So the Celtics are good again

The Boston Celtics' meltdown of a few weeks ago seems like years back as the team continued on its most recent torrid stretch.

The C's went to Miami last night to play the improving Heat and came out with a 98-83 win.

Boston (35-9) won its sixth in a row behind Eddie House's season-high 25 points. House had 20 in the second quarter alone and for the game, he was a ridiculous 7-of-11 on 3-pointers.

Fellow sharpshooter Ray Allen (5 of 6 on 3-pointers) continued his great season with a game-high 27 points, five rebounds and five assists. Kevin Garnett added 16 points, 13 boards and three steals while Paul Pierce had 14 points and eight rebounds.

Rajon Rondo posted seven points and 10 assists and Kendrick Perkins played his first game in two weeks, finishing with two points and seven rebounds.

Dwyane Wade (the NBA's third best player-behind LeBron and Kobe) led the Heat (22-19) with 25 points. Daequan Cook scored 20 off the bench. Rookie big man Michael Beasley had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

This was never much of a contest as the Celts blitzed Miami with a 29-10 first quarter. Boston opened it up to 57-34 at the half. Miami outscored Boston, 30-21 in the third quarter but the C's took the fourth (20-19) going away.

Boston shot 51.4% to Miami's 40.0%. Led by House and Allen, the Green made a season-high 15 3-pointers. Finally, Boston had 18 more rebounds (48-30).

Tonight is a big Eastern Conference Showdown as the Celtics travel to Orlando to face the NBA's current best team (at least record wise). The Magic have won seven straight games but Boston won the first matchup in December at the Garden.

Everything is coming up black and gold for this team

Last night in Long Island was a classic trap game for the Boston Bruins.

They were coming off an emotional win over the Canadiens on Tuesday and probably looking a bit ahead to Saturday night's showdown in our nation's capital with the second best team in the Eastern Conference-the Washington Capitals.

The B's (33-7-4) played like a team with other things on its mind but it still managed to sneak out of Nassau Coliseum with a 2-1 win over the Islanders (12-28-4).

Boston goaltender Tim Thomas was the number one star as he stopped 40 shots, en route to his 19th win (4 losses, 3 overtime defeats) of the season.

The Islanders outshot the Bruins, 41-27 but they scored their only goal in the last minute of play as Bill Guerin's (14th goal) attempt kicked off of a Bruin skate in front of Thomas.

Marc Savard opened the scoring in the second period with his 15th goal of the year, from Chuck Kobasew and Marc Stuart.

Martin St. Pierre made it 2-0 B's in the third (his 2nd of the year) from Vladimir Sobotka and Shawn Thornton.

Boston traveled to DC after the game and they'll meet the Caps tomorrow night in a game that I just so happen to be attending with a college friend.

Should be great, I'm excited to see Alexander Oveckin in person. Washington has been playing great hockey lately.

Back to your regularly scheduled domination

After the recent four-game losing streak, the Boston Celtics (32-9) seemed to have gotten their collective shit together as they beat the New Jersey Nets (19-20), 118-86 last night at the TD Banknorth Garden.

It was the Green's third straight win after the sky was falling/apocalypse happened.

The game was reminiscent of an early-season blowout as the starters (still minus Perk) got the job done in three quarters then yucked it up on the bench in the fourth when Loch Ness Monsters like Bill Walker (6 points) strutted their stuff.

Paul Pierce led the C's with 22 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. The Truth tied the franchise record (also recently reached by Ray Allen last weekend in Toronto) of a perfect 5-for-5 quarter on 3-pointers. This occurred in the third quarter.

Kevin Garnett added 20 points and nine boards, Ray Allen notched 12 points while Rajon Rondo was back to his schizophrenic best with 11 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds and three steals.

Off the bench, Glen Davis had 12 points, Eddie House added 10 and the ever-improving Gabe Pruitt tossed in nine.

Devin Harris led the Nets with 17 points. Ryan Anderson, Brook Lopez (8 rebounds, 5 blocks) and Keyon Dooling all had 13 points.

Boston led 30-23 after one and 51-41 at the half. Pierce's on-fire stretch helped the Celts carry the third (37-19). The C's bench even took the fourth (30-26).

New Jersey shot a woeful 38.8% to Boston's Megan Fox hot 56.4%. The Celts made seven more 3-pointers (12-5), had 13 more rebounds (45-32), twice as many assists (28-14) and six more steals (13-7). The Nets made 11 more free throws (29-18) but who cares?

The teams will do it all again on Saturday as the Celtics go to the Garden State.

Zdeno Chara cares not for French-Canadien scumbags

Common sense holds that eventually all the injuries that are piling up for the Boston Bruins will catch up with them at some point.

Phil Kessel has mono and he will be out for possibly a month and it was announced yesterday that Marco Sturm is done for the season after having knee surgery.

Once again, as has been the case all season, the Bruins took care of business on the ice despite questions debating whether they could withstand the latest injury/illness.

The hated Montreal Canadiens (25-11-6) came to the Garden last night and Boston (32-7-4) won 3-1 behind two great performances by some of its all-stars: two Zdeno Chara goals and 34 saves by Tim Thomas.

After a scoreless first period, Andrei Kostitsyn opened the scoring with a power-play goal 3:24 into the second period. His brother Sergei and Andrei Markov assisted on the tally.

Five minutes later, Chara scored the first of his two power-play goals. The first was from Chuck Kobasew and Aaron Ward. The second (his 9th of the year) was from Dennis Wideman and David Krejci.

With a 1:11 left in the third, Krejci (17th) scored an even-strength goal, assisted by Michael Ryder and Blake Wheeler, that firmly clinched the win for Boston.

The B's travel to Long Island tomorrow night to face the NHL's worst team, the hapless Islanders.

If only every team was like the Raptors

The Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors faced each other again last night at the TD Banknorth Garden and for the second time in two days, the C's (31-9) came out on top.

Paul Pierce pumped in 39 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a 115-109 Celtics win in overtime.

Who knows how much these past two strange games meant other than solidifying the fact that Boston currently owns Toronto (16-23).

Tony Allen and Kendrick Perkins sat out once again so that meant Brian Scalabrine (11 points) played 28 minutes and Leon Powe added 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

Kevin Garnett had 20 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and two blocks while Rajon Rondo notched nine points, eight assists, five rebounds and only one turnover.

Andrea Bargnani continued his solid work with a team-high 23 points and eight boards. Chris Bosh added 18 points and 11 rebounds while the immortal Roko Ukic scored 16 points off the bench.

Boston had nine more rebounds (46-37) and six more assists (26-20), two categories that are great indicators if a team won the game or not.

The New Jersey Nets come to the Garden tomorrow night for the start of a home and home set with Boston. The Nets aren't as bad as everyone expected; Devin Harris has been great, Vince Carter has been playing well and rookie center Brook Lopez has improved every game.

Thank you Canada: for your crappy basketball team and your 18+ drinking age

Ray Allen almost single-handily ended the Celtics' four game losing streak and tailspin (seven losses in their last nine) as he delivered a season-high 36 points yesterday afternoon in a 94-88 win over the Raptors at the Air Canada Centre.

As shooters (and pretty girls) are known to do, Ray has been rather erratic lately. He came out on fire though (hitting five 3-pointers in the first quarter) and shot 11 for 14 in the game, 8 of 10 on threes.

The Celts (30-9) needed all those points as a game that they led by 20 in the third quarter got close in the fourth. One of Boston's biggest issues during this rough patch has been their lack of closing power in fourth quarters. Toronto (16-22) cut it to five with 1:30 left in the fourth but they ran out of gas.

Rajon Rondo had 14 points, 11 assists and six rebounds in the win. Paul Pierce added 11 points, six rebounds and six assists while Kevin Garnett notched 10 points (3 of 16 shooting) and 11 rebounds.

Glen Davis played 30 minutes since Kendrick Perkins was out with a shoulder injury. Big Baby was a brutal 1 of 12 from the floor but he did grab 11 boards.

If you're facing the Raptors and Andrea Bargnani is their leading scorer, you're probably in good shape. The former top pick, had a team-high 17 points and nine rebounds. Jamario Moon (15 points, 7 rebounds) and Chris Bosh (15 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks) were the other bright spots for Toronto.

Jason Kapono and Joey Graham both scored 12 off the bench.

In a strange scheduling quirk, Toronto comes to the Garden tonight as the Celtics try to build off yesterday's uneven but ultimately decent performance.

Celtics' free-fall continues, did the Lakers steal their souls?

If last night had happened during the Celtics' 19-game win streak it still would have been a tall task to come away with a win at Quicken Loans Arena.

Under the current circumstances, it was nearly impossible and it should be no surprise that the Cavs dominated, 98-83 as the Celtics still can't get out of their own way.

Cleveland (29-6) improved its home record to a modest 19-0 start which is been orchestrated by the best player in the NBA, LeBron James.

He had 38 points, seven rebounds, six assists, four steals and three blocks in one of those performances that only James, Dwyane Wade and Kobe can pull off.

Boston (29-9) got a double-double, 18 points and 15 rebounds from Kevin Garnett but like most of the games during this seven losses in nine game slide, nobody else stepped up as the second banana.

Kendrick Perkins had 13 points, Ray Allen had 12 and Paul Pierce had 11.

Sideshow Bob had 14 points and nine boards for the Cavs, Mo Williams (the key to their championship?) scored 13 and Daniel Gibson added 10.

The loss pushes Boston to third in the Eastern Conference as the Magic destroyed the Hawks in a similar early-season conference showdown.

For the game, Cleveland shot 50.8% to Boston's 41.3%. The Cavaliers made half of its 3-pointers (8-of-16) while the C's were 5-of-19. The Cavs led by LeBron's perfect 9-for-9, doubled up the Celtics in made free-throws (24-12).

The good signs in the loss were that Boston outrebounded Cleveland (one of the top rebounding team in the league) by 12 (42-30) and had ten more assists (25-15).

That might be grasping for straws a little bit and it's understandable since Boston's recent play has been downright depressing. Since that Christmas day loss to the Lakers, the Celts have lost their collective mojo.

They have home-and-home sets with the Raptors starting tomorrow in Toronto and then later in the week with the Nets. Both teams are not very good so the C's have to get back on track with at least a split.