To play or not to play?

By Brendan Hall
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Since MRI's on Ben Gordon released yesterday showed he has a pulled hamstring, the biggest question has been whether or not he'll be a go for the Bulls tonight in Game 5 of what has become one of the few worthwhile first-round series in the NBA.

I, like Doc Rivers, expect Gordon to play tonight, but don't get this twisted: Gordon is going to be a hurting unit. You need your hamstrings to be in good condition if you're going to be taking lots of jump shots and attacking the basket. Look for Gordon -- who leads the series with 24.8 points per game -- to be used in more of a distributor role tonight, a la his UConn days.

Don't buy his "I'm looking for a miracle" line for a minute.

With that in mind, the Celtics need to do a better job defensively tonight if they are to come out alive. Derrick Rose came loose on a few backdoor cuts, and Brad Miller got off some good shots (including long-range) when they went high-low. But considering front-court rotation they have right now, clogging passing lanes and denying entry passes on a consistent basis is easier said than done (and for the record, Brian Scalabrine is NOT a length guy).

A few more thoughts:

-- Yes, still fuming on Kendrick Perkins' call Sunday. Bill Doyle provides some colorful insight on why Perk gets caught up so much, but still ... give the dude a break.

-- The bench is thinner, but that doesn't let them off the hook for their sub-par production. The C's had just 11 bench points in the loss Sunday, compared to 25 in the blowout win on Thursday. In Game 2's loss, they had just nine. Get the picture?

Eddie House is 5 for 15 on 3's in the playoffs, after setting a franchise record for 3-point percentage (over 46) during the regular season. And in a sign of the end of all things to come, Scal played 17 minutes on Sunday. Hopefully, JR Giddens can bring some spark, after a good D-League run in Utah.

-- Brad Miller won't be reprimanded for his retaliation on Glen Davis in the third quarter Sunday, and he shouldn't. They shouldn't have even called for an ejection in the first place (which was later reduced to a technical). Like I've said, playoff basketball is physical. Let the players play.

-- ESPN Chicago's Jon Greenberg is channeling his inner Andrew Perloff when he writes today of Joakim Noah, "If you're a Celtics fan, you're probably going to boo him mercilessly Tuesday night."

Huh?

He also uses powerful imagery to show just how unique Noah is, with anecdotes such as Noah approaching Jerry Reinsdorf and asking, "What's up, Bossman?"

Oh no he didn't. Wow, he must be such an original cat if he has the audacity to address his boss as, er, a boss.

See, this is the part I can't stand about out-of-town bloggers. They probably read some crazy chucklehead from Boston ranting foolishly in a funny accent, and thought "Gee whiz, these guys must be on the same level as Philly fans. I bet they even curse!" And henceforth, they now have a narrow view of Boston sports fans as outlandish, obnoxious and misinformed.

As if this was the Boston Garden in the 80's, and Bulls-Celtics was a natural rivalry.

Give me a break.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't know too many people who hate Joakim Noah's guts. If anything, they're fairly indifferent to the guy. Never mind that he's been the least productive of Chicago's five starters in this series.

Please, radio people from Chicago, don't make like Mariotti and fudge your way to stupid assumptions.