I just returned from the Disfear show at Great Scott, and I just figured that I should go ahead and write Monday's Foil in the Oven right now. I just spent a good 4 hours drinking Pabst tall boys while rocking out to Swedish Punk. What better state of mind could I possibly have for writing this post?
The night began in a promising fashion, after a 9 hour shift at work, Riley picked me up and we headed straight for Great Scott. After soaking in the atmosphere and throwing down some beers, we noticed that Tomas Lindberg (the lead singer of Disfear) was stationed at the t-shirt table. I'm not sure how many people noticed, because the table was not crowded, but seeing this immediately made me decide that I needed to check out the merchandise. I walked over, and offered up a fist pump to Tomas. He seemed a little confused, but returned my offering. "You're a badass motherfucker man" I said. "Thanks" he said, with a smirk on his face. He was completely unphased by this compliment, which affirmed in my mind what I had said. There was only one shirt left in XL, and I procured it. Sick.
I probably don't need to tell you that the show was amazing. If you haven't checked out Live the Storm yet, I can't recommend it enough. You can sample some of the tunes here and download some of them here.
.............This is where I went to sleep. Perhaps writing it all last night was a bit ambitious.
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Game 3 seems like it was so long ago now, which is the problem we sometimes run into on weekends, but let's hit on a few things anyways:
Overall, it was a great win, and you certainly wouldn't be inaccurate in saying that the Celtics dominated. In fact, this youtube clip (which was featured by Jim on Green Bandwagon ) really shows what an awesome performance it was:
Now, that being said, the fourth quarter was dicey. The Celtics have had problems with Detroit's pressure defense, and that trap really took them out of their element. I started to panic a little bit when Detroit had the lead down to nine. Up until that point, the whole "can't win on the road" thing hadn't entered my mind. But it did at that moment, and I said to myself "holy shit, if we blow this game, there's NO WAY we're winning this series." But, then Sheed fouled out, the Pistons couldn't score on a few possessions, KG and Ray both made some huge buckets, and the next thing I knew it was right back to 14.
Had that game been played in Boston, I don't think I would have been as tense. Up nine with three minutes left is a pretty good spot to be in. So, for everything that I said, I guess I was worried about going on the road. It's certainly a relief to get that win.
I can't say enough about the way the bench played. One stretch of the game that can't be overlooked was the huge run (13-0) that Detroit went on at the end of the first quarter. James Posey, PJ Brown, Sam Cassell, and Glen Davis all helped to get Boston back on track after they had weathered the storm. And, while we're on the topic of role players, Perk was nasty. He's having a really good series overall.
I don't want to hear anything from Pistons fans about Billups being hurt. Clearly, he's not 100 percent. Clearly his minutes are down. But Stuckey is killing us! We have no answer for him. This is not just a backup point guard who is managing to run the offense in the starter's absence. He's shredding up the best defensive team in the NBA.
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Rip Hamilton is one of my favorite UCONN players of all time. My three all-time favorites are Taliek Brown, Kevin Freeman, and Ricky Moore. I was convinced that Ricky Moore was going to be a great NBA player. I'm not exactly sure why it didn't happen, but I'd like to think I'd be able to assess him a little more objectively now.
Where did we go wrong Ricky?
Anyways, Rip is probably my favorite of the guys who made it big in the NBA. His game winner against Washington in the Sweet Sixteen in 1998 is one of my favorite college basketball memories. His play in 1999 tournament, particularly in the upset of Duke in the national championship, still live on in UCONN husky lore.
(As a side note, that was also the first year of Gonzaga. Everyone loved Gonzaga that year. I even had people in Connecticut telling me they wouldn't mind seeing Gonzaga win because they were a great story. Whores. I've never been able to stomach Gonzaga since. I hate them. Do we really just like a team because they have a cool name? Really?)
As with all UCONN players, I have followed Rip's NBA career closely. I was slightly concerned about his future in the NBA (certainly not as confident as I was about Ricky Moore) because of his size. He's 6'7 but he's very thin. It's been great to see the type of player that he has developed into. He is a master of moving without without the ball. He's a mid-range assassin. I have a lot of respect for him for the same reasons that I have always respected this Pistons team. Like his team, Rip is not flashy. He wears his opponent down methodically over the course of the game. He runs him ragged, he's frustrates him, and he knocks down everything. This Pistons team, like Rip, has this grizzled, hardened quality to them that I find to be very alluring.
Because of all these things, this series has been very strange for me. Suddenly, Rip has become the masked villain in my world. All the qualities that made him so great to root for are driving me insane in this series. He gets away with murder with the officials, and he is one of the best in the game at drawing whistles. Every time I felt like the Celtics had the Pistons put away in games 1 and 3, Rip would be there to keep Detroit in the game. Every time the Celtics were within striking distance in Game 2, Rip was there to make sure that they never got close enough. Never fatigued, always steady, he is the kind of guy that can drive you crazy. He is that guy that you love when he's on your team, but you can't stand when you're playing against him.
Up until this series, I've always considered Rip as someone on my team because of his status as a former UCONN husky. Sure, I've had to root against him before in the NBA, but never with the stakes this high. I've always wanted the Celtics to beat him, but I'd be happy if he played well in the process. I haven't felt that way at all during this series, and it's been strange. Hopefully, once this series is over, I can root for Rip again as usual. I have a feeling that will depend on how this series plays out. CHECK OUT OUR STORE
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