Our economy is based on LeBron James

You can't blame the poor, miserable souls of Cleveland and their NBA team from overlooking last night's game against the Boston Celtics.

Naturally, with LeBron James' first return to town scheduled for Thursday night, you can understand why the locals are gathering the pitch forks and flaming torches.

Sure the Celtics (13-4) waxed the Cavaliers (7-10) 106-87 last night at Quicken Loans Arena but nobody cares about that. How will they react to LeBron, that's all anybody is talking about.

So it goes with a franchise that was kicked to the curb by its homegrown superstar. Even in the Eastern Conference, Cleveland will struggle to make the playoffs, they just don't have that much above average (if any) talent.

Rajon Rondo led the Celts with 23 points and 12 assists. Two other Cs had double-doubles: Glen Davis 17 points, 11 rebounds off the bench and Kevin Garnett 11 points, 10 rebounds, who shook off a major scare when he stepped on Paul Pierce's foot and twisted his right ankle.

Marquis Daniels had his best game of the season with 16 points, Ray Allen added 12 points and Pierce had 11 points.

Anderson Varejao, Sideshow Bob's bastard son, led the Cavs with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Daniel Gibson (16 points) and Ramon Sessions (14 points) had big games off the bench for Cleveland which is now strictly a jump shooting team, always a recipe for mediocrity. Mo Williams and Anthony Parker both notched 13 points.

Things started out well for the Cavs as they jumped out to a 12-4 lead but Boston immediately responded and only trailed 23-21 after one quarter. At halftime, the Green were up 56-45 so you knew which way this one was going.

Cleveland is so bad that they couldn't even take advantage of the Celtics in the second half like most other teams. Boston won the third quarter (24-20) and fourth quarter (26-22), drive home safely Cavs fans.

Boston shot 50.6% to Cleveland's 39.0%. The Cavs made five more free throws (18-13) but the Celts had four more rebounds (49-45) and most importantly 10 more assists (29-19). Would you believe me if I told you that Boston outscored Cleveland 60-26 in the paint? True story.

The Celts return to Boston tonight to host the Portland Trailblazers at the TD Garden, who lost last night in Philly so they'll be smarting from losing to such a terrible team.

The great pro sports fans of Atlanta finally have a hockey team to rally behind

I feel like I'm saying the exact same thing that I wrote after the Bruins' no-show on Friday against the Hurricanes but yesterday's performance in Atlanta was a post-Thanksgiving dump that clogs your toilet and floods the bathroom.

For the fifth straight game, the B's (12-8-2) gave up the first goal and not surprisingly, they've lost four of five during this weird stretch.

Conversely Atlanta (12-9-3) is actually playing some good hockey as evidenced by its fifth straight win yesterday, 4-1 over the Bruins.

Former Blackhawks playoff star Dustin Byfuglien has been reinvented as a defenseman and Boston made him look like Gordie Howe as he had a goal and three assists.

Atlanta pumped home three first period goals to take a 3-0 lead in front of about 1000 people at the Philips Arena.

Evander Kane, Byfuglien and Jim Slater had the first period goals for the Thrashers.

The Bruins should a little pulse in the second period as Matt Hunwick fought Kane and Shawn Thornton squared off with Eric Boulton. It seemed to fire up the team for a few minutes as Blake Wheeler scored from Michael Ryder and Milan Lucic at 12:22.

That hard work and effort was wiped out as Atlanta's Niclas Bergfors tallied a power-play goal with 13 seconds left in the second period. Game over Southern hockey fans.

Atlanta goaltender Ondrej Pavelec looked like Patrick Roy with 40 saves. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask continued to find new and different ways to lose, this time with 22 saves.

Boston will need to find their game or they'll be pummelled in Philadelphia on Wednesday as they take on the Flyers, one of the NHL's best teams.

Oh hi Rajon Rondo

With all due respect to Deron Williams and Chris Paul, who are better players and more well-rounded, I would still say that Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo is as important to his team as those two superstars or anybody in the NBA outside of maybe Kobe Bryant (ever hear of him?).

Without Rondo, the Celtics are an old bunch of guys whose best years are behind them. With him, they're the best team in the Eastern Conference and the biggest threat to break the Lakers' two year reign at the top.

Thankfully, Rondo's latest absence was only three games to nurse a minor hamstring injury. He was back with a vengeance last night as the Celts (12-4) beat the Toronto Raptors (6-10) 110-101 at the TD Garden.

After the Bruins' no-show in the afternoon, the Cs took care of business against a team that they lost to last Sunday (Rondo's first game out).

Rondo was a tad erratic with eight turnovers but he still put up 14 assists in 36 minutes. Kevin Garnett was the man with 26 points (3 alley-oops) and 11 rebounds. Paul Pierce and Glen Davis scored 18, Ray Allen added 17 and Shaquille O'Neal continues to prove the haters wrong with 16 points and nine rebounds (albeit against a team with no inside presence).

At one point, Toronto used a lineup with five foreign guys so clearly they love to shoot the 3-pointer. Linas Kleiza led the way with 18 points, Leandro Barbosa added 14 points, Peja Stojakovic scored 13, Jose Calderon had 12 points and 15 assists while Andrea Bargnani and Amir Johnson each had 11 points (a far cry from their win vs. Boston in Toronto).

Boston jumped out to a 30-21 lead after the first quarter but Toronto closed it to 58-52 at halftime. The Cs seemingly put it away in the third quarter (28-15) but as usual they got bored with closing it out (34-24 fourth quarter for Raptors) until the bitter end.

As a team, the Celtics shot 53.9% to Toronto's 45.1%. The Raptors made three more 3-pointers (7-4) but the Cs made four more free throws (24-20). Toronto had nine more rebounds (44-35) which is unexplainable but Boston made up for it with seven more assists (33-27), four more steals (6-2), six more blocks (8-2) and six less turnovers (17-11).

Boston needs to clean some things up if they hope to win in Cleveland on Tuesday. The Cavs are not very good but they beat the Celts in the second game of the season.

Assuming he's healthy, it's time to give Marc Savard the green light

Every year, the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday to shoppers) the Bruins have a home game that begins at noon.

Yesterday, they faced the Carolina Hurricanes in that matinee. I've been to that early game before and I wanted to go this year but I can't explain how happy I am that I saved my time and money this year.

Carolina (10-10-2) blanked the Bruins (12-7-2) 3-0 at the TD Garden in a completely lifeless effort by Boston.

Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward stopped 37 shots for the shutout but his workload wasn't that strenuous since so many of the Bruins' chances went right into his glove.

Boston came into the game with the top-ranked penalty kill unit so it made perfect sense that all three goals they gave up were power-play goals by Carolina, who had terrible power-play numbers.

Rookie Jeff Skinner scored with 16 seconds left in the first period from Tuomo Ruutu and Joe Corvo. That goal was costly since Boston had owned the period (12-6 shots advantage) and deserved a better fate.

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (18 saves) couldn't stem the tide as Boston lost its third game in its last four overall.

Lately, they've been falling behind and counting on improbable third period comebacks. That simply won't last and it's not a winning strategy.

Ruutu scored at 11:09 in the second period from Ian White and Joni Pitkanen.

Nathan Horton hit two posts for the Bruins (he's been very unlucky lately) and Jussi Jokinen ended it with his goal at 7:52 in the third period from Eric Staal (on his butt) and Skinner.

Boston travels to Atlanta to face the Thrashers tomorrow afternoon. Tuukka Rask should get the start and with any luck, the Bruins should handle an inferior opponent.

It is all they've got but please get the Lions off of Thanksgiving

If there is one thing more predictable than getting sick of your relatives in about 10 minutes during a holiday, it is watching the Detroit Lions throw up all over themselves each and every Thanksgiving. In a perverse way, you've got to hand to them as they seem to have it down to a science at this point.

Yesterday, the New England Patriots were in Detroit on Turkey Day for the first time since 2002 and despite a slow start (17-10 deficit at the half), they turned it on in the fourth quarter and left that miserable city with a 45-24 win.

Detroit (2-9) has now lost seven straight Thanksgiving matchups so let me be the millionth person to ask, can we break the lame tradition of having them and the Cowboys host a game every year on Thanksgiving?

The Patriots (9-2) kept pace with the Jets (9-2), who beat the Bengals 26-10 last night, and set up the game of the year on Monday Night Football: December 6 as the Jets come to Gillette for a game that will likely determine the AFC East, possibly the top seed in the AFC and home-field advantage.

Ho hum, Tom Brady had a perfect passer rating, the second time he's done that in his storybook career (first time was in 2007 vs. Miami). Brady was 21 of 27 for 341 yards and four touchdowns. Deion Branch (3 catches, 113 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Wes Welker (8 catches, 90 yards, 2 touchdowns) had the best game they've ever had together.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis, that touchdown machine, added two more as he ran for 59 yards on 12 carries. Devin McCourty continued his rapid ascension to stardom as he picked off two passes, giving him five interceptions on the season.

Lions quarterback Shaun Hill (27 of 46, 285 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions) kept his team in it for a while with plenty of help from Calvin Johnson (4 catches, 81 yards, 1 touchdown) and Maurice Morris (55 yards rushing, 2 touchdowns) but Detroit completely fell apart in the fourth quarter as they were outscored 21-0.

Detroit tight end Brandon Pettigrew added five catches for 67 yards.

Patriots kicker Shayne Graham opened the scoring with a 19-yard field goal as New England couldn't punch it in during their first red zone trip.

Johnson answered with a 19-yard touchdown catch on the final play of the first quarter. It's too bad he's not on a decent team because he would be a superstar for real.

Morris' first score (1-yard run) gave Detroit a 14-3 lead in the second quarter but Green-Ellis ran up the middle for a 15-yard touchdown.

Dave Rayner's 44-yard field goal as time expired in the first half gave the Lions a 17-10 halftime lead and no doubt caused a couple of your clueless relatives to start freaking out.

Welker and the Pats moved the ball on their first drive of the third quarter and scored when Welker dragged a couple Lions into the end zone on a 5-yard catch and run.

Detroit's final score was another 1-yard run by Morris which gave them a temporary 24-17 advantage.

From there it was a clinic as Brady and the Patriots receivers put on a clinic, particularly picking on Lions cornerback Alphonso Smith.

First Branch hauled in a 79-yard touchdown catch (longest play of the season for New England and longest catch of his career) where he no lie juked Smith three times. The third quarter ended tied at 24 but New England had finally gained the momentum.

Next, Branch added a 22-yard touchdown on a perfectly threaded pass from Brady. Thanks to McCourty's pair of interceptions (and nice returns), the Patriots defense pitched a shutout in the fourth quarter. Welker caught a 16-yard touchdown pass and Green-Ellis scored on yet another 1-yard touchdown run. Game over, drive home safely Lions fans.

After a cramped schedule with the Steelers, Colts and Lions in a short span of time, the Patriots deservedly are off until Monday and then they can get to work on the Jets. This game is a must-win for the reasons I already mentioned plus New York dominated New England 28-14 in Week 2 which seems like ages ago.

That Steven Stamkos can sure play some hockey

Forgive me since my cable package doesn't get many Tampa Bay Lightning games but seeing my fantasy hockey stud Steven Stamkos live on TV was something to behold.

Luckily, the NHL can't properly market anything so he'll be toiling in obscurity in the land of blue hairs and early bird specials for a long time.

Anyways, Tampa Bay (12-7-2) skated circles around the Boston Bruins (11-6-2) last night at the St. Pete Times Forum in a one-sided 3-1 win.

Kindly enough for all the old people in the crowd and watching at home (haha yeah right), Tampa Bay did all their work in an eight minute span in the second period.

Dana Tyrell made it 1-0, Stamkos scored his NHL leading 20th goal of the season (from Martin St. Louis and Steve Downie) and Teddy Purcell tipped one in from Dominic Moore and Ryan Malone.

And that was it. As per usual this season, Tuukka Rask (33 saves) was not the problem but he still fell to a snakebitten 1-5-1.

Naturally Boston woke up in the third period when it was too late. Michael Ryder scored his sixth goal of the season from Blake Wheeler and Jordan Caron.

Lightning goaltender Mike Smith (26 saves) did enough to walk away with the win. Overall, Tampa Bay is an impressive team. They're fast and skilled even without the injured Vincent Lecavalier and Simon Gagne.

The Bs end their short two-game stint in the Sunshine State with a rematch against the Florida Panthers tomorrow night. Hopefully Florida plays as terribly as they did last week in Boston.

You can always count on the Atlanta Hawks to roll over when you need them to

No doubt about it, the Boston Celtics were reeling coming into Atlanta last night.

They were riding their first two-game losing streak of the season and frankly, they should have beaten the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday and the not good Toronto Raptors on Sunday but such is life in the NBA: where regular season boredom happens nightly.

Naturally, you had to be fearful of the Hawks since they swept the season series last season (four games) against the Celtics and pushed them to seven games during the 2008 playoffs in the first round.

Maybe Atlanta (8-6) forgot they had a game last night and spent Sunday in one of Atlanta's famous strip clubs? Whatever the reason, they never showed up in a pathetic 99-76 loss to the Celts (10-4).

If only the Hawks had any fans that cared, they would have demanded a refund for the garbage they had to endure.

Rajon Rondo sat out his second straight game with a hamstring injury and Nate Robinson played well for the second time in a row as a starter.

Nate will never be a passer first but he notched 16 points and 10 assists. Two other Cs had double-doubles: Kevin Garnett (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Shaquille O'Neal (13 points, 11 rebounds) who I have dubbed "Mr. First Quarter."

Paul Pierce added 13 points as they was essentially over in the first quarter (really) as Boston built a 26-point lead (39-13). From there, it was extended garbage time as the Celtics' three biggest scrubs: Luke Harangody, Von Wafer and Avery Bradley (NBA debut) all played at least six minutes each.

Mike Bibby led the Hawks with 11 points, Josh Powell and Jamal Crawford had 10 points apiece.

Boston hosts the New Jersey Nets tomorrow night on Thanksgiving Eve, aka drinking in your hometown night.