If we run into the Magic, then no? But against the Heat, we put Baby at center against whatever scrub they put out there, KG still checks Bosh, and I think we could still own Miami. The Bulls would be tough with Noah, but I think we'd have a chance without Nenad still. After all, its just Nenad Krstic... he's a good player, but it's not like our success is absolutely contingent upon him. Big Baby, Delonte, even Jeff Green are still more important than him. As long as JO can give us 20 min. (big "if" though) and Shaq can come back for a little bit, I think the Big 4-plus-Baby could do well against every team not named Orlando.

I have a feeling Rondo is feeling a little sore- and I wouldn't call Carlos Arryo a competent backup, he shoots worse than Rondo at times. The reason I say this is because Rondo looks hurt- there's no explosiveness, no speed, and no aggressiveness a lot of the time. We're used to seeing Rondo play at a speed above everyone else; right now, he looks about as athletic as Luke Ridnour.

wow ok debbie downer

I noticed that as well; JVG and Mark Jackson were, as usual, too caught up in making one of their points to notice it. But anyway, good stuff from Rondo.

Fans are going to see what they want to see out of their favorite teams and players.... but c'mon Sac fans, really? Cousins is an excellent talent and probably a future star, but the guy has some growing up to do: complaining to the refs more than Sheed, not getting back on defense, standing over KG after Garnett dove on the floor for a loose ball.... the guy is a bit of a punk.

Jeez, Lakers fans are saying don't overreact from one game to Celtics fans while simultaneously wanting to trade their second best player and ripping into their team for, ahem, ONE GAME. News flash: LA is fine, LA will be back in at least the conference finals, I can guarantee you that. All we saw yesterday is how much better and deeper the Celtics have gotten from last year's Finals. Which is definitely a big deal, but LA fans need to stop acting like its the apocalypse.

Yeah, Rondo's kind of played like crap over these last two games and its definitely affected the offense (although its obviously not all of his fault). We need him to step it up and definitely push it against the Lakers. He's going to be the most dynamic player on the floor tomorrow, because LA's almost as old as the C's.

"Ainge failed once again" Sorry, but not every free agent signing is going to work out perfectly. And the court is still out on JO, give it until the end of the season, especially for such a talented player.

No! WE DON'T NEED HIM; HE SUCKED LAST YEAR AND HE'LL BE EVEN WORSE THIS YEAR. What is up with people's infatuation with this guy? A big man who doesn't hustle, shoots threes at an erratic percentage and is not even a great defender a man; we don't need him.

Nobody has really pointed this out, but there's no way in hell Derrick Rose gets to the line 19 times with Perk and KG on the help side. Glen Davis and Shaq are probably my two last choices for being the bigs that help Rondo out on the pick and roll with Rose. Shaq just can't move; numerous times he had good angles on Rose, but just got blown by and was forced to foul because he can't move his feet. And Glen obviously can't block shots and Rose is too quick for him to draw a charge. So no way in hell Rose dominates like he did with KG and Perk out there. Its one game that people are blowing way out of proportion.

Don't worry about the T-Wolves' bloggers/fans, that win would have made their season and now they are just pissed, so they are insulting the refs and hall of fame announcers. And I'm fairly certain Kevin Love grabs 24 rebounds because he pushes, elbows and stiff arms people out of the way, there is a SI article on it. They should not be complaining about Big Baby's physicality when Love does whatever it takes to get a rebound (which I do admire and I wish Big Baby did). And Ridnour's travel was perhaps the most blatant travel I have ever seen in my life, NBA or not. The guy got the ball and took three huge steps, you have to be an absolute idiot or blind T-Wolves fan to even argue that call.

Knocks on wood*

YES! He needs a couple of warmup games anyway before we face Parker and the Spurs on Wednesday. Lets hope everything goes smoothly...

Yeah, I hate to feed the trolls, but in the 08 Finals PP was ok after it seemed he may have hurt his knee/leg really bad in Game 1. I think he was just scared that something bad may have happened as well.

Good win, especially without Rondo and too ball hawking point guards in Collison and Ford on Indiana. Ugly at first, but its good to see the guys can regroup and pull out a win on the road. Its been said plenty by others, but Paul has really impressed me in Rondo's absence. The guy is showing he still is in the upper-echelon of those multi-talented wing players a la LeBron, Kobe, Wade, etc. Quis has been great too. We actually have depth on the wing this year; if the bigs, Rondo and D-West can get healthy come the end of the regular season, this is easily the deepest team in the NBA, and the deepest the Celtics have been in years.

I miss Rondo. Thats all. Surprisingly not overly depressed about this loss... the streak had to end at some point with all the injuries, let the Magic win now and get confident, then we can hammer them come Jan. 17th when (hopefully, knock on wood, etc.) Rondo is back.

Goddamnit, the Rondo fan in me wants him to play and continue his historic season (plus, who doesn't miss watching him play?).... but my love for the Celtics overrides the brash Rondo fan and understands that we need him to be as close to 100 percent as possible. So rest up Rajon...

Awful idea. We have enough bigs, especially veterans bigs. Where we need the most help is at the 1-3 positions, and we'll be fine there when everyone comes back healthy (knock on wood).

Not sure what the Magic are thinking here... there are a lot of guys in this league who I could see as viable replacements for Vince Carter; Arenas is not one of them. Offers similar offensive skills, but is a downgrade at defense because of his height, and he is even more of a headcase than Vincanity.

Yeah, he does not look explosive at all. Go look at highlights from earlier in the season or last year and it looks like Rondo has aged 10 years in these last two weeks. He needs to sit, for as long as possible, even if the team drops a couple extra games. We need a healthy, athletic Rondo who is dunking on Chris Bosh, not gimpy Rondo who is afraid to shoot with Danillo Gallinari in the area.

Well, this was up there. Defense was pitiful, although the Knicks were on fire at one point. But, like Mark Jackson said, I've never seen the Celtics defend the pick and roll so poorly.

Worst the Celtics have played all year and they still won. I'll take it. Especially with Semih freeking Erden starting at center versus MVP Amare. I mean, I love Semih as much as the next guy, but c'mon, the guy is a rookie late second round draft pick. We could have used one of our other three to slow down Amare and provide some better interior D.

I love how Rondo hops with KG as he goes up for the dunk.

Its easy to say Meeks shouldn't have covered Rondo instead of Ray-Ray from our birds eye view with instant replay, but with all the defensive switching and reversing of the ball, Meeks made a play that most players would make. He probably figured that someone would be covering his ass on the backside, but there was no one there.

Haha for once we can be happy when he dribbles it off his foot numerous times in one game.