Lakers game's on.

I beg to differ! It's only partially rigged!

We got us a good one brewing in Orlando tonight, folks. Turn it on if you can. Paul Pierce is playing great. Dwight Howard is playing great. Both teams playing mostly mistake-free basketball. I like it!

WTF? Vince Carter missing those two free throws with 31.9 left? Chokie-chokie! Pathetic. It was a good game, mostly, except the officials really did ruin part of the third quarter with that horrible 4th foul call on Dwight Howard. That totally deflated the team right out of the half-time break. That's when they went from up by 2 to down by 10. But they had a chance even so, and blew it. Worth watching at least.

Oakley? What?
I was talking about Charles Barkley's comments.

Pierce was killer tonight. Rondo - not only was his performance stellar, it was flashy, too. He ran the offense and pace of the game and produced important offense himself at key moments, slashing right at the basket at the most crucial moment of the fourth quarter. This used to be his weak point, but now it's his and the team's strong point.

I'm just going to bask in this game for awhile. This shattered Magic's playoff and home court invincibility. What team could come back on the road after taking 2 on their own home court?!

gotta love the C's D.
maybe their best effort all year.

the ref's called it close after howard's flagrant on pierce.
you could see orlando's body language was bad in the 4th quarter -- even the coach was throwing his arms up in the air and turning his back to the play.

reddick blew it at the end -- not realizing he should immediately call time before advancing the ball.
it cost them precious seconds and court position on the in-bounds...


yessah!

Can you believe this? In all the storied Celtic history, they have never won the first 2 games on the road.

it does boggle the mind.
mebbe bcos they've had home court advantage more often?

seems like home teams are not faring as well this year in general...

And here we are again, the Magic could have this game won already, but they decide to give away their lead and now will probably blow it in OT.

86-86.

The Magic were leading 85-78 with a little more than a minute left.

Come on!

On the other hand...finally another good close game!

Van Gundy says how he thinks Jameer Nelson should not be slowing the offense down, and Nelson knocks down a three-pointer. As the Magic are taking it up again, Mark Jackson says he agrees with Van Gundy's point about how they should be pushing the ball, and Nelson nails another three-pointer! Ha, he had an answer for both of them I guess. 92-86 Magic, 2:00 left in OT.

96-92 Magic win in OT. Cool. The Magic did everything they could to give that game away, but somehow they stumbled and bumbled their way through and Dwight Howard pulled his Superman routine and they managed to somehow get it together enough to pull out the victory. Wow. That's more like it! I hate all these f---ing blow-outs and sweeps!

it was a good 'un (didn't like the outcome though).
pierce looked tired in the 2nd half, front-rimming his 3's...

still waiting for in-vince-able to make an appearance in this series.
ray allen has more dunks...

wow, tied 2-2.
the suns zone is apparently messing up the triangle offense...

My intuitive guess is Lakers will prevail. The Fakers can apply the right amount of D at crucial times when they want. Don't get me wrong, I like the Suns and Nash IS the Man, but I think the Sun is setting on them. They have no answer to the matchups. For the rest of the remaining games the team whose offense gets their points from in the paint, wins.That will prove out to be the Lakers.

Being a Celts fan and premature as I am, Bring on LA!

There was a cross-over play by Rajon Rondo in the last week against the Magic (called an Okey-Doke by commentator). ESPN replays this one often since that game in their commercials and highlights of the current playoffs.

I'm not positive it was in this You-tube but it's certainly some of his best.. Check this out. He's doing his take at being the Human Highlight Reel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2EguK4xj0c

Then there's this scramble at half court on a busted play/lost dribble:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3-nY2xU07c

Then there's the behind-the-back pass to Allen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZITSGwFCwk&NR=1

This one play (and moves) goes down in my all-time best list. It's where he penetrates all the way to the basket...fakes out defender (maybe Serbian Gortat?) and freezes him with the sweetest move I've ever seen. It seemed like he was going to do a behind-the-back pass to the trailing man but he didn't. The camera work caught all of the action, too. It was poetry in motion and was a '10' on style points but it came at the most crucial time. I was watching and couldn't help it - I jumped out of my chair, gobsmacked.

Of course, I'm no apologist for Lakers. In that last game, basically, the Suns beat the Lakers with their bench. The Sun's 'Girly Zone' seems to have baffled Lakers.

rondo has officially made the big time --

oh gawd...not the infamous Sports Illustrated Cover jinx. Lord save us!

Hehehe...

I still think the Celts should win (in six games now that they've got the SI wammy on them), but I'm happy at least we have two series that could be interesting now.