I'll take this starting five over anybody else's

It's a very big if, since they're aging faster than the Jonas Brothers, but when the Boston Celtics' starting five is healthy and on the court, I like their chances against anybody else in the NBA.

After losing three straight, the C's got KG back and no surprise, won their second consecutive game last night 95-89 over the Clippers.

It wasn't a pretty win since the game was delayed multiple times because of a slippery court (somewhere Red is smiling) but it was nice to get some revenge after the Celts lost in LA a few weeks ago on Baron Davis's buzzer-beater.

The defensive presence that Garnett brings is immeasurable but something which is not talked about ad-nauseum with him is how much he opens up the passing game for Boston offensively.

Paul Pierce led Boston (29-13) with a game-high 22 points, Garnett added 17 points and Rajon Rondo notched 16 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds and four steals. Ray Allen scored 15 and Kendrick Perkins posted nine points and 15 rebounds.

The Clippers (20-24) had six guys in double figures but nobody went off. Rasual Butler (who was a Celtic for about a minute) led LA with 17 points, Davis had 16 points and seven assists, Al Thornton added 12 points and Chris Kaman had 10 points and nine rebounds.

Former BC star Craig Smith (who could be a good NBA player if he got consistent minutes) scored 13 points off the bench and former Celtic bozo Ricky Davis added 12 points and two blunts smoked on the bench.

The Clippers led 19-17 after the first quarter and 44-43 at the half. Reversing their recent trend, the C's played well in the third quarter (21-15) and made enough plays in the fourth (31-30) to hold off the talented but helter skelter Clippers.

After a couple days of practice, Boston embarks on what I would nominate for the toughest four day stretch in the NBA this season: at Orlando on Thursday, at Atlanta on Friday and home against the Lakers on Sunday afternoon. They also go to the Wizards on Monday but we won't count that (please don't shoot me Gilbert, I'm just playing).

If Rondo ever learns how to shoot free throws, look out world

Following up their Christmas day win over the Magic (their best win of the season thus far), the Celtics laid a Paris Hilton size dump fittingly in Los Angeles last night.

With the game tied at 90, Rajon Rondo (20 points, 6 assists) had a chance to close it out with 1.5 seconds left when he got fouled by Baron Davis (24 points, 13 assists) but Rondo bricked both shots.

And what do you know, Davis took the ensuing inbounds pass and hit a fadeaway buzzer-beater as the Clippers (13-17) stole one, 92-90 at the Staples Center.

Boston (23-6) led by as much as ten points in the second half but without Paul Pierce for the next week, they are desperately missing their most clutch player.

Tony Allen started for Pierce and he submitted 10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals. We know Tony Allen too well to get very excited about these flashes since he'll probably get hurt tonight and miss the rest of the season but Tony has played out of his mind since he came back.

Ray Allen scored 13 and Kevin Garnett added 12 points and eight rebounds. Rasheed Wallace and Eddie House both notched eight points off the bench.

The Clippers are still as mediocre as you remember but they should be better with stars like Davis and the underrated Chris Kaman (27 points, 12 rebounds). Eric Gordon added 15 points in the win.

For some reason, the Celts looked like a tired team as they shot a pitiful 1 of 12 on 3-pointers. They'll look to bounce back tonight in Golden State against the allergic-to-defense Warriors.

Kevin Garnett's intensity will melt your face off

The universe and planets seem to be aligning properly once again, coincidentally as Kevin Garnett has made his triumphant return to the Boston Celtics' lineup.

The Big Ticket has been limited to less than 20 minutes in each of his first three games back but the club has clearly used his spark, winning three in a row, including a 90-77 decision over the Los Angeles Clippers last night at the TD Banknorth Garden.

Garnett only played 18 minutes, but he was an impressive 5-for-5 from the floor with two free throws for 12 points, two rebounds and two steals. He got into the game in the first and third quarters and wouldn't ya know those were the two deciding frames.

Ray Allen led the C's (54-18) with 20 points, Kendrick Perkins had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds while Rajon Rondo added 14 points, seven assists and five steals. For the third game in a row, a probably fatigued Paul Pierce (who carried the team in KG's absence) scored in single digits (nine points).

Still, the starting five is back together which is bad news for the rest of the NBA and hopefully Leon Powe and Brian Scalabrine, not to mention Tony Allen are back in the action before the playoffs start.

Zach Randolph, my role model, had his usual empty numbers performance of 17 points and 14 boards for Los Angeles (17-54). Baron Davis added 13 points, eight assists and seven rebounds and Al Thornton tossed in 11 off the bench.

Boston led 31-18 after the first quarter but struggled with KG on the bench in the second quarter, limping into the break with a 44-42 lead.

Garnett and the C's outscored the Clippers 26-18 in the third and the subs did enough in the fourth (20-17) to hang on.

Things should get much more interesting as the Celts travel to Orlando tomorrow night. The top seed in the Eastern Conference is all but lying on LeBron's throne but the C's have some work to do to hold off the Magic for the all-important two seed.

Up just one game with a game in hand over Orlando, the Celts would do themselves a big favor by grabbing the road win.

King of this Castle

Thank God the Celtics are not in the Western Conference. That much is abundantly clear just two games into this five-game West Coast trip. Golden State topped Boston, 119-117 last night on a buzzer-beater by Baron Davis.

Let this sink in: the Warriors (33-21) came into last night in ninth place in the West. With the same record, they'd be fourth in the East, thus earning home-court advantage for the playoffs. Only 5.5 games separated the top team in the West (the Hornets) from the Warriors. Dang.

Despite the loss, the C's (41-11) had a few great signs: Kevin Garnett played 31 minutes and scored 17 points, hauled in 15 rebounds, plus three steals, three blocks and two assists. After looking totally out of place on Tuesday vs. the Nuggets, KG took a big step forward 24 hours later, dominating on the glass. The other real positive for Boston was that Ray Allen (game-high 32 points, 6 assists) had one of his best games as a Celtic. He was 11 of 17 from the floor, including 6 of 8 from 3-point land. It was as efficient as he's been all season. Paul Pierce had 23 points, 5 boards and five assists.

As a converted Warriors fan (circa playoffs 2007), I watch them any chance I can and love their crazy brand of basketball. Davis (29 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 steals) is rightfully the leader but his sidekick Monta Ellis (26 points, 9 assists) is quickly becoming one of the NBA's most unknown stars. Outside of Kobe and LeBron, Ellis might be the best driver in the league. He's unstoppable when he wants to get to the basket.

For the second night in a row, as predicted, defense was nowhere to be seen. The Warriors led 32-29 after the first quarter but the C's played a great second (28-18) to take a 57-50 halftime advantage.

Playing without Stephen Jackson, who all obvious and played out jokes aside is having a career year, Golden State had fine showings by Al Harrington (22 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists), Andris Biedrins (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Mickael Pietrus (12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals).

I think Oracle Arena has the most vocal fans in the league this season so not surprisingly, the Warriors came back in the second half. Golden State outscored Boston, 32-27 in the third and 37-33 in the fourth.

Since the Warriors are one of the worst defensive teams in the league, I had faith that the Celts had a good chance to win if they could just stop a few Warriors possessions, no dice.

It seemed like Golden State made a costly mistake when they were up two with 28 seconds left and had Matt Barnes drive to the hoop with 10 seconds left, throwing up a prayer that didn't even hit the rim. Boston got the rebound and called timeout. On the ensuing possession, Pierce drove to the basket and got the foul called. I almost couldn't watch since he can be a shaky free-throw shooter but he calmly made both (12 of 13 on the night). The game looked destined for overtime but Baron had something to say about that. He dribbled down the court and was isolated on Tony Allen (18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals), who had one of his best games I can ever remember. With shades of the first Pistons game in my head (where Allen fouled Chauncey Billups with under a second left), Davis avoided Allen and drained a 20-foot jumper. Game over.

Boston shot 48.1% to Golden State's 47.2%. The C's made 11 threes (seven more than the Warriors) but the free-throw line is what killed them. Unlike in Denver, both teams got to the line a ton but the Celtics were a little worse (32 of 46) than the Warriors (31 of 43). The other surprising stat was that Golden State owned rebounds (49-37).

At the beginning of this trip, I was guessing the C's would finish 3-2. Now, I'm not even sure about that. They have to go to Phoenix tomorrow night and play a Suns team, who lost to the Lakers last night in Shaq's debut. Then they go to Portland, who is also dangerous although out of the playoffs at the moment before finally finishing with the garbage Clippers.

Boston can't come home soon enough, this year's Western Conference is absurd. It's going to go down as one of the most stacked conferences in NBA history.