The Garnett play that kills me was towards the end when he had Wade one on one and decided to pull up for a mid-range jumper (which he missed). I was screaming for him to post up Wade and take advantage of the mismatch. Please don't anyone accuse me of hating on (did I say it correctly?) KG. He's been great but his refusal to play in the paint irritates me at times to no end.

With the Clippers losing tonight their next game is meaningless. Six games really.

Who else but the Celtics could offer Paul Pierce to anyone?

I've heard of that bar but never been. I moved away and am on the other side of town when I come to visit. Still remember going to a game where Bird was at the line with .8 seconds left and was waving on the Clipper faithful to bring it as he stepped to the line. Were either down by one or tied and he sank both. Funniest thing was under the basket some guys had life size posters of women in bikinis taped to poster board and were waving it. The drama didn't end as Bo Kimble I believe nailed a falling out of bounds three pointer that didn't count as time had expired.

I had forgotten that there's actually a lot of Celtic fans in LA. I remember going to Celtics/Clippers at the LA Sports Arena and there was green everywhere.

Not to mention Shannon Brown was a throw in to the Adam Morrison for Radmonovich salary dump trade. No doubt it worked out well but that's what you would call a pleasant surprise if you're a laker fan and not necessarily a genius move by the GM.

What point did I miss? Your first line starts "Joey Crawford stole game 7 against the lakers. . . . ". Your point is loud and clear. I understand the free throw discrepancy. My point is that if a team has more shot attempts they're likely to shoot more free throws just because there are more opportunities to be fouled. This was a problem that whole year. How many leads were blown because that team gave up so many second chance points? Quite a few. Where we agree is that the game was called differently in the fourth quarter. That happens and it kills me and in this case it was to the detriment of the Celtics. I just have a hard time believing that there was some mass conspiracy to cheat the Celtics out of the title (and this from someone who has always thought since he started watching basketball in 1987 that the lakers tend to get the calls and the celtics don't).

That's a cop out. We lost because we couldn't rebound the ball. Naturally they'll get more free throws if they take more shots and they'll take more shots if they have more possessions. From what I recall of that game the C's played great defense for 22 seconds, forced a tough shot but gave up the rebound and had to do it again. What I do recall is it being a "let em play" type game for three quarters and not until the fourth quarter did the refs start to call the chippy stuff. That's the BS that gets me and didn't bode well for the C's in that game.

I like the point system. Rather than fines (which I think would be impossible to get the referees union to agree to) I think the point system should be used to determine who gets assigned to work the playoff and marquee regular season games. I don't know their pay structure but I would guess these games are more lucrative. It would be like an employee owning shares in their own company.

I don't think I'd include Walton on that list. His career was dead before he came to Boston. They signed him and he became a major piece for what many consider to be the greatest team ever before the injuries caught up and finished him the following year. You're right. laker fans shouldn't feel shitty. You got the most out of him. We got nothing. I don't understand the logic behind that comment.

I wish Pierce had been a little smarter on that second foul (it was the lebron break away in the first quarter). When you're the team's clutch player, it's the first quarter and you already have a foul you give up the two points and let lebron have that lay up.

Definitely not over. Wednesday? Over.

Everything seems to be this and that about what the lakers didn't do and how they lost. I wish the Mavs would get some credit.

The nine points doesn't comfort me. It really wasn't that close. That being said, Miami won a game on their home court. Nothing more. Time to put it behind us and hope we split the first two.

This may very well be true but there was an interesting comment posted in another blog that I agree with where the author is surprised that some local newspaper in North Andover is getting a source that Sherrod Blakely, Chris Forsberg and Gary Washburn can't.

Is that what our defense used to look like?

Have playoff tickets gone on sale yet? If I remember correctly they shut Garnett down the day after.

It's an ankle sprain. It happens. Nothing to get too worked up about.

What does Jermaine O'Neal have to do with Bill Walker? We didn't trade Walker for O'Neal, he was signed as a free agent. Why compare the two? O'Neal is a center and Walker is a three.

What a cop out. You made a statement, someone challenged you to back it up and you come back with "if you don't know then you don't know basketball"? The Jermaine O'Neal signing? Celtics had the mid-level exception and wanted a big. I was never too excited about the signing but what else was there? Was Chris Bosh going to play for the mid-level exception? Who do you think they should've signed?

So they keep the championships and to hell with everything else? Nice.

Are any of the numbers for the old Minneapolis laker greats (who only played for the team in Minneapolis) retired and hanging in Staples Center? Mikan, Mikkelsen, Martin, etc or has the organization conveniently chosen to only honor the championships won by those teams?

I was irked by this as well during the game but watching it now I wonder if Rondo was just trying to reward Ray for hustling back. No one on the Rockets even attempted to get beyond half court and there was Ray, who could have just as easily stayed back with everyone else, sprinting down the court behind Rondo.

Or someone I should say.

Ha. Looks like some people had some time to kill before the school bell rang out west.