THE NIGHT CHICAGO DIED

There was almost no way that Game 7 would live up to the hype and expectations befitting the so-called "Best Series Ever." After 6 games and 7 overtimes, a tired bunch of players wearing red and green did battle with their last ounces of strength. And the Celtics had the character and the will to win it.



The refs were horrible. Apart from Game 6, this may have been the Worst Series Ever for officiating. Doesn't Kirk Hinrich have a reputation as a flopper yet? He's the human version of the butterfly effect. A butterfly flaps its wings in Africa and Hinrich falls over. If he were a hockey player he'd be the Assistant Captain of the Montreal Canadiens.

The bench came through, finally, and unexpectedly. If I told you that the Celtics won Game 7, you'd assume Pierce or Rondo stepped up, or maybe Ray Ray dropped another 50 points. Not that the bench turned things around for the C's in the 2nd quarter. Not that the bench combined for 30 points. Not that Scal had 8 points to get the reserves going. Not that Eddie House was 5 for 5 with 16 points. Marbury only had 2 points, but he looked confident, and was +11. Hell, even Mikki Moore became useful.

But let's not forget the star performers. A visibly hurt/worn out Rondo only had 7 points, but amassed 11 assists. Pierce had a solid 20 points, and was clutch in the 4th. Allen had 23 very timely points.

And how about the game Kendrick Perkins had? A double-double for the big man, with 13 boards, and 14 points.



No more Brad Miller always seeming like he's on the verge of tears. No more Kirk Hinrich having an internal sneeze, spazzing out, and going to the line because of it. No more Joakim Noah's schoolyard routine (how the hell did House get a foul for celebration and Noah doesn't whenever he makes a spectacle of himself?)



The Celtics reminded the NBA and the world why they are The Champions.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
AP Photo/Elise Amendola

B'S TAKE THEIR FIRST STEP OF THE NEXT STEP

I hope the committees/voters of all the NHL awards were watching this game. They would have seen why Tim Thomas deserves the Vezina (best goalie), why Zdeno Chara deserves the Norris (best defenseman), and why Claude Julien deserves the Adams (best coach).

Tim Thomas made 26 saves, and 3 or 4 of them were game changers. 18:10 into the 2nd, he stopped a breakaway opportunity from Ryan Bayda, that would've made it a 3-2 game, and given Carolina some momentum going into the 3rd. He made two more ridiculous stops in the final period, protecting a 2 goal, then a 3 goal lead.



Nicklas Lidstrom and Mike Greene have the scoring stats covered in the Norris Trophy race, but Zdeno Chara puts the defense in defenseman. He uses his unprecedented reach and unbelievable leverage to make plays. Eric Staal was a non-factor tonight, thanks to Chara's blanket coverage.

And props to Claude Julien. After a mediocre 1st period, he shuffled some lines, and the Bruins adjusted their approach. They were more aggressive against Cam Ward, taking more "bad" shots. They spent more time near the net (Lucic owned the crease tonight), hit harder, forechecked more aggressively, and clamped down in the neutral zone.

And maybe there should be a Ryder Trophy for best quiet free agent acquisition that turns out to be fucking amazing. Or something. Because Michael Ryder has been nothing short of amazing, in all three zones. His unassisted goal in the 2nd was the game clincher. 5th goal in 5 playoff games this year. He also got an assist on Krejci's 1st period score.



I loved how opportunistic the Bruins were in this game, moving players in and around the low slot and the crease. Lucic screened on Krejci's 1st period goal. Marc Savard's first goal was a product of him being in the right place near the net. And if a puck bounces here or there, the Bruins could have easily scored 5, 6, or 7 goals tonight.



But it's not all sunshine and flowers from Game 1. There was some rust, and some poor play. Steve Montador had a forgettable game. He struggled getting the puck out of the zone, which had been his greatest strength, so probably just some rust.

The power play was confused. The Bruins didn't seem to know what exactly they were trying to do. But I think they're simply testing different things, sniffing around for weaknesses, not allowing Carolina to become used to one way of doing things. The power play will improve as the series progresses.

Marc Savard's goal in the 3rd period came after a sequence of Hurricane and Bruins turnovers. And although the goal was terrific, and the shot was of Navy SEAL vs. Somali pirate quality, the play leading up to it was sloppy.

The B's were sometimes too fancy on their multitude of breakaway opportunities. They seemed to respect Cam Ward too much, trying to create the perfect shot instead of simply letting loose and seeing what happened. An several odd man rushes, the Bruins didn't even get a shot off. That's inexcusable.

But, all the problems displayed by the Bruins were quite fixable. And I think they will be remedied. And even with those problems, the Bruins were clearly the superior team. The Hurricanes shied from 1-on-1 battles, and struggled mightily to pass the puck out of their own zone.

Game 2 is Sunday night at 7:30 and it's ONLY on Versus. If you don't get Versus, the radio guys do an excellent job describing the action on WBZ 1030 AM in the Boston area.

Yeah, I have Versus and I'm fucking pissed that the game is not available in New England households. Fuck that shit.

But on the bright side, first 5 game playoff winning streak for the Bruins since 1992.



Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Winslow Townson
AP Photo/Charles Krupa

LAST MINUTE BRUINS/CANES PREVIEW

It‘s Bruins/Whalers, another classic Adams Division rivalry rekindled in this 2009 playoff season. In their last series, the B’s beat the Habs in the playoffs for only the eighth time in 32 attempts. When it comes to Bruins vs. Whalers/Hurricanes, however, it is the Bruins who have had the decided postseason edge, winning all three series played.

In the 1999 Conference Quarterfinals, the Bruins beat the Hurricanes in 6 games. Until the recent 4 game sweep of Montreal, this had been the last Bruins’ triumph in the playoffs. In 1990 and 1991, the Bruins handled the Whalers in the opening rounds, with some classic games mixed in.



The Whalers left Hartford for Raleigh in 1997. They’ve garnered a passionate fan base, and won the Stanley Cup in 2006, something the team never did in Connecticut. Current Bruins Mark Recchi and Aaron Ward were on that team. These two provide the bulk of the playoff experience on the Bruins’ roster.





The Bruins beat the Canes four times in four games during the regular season. The scores were 4-2, 4-2, 5-1, 5-1. Highlights of these games (BTW, thank you NHL for not being jerks like the other leagues and allowing hockey highlights to remain on YouTube):










But since the last time they met (on February 17), the Canes won 18 of 25 games to close the season. They defeated a tough New Jersey side. They have momentum, and a bit of that Stanley cup magic. They were all-but eliminated, on New Jersey’s ice, and beat Martin Brodeur twice in 80 seconds. They have a Conn Smythe Trophy winner in Cam Ward. That’s a powerful card to have up one’s sleeve.



But the Bruins aren’t suckers. They’ll be rusty when the puck first drops, and perhaps a little sluggish after a short but emotional series against Montreal. Unfortunately for Carolina, Phil Kessel is on his game, scoring 4 goals against the Habs, not to mention his hat-trick in game #82 of the regular season. David Krejci also had a good opening series, and has 3 goals with 4 assists against Carolina this year. Andrew Ference could be back from his injury, deepening a defensive corps that needs to be stronger at the bottom. And Timmy Thomas, well he’s the only Vezina finalist still playing.



On paper, the Bruins are heavy favorites. But hockey is played very far away from paper. One possible scenario is that a rusty Bruins team struggles to get going, the Canes win a game (or two) in Boston, an inexperienced Bruins squad can’t handle the adversity and folds. I don’t think it will happen, but it’s a possibility. That being said, even if Carolina won the first two games of the series, my money would still be on the Bruins to win.

Bruins in 5.

CELTICS MESS WITH THE BULLS AND GET THE HORNS

The Celtics have nobody to blame but themselves for this one. No star player fouled out. The refs actually had a pretty good game (Heinsohn said so, so it's 1,000% true). The C's had chance after chance after chance to end this game and this series.

After going on a 23-3 run in the 4th, leading 99-91, the Celtics scored 2 points in the last 3:38. Rondo missed a pair of free throws. A very slow-starting Celtic offense was forced to let Tony Allen shoot to avoid shot-clock violations. On the other side of the court, the Bulls scored 10 points and forced a 101-101 tie. The C's were once again sluggish on offense, running out of shot clock before even starting their offense. And the game went to overtime.

In the 1st OT, the game was tied 109-109, and the Celtics had the ball for the last possession. Once again, like some college team or something, they took their sweet ass time to start moving on offense. Chicago only had to defend for 5 or 6 seconds, and Pierce missed a 15 footer to send the game to OT #2.

2 minutes into the 2nd OT, a Celtics shot clock violation. What, the, FUCK?

3rd OT, 123-123, 0:38 on the clock, an uncharacteristically indecisive Paul Pierce forgoes a drive down the lane, seems to think about shooting, then he was going to pass it to Scal or fake pass it? I don't know what he was trying to do. More importantly, HE didn't know what he was trying to do. Noah steals the ball, Pierce fouls him (too late), and Chicago takes a 3 point lead.



127-128, 21 seconds left, Kirk Hinrich misses a lay-up, giving the Celtics a beautiful present, and Rondo's shot with 7 seconds left is blocked.

No killer instinct.

A 51 point night from Ray Allen goes to waste. Rondo finishes with a mere 8 points. He seemed to have no edge, and no will to drive the ball after he was called for a flagrant foul (C's may have lucked out on that decision).

Regarding the Rondo/Hinrich incident, it was MORONIC of Rondo to pull thuggish crap like that right in front of the ref. But I'll also say this. Kirk Hinrich weighs 190 pounds. Rondo's no slouch, but he and his 179 pounds don't have the strength to toss Hinrich around like a rag doll. Kirk did a good job of embellishment. And Bulls like him and Brad Miller are exceptionally good at being pussies like that. Nevertheless, really dumb by Rondo, and he/the Celtics are lucky the refs didn't throw the book at him.

The Celtics were -3 when Pierce was on the court.

Only 11 points from the bench in 63 minutes of basketball. Scalabrine had 7 of those points.

The Celtics have the highest scoring starters in the playoffs, and the lowest scoring bench.

Glen Davis is having the series of his life. 10/18 shooting with 23 points and 7 boards tonight.



Game 7 Saturday night and who knows what to expect? There have been 7 overtime periods in this series. Even with the blowout in Game 3, the Celtics are only averaging 3.3 points per game more than Chicago.

I think the Celtics will win if Paul Pierce returns to his confident and decisive self in Game 6. Same goes for Rondo.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

RED SOX TAKE A DAY OFF, BUT MATT GARZA AND THE RAYS DID NOT

When do we start to worry about Josh Beckett? If his next start is a dud, then that's when we'll worry. If you remove his Opening Day start, Beckett is 1-2, with a 7.94 ERA.

Beckett and the Red Sox decided to cheer up the struggling Rays with an easy win, a 13-0 crushing that didn't see a Boston baserunner until Ellsbury reached on an infield single in the 7th.

And that was IT for the Red Sox offense. They were essentially no-hit by Matt Garza and Grant Balfour. 1 for 27 as a team, with just that single. On the bright side, they only left 2 men on base.

J-Lo also decided to pump up his ERA with 5 earned runs exchanged for 1 out. I love how people are just now realizing how much he sucks. I've been hyper-critical and spiteful of him for 3 years now. He blows and doesn't deserve to be on this team. I'd rather Theo track down Hipolito Pichardo in the sugar fields of the Dominican Republic and give him J-Lo's roster spot. Or keep Van Every out there in the pen.



Justin Masterson faces 0-3 Andy Sonnanstine Friday night at 7:38. Yeah, 7:38. Fucking Tampa Bay Rays are horrible like that, aren't they? How about the inflated attendance figure of 20,341 tonight? No way were 20,000 people there. And even if they were, that's pathetic when you have the AL Champions rematching the team they beat in the ALCS. Tampa Bay doesn't deserve a Major League team.

Man of the Game? Matt Garza, ya think?

Bitch-Goat:
Josh Beckett: 0.7
Dustin Pedroia: 0.1
Jason Bay: 0.1
George Kotteras: 0.1

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

SCHEDULE FOR BRUINS' 2ND ROUND

Fri 5/1 - Hurricanes @ Bruins - 7:30 PM
Sun 5/3 - Hurricanes @ Bruins - 7:30 PM
Wed 5/6 - Bruins @ Hurricanes - 7:30 PM
Fri 5/8 - Bruins @ Hurricanes - 7:30 PM
Sun 5/10 - Hurricanes @ Bruins - 7:30 PM
Tue 5/12 - Bruins @ Hurricanes - 7:30 PM
Thu 5/14 - Hurricanes @ Bruins - TBD

I'm pretty sure every game will be available on NESN, and I don't know what Versus will do. Versus is crazy.

CHICAGO LEARNS THAT THE TRUTH HURTS

Paul Pierce spent most of the game an abstract on defense and a ghost on offense. He turned it on in the 4th quarter. After ticky-tacky fouls forced Ray Allen out of the game (Heinsohn's cardiologist must have been on call after that), Pierce needed to step up, and he did.

But Rajon Rondo was the star. Another double-double, another 28 points. And when did Glen Davis get this good? He had 21, which is good because the bench only contributed 5 points.

The C's were down and out in the 4th, and finally, FINALLY, they showed that killer instinct. Like a snake cornered, they bit fast and hard. They attacked the Bulls, and now they go back to Chicago with a chance to end the series.

Game 6 is Tuesday night, and I think the Celtics are going to get up by 20 at halftime, and finish the Bulls off with relative ease.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Winslow Townson

BRUINS TO FACE HURRICANES/WHALERS

The series will begin Friday in Boston. The Bruins were 4-0 against the Hurricanes this season. The teams have met 4 times in the playoffs (including the years the Canes were the Whalers), and the Bruins were victorious in all 4 series.

Full preview to come.