The Celtics Continue To Make Danny Ainge's Job Harder, Hope He Doesn't Have Another Heart Attack

For the time being, what transpires off the court-mainly in the Twitterverse, online, in newspapers, on the radio and television-is way more interesting with the Boston Celtics than their actual games.

The Celts (18-17) are the subject of non-stop trade rumors (the deadline is March 15) but they don't seem to be affected by it since they won their third straight tonight, 107-94 over the New Jersey Nets (11-26) at TD Garden.

This was the first time since the opening two games (at New York, at Miami which were both losses) that Boston has put together back-to-back 100-point performances. That's not much of a milestone in the NBA but for this time, it most certainly is. The Celtics improved to 17-2 against the Nets in their last 19 meetings.

Every day I go back and forth on whether Celtics GM Danny Ainge should just blow it all up or hope that Boston can stay relatively healthy, win the Atlantic Division and hope that somebody else knocks off the Heat and Bulls.

Jermaine O'Neal might be done for the season with a wrist injury and Ray Allen missed tonight's contest with the flu but the C's still managed to play one of the better games of the season. Duly noted that it also helps that New Jersey is awful.

Paul Pierce (27 points, 8 assists) was great and Kevin Garnett (20 points, 10 rebounds) continued to show plenty of pride in what could be his last season. KG has scored 18+ points in five straight games. Rajon Rondo (14 points, 13 assists, 5 steals)-the main subject of the trade rumors-had a solid game. Mickael Pietrus started for Allen and he added 11 points while Brandon Bass scored eight points. Chris Wilcox went for 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

Brook Lopez led the Nets with a game-high 28 points yet he somehow had three rebounds in 35 minutes, way to hustle big guy. Deron Williams mailed it in with 12 points and eight assists and MarShon Brooks scored 11 points. Both Anthony Morrow and former Celtic Gerald Green each added 11 off the bench.

These teams only meet once more, April 14 in the Garden State.

The Bruins and Celtics face all New York and New Jersey teams this weekend. The Devils came to the Garden last night, Nets were in town tonight, the Islanders are here tomorrow afternoon, the Bruins go to New York Sunday afternoon to face the Rangers at the same time that Celtics host the Knicks.

I don't know if you've heard of him but this guy from Harvard named Jeremy Lin plays for the Knicks now. Boston and New York split their first two games this season but Lin only played a minor role in the last one, a 91-89 Celtics win on February 3. With all the Linsanity hype and the fact that the Knicks have been playing light years better since he was inserted into the starting lineup, Sunday's matchup-a national game on ABC-should be entertaining theater (the best kind of NBA action).

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The night the Boston Celtics gave up the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference

You want to tell yourself that this season is different for the Boston Celtics but after watching them lose for a third time in their last four games (all to inferior opponents) and you have to finally admit that it's 2009-10 all over again.

The New Jersey Nets (22-43) won their fifth game in a row, 88-79 at the Prudential Center. Boston (47-18) was held under 90 points for the third straight game and it really hurt them since their defense was up to the task.

It was another horrorshow in the second night of a back-to-back for the Celts, they seem destined to lose all of them at this point.

Brook Lopez led the Nets with 20 points while that skank Kim Kardashian's main squeeze Kris Humphries proved his worth with 16 points and 15 rebounds. How does one bounce from Reggie Bush to Humphries? Granted, I don't have the world's most famous butt. It's just funny that I had never noticed Humphries until I found him on my fantasy NBA waiver wire a few months back. I'm sure Kim discovered him in the same manner.

New Jersey's new point guard Deron Williams notched 16 points, nine assists, six rebounds and three steals, Anthony Morrow had 15 points and Travis Outlaw put up 12 points off the bench.

Boston received 19 points from Ray Allen and 18 points and eight rebounds from Kevin Garnett but Glen Davis (16 points, 14 rebounds off the bench) was the only other player to really show up. Rajon Rondo blindly ran into Humphries on a hard screen (easy Kim) and that didn't seem to help him in his recent slump as he was held to two points (1-for-10 shooting) and nine assists.

The weird thing is that the Celtics looked in control when the game started. They were up 23-14 after one quarter but the Nets cut it to 38-36 at halftime. New Jersey got it done in the third quarter (31-23) and Boston couldn't hit any shots in the fourth quarter (21-18 for the Nets).

Boston shot 41.2% to New Jersey's 39.7%. However, the Nets led by Williams (4) and Morrow (3) hit nine more 3-pointers (11-2) and eight more free throws (15-7). The Celtics actually grabbed five more rebounds (50-45) and dished out three more assists (22-19). New Jersey had three more blocks (6-3).

Big Baby looked great in his second game back from knee tendinitis. Hopefully Delonte West can have an impact too as he's set to return tomorrow night when the Celts host the Pacers.

Boston needs to not only win but get their offense back on track. They're tied now atop the Eastern Conference with the Bulls and the Heat are only two games back. There's only 17 more games left in the regular season so they all have meaning for homecourt. Thinking the Celts can get to the Finals again without homecourt throughout the playoffs is naive and not very realistic.

Come on, you had to know the Boston Celtics wouldn't head into the All-Star break with a loss to the New Jersey Nets

The Boston Celtics went into the 2011 All-Star break with the best record in the Eastern Conference.

The Cs (40-14) dispatched of the New Jersey Nets (17-40) 94-80 last night at TD Garden in a game that was about as scattered as you'd expect given that Boston's four most important players are headed to Los Angeles this weekend for the All-Star game.

After just one point against the Heat on Sunday, Paul Pierce bounced back in a big way with a game-high 31 points while Kevin Garnett added 14 points and 10 rebounds and Ray Allen scored 12 points. Boston's other All Star Rajon Rondo had seven points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals.

The Nets are still a mess and the on-going trade drama with Carmelo Anthony just gives a glimmer of hope to a terrible franchise. New Jersey has some pieces: Brook Lopez (18 points, four blocks), Devin Harris (16 points) and Anthony Morrow (14 points) but other than that, this Avery Johnson led team is devoid of any real talent.

Luke Harangody scored eight points while Von Wafer had seven points as Boston's bench had a good game (25 points) though they continue to be shorthanded. The NBA trade deadline is a week from today so it'll be interesting to see if Danny Ainge thinks this team needs another body or two for the stretch run (final 28 games) and playoffs.

Boston was up 27-22 after the first quarter but New Jersey came back to tie it at 47 at halftime. It was still tied (71-71) after three quarters but the Celtics clamped down in the fourth (24-10) to get out of town in a good frame of mind.

Pierce and Allen face-off in the 3-point contest on Saturday night then the Big Four will be coached by Doc Rivers on the Eastern Conference All-Star team on Sunday. Should be a fun weekend, the NBA's All-Star weekend is usually entertaining and LA seems like the perfect venue for this fluff.

We'll next see the full team together next Tuesday as they begin a West Coast trip at Golden State.