C's make a series of it again, 112-94

By Brendan Hall
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Anyone else taken aback by that final score? It almost bears repeating ad nauseum.

Boston 112, Orlando 94. Let that sink in for a minute.

How the heck did they pull this one off without Kevin Garnett, with Paul Pierce in foul trouble most of the night, and with Brian Scalabrine playing a kid-you-not 34 minutes? Two things happened last tonight that triggered this explosion.

First, the Celtics dictated the tempo -- and it was uptempo, for sure. The C's attempted 80 shots (10 more than Orlando), committed 34 assists to just 10 turnovers, and had almost every major contributor rating at least a plus-nine. The only guy who played more than two minutes to get a negative plus-minus for the night? Take a wild guess (Marbury).

When Rondo is on, this team is hard slow down. And apparently, it no longer matters that two of the Big Three aren't on the court -- when he's clicking, there's just no stopping him. Fifteen points, 11 rebounds, 18 assists and just three turnovers? Sweet deal.

The second thing they did was find open shots on the perimeter. In case you missed it, Eddie House had yet another night for the ages, pouring in 31 points (including a perfect 4 for 4 on 3's) and was nearly perfect from the field (11 of 14). A few more games like this, and I bet we start comparing him to Gerald Henderson in the category of "role guys who absolutely bailed out the Celtics in the playoffs."

The combination of those two put Dwight Howard out of synch. He got his double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds), but wasn't nearly as effective on offense (5 for 13 field goals). Having to sag to the perimeter more to cope with the shooters, Howard ended up with zero blocks after making a Nike commercial out of the C's in Game 1.

I think we underestimated these guys up until this point. There's a lot of fight left in them.

A few more thoughts from around the basketball world: 

--At the beginning of the season, I thought there were six legitimate contenders for the title: Boston, Cleveland, San Antonio, Detroit, LA Lakers and Houston. I'm sticking with my Houston pick as a dark horse, and you saw why in Game 1. Without their biggest defensive liability (Tracy McGrady) on the court, they became a grittier team that is less prone to late-game collapses. Yao Ming has transformed into a solid pure center, Battier routinely takes on opponents' best player with success, and Luis Scola does the dirty work. Even Ron Artest is acting civil for once in his career.

--Two x-factors in this series: the Lakers' much-hyped Andrew Bynum, and the Rockets' shifty backcourt of Von Wafer, Carl Landry and 5-foot-6 Aaron Brooks. Almost Rondo-like in terms of fun to watch. Seriously.

-- The Nuggets and Mavericks don't play again until Saturday. That's a FOUR-day layoff. Somebody needs to fix this.

-- Cringed a little when I saw this story about Toledo basketball today. Things have swiftly hit the fan over there in the form of a point-shaving scandl, which is unfortunate for a classy guy like Stan Joplin to have to deal with. Glad to see former Charlestown High great Ridley Johnson (who absolutely owned my alma mater Oakmont in the 2005 state final) was not one of the players named in this scandal.

-- You know those new Heineken commercials, where these 20-something hipsters are singing Biz Markie in the back of a cab with the driver? Anyone else think the commercial's tagline -- "Let a stranger drive you home" -- goes against everything we were taught growing up? I'll tell you what's next...a Bud Light commercial urging us to "go ahead, take that candy from that creep in the van."