The NBA Trade Deadline is Danny Ainge's favorite day of the year

Just like any other normal day, I went to Planet Fitness this afternoon. Thinking that with very few tradeable assets and a true championship contender roster (when healthy) the Celtics wouldn't make much noise before the trade deadline (3pm today) proved to be one of my worst predictions in a while.

In a series of three separate moves, the Celts shipped away five players and got only two in return. Wait what?

At first blush, seeing Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson go to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic, cash and the Clippers 2012 first round pick was shocking and I have to say that I didn't like it. However, upon further review I feel like you have to trust Ainge since he's been able to make other solid (albeit not as big) deals before and after (buyouts) the trade deadline in past seasons.

In addition, Luke Harangody and Semih Erden were traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for a 2013 second round pick. And finally, Marquis Daniels (who probably won't play this season due to his spinal injury) was sent to the Sacramento Kings for cash considerations and a protected second round pick in 2017 (haha really).

Whew and I thought the Bruins were the ones making moves before their trade deadline (next Monday).

Perkins is by far the biggest loss for Boston. He's their defensive stopper who's capable of guarding Dwight Howard, Andrew Bynum, etc. It makes you scratch your head since now the Cs will have to rely on Shaq or Jermaine O'Neal (don't hold your breath on that) along with Krstic who's not known for his defense.

For the time being, they called up Chris Johnson (2nd year 6-11 center from LSU) from the D-League since they only had eight players in Denver for their game vs. the Nuggets.

You always want to get the best player in a trade, not giving him up and it's obvious that in Jeff Green, the Celtics did so. He was drafted by Boston with the fifth pick in 2007 but then quickly shipped to Seattle for Ray Allen. We all know how that story ended up.

Green is young (24), big (6-9) and versatile. This was a move with the future in mind, a tough balance when you're trying to get Banner 18 this season. As my friend said, having Rondo and Green in a few years is much better than just Rondo and Perk. Plus, Perk's contract was going to be up after this season and I have to assume that the Celtics tried to re-sign him but couldn't so they wanted to get something in return while they could.

Losing Robinson isn't a big deal. Aside from a few playoff games last season, he never really had any consistent play. He's fun to watch but if they made a deal, you knew he would be involved. I'm also bummed to see Erden and Harangody go since they're both young players who could turn out pretty good but again, who else could they trade?

Daniels might still return next season. With two roster spots left, what does Ainge do? Troy Murphy, Leon Powe, James Posey and Richard Hamilton are names that have all been mentioned for buyouts. Murphy seems most likely and he would be a good fit: he averaged 14 points, 10 rebounds last season so he can't be completely washed up. Who knows how much Powe or Posey have left? Rip can still play but I don't see how Boston can afford him.

Got all that? It's going to take some time to digest these moves but one thing's for sure: Danny Ainge has the biggest balls in the world. The anti-Peter Chiarelli if you will. Rather than hemming or hawing for years about minor players, Ainge completely surprises you. Let's hope the Mormon is right again.

We'll miss you Perk.

Any Big East fan could have told you, Luke Harangody is a beast

Earlier in the week, I made a mistake when I referred to Celtics guard Von Wafer as the last guy on the bench. I neglected to mention rookie guard Avery Bradley and rookie forward Luke Harangody, two college players that came out too early (Bradley) or seem to be undersized and without a position in the NBA (Harangody).

With Kevin Garnett out the last five games, Harangody has been playing more minutes and last night was his first real solid performance as he put up 17 points and 11 rebounds (in a career-high 27 minutes) that fueled a 122-102 win over the Toronto Raptors at the TD Garden.

Anyone that pays attention to college hoops could tell you that both, particularly Harangody can ball. You don't play four years in the Big East at Notre Dame and dominate like he did when you're a stiff.

Clearly, it'll be hard for him to find minutes on a championship contender like this one but he seems to have the ingredients to be a solid role player in the Ryan Gomes, Leon Powe mode.

Since the Raptors (12-24) don't play any semblance of defense, it should be no surprise that the Celtics (28-7) usually own them, save for one weird choke job in Toronto earlier this season.

Paul Pierce led the Cs with 20 points, Ray Allen scored 17, Glen Davis had 14 points and Shaquille O'Neal added 12 points. Nate Robinson regained his scoring touch, putting up 15 points off the bench.

Rajon Rondo had nine points and seven assists in 26 minutes (with six turnovers) as Doc Rivers tried to limit the starters minutes in the first night of a back to back stretch and three games in four nights.

DeMar Derozan paced Toronto with 20 points, Andrea Bargnani and Linas Kleiza both added 17 points, Jose Calderon had 11 points and nine assists while Amir Johnson scored 10. Off the bench, Leandro Barbosa scored 15.

The Raptors must possess as many foreigners (four played last night) as almost any other team, fitting since they're in Toronto which is a very diverse city, especially for Canada. It also makes sense that they don't have any interest in stopping anybody on the defensive end.

Boston was up 34-22 after one quarter and 67-45 at halftime (their most first half points this season). The Raptors cut into the deficit a bit in the third quarter (32-27) but it didn't matter as the Celts closed it out (28-25) and sent everyone home happy.

It was the second straight outstanding shooting display by Boston (57.5%) and Toronto wasn't shabby either (50.6%). The Celts made five more 3-pointers (11-6), three more free throws (19-16) and had 12 more rebounds (43-31). Boston had six more assists (31-25), three off their season-high while Toronto had four more steals (8-4) and five more blocks (7-2).

Thanks to Rondo's carelessness, the Cs had five more turnovers (16-11) and half the amount of fastbreak points that the Raptors had (14-7). The Cs did pound it down low with 10 more points in the paint (54-44).

Boston is in Chicago to face the Bulls tonight. Derrick Rose seems to always play well against the Celtics and this has developed into one of the Cs bigger rivalries over the past few seasons.