Celtics Exact Some Revenge On The Bucks, Left Over From Last Week

Do the Celtics play any teams from the Western Conference this season? They do? Just wondering because after six games (all against mostly average Eastern Conference teams) including two apiece against the Wizards and Bucks, I'm ready to see something new.

Tonight, Boston (3-3, 2-1 away) won 96-92 over Milwaukee (3-2, 1-2 home) at BMO Harris Bradley Center in the second night of a back-to-back (after losing at home to Philadelphia on Friday). The Bucks had ruined the Celtics' home opener with a 99-88 win on November 2 so tonight was a fitting way to pay them back for being so inconsiderate.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 25 points and nine rebounds, Kevin Garnett had 18 points and six rebounds, Jason Terry scored 15 in a rare start and Rajon Rondo kept his double-digit assist streak going (at 30 games) with 10 points and 10 assists. The most valuable part of the win for me was Jeff Green's 12 points off the bench. For once, he was aggressive and went to the basket (6 of 8 on free throws).

Monta Ellis was unstoppable, he led Milwaukee with a game-high 32 points and eight assists. Samuel Dalembert had 14 points and eight rebounds and Ersan Ilyasova added 10 points and six rebounds. The Bucks probably lost since their best player-Brandon Jennings-was held to four points on 1 of 11 shooting. Former Celtics great Marquis Daniels had 12 points off the bench and Larry Sanders added 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Milwaukee outscored Boston in the first three quarters: 22-20 after one, 42-39 at halftime and 68-64 after three. It's not like it was a big deficit but it was nice to see the C's rally with a superb fourth: 32-24.

Shooting better (44.4%-39.8%) from the field, on 3-pointers (5-3) and from the foul line (27-19) allowed the Celtics to overcome another awful performance in the paint: they were outscored 48-32 by the Bucks, who also had four more rebounds (44-40) and three more steals (7-4).

Boston receives a day off tomorrow but they conclude this busy stretch with a game in Chicago (8 p.m., CSN) against the Bulls (4-2), their third game in four days. They are not the same without Derrick Rose-duh!-but former Celts assistant Tom Thibodeau's teams are always tough and play great defense. That's why these games are usually close and similar to playoff contests.

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Red Sox Begin Their Offseason By Addressing Their Biggest Need: Backup Catcher, Wait What?

You know that absolutely nothing of note happened in MLB today since Foxsports.com's Ken Rosenthal actually wrote a short article about the Red Sox' latest move: they signed catcher David Ross to a two-year deal, worth $6.2 million.

The best part was when he referred to Ross as "perhaps the best backup catcher in baseball." Listen, I'm not here to make fun of Rosenthal, who as far as I'm concerned does a decent job, but I just thought it was a funny way to describe a player. Talk about a backhanded compliment. It's like in football if you called someone the best backup quarterback, what does that even mean?

Semantics aside, this was Boston's first official move of the offseason and it can mean only one thing: either Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Ryan Lavarnway will be traded soon enough. The last thing they need is three mediocre catchers that are all in the same range in terms of ability. Saltalamacchia has the most power but he strikes out way too much and is average at best defensively. Lavarnway's best asset is that he's young and cheap, which ultimately might push him past Salty.

Ross will be 36 next season so he certainly won't be the starter. In 62 games with the Braves last season, he hit nine homers and 23 RBIs with a .256 batting average, .321 OBP and .449 SLG. The Red Sox are his sixth team and ironically enough, he actually was here for eight games in 2008 (which I totally forgot). In his 12-year MLB career, he's sported a .238 batting average, .324 OBP and .444 SLG so I'm going to assume he's known more for his work behind the plate.

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It's Only November, But The Celtics Are Not Right

Does someone want to let the Celtics know that the 2012-13 season has begun? For a team that has been known for its slow starts the last few years, I think it's safe to say they would be staring squarely at 0-5 right now if they hadn't played the Wizards twice already.

Boston (2-3, 1-2 home) fell 106-100 to Philadelphia (3-2, 2-1 away) tonight at TD Garden in a game that didn't seem that close since the Sixers seemingly led by nine or 10 points the whole time.

Rajon Rondo (14 points, 20 assists) and Kevin Garnett (19 points, 10 rebounds) have been themselves and this evening, Paul Pierce (24 points, 5 assists) decided to join them. Jason Terry was the only other guy in double figures with 13 points off the bench. The problem has been that the rest of the team hasn't really shown up yet, at least not consistently. And that's more than you can say for their so far invisible defense that allowed the NBA's lowest scoring team (that hadn't scored over 88) easily reach triple-digits, on the road.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised that the Sixers won since for whatever reason, they've been a bad matchup for the Celts the last few seasons. This was the same team that pushed them to seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals in May. Evan Turner (25 points, 11 rebounds) and Jrue Holiday (21 points, 14 assists) seem to be progressing into the stars that franchise desperately needs. Dorell Wright and Thaddeus Young both had 15 points while Nick Young scored 10 off the bench.

Philly led 23-20 after one quarter and 57-45 at halftime. It turns out that was too much for Boston to overcome since the C's outscored the Sixers 29-26 in the third and 26-23 in the fourth but it wasn't enough.

The Sixers hit three more 3-pointers (7-4), grabbed seven more rebounds (38-31), had five more steals (12-7) and four more blocks (7-3). The numbers that really stand out for Philadelphia were their advantage in fast break points (26-9) and points in the paint (56-48). The Celtics aren't going anywhere allowing that type of differential to a team without a dominant point guard (sorry Jrue) or big guy.

Boston travels to Milwaukee tomorrow night (8:30 p.m., CSN) to face the Bucks (3-1). You'll remember that Milwaukee spoiled the Celtics' home-opener a week ago, 99-88. That no show was the first sign that this team has some major issues to address.

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Week 10: Patriots-Bills Injury Report

It seems like a year ago that we last saw the Patriots (5-3) in action-crushing the Rams in London before Halloween. They meet the Bills (3-5) on Sunday (1 p.m., CBS) at Gillette Stadium and this afternoon, the teams submitted their official injury reports.

Coming off the bye week, you would assume that New England is healthier than they've been since the preseason. However, they still managed to list 14 players as questionable. In addition, three guys are already declared out. Rookie running back Brandon Bolden has been suspended four games by the NFL for using PEDs while defensive end Trevor Scott (hamstring) and linebacker Tracy White (foot) are still nursing old injuries.

The Patriots that are questionable represent basically the same group that was questionable earlier this season: Cornerback Kyle Arrington (concussion), defensive tackle Ron Brace (elbow), safeties Patrick Chung (shoulder) and Steve Gregory (hip); tight ends Rob Gronkowski (hip) and Aaron Hernandez (ankle); linebackers Dont'a Hightower (hamstring), Jerod Mayo (elbow) and Brandon Spikes (knee); wide receivers Brandon Lloyd (knee) and Wes Welker (ankle); guard Logan Mankins (calf/hip), offensive lineman Nick McDonald (shoulder) and offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee).

The Bills defense is particularly banged up, they've already ruled four players out including three on that side of the ball. Defensive end Mark Anderson (knee), cornerbacks Terence McGee (knee) and Aaron Williams (knee); offensive tackle Erik Pears (hip) will all be on the sidelines.

Buffalo might be terrible as usual but at least they seem to be learning something from New England: they list six guys as questionable. Defensive tackles Spencer Johnson (ankle) and Kyle Williams (ankle); wide receiver Stevie Johnson (thigh), defensive end Chris Kelsay (neck), linebacker Shawne Merriman (chest) and guard Kraig Urbik (foot) are all 50/50 to play on Sunday.

Stay tuned tomorrow and Sunday afternoon as we find out who else will be missing when these AFC East rivals take the field.

UPDATE 11/11: ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that Hernandez won't play tomorrow. Consequently, the Patriots have activated Visanthe Shiancoe, who has yet to appear in a game for New England.

UPDATE 11/11: Defensive end Jake Bequette, Brace, Chung, Hernandez, Scott, White and cornerback Malcolm Williams are all out for the Patriots. Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, linebacker Kirk Morrison, cornerback Mena Silva, offensive tackle Thomas Welch, Williams, McGee and Anderson are the Bills that won't play.

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If Only Every Team In The NBA Were As Hopeless As The Washington Wizards

Thank God the Celtics only play the Wizards one more time this season and it's not until April 7 at that. These past two games between the teams have been so awful, for many reasons, that I'm happy to say Boston (2-2, 1-1 home) won't see Washington (0-3, 0-2 away) again for a long time.

Tonight at TD Garden, the C's followed the same pattern from Saturday's closer-than-it-should-be win in DC: they got up early then let the Wizards hang around for way too long. Luckily, since they are one of the worst teams in the NBA, Washington managed to crap its pants once again, allowing the Celts to escape with a 100-94 win in overtime.

Kevin Garnett led Boston with a game-high 20 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks, Rajon Rondo had 18 points, 14 assists and three steals while Paul Pierce had 15 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Jason Terry finally looked like himself with 16 points off the bench and Brandon Bass added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Rookie Bradley Beal, Kevin Seraphin and Martell Webster each scored 16 points for Washington. Former UConn point guard A.J. Price had 15 points and seven assists while Chris Singelton added 14 points off the bench.

All we can hope is that once Boston starts playing some better teams, they will increase their performance level since right now through four games they've looked terrible.

Washington hit six more 3-pointers than Boston (10-4) but the Celtics prevailed because of the fact that they made 22 more free throws (28-6). The Celtics led 11-2 right away but only 21-16 after one quarter. Washington jumped ahead 42-37 at halftime. The C's got back in control with a good third quarter (29-16) yet they couldn't seal it (just like on Saturday).

The worst part is that with their last shot at the buzzer, they elected for a 3-pointer from Rondo when the score was tied at 88. You can never convince me that was the best look they could find. Bass scored five straight points in overtime, including an excellent dunk off a steal and pass by Rondo.

In a rematch of last spring's Eastern Conference semifinals (that went 7 games), the 76ers (2-2) visit Boston on Friday (7:30 p.m., CSN). They traded away Andre Iguodala to Denver and Lou Williams signed in Atlanta so Philadelphia will look much different. They have Andrew Bynum now but he has yet to play this season as he deals with his myriad injuries.

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Red Sox Hire Their New Pitching Coach: Juan Nieves

In the major sports that I enjoy, I've decided that there aren't many things that make me more bored to tears than MLB's off-season. Even worse, the hot stove is upon us with GM's meetings kicking off tonight in California. We interrupt your winter hibernation with this information: today, the Red Sox hired Juan Nieves to be their pitching coach.

It is a bit of a surprise since it seemed like manager John Farrell and the front office were wholeheartedly pursuing famed pitching coach Rick Peterson. Not that you can believe most of the clowns that cover the Red Sox full-time. Nieves is a former MLB pitcher that spent the last five seasons as bullpen coach for the White Sox.

I love when people try to project whether managers or coaches in baseball will be effective or not. Haha who knows? The most important factor by far is talent. If Boston doesn't severely upgrade its starting rotation, Nieves will continue on the carousel of pitching coaches the last four seasons for the Red Sox: Farrell, Curt Young, Bob McClure and Randy Niemann.

The only pitchers I have really heard out there that Boston could be interested in are free agent Dan Haren and former Red Sox Justin Masterson (who is on the Indians). Neither one is thrilling but they would both have value (assuming Haren is healthy): their best asset is that they are durable and routinely pitch over 200 innings. A feat which has been extremely rare the last few seasons for Boston with its underachieving, overpaid and mostly lazy pitchers.

The next step for Farrell is to hire a new hitting coach. However, anytime GM Ben Cherington wants to add more MLB-level players, that would be lovely. The Red Sox can use all the help that they can get heading into next season.

UPDATE 11/9: Today, Dr. Larry Ronan was named medical director while Gary Tuck remains as the bullpen coach for his seventh season with the club.

UPDATE 11/20: Arnie Beyeler was named first-base coach, he was manager of the PawSox the last two seasons.

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Thank Tom Brady, The 2012 Patriots Bye Week Is Finally Over!

I don't know about you but as a serious creature of habit, I found myself basically lost yesterday afternoon. With no Patriots game to look forward to, watch and write about, I spaced out while watching other NFL games. Don't get me wrong, the NFL is by far the best professional sports league in the U.S. but it's a big difference when your team is not playing. All I cared about yesterday was fantasy points and that's no way to live.

Thankfully, we can quickly put that all behind us. On Sunday (1 p.m., CBS), the Bills (3-5)-who lost 21-9 in Houston yesterday afternoon-visit Gillette Stadium to take on the Patriots (5-3). When we last saw them in Week 4, New England went to Buffalo and embarrassed the Bills 52-28. The Pats opened up as an 11-point favorite and despite playing down to competition for most of this season, they pretty much always beat the Bills (usually in blowout fashion) and leave them in the cellar of the AFC East.

My two nuggets of Patriots related information for today: 1) former legendary running back Kevin Faulk will be honored at halftime of Sunday's game. Hopefully the bozos at CBS give us a taste of it. Look for a similar ceremony for former offensive tackle Matt Light later in this season. 2) The Patriots-Colts (5-3) game in Week 11 (the following week) on Sunday, November 18 was flexed by the NFL from a 1 p.m. kickoff to 4:25 p.m. That move was made since rookie quarterback Andrew Luck and Indianapolis are already way better than anyone could have expected. Who knew Colts-Patriots games could be relevant again so soon?

UPDATE 11/6: Former Alabama linebacker Jerrell Harris was added to New England's practice squad.

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