New York Knicks, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, same difference

Scheduling the New York Knicks-a perennial NBA doormat-on St. Patrick's Day in Boston was pure genius on the part of the Celtics.

It might have been the Guinness and car bombs talking but the Celts (43-24) looked like contenders once again as they romped for the third straight time at home over the NBA equivalent of a No. 16 seed.

Paul Pierce had his best game in months, leading the Green and White with 29 points while Kevin Garnett added 22 points. Marquis Daniels was the only other Celtics in double figures with 10 points as no starter played more than 28 minutes, a great thing with a tough three-game road trip starting tomorrow night.

David Lee (29 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists) has taken over the crown of best American white player in the league, sorry Troy Murphy, but right now he doesn't have much help from his loser Knick (24-44) teammates.

Al Harrington was the next highest scorer for New York with 16 points off the bench. Tracy McGrady scored 12 points and Toney Douglas had 11.

This one was over after the first quarter as the C's sprinted to a 35-19 lead in the first quarter. Seeing the Knicks play defense is about as rare as seeing a black person in Southie on St. Patrick's Day. Zing!

Boston was up 68-49 and the crowd could only drink their shamrock shakes and count the time until they could wait in line outside the numerous Garden watering holes after the game.

The C's go to Houston tomorrow night for what should be a tight game against the overachieving Rockets, who are currently outside the playoff picture in the Western Conference.

This one's for the playoffs last season (Haha, nobody?)!

Like an ex-girlfriend from hell that won't go away, the Boston Bruins just keep rising up from the dead when you have completely counted them out.

Make no mistake, their out-of-nowhere 5-2 win last night at Carolina's RBC Center will have no correlation to a hot streak.

The much-anticipated showdown with the Penguins tomorrow night (Kill Matt Cooke!) will undoubtedly end up a dud so last night's win was simply more fool's gold from a team that's been swimming in it all season.

What was more surprising against the Hurricanes (28-33-8): the fact that the Bruins (31-26-12), the league's lowest scoring team, jumped out to a 2-0 lead or that they sealed it Capitals/Sharks/Blackhawks style with three third period goals?

Five different B's scored and Tuukka Rask made 30 saves as he improved to 16-9-4. From now on, can Claude Julien please keep Tim Thomas chained to the bench?

Only 23 seconds into the game, Patrice Bergeron scored another tip-in goal (a carbon copy of his goal the night before) from Dennis Seidenberg and Mark Recchi.

Defenseman Johnny Boychuk joined the Bruins' rush (a completely foreign concept) was rewarded with a goal in the second period. Matt Hunwick and Michael Ryder assisted the young defenseman who has been a pleasant surprise.

Carolina's Erik Cole answered on a power-play roughly five minutes later and you had to think, here we go again.

That was as close as the Hurricanes would get however as Recchi scored another early goal (this one 45 seconds into the third period). It was his old patented move: a wrist shot from the slot. David Krejci assisted Recchi on that goal which tied Guy LeFleur for 22nd all-time in NHL goals.

The two most underachieving Bruins locked this one up as Ryder and Krejci scored 2:30 apart in the third. Goodnight everybody and drive home safely.

Tomorrow's game against Pittsburgh is anticipated for all the wrong reasons; what will the Bruins do for retaliation? My expectations are very low and in all honestly, I'll probably forget to watch the game as I'll be consumed by the first day of the men's NCAA basketball tournament.

Michael Finley and your grandpa had some crazy times back in the day

The Boston Celtics have become the definition of front-runners. They beat up on the scrubs in the NBA (most of whom reside in the Eastern Conference) and then they choke time and again against good teams and playoff contenders.

They rolled over the woeful Detroit Pistons last night 119-93 at the TD Garden and I think it's safe to say that Bill Laimbeer is rolling over in his grave.

This game was never close as Boston (42-24) was up 31-15 after the first quarter and 64-35 at halftime.

It was a nice reminder of why once March Madness comes around, any sane basketball fan forgets about the NBA for a few weeks.

Seven Celtics scored in double figures and two others had eight points. The newest Celtics Michael Finley had 15 points off the bench while Paul Pierce and Ray Allen also scored 15 in limited time. Kevin Garnett added 14 points and eight rebounds, Glen Davis had 13 points off the bench while Kendrick Perkins and Marquis Daniels notched 11. Rasheed Wallace and Glen Robinson both scored eight points.

Poor Richard Hamilton (14 points) and Tayshaun Prince. Detroit (23-44) is a complete mess and those two great veterans are stuck on a rebuilding team going nowhere fast. Prince left the game early after teammate Jason Maxiell (11 points, 10 rebounds) kneed him in the back.

Will Bynum had 16 points and 7 assists for the Pistons, Jonas Jerebko added 10 points while DaJuan Summers (12 points) and Ben Gordon (11 points) showed pulses off the bench.

The C's shot 62.2% as a team with nine more rebounds (36-27) and double the amount of assists as Detroit (34-17).

Tomorrow night will probably be another laugher as the Knicks come to the Garden for a St. Patrick's Day beatdown Southie style.

What's the point of watching the Bruins?

Honestly, why do I still watch the Bruins this season? After Marc Savard went down with a concussion, this team that wasn't getting out of the first round of the playoffs, now seems destined not to even make it.

It's a hard choice: do you want to see the Bruins qualify for the playoffs, only to be swept by the Capitals, Devils or Penguins or just not make it at all?

It seems obvious that any true fan would want them to make the playoffs simply because you never know what'll happen but this edition of the Bruins is one of the most predictable teams I can ever remember.

They're limping home from their season-high seven game road trip after a 3-2 loss in New Jersey last night.

The Devils (41-24-3) took any intrigue out of it by scoring all three goals in the first period. Rob Niedermayer, David Clarkson and Olympic hero Zach Parise all scored for New Jersey.

Boston (30-26-12) made a half-hearted comeback as Blake Wheeler cut it to 3-1 in the second period with his 17th goal (assists to Mark Stuart and David Krejci) and then Patrice Bergeron (his 15th of the season) made it 3-2 with an extra skater on and 1:03 left in the game. He tipped Dennis Seidenberg's shot from the point, Wheeler also assisted.

The poster boy for this lost season for the B's has to be goaltender Tim Thomas. He won the Vezina Trophy last season after a career year and was rewarded with a big deal. This season, he has been awful, never getting on a hot streak forcing Boston to constantly flip-flop him with Tuukka Rask.

Thomas (15-17-8) gave up all three goals and was yanked after the first period. Rask (15-9-4) stopped all 16 of the shots he faced in the last two periods.

The ageless Martin Brodeur (38-22-3) stopped 34 shots for the win.

This torturous road trip wraps up tonight in Carolina where the Bruins will no doubt struggle to score goals and lose to an equally terrible Hurricanes team (who have been playing well lately).

Enough already

Based on a busy past few weeks (going to a bachelor party in DC, heading to the Cape for a few days), I haven't been blogging lately about the Bruins and Celtics. The real underlying reason however for my lack of posts has been the fact that these teams are too depressing and flawed to mention.

I realize that's no excuse but there hasn't been anything in the last few weeks (months really) to get excited about from either of these painfully flawed squads. The Bruins can't score goals and didn't stand up for themselves when their best offensive player-Marc Savard-was knocked out with a cheap shot last weekend in Pittsburgh. The Celtics just can't beat good teams and sometimes they don't bother showing up against garbage like the Nets or Pistons.

The C's took on the Cavs in Cleveland yesterday and it played out exactly like you'd expect: Boston (41-24) hung around for a while before LeBron James (30 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals) and Cleveland (52-15) decided to start playing. End result: a 104-93 Cavs win.

For once, the Celtics' starting five wasn't too blame. Ray Allen had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists while Kevin Garnett (7 rebounds) and Paul Pierce each scored 18 points. Rajon Rondo added 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Boston's bench was weak sauce to the max with 15 total points. When you play the Cavs, particularly at home, you know LeBron will do his thing. The key is limiting the clowns surrounding him; yesterday Anderson Varejao had 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Antawn Jamison added 15 points and 12 rebounds while Mo Williams (14 points, 6 assists) and J.J. Hickson (12 points) played their roles to perfection.

The Cavs jumped out to a 24-18 lead after the first quarter and held serve at 54-48 for the first half. Boston made a run in the third quarter to tie it up but a long drought buried them. They can hardly comeback against the Wizards so doing that in Cleveland is impossible.

The Cavs took the third (26-24) and the fourth (24-21) as LeBron and his cronies danced non-stop.

Detroit comes to the Garden tonight. If we've learned anything this season, it's that the Pistons will hang around for way too long before the Celts will barely squeak it out. Who knows, maybe they'll lose?

The Nate Robinson trade pays off

These are desperate times for the Boston Celtics since no win as guaranteed (see: losing to New Jersey over the weekend at home).

Therefore last night's 105-100 win in Detroit isn't exactly parade worthy but still, the hopeless Pistons did beat the Celtics a few weeks ago on the same court.

Nate Robinson had his best game so far for the Celts as he scored 14 points (including 4 3-pointers) in 15 minutes. That's exactly the type of instant offense off the bench Boston needs. And if you think Eddie House, Bill Walker or J.R. Giddens would have provided it this season as consistently, well I feel bad for you son.

It was a grimy game and Boston (37-21) did everything they could to keep Detroit (21-39) in it but thankfully the C's made a couple plays in crunch time to seal it.

Ray Allen led the Celts with 18 points, Rajon Rondo had 15 points and 11 assists, Kevin Garnett scored 14 and grabbed nine rebounds while Rasheed Wallace (starting for a sick Kendrick Perkins) had 10 points. Glen Davis added 12 points off the bench.

The Pistons were a dominant team in the last decade but now they're in the tricky process of rebuilding while still giving some fading stars big minutes.

Jonas Jerebko led the Pistons with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Richard Hamilton (7 assists) and Tayshaun Prince both had 15 points and Rodney Stuckey, the franchise building block, was held to 13 points.

It was tied at 25 after the first quarter and Boston held a slim 55-52 halftime lead. Detroit went ahead 75-72 going into the fourth but the C's impressively closed it 33-25.

They'll try to build on that momentum as the Charlotte Bobcats come to the TD Garden this evening for what should be another closer than it should be contest.

The Olympics are over, back to the miserable Bruins

It only took one night (or one period really) but the Boston Bruins pretty much erased all the great memories and excitement from the incredible two weeks of hockey at the Vancouver Olympics.

That's a short-sighted exagerration but you have to admit that the B's are a hell of a buzzkill. They had a four-game winning streak going into the break but you wouldn't know it as they looked like the exact same team that lost 10 in a row earlier in the season with a listless 4-1 loss last night to the visiting Canadiens.

Boston (27-23-11) got a power-play goal by Marco Sturm in the first period (from Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard) but as usual they sat back and couldn't build on that. Montreal (30-28-6) is equally average but they still exploded with four goals in the third period.

With today being the NHL trade deadline, I could wonder if the Bruins will make any significant move but since I've been following the team for most of my life, I'm certain they'll sit on their hands and let other teams go for it. That's their style and that's why they're completely irrelevant both nationally and locally.

Former Bruin Glen Metropolit tied it up just 2:40 into the third. Maxim Lapierre and Mathieu Darche also scored before Benoit Pouliot's empty-netter sent Bruins fans home unhappy once again.

Tukkaa Rask had 28 saves but he wasn't the reason they lost. None of the goals he gave up were soft, they all came on odd-man rushes or rebounds.

The B's host the Maple Leafs tomorrow night back at the TD Garden.