Sam Bowie Must Be Rolling Over In His Grave

If you were lucky enough to score a ticket to tonight's Harlem Globetrotters vs. Washington Generals game at TD Garden, you must have had a blast.

Wait, that was an NBA game? After getting brutally pummeled in Philadelphia on Wednesday, the Boston Celtics (21-18) returned the favor by embarrassing the Portland Trail Blazers (19-21) 104-86.

The final score doesn't do it justice since the C's led by 43 (!) points midway through the third quarter (81-38). Boston scored its most first half points of the season (65) while holding an opponent to its lowest total (30).

It was the perfect way to send the Green out on their marathon eight-game road trip with a game that featured their most steals in a game (14) this season thanks to an NBA-high 28 turnovers by the Blazers.

Ray Allen and Paul Pierce each had 22 points in 26 minutes. Kevin Garnett had 10 points and eight rebounds. Avery Bradley had 12 points and five assists off the bench and Sasha Pavlovic had what has to be a season-high with 10 points. Did I mention that Boston's two top substitutes Mickael Pietrus and Chris Wilcox didn't even suit up?

LaMarcus Aldridge led Portland with 22 points. Wesley Matthews and Luke Babbitt both scored 10 points off the bench.

When it comes to NBA teams, it's hard to top the Blazers' misfortune: drafting Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan, likely career-ending injuries to Greg Oden and Brandon Roy, etc. The biggest shame of all is that their fan base is probably the most dedicated in the NBA and they have the best home court advantage mostly due to them.

For the second game in a row, the C's ensured that we didn't have to watch much to know exactly what would happen. During championship week, I can't thank them enough for that.

I promise to come out of my NCAA Basketball cocoon for a few hours on Sunday as the Celtics begin their West Coast portion of their trip in Los Angeles. The Lakers won 88-87 Feb. 9 in overtime at the Garden so the Celts will be looking for revenge in their only other regular season meeting. Yes it's certainly not what it was a few years ago but Celtics-Lakers still means plenty.

Anything .500 or better on this trip, which overlaps with the trade deadline (March 15), would be a dream. The Celtics face the Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, Kings, Nuggets, Hawks, Bucks and Sixers. Their next home game isn't until March 25 vs. Washington. This could get very ugly, especially because Boston is 5-10 so far on the road.

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