Everyone Should Be Back On Board The Celtics Bandwagon By Now

No matter what happens the rest of this season, I think we can all safely say that tonight's Celtics-Hawks game was the craziest one that we'll see all year.

Boston (34-24, 21-9 home) won the second night of a back-to-back, 88-86 in overtime over Atlanta (34-24, 15-16 away) at TD Garden.

With the victory, the Celtics improved to 19-7 since the All-Star break while they also leapfrogged the Hawks and Magic for the inside track of the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Rajon Rondo (10 points, 10 rebounds, 20 assists) notched his sixth triple-double of the season (nobody else in the NBA has more than one) and 13th of his career in the regular season which tied recently retired Antoine Walker for second in franchise history behind some guy named Larry Bird (59). He also put up double-digit assists for the 19th straight game, the longest streak since John Stockton's 29 in 1992.

After picking up its biggest win of the season-so far-last night in Miami, the C's didn't have much left in the tank tonight but they still fought through that and came out on top. Despite the fact that Kevin Garnett (22 points, 12 points, 3 steals) and Greg Stiemsma (6 points, 8 rebounds) both fouled out in the extra session on bogus calls, the Green and White found a way to capture its ninth win in its last 11 contests.

I haven't even mentioned that Ray Allen didn't play (resting his ankle) and Mickael Pietrus (8 points, 6 rebounds) made his unexpected return. Brandon Bass had a monster game with 21 points and 10 rebounds. It was a scary few minutes in overtime when it looked like he went down with a serious knee injury but thankfully he bounced up and stayed on the court. Paul Pierce had 14 points but he looked the most tired with 6 for 19 shooting, including 1 of 8 on 3-pointers.

After getting punked last time in Atlanta, young point guard Jeff Teague (21 points, 6 assists) played well for the Hawks. Josh Smith (20 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists) was his typical self: making great plays on one end then head-scratching decisions on the next possession (6 turnovers, technical foul). Joe Johnson 14 points (5 for 17 shooting) was held in check by Avery Bradley (7 points) and goofball Zaza Pachulia notched 13 points and seven rebounds.

Boston was +17 in rebounds (56-39) and +9 on offensive boards (15-6) which both have to be season-highs. Rondo single-handily equaled Atlanta's assist output and his teammates accumulated eight assists as well.

I never mentioned the foul disparity, I'm not related to Tommy Heinsohn, but trust me when I tell you that the three clowns working tonight will not be needed in the playoffs. That's for sure. Boston survived getting called for eight more fouls (24-16).

However they choose to do it, the Celts need some rest in the next 24 hours in the worst possible way. Their one and only back-to-back-to-back is this weekend with visits to Toronto on Friday, New Jersey on Saturday and Charlotte on Sunday. If you drew up a three games in three nights scenario where a team could go 3-0, some combination of those three Lottery-bound squads would be it. I'm not saying Boston will go 3-0 but it wouldn't surprise me at all.

This team is on fire and it's been so much fun to watch. The C's have some extra incentive North of the border since the Raptors beat them 86-74 on February 10, easily one of the low points of the season.

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The Atlanta Hawks Will Never Change As Long As They Employ Josh Smith

It's good to know that some things in the NBA never change: namely that Josh Smith is still the dumbest player in the league. By association, his Atlanta Hawks (I can't believe they never traded him) will fail to get anywhere with that knucklehead.

The Boston Celtics (24-21, 8-13 road) took advantage of Atlanta's (26-20, 13-7) lack of smarts to win a sneaky big game tonight, 79-76 at Philips Arena.

Sure the C's almost blew a 15-point lead in crunch time, one of their specialties, but thankfully Jeff Teague airballed a 3-pointer then failed to foul, allowing Boston to run out the clock. Teague is the same guy that got called for a taunting technical in the third quarter after he dunked on Ray Allen. Atlanta led by eight (47-39) at the time.

Allen led the Celtics with 19 points. Kevin Garnett had 16 points and eight rebounds, Paul Pierce scored 13 and Rajon Rondo had 10 points, 13 assists and six steals. Every point counted in such a low-scoring contest so it's notable that Brandon Bass added eight points and 10 rebounds, Mickael Pietrus scored nine off the bench and Greg Stiemsma blocked four shots.

Joe Johnson (25 points) might as well be Ray Allen 2.0, what an incredible shooter. He got Atlanta back into it as he was 4 of 5 on 3-pointers. Zaza Pachulia had 16 points and 13 rebounds while Smith put up 10 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Good numbers if you have him in fantasy but not when you consider he was 5 of 20 from the floor.

This was the first of three meetings between the Celtics and Hawks (Apr. 11 in Boston, April 20 in Atlanta) so it was big for the Green to prove right off the bat that they could win at Philips Arena.

Only two more games left on this endless eight-game road trip for the Celts (3-3 so far). Even better, they get two days off before their next game: Thursday in Milwaukee. The Celtics beat the Bucks 102-96 on Leap Day but since then, Milwaukee has been playing better plus they traded for Monta Ellis. Him and Brandon Jennings with Ersan Ilyasova-maybe the NBA's most improved player-is a tough matchup for the C's.

Zombie Jermaine O'Neal officially is out for the season as he's opting for wrist surgery. Let's all pour out a goblet of blood for him.

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You know it's bad when Zaza Pachulia is unstoppable

Last night in Atlanta, it was a battle of who cared less (apologies to Ben Folds): the Boston Celtics or the Atlanta Hawks.

Neither team was into it (as evidenced by the numerous easy baskets and layups) but the Hawks (44-32) eventually made enough plays to come away with a depressing 88-83 win over the Celtics (52-23) at the Philips Arena.

I say depressing because the main reason that Atlanta was victorious had to do with the energy provided by goofball big man Zaza Pachulia. He had 15 points and 10 rebounds in just 23 minutes off the bench. Jamal Crawford led the Hawks with 20 points off the bench but that's at least forgivable since he's a good NBA player. There is absolutely no reason that Zaza should be dropping double-doubles in your eyeball.

Paul Pierce led Boston with a game-high 25 points and eight rebounds but he couldn't do it alone in the second night of the back-to-back road games. Rajon Rondo had 13 points, 10 assists and five rebounds while Ray Allen (11 points), Kevin Garnett (10 points) and Delonte West (10 points, 5 assists off the bench) all barely reached double figures.

The terrible pro sports fans in Atlanta were treated to a real snoozefest in the first half as the Hawks led 23-21 after the first quarter but the Celtics woke up for a 52-44 advantage.

The third quarter was another dud (18-16 Atlanta) and then the Hawks started looking like a playoff team in the fourth quarter (26-15 Hawks) while the Celtics were content to take hopeless 3-pointers and long jumpers.

Boston shot 44.6% to 36.7% for Atlanta. The Celtics made two more 3-pointers (6-4) but Atlanta lived at the free throw line (26-11 free throws made). Atlanta had 14 more rebounds (52-38) but Boston had eight more assists (22-14), four more blocks (5-1) and three more steals (5-2).

With the loss, the Cs fell half a game behind the Miami Heat (with a game in hand for Boston) into the third spot in the Eastern Conference. Only seven more games left, Boston hosts the Detroit Pistons tomorrow night at TD Garden.