I'll say it again. Since Easter and the very first game of the Sox season...when the Celtics win, the Sox win.
Now the Celtics game went down to the last seconds, so it was only fitting that Papelbon would then wait until 2 outs, a 3-2 count, and runners on Second and Third to finally get his first strike out of the 9th inning.
The Celtics made history by winning the first two games of a series on the road. It was also the first time the Magic had lost back to back games on their home court since the Finals last year. Paul Pierce came out with a purpose. Pierce fouled out in the 4th quarter and he still ended the game with 28 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists... the 20th time he's ended a game with more than 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in his play-off career.
Meanwhile, Stan van Gundy admits in his post-game conference that there's no "magic" for coming back from 0-2. Pun intended? You make the call.
Howard played well in this game, but his elbow to Pierce's face was just wrong. Meanwhile, its becoming obvious that Hack-a-Shaq also works as Hack-a-Howard. Why are free-throws so hard when you're paid to play basketball? And speaking of free-throws....
Vince Carter... Vince, I actually feel sorry for you. People thought you were a choke artist when you missed a game winning 3 with the Raptors in the play offs a few years ago. Now, you have a chance to bring your team within 1 in the final minute of a must-win game of the conference finals...and you missed BOTH free-throws. That's not exactly going to help your, err... legacy? Ah well.
This entire play-offs, all I've heard is how intelligent a player J.J. Reddick is. Seriously? Was it a mental lapse when he advanced the ball off the final rebound of the game? Your team has a chance to tie with a 3 and you waste precious seconds off the clock by dribbling almost to half court before calling for a time out. That's not displaying a high basketball I.Q. He essentially choked as bad as poor Vince did missing the free-throws.
I didn't know if the Celtics would be able to hold off the Magic in a close game. Especially once Perkins and Pierce both fouled out. If that game had gone to over-time, I have no doubt the Magic would have eventually won that game. Thankfully, through their own mistakes, they never even had a good opportunity to make that game tieing 3 to begin with.
So the Celtics went up 2-0. When Pierce was interviewed after the game, he again implored the fans to be LOUD at the Garden, "Our fans won't let us relax." He wants to sweep the Magic more than anyone. The wink told me so.
Meanwhile, I almost missed the Call of Duty Black Ops trailer during the 3rd quarter because there was another dramatic Yanks/Sox game unfolding. And I was flipping there between commercials.
I missed Beckett's mysterious injury incident. Chances are he just didn't want to pitch to Martinez any more. Have a relaxing stint on the DL and give Wake a few more starts to appease him. Win win situation so far as I'm concerned. If only Papi could have a minor injury for Lowell to get some play time.
Except Papi is actually swinging the bat like he wants to hit a ball... soo maybe he should stay healthy after all. In fact, he barely missed a home run off Chamberlain. Of course, if he hadn't assumed it was going to be a home run and run hard out fo the box instead of hesitating and watching the ball, maybe he wouldn't have been thrown out at second. Whatever, it was a good swing on the ball and it'll read as an RBI in the paper, so good for Ortiz.
Youkilis, that bloop hit will look a lot better in the box scores as well.
Papelbon, I might have thrown things at my television tonight if the Celtics hadn't already won, and I wasn't entirely confident you would ultimately manage the Save because of that. Your pitching certainly didn't provide any confidence. However, in your defense, I think I would have been more apt to blame Martinez if you had blown another save. Seriously, where was Martinez setting up? Half a foot off the plate on a 2-2 pitch? Varitek would have called for the high heat, and after actually throwing your splitters tonight, a high fast ball would have earned you more than just one of your vintage signature punch outs.
Martinez is lazy about his glove placement. He was flipping it up into position as Pap is coming out of his wind up. What the hell kind of target is that providing? If this team is built around pitching and run defense, and the entire pitching staff pitches better when Varitek is calling the game... then do we really want to save Varitek's bat for later in the season? The more I see of Martinez, the less I want to see his contract renewed at the end of the season. Now if he ends the season with 30 home runs and a 100 something RBI, I might live with his short-comings as a catcher, but the simple fact is that V-Mart is not the right catcher for this team.
Scutaro had two errors in the rainy game. The second nearly cost them the game. I know Alex Gonzalez hasn't exactly been a defense genius this season, but he at least has 10 homers to make up for it. Scute, you've done an admirable job filling in at lead off. Please just get in front of the ball on defense. These side-saddle stabs you and Beltre have been trying lately aren't the way your Farm league coach taught you to field a grounder.
On a final note... Paul Pierce just tweeted "Anyone got a broom?"...{Edit: It has now been reported that Pierce's twitter account was hacked, and he is not responsible for that post. That's ok, he said as much in his post game interview any way.}
Pierce, you're up 2-0, not 3-0...the only thing you can do with a broom right now is poke the Magic's nest, and why you'd want to rile up any team in the play-offs is beyond me. You've let your game do the talking so far. That's how we Boston fans like it. Don't talk, just win. Wins speak louder than words.
