You cannot underestimate the value of Rajon Rondo

This pains me to say it since I've been a KG fan forever (I bought a Minnesota Timberwolves jersey in college) but nobody is more valuable to the Boston Celtics at this second than Rajon Rondo.

Of course Kevin Garnett is still vital to what they do, especially defensively, but after Rondo notched a triple-double (12 points, 22 assists, 10 rebounds) last night as the Celts knocked off the San Antonio Spurs, 105-103 at the TD Garden, what other conclusion is there to make?

Boston (27-7) beat the NBA's top team, the Spurs (29-6), in a game that was the ultra-rare instant classic regular season NBA game.

This one had it all: crazy shots, plays, surprises and execution. As Bob Ryan said in the Boston Globe yesterday, the world is rooting for a Miami Heat vs. Los Angeles Lakers (sizzle vs. sizzle) NBA Finals this summer but after last night, we're both in agreement that Boston vs. San Antonio would be a true basketball fan's dream.

The win would not have been possible without an other-worldly shooting performance by the incomparable Ray Allen (13 of 16 for 31 points and six assists). The ironic part is that he bricked two late free throws that would have iced it but Manu Ginobili's (24 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals) had his jumper blocked by Paul Pierce (18 points) and Marquis Daniels (6 points, 3 rebounds) to end it.

All I can say is I hope that you watched this contest or at the very least saw the highlights. It was dedicated to your old-school friend or relative that complains about the NBA not being about fundamentals, etc. Riveting stuff in front of a great crowd.

Glen Davis had his best game in a while with 23 points. He seems to have found his jumper after a couple brutal shooting displays. As with most important wins, the role players stepped up too like Nate Robinson (7 points, 5 rebounds) who hit a couple key baskets.

The Spurs are the New England Patriots of the NBA (ie. extremely boring to outsiders) but you have to appreciate how good they've been over a long stretch of time (4 titles in 12 years).

Tim Duncan (18 points) has slowed down considerably but he can still get it done. Tony Parker (18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) has put aside his divorce drama with Eva Longoria and is having a great season while Richard Jefferson (14 points) has reemerged after a terrible year last season.

Another easy comparison to the Patriots is that San Antonio gets the most out of its assorted bums like Matt Bonner (10 points) and Gary Neal (10 points) who shuttle through the team every year.

Boston led 27-25 after one quarter but trailed 51-49 at the half. The Celts opened it up with a good third quarter (28-21) but George Hill's buzzer-beater for 2 cut it to 77-72 after three. San Antonio won the fourth (31-29) which is impressive since the Cs looked like they had it in the bag, up nine with a little over a minute left.

For the game, the Celts shot 61.3% (which is absurd) to 45.3% for the Spurs. San Antonio had four more 3-pointers (9-5) and made eight more free throws (16-8). Besides the shooting percentage, the Cs not surprisingly won because of the assists (34-20).

The Toronto Raptors come to the TD Garden tomorrow night and what a letdown that will be. There won't be a game with this much hype and intrigue until the Celtics finally play the Lakers on January 30 in Los Angeles.

Von Wafer helps Celtics win an actual game

If you ever thought that Von Wafer - the last man on the Boston Celtics' bench - would ever do anything that would help them win a regular season game, you're either related to him or you're a lunatic.

However, that was the story last night as Wafter brought energy off the bench and his 10 points and six rebounds were crucial as the Celts (26-7) stole a game from the Minnesota Timberwolves (9-26), 96-93 at the TD Garden.

Led by rebounding machine Kevin Love (12 points, 24 rebounds - a Garden record), the Timberwolves were in control for most of the contest but some fourth quarter heroics by Paul Pierce (23 points), Ray Allen (20 points) and Glen Davis (17 points) allowed Boston to escape with the win.

Rajon Rondo was back to his old tricks with six points and 16 assists. He actually had the two biggest baskets for the Cs as well: a floater and a jumper in the last few minutes.

Minnesota got 19 points from Michael Beasley, 15 points from Martell Webster off the bench, 14 from Darko Milicic and 13 from Luke Ridnour.

The Timberwolves led 25-17 after one quarter and 47-43 at halftime. Boston inched closer with a decent third quarter (27-26) then won it in the fourth (26-20).

For the game, the Celts shot 45.1% to Minnesota's 41.7%. Thanks to Love's prowess, the Timberwolves had 15 more rebounds (45-30) but it was the same story in the assist department thanks to Rondo (22-16). Boston also had five more blocks (7-2) since Jermaine O'Neal had four (he's still good defensively), five less turnovers (15-10) and 12 more points in the paint (38-26).

Wednesday night is one of the marquee games of the NBA regular season even though I'm sure it won't get much hype. It pits the Western Conference's best team: the San Antonio Spurs against the East's best - Boston - at the TD Garden. It's hard to get excited about a regular season game but these teams only meet once or twice a season and they always seem to be great games.

Tuukka Rask and Nathan Horton emerge off a missing persons poster and help the Bruins put a bow on a solid road trip

It wasn't always pretty (namely the two third period leads that disappeared and led to shootout losses) but after last night's 2-1 win in Toronto, the Boston Bruins wrapped up a pivotal five-game road trip with a 3-0-2 record.

In the process, they just might have saved head coach Claude Julien's job while also showing that they're still a team to be feared in the Eastern Conference.

The biggest developments out of the Air Canada Centre last night were the reemergence of two Bruins (21-11-6) who have been scuffling (to be kind): Tuukka Rask and Nathan Horton.

Rask has not been himself all season and it hasn't helped that Tim Thomas has been playing out of his mind so his playing time has been sporadic at best. The Fin had 36 saves last night, shutting down the Maple Leafs (14-20-4) which is always doubly nice since we still own one more first round draft pick from them (having already used their last first round pick on Tyler Seguin) in the ill-fated Phil Kessel deal.

Mikhail Grabovski gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 14:08 in the first period after a flipped pass from Luke Schenn led to a breakaway.

Horton answered at 7:56 in the second period with his first goal in nine games. He was assisted by Dennis Seidenberg as the husband of a Playboy playmate (really) worked into the middle of the offensive zone and ripped one of his hard snap shots, that for once didn't ring off a post.

Probably the third guy from the invisible trio, Marc Savard, also stepped up with the game-winning goal less than eight minutes later. With Milan Lucic (who assisted) in front of Toronto goaltender James Reimer, Savard took a pass from Horton at the blue line and fired a screened shot.

That's all it took to get the two points although Rask had to make a couple top-notch saves to end it.

The Bruins come home to face the Minnesota Wild on Thursday at the TD Garden.

Business as usual with Rajon Rondo back on the court for the Boston Celtics

As spoiled as we are with the Boston Celtics the past few years, a two-game losing streak is truly a cause for alarm.

Yes, NBA teams can successfully go through the motions of the monotonous 82-game regular season (see: Celtics 2009-2010) but if Boston is relatively healthy, they should win most games that they play, no questions asked.

That equation was proved once again last night in Canada as the Cs (25-7) beat the Toronto Raptors (11-22) 93-79 at the Air Canada Centre.

Rajon Rondo returned from his ankle injury and played 34 minutes but only contributed four points, eight assists and five turnovers. However, just his presence alone allowed things to open up for the Celts. For example, Paul Pierce dropped a game-high 30 points with seven rebounds and four assists while Ray Allen added 23 points.

Even Glen Davis, who looked completely lost on Friday without Kevin Garnett, managed to snap out of his funk (starting 1 of 7 last night) with a near triple-double: 15 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists.

Toronto is not good but they are young and athletic which can always make for a tough matchup for our lovable group of old men that play basketball.

DeMar DeRozan apparently is becoming a star now as he had 27 points while Joey Dorsey (13 points, 13 rebounds) and Amir Johnson (10 points, 10 rebounds) had double-doubles.

After a tight first quarter (24-23 Boston) and halftime (43-42 Celtics), it looked like it could be a close finish but Doc Rivers and his staff (mostly excitable midget Lawrence Frank) convinced them to play some defense and as a result, they managed to hold the Raptors to only 37 points in the second half.

When you look at the numbers, it's easy to see why the Celtics pulled away. They shot 54.3% to Toronto's 37.8%. The Celtics had five more 3-pointers (6-1) which offset a big deficit in rebounds (49-37 Toronto).

And what a shock, Rondo made for much more ball movement (30-20 assists for Celtics) and less hero ball. Toronto had four more steals (9-5) but thanks to Shaq (4 blocks), Boston had four more blocks (6-2). The Raptors used their speed to almost double up the Celts in fast break points: 29-15 and gain 10 more points in the paint (42-32).

Boston comes home to host Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight at the TD Garden. Minnesota is exactly the type of team you want to face in the second half of a back-to-back, a squad that you can beat even if you play you're B or B- game.

Pats wrap up regular season with preseason type blowout full of scrubs making plays

Everywhere you looked yesterday at Gillette Stadium, it seemed like August. The temperatures were mild, the sun was out, the crowd was full of schmoes that never go to Patriots games and most interestingly, backups, reserves, never-weres and never will bes were making highlight reel plays.

The New England Patriots wrapped up their 2010 regular season with one more beating, 38-7 over the quarterback-less Miami Dolphins.

The Pats (14-2) let Tom Brady (10 of 16, 199 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions) play enough to boost his MVP candidacy to the point where if you don't vote for him, you're a joke. Once again, he didn't throw an interception, extending his NFL record and he also clinched or extended a million other streaks that I'm too lazy to look up again.

Perhaps the most satisfying development out of yesterday's glorified exhibition game was the fact that BenJarvus Green-Ellis carried the ball 20 times for 80 yards and a touchdown. That got him over 1000 yards for the season (1008) and made him the first New England running back to get over the century mark since Corey Dillon in 2004 (it's crazy it's been that long but then you remember how long we tried to squeeze Chicken Salad out of Chicken Shit - Laurence Maroney).

The other unsung guy that you had to feel good for was Julian Edelman. The king of preseason, who was a high fantasy draft pick for know it all Patriots fanboys, finally came through with a nice game in the 2010 regular season. He had three catches for 72 yards, including a sweet 40-yard gain. He also took a reverse 13 yards and most impressively, broke a team record with a 94-yard punt return for a score.

Wes Welker, Deion Branch and Aaron Hernandez all sat out which makes you wonder how badly New England would have beat the already-on-vacation Dolphins (7-9) if those studs suited up.

Everyone else on the Patriots added to their great individual seasons: rookies Devin McCourty (seventh INT) and Rob Gronkowski (6 catches, 102 yards, 1 touchdown) continued to show why they are two of New England's best draft picks possibly ever.

Finally, Brian Hoyer (the most anonymous pro athlete in New England) got his first NFL touchdown pass and actually looked pretty decent: 7 of 13 for 122 yards. A beautiful 42-yard toss to Brandon Tate. The always tricky Bill Belichick changed it up by having Hoyer go in for Brady in the middle of a drive, simulating what would happen if Brady gets hurt in a game.

From here we have almost two weeks without a playoff game. As the No. 1 seed in the AFC, the Patriots will play either the Jets, Chiefs or Ravens on Sunday, January 16, 4:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium.

New England earned everything that comes with this extended break, they had an unbelievable regular season which is all well and good but as Coach Hoodie remarked today: "yesterday we were 14-2, today we're 0-0."

It's Super Bowl 45 (in Dallas) or bust for this outstanding team and coach.

New Year's in Buffalo, talk about a party.

Weird stuff happens on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day so it goes without saying that's multiplied when a miserable place like Buffalo, NY is involved.

The Boston Bruins scored four goals in the first period last night at the HSBC Arena but somehow ended up losing 7-6 in a shootout to the Buffalo Sabres.

Four different Bs (20-11-6) defensemen scored goals while Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist. Brad Marchand also added a goal.

For Buffalo (16-18-4), Drew Stafford once again did his best Mario Lemieux impression that he only pulls out when he plays the Bruins. He had another hat trick against Boston (his second this season) while Jason Pominville had two goals and two assists.

2011 began like 2010 ended for Bs goaltender Tuukka Rask: terribly. He started last night but he didn't make it to the second period as Bruins head coach Claude Julien made the curious decision to yank him after the first period even though Boston led 4-3.

Andrew Ference gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead 1:29 into the game, from Adam McQuaid and Marc Savard. 37 seconds later, Pominville tied it up from Thomas Vanek and Mike Weber.

Dennis Seidenberg made it 2-1 with an unassisted goal, then Brad Marchand tipped home a shot by Johnny Boychuk who received a pass from Mark Recchi.

Thomas Vanek got Buffalo back into it with a goal from Tim Connolly and Pominville.

The first period closed with Zdeno Chara (from Patrice Bergeron and Recchi) scoring a short-handed goal but Stafford cut it to 4-3 with an unassisted goal.

With Rask (13 saves) out, Tim Thomas (16 saves) entered in the second period but he wasn't much better. Captain America, Ryan Miller (34 saves) didn't exactly have a Hall of Fame performance either but he was able to ride it out.

Stafford tied it up with the second period from Paul Gausted. A power-play goal by Pominville gave Buffalo a 5-4 lead from Andrej Sekera and Jochen Hecht.

Seguin took over in the third period with a goal (from Daniel Paille) and he found Steve Kampfer for the go-ahead tally at 6-5. Chara also assisted on Kampfer's 2nd career NHL goal.

It looked like the Bruins would get the two points but Stafford tied it up with his third goal with 28 seconds left in regulation.

After a scoreless overtime, the Sabres went 3 for 3 in the shootout (Stafford, Vanek and Tyler Ennis) while Michael Ryder and Seguin scored but the third shooter, Zdeno Chara, shot wide and it was over. I have no idea why Julien tabbed Chara to shoot since he doesn't have a move, he normally just skates down and takes a slap shot from a few feet away but whatever.

The Bs got one point but they totally choked, giving up two-goal leads twice (3-1, 4-2). Boston goes to Toronto tomorrow night to visit Phil Kessel and the Maple Leafs, who they completely own.

Celts ring in New Year's Eve with a no-show matinee at the Garden

I don't work in Las Vegas at a sportsbook but there's a few certain telltale signs for NBA games that almost always come true: teams struggle in back to backs and also after losing their stars to injuries.

With the New Orleans Hornets in Boston yesterday afternoon, the Boston Celtics had to take time away from planning their New Year's Eve appearances and parties to play a game without either Rajon Rondo or Kevin Garnett.

Things went predictably poor for the home team in their first game since KG went down with his latest mysterious calf injury.

The Hornets (19-14) held on for a 83-81 win that was bizarre since the Celtics (24-7) went for the winning 3-pointer by Ray Allen (18 points) and then when he missed it, they didn't foul and let the last few seconds tick off. Uh ok, guess Doc didn't want them going to overtime.

New Orleans didn't play particularly well either but Chris Paul was his usual versatile self: 20 points, 11 assists, six steals, five rebounds and he got some help in the form of David West (19 points) and Emeka Okafor (18 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks).

Marco Belinelli added 10 points for the Hornets.

With Nate Robinson (11 points, 6 rebounds) starting for Rondo, Glen Davis took KG's spot and he was awful. He had only eight points on 4 of 14 shooting and he looked like a player that excels coming off the bench but isn't built to be a starter. The world needs ditch diggers, right?

Paul Pierce had 12 points for Boston, Shaquille O'Neal and Marquis Daniels added 10 points in a forgettable game that will hopefully be swept under all your Happy New Year merchandise and related crap.

New Orleans was up 23-19 after one quarter but Boston led by a hoop at halftime: 39-37. A big third quarter by the Hornets (29-18) and the Cs got back in it with a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter (24-17).

The Celts will try to readjust to life without Rondo (for not much longer) and KG (for two weeks - wink) as they travel North of the border to take on the Toronto Raptors tomorrow night.