On May 9, 1974, 25-year-old Bruce Springsteen played at the Harvard Square Theater in Cambridge.  Although popular with the college crowd in the Northeast, Springsteen was not yet a star.  That night, he and the E Street Band opened for Bonnie Raitt.  The influential music critic Jon Landau was in the audience.  Overwhelmed by what he had heard, Landau wrote, “I saw my rock and roll past flash before my eyes. I saw something else: I saw rock and roll’s future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.”  Last night, May 12, 2011, the Miami Heat vanquished the mighty mighty Boston Celtics at American Airlines Arena in Miami.  Overwhelmed but what I saw, I write, “I saw my basketball past flash before my eyes.  I saw something else:   I saw basketball’s future and its name is the Miami Heat.”    

Throughout this series the Boston Celtics played with guts.  They played with toughness.  They ate lightnin’ and they crapped thunder.  They gave the Miami Heat everything they could handle but four times out of five, Miami punched Boston right in the mouth when a punch in the mouth was needed most.  Like my main man the Outlaw Josey Wales always says, “Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean.  I mean plumb, mad-dog mean.  ‘Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win.  That’s just the way it is.” Yes it is Josey, yes it is.

Against the Boston Celtics, the Heat did lose their heads.  When things looked bad for Miami, they got mean.  They got plumb, mad-dog mean.  In game 2, in the fourth quarter, the Celtics clawed out a 13-6 run to get themselves right back in the ball game.  The Heat responded.  They got plumb, mad-dog mean.  In game 4, Boston took an 84-81 fourth quarter lead with 2:28 on the clock after back-to-back 3-pointers by Delonte West and Ray Allen.  The Heat responded.  They got plumb, mad-dog mean.  Last night, the Celtics led for just about the entire game.  Then with 2:10 left in the game,  LeBron James got plumb, mad-dog mean and responded by knocking a huge three to put Miami up for good.  Knock knock.  Who’s there?  The Miami Heat, Bitch!

Throughout this inaugural season of these new-look Miami Heat, criticisms abounded, especially when it came to  closing out ballgames.  After all, prior to Game 3 against Boston, these new-look Miami Heat played 21 games that were decided by five points or fewer.  After all, prior to Game 3 against Boston, these new-look Miami Heat won just six of those, or 29%.  That’s bad.  That’s really bad.  That’s just downright abysmal.  So abysmal in fact,  just one other NBA team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, who finished 17-65, the worst record in the league fared worse.  That’s all water under the bridge now.  “To exorcise this demon for a lot of us,” is the way coach Erik Spoelstra described what last night meant.  What it means for the rest of the NBA is a world of trouble.

In this series, Dwyane Wade averaged 30.2 points per game.  In this series, LeBron James scored 28.0 points per game.  Just so you know, the last pair of teammates to each average at least 28 points per game in a playoff series were the Suns’ Steve Nash (30.3) and Amar’e Stoudemire (28.8) in 2005 against the Mavericks.  Just so you know too, no other teammates ever before each averaged at least 28 points per game in a playoff series win against the Celtics.  Because so much has been expected of the Big 3 and this team, it is easy to overlook what just happened.  What just had happened was The Miami put the basketball world on notice.  Get used to them.  They ain’t going nowheres.

Peace out Celtics. Six two and even!

Just cut the stuff, ’til you get enough.  ‘Cause we’re rougher than tougher and rougher tougher than tough!  -Run DMC

Ok, here we go!  Like my main man Popeye always says, “I’ve had all I can stands, I can’t stands no more.”  How many times do we have to see it?  How many times do we have to see D-Wade flying to the hole?  See him death defying to the hole?  See him electrifying to the hole?  How many time do we have to see Delonte West’s booty call’s son get into the lane?  Get into the lane without shame?  Again and again?  Until he’s drinking champagne?  Enough is enough.  The Boston Celtics need to get tough.  Rough and tough.  HR Puffnstuff.  Can’t get a little ’cause you cant get enough.         

Yes sports fans, the Celtics need to get rough.  Like Kevin McHale got rough.  Like Kevin McHale got rough back in 1984.  Back in 1984 against the Los Angeles Lakers.  The Showtime Lakers.  The Jack Nicholson Lakers.  The Dancing Barry Lakers.  Bird Vs. Magic.  East Coast Vs. West Coast.  The Celtics were just embarrassed in Game Three.  Just humiliated in Game Three.  Just abased in Game Three.  And it was happening again.  Happening again in Game Four.

Magic was going coast-to-coast all willy-nilly like.  Big Game James was going to the rack unmercifully.  Byron Scott was knocking down jumper after jumper.  Kareem was skyhooking with reckless abandon.  And that’s when it happened.  That’s when I saw her, ooh, I saw her.  She walked in through the out door, out door.  Kevin McHale walked in through the out door, out door.  Kevin McHale walked in through the out door and smashed Kurt Rambis to the ground.  He simply caught that four eyed freak in mid-air, grabbed him around the neck, and threw him to the ground.

It was brutal.  It was mesmerizing.  It was tantalizing.  Captivating.  Devastating.  That’s the no lay-up rule baby!  It turned around the game.  It turned around the series.  It turned around the way Pat Riley coached basketball for evermore.  It is what the Celtics desperately need to employ.  Right here.  Right now.

Dwyane Wade goes flying to the rim?  Smash him to the ground.  No lay-up rule. LeBron James gets into the lane?  Smash him to the ground.  No lay-up rule.  The joke is over. Fun and games are over.  This ain’t no party.  This ain’t no disco.  This ain’t no fooling around.  No time for dancing.  Or lovey dovey.  I ain’t got time for that now.  This is playoff basketball, I ain’t got time for any of it.  And neither should the Celtics.

Next time a Heat player goes to the rim, this is what the Celtics must do:

Peace out homies.  Six two and even!

How bout them Bulls!  Them eight in a row Bulls.  Goodness gracious great basketballs of fire!  How do they do it?  I’ll tell you how they do it.  They do it by playing defense.  They do it by playing rough defense.  They do it by playing tough defense.  None of that Marshmallow Fluff defense.  Tom Thibodeau came to Chicago and said what Norman Dale said.  Tom Thibodeau came to Chicago and said, “I’ve seen you guys can shoot but there’s more to the game than shooting.  There’s fundamentals and defense.”  And that’s what he’s professed ever since.  Don’t believe me?  Just ask Derrick Rose:  “That’s what we’ve been doing the whole year, playing defense.  If our offense isn’t going, and that rarely happens, we rely on our defense.”

Last night, when the game got tight in the fourth quarter and Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls turned up their defensive pressure, the streaking New Jersey Nets just couldn’t keep up.  How could they?  Last night, the Chicago Bulls came into New jersey with the NBA’s second-best defense.  Second best you say?  Who cares you say?  I say with the 84-73 defeat of the Nets, Chicago has now allowed 980 points over its last 12 games.  I say that’s the fewest it has ever allowed over any 12-game span in franchise history.  Ever.  In franchise history.  I also say, prior to the last 12 games, the fewest points the Bulls allowed over a 12-game span was 1,012 in February 1999.  The Bulls just smashed that mark.  Like Sonny Bono on the Love Boat, they hit it with a hammer and crashed it.  And just so you know, to further prove my point, wanna know who the last NBA team to allow that few points over a 12-game span was?  Huh?  Do ya?  Sure you do.  The last NBA team to allow that few points over a 12-game span was Boston in 2007-08 (979) with Tom Thibodeau on the Celtics’ bench.

That’s right.  Tom Thibodeau, the Bulls head coach.  Tom Thibodeau, defensive guru.  Tom Thibodeau, defensive maharishi.  Tom Thibodeau, defensive swami.  In his nineteen seasons as an assistant, Thibodeau helped his teams finish in the NBA’s top ten in team defense sixteen times.  Yowza!  He helped the Rockets rank in the top five in the NBA in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense in all four years he was with the team.  In his first year with Houston, the Rockets set franchise records in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense.  During his tenure with the Knicks, New York set a then-NBA record by holding thirty-three consecutive opponents under 100 points in the 2000-01 season.  And you saw what he did with Celtics.  Best defense in all of basketball with the Celtics.  In all of Tracy McGrady’s years in the NBA, that’s the best defense he’d ever seen.  He said so.

The Bulls are now doing what the championship Celtics were doing.  They are contesting every shot.  They are trapping in the corners.  They are crashing the boards.  Rebounding, helping, switching, basically everything that you expect your team to do on defense.  Crushing opponents on a nightly basis.  So you wanna know how the Bulls are doing it?  Doin’ it and doin’ it and doin’ it well?  They’re doing it with defense.  Tom Thibodeau defense.

Peace out homies.  Six two and Even!

Peace out homies!  Six Two and Even!

I’m so over you, yeah I’m so over you.  Yeah I fly over you, cause I’m so over you.  -Lil’ Wayne

When I first heard the news about Kendrick Perkins, I was like Doc Rivers.  When I first heard the news about Kendrick Perkins, I took it personal, “very personal.”  When I first heard the news about Kendrick Perkins, I was like Kevin Garnett: “I felt like I’ve lost a family member.”  I also wondered aloud how my beloved Boston Celtics could continue down the road to glory without his presence in the defensive post.  I wondered aloud how my beloved Boston Celtics could continue down the road to glory without his presence on the glass.  But, as the Good Book says, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that ye be not troubled  for all these things must come to pass.  The end is not near.”  No, good people, the end is not near.  The sky is not falling.  The Boston Celtics will continue down road the road glory!  Can I get an Amen?     

The Celtics will continue down the road to glory because they still have Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.  The Celtics will continue down the road to glory because they still have as a fearsome a foursome as the NBA has to offer.  A fearsome foursome that strikes fear in the heart of men.  Last night, said fearsome foursome struck fear in the heart of the Phoenix Suns.

In the Celtics’ victory over the Suns last night, Ray Allen struck fear in the heart of men.  The Three Point King knocked down four of six shots from beyond the arc.  The Three Point King knocked down a grand total of 19 points.  Knock knock.  Who’s there?  Ray Allen bitch!  The king is dead.  Long live the King!

Without either O’Neal in uniform, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett struck fear on the glass.  Without either O’Neal in uniform, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett persevered on the glass.  They out and out bombardiered the glass.  Paul Pierce grabbed 13 rebounds.  Kevin Garnett grabbed 13 rebounds.   It was only the third time that Pierce and Garnett each collected more than ten rebounds in a game for the Celtics.  But you know what the man says.  The man says, “When the gets going tough, the tough get going.”

Rajon Rondo got tough.  Tougher than Marshamallow Fluff.  Like my main man JFK always says, “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Celtics.”  The torch has been passed to Rajon Rondo.  Last night Rondo carried for the torch for 16 big points.  Last night Rondo carried for the torch for 15 big assists.  Last night Rondo carried for the torch for three big steals.  Carrying the Boston Celtics to the Promised Land in his freakishly large hands.

Doc Rivers Rivers now has a tad under two months to get this team in sync.  Doc Rivers Rivers now has a tad under two months to get this team used the system, to learn their roles, to get into a groovey groove.  Then it’s the post season baby.  I say, bring on the Heat.  I say, bring on the Bulls.  I say, give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.  Because you know, I know and Ben Grimm knows, for the fearsome foursome, playoff time is clobbering time.

Peace out homies. Six two or even!

Oh boy.  Boy howdy.  Howdyalike them apples?  Like Sasha Grey always says, “This is a tough one to swallow.”  I’ve always been a good soldier, right?  I’ve always been a company man, right?  Not so much today.  Today I’m a little like Rocky Burnett.  Today, I’m tired of toeing the line.  As you all know by now, my beloved Boston Celtics sent center Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to Oklahoma City in exchange for the 7-foot Nenad Krstic and Jeff Green.  I do not like this.  I do not like this in a house.  I do not like this with a mouse.  I do not like this here or there.  I do not like this anywhere. 

There are two reasons and two reasons only the Celtics make this move.  Reason One:  They do not feel they can re-sign Perk this off-season.  Reason Two:  They know more about Kendrick’s balky knees than they have been letting on.  Of those two reasons, I can live with Reason Two.  If Perkins can’t play, he can’t help Boston win a ring.  And you know, I know, and Cab Calloway knows, it don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that ring.  Doo-wab-di-wab doo-wab-di-wab doo-wab-di-wab doo-wab-di-wah!

That is why I cannot live with Reason One.  It is difficult to win an NBA Championship.  Very Difficult.  Don’t believe me?  As Karl Malone or John Stockton.  Ask Reggie Miller.  Ask Charles Barkley.  The NBA is not a Disney movie.  It is not a massage parlour down in old China Town.  Not everybody gets a happy ending.  This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around. I understand the Boston Celtics braintrust decided they would not be able to afford Kendrick Perkins at the end of this season.  I get it.  I do.  But, Stanley, see this?  This is this. This ain’t something else.  This is this. This is about winning a championship now.  Without Kendrick Perkins, the Celtics have just moved farther away from that goal.

There is a reason we folks around Boston say Perk is a beast.  He was the X-Factor.  The Xavier McDaniel factor.  Just so you know, while at Wichita State, the original X-Man,  Xavier McDaniel, was the first man to lead the nation in both rebounding and scoring in the same season.  Yowza!  Like the original X-Man, Perk did all the dirty work.  Dirty deeds.  Done dirt cheap.  He was explosive from beginning to end.  I’m T.N.T.  I’m dynamite.  T.N.T.  And I’ll win the fight.  The Boston Celtics won a lot with fights with Kendrick Perkins in the line-up.  That Boston Celtics starting line-up never lost a playoff series.  Last year, they lost a Game 7 fight without Kendrick Perkins in the line-up.

So what makes Ainge and Company think they can win without him now?  Kendrick Perkins was the backbone of the Celtics defense.  No need to double-team other team’s bigs with good ole Perk around.  He was the meat and potatoes. If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat yer meat His staunch, stand-’em-up, low-post defense and his dexterity in guarding the pick-and-roll allowed the Celtics team-defense to have their pudding. He allowed the Celtics team-defense to be a league leader in points-allowed per game, defensive efficiency and point-differential. This cannot be discounted. Without Perk, is this what we have to look forward to:

By trading Kendrick Perkins, Boston is placing hope beyond that Shaquille O’Neal will remain healthy for the playoffs.  If Shaq cannot remain healthy, who’s gonna guard Dwight Howard?  Howard says that nobody guards him as well as Perkins does.  Who’s gonna guard Andrew Bynum?  Amare Stoudemire?  Without Perk or Shaq manning the post, the Heat are enabled to use Chris Bosh more frequently at center, especially if Udonis Haslem returns from injury.  I hope Bob Ryan is right.  I hope Danny knows what he’s doing.  But for me, for this season, for this ring, I just don’t see it.

Peace out Kendrick. Six two and even!

Just a quick one today.  Quick as a licorice stick one today.  Quick as a mouse click one today.  Today, the good folks over at Ed The Sports Fan posted a lamentation entitled When Your Favorite Player Gets Traded.  He said stuff like, “There’s nothing worse that can happen to a fan than when that fan’s favorite player…gets traded.”  In light of this, and in light of the recent moves that sent Melo to the Knicks and Deron Williams to the Nets, I got to thinking.  I got to thinking  that so many times in sports, guys have ended up in uniforms they just don’t belong in.  Uniforms they just look wrong in.  Here are a few that I never got used to:          

Bobby Orr

The greatest Bruin ever.  The greatest hockey player ever.   Number four, Bobby Orr.  Better than all the rest.  Greater than the Great One.  In 1971, Bobby Orr piled up an unbelievable 139 points.  139 points!  37 goals and 102 assists.  No player had ever scored 100 assists in one season before, and only two have since.  The Great One and Super Mario.  Orr did it from the blue line.  He did it faster than anybody I’ve ever seen.  Number four, Bobby Orr.  The greatest hockey player who ever lived.  You don’t believe me?  Just ask Don Cherry.  Or his dog Blue.

This guy could fight too.  They tested him his rookie year.  They didn’t test him again.  But the 1975-76 season brought changes.  Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.  Turn and face the strain.  Ch-ch-changes.  Just gonna have to be a different man.  Trades dismantled the Big, Bad Bruins.

Orr managed to play just 10 games due to injury-riddled knees.  Contract negotiations hit an impasse between Bobby and the Bruins and marked the end of an era. Bobby became a free agent and ultimately signed with the Chicago Black Hawks.  Just never seemed right.

Robert Parrish

The biggest of the Big Three.  The Chief.  The Chief played fourteen years with the Celtics from 1980 to 1994.  The Chief won three NBA Titles with the Boston Celtics.  His rainbow jumper was a thing of beauty.  Somewhere over the rainbow.  Skies are blue.  And the dreams that you dare to dream, really do come true.  Robert Parrish made dreams come true.  Robert Parrish ended up a Charlotte Hornet.  Just never seemed right.

Hank Aaron

What can be said about the Hammer that hasn’t already been said already?  In Atlanta, 53,775 people showed up to watch Aaron hit career home run 715.  The ball landed in the Braves bullpen.  Thirty days later, Aaron ended up on the Milwaukee Brewers.  I’m gonna give you thirty days to get back home.  I done talked to the gypsy woman on the telephone.  She gonna send out a world wide hoodoo.  That’ll be the very thing that’ll suit ya.  I’m gonna see that you be back home in thirty days.  Back home in Milwaukee.  Just never seemed right.

Dwight Evans

Thank Heavens for Dwight Evans.  Cannon for an arm.  Lasar for an arm.  Dr. Evil should get sharks with Dwight Evans’ arms attached to their heads.  Dwight Evans was the best defensive right fielder of his time.  Dwight Evans won eight Gold Glove Awards.  You hear that Ted Sarandis, eight!   I know my heart can stay with my glove, its understood.  It’s in the hands of my glove, and my glove does it good.  Wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo, my glove does it good.  Evans ended up on the Orioles.  Just never seemed right.

Joe Montana

Joe Cool.  Three Super Bowl MVPs.  In his four Super Bowl appearances, Montana never threw an interception nor lost a fumble.  He was the first player in league history to win consecutive MVP awards.   Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsman of the Year award.  I`m the man of the year.  Stand in line to meet the man.  I’m the man, I’m the man, I’m the man.  The Man for the San Francisco 49ers.  Ended up a Kansas City Chief.  Never seemed right.

Here’s some more: Joe Namath, Rams.  OJ Simpson, 49ers.  Pete Rose, Phillies.  Steve Garvey, Padres.  Willie McCovey, A’s.  Eddie Murray, Indians.  Wade Boggs, Yankees.  Tony Dorsett, Broncos.  Earl Campell, Saints.  Dave Casper, Vikings.  Never seemed right.

Make my living off the evening news.  Just give me something-something I can use.  People love it when you lose.  They love dirty laundry.  -Don Henley

Peace out homies.  Six Two and Even!

We just can’t seem to get enough of Blake Griffin.  His thunderous dunks have enchanted a nation.  Like Larry Bird’s three point contest check, the Rookie of the Year Award already has Blake Griffin’s name on it.  Blake griffin does not pee words in the snow, he pees them in concrete.  He peed some words in concrete last night.  Words like, “leading both teams in points.”  Words like, “leading both teams rebounds.”  Words like, “leading both teams is assists.”  What are words for when no one listens anymore?   I’m listening.  You know who else listening?  Huh?  Do ya?  I’ll tell you else listening, Chuck Person is listening.  That’s who’s listening.     

Last night, in the Clippers loss to the Thunder, Blake Griffin became the first rookie in almost 25 years to record more points, rebounds and assists than any other player for either team in an NBA game.  You wanna know who the other guy is?  Huh?  Do ya?  Sure you do.  The other guy is none other than, you guessed it, the Pacers’ Chuck Person.  The Rifleman produced a game-high 34 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in a win against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on December 20, 1986.  How about that?

My memories of Chuck Person are primarily those that included Larry Bird.  In the beginning of the ’90s, the Indiana Pacers and my beloved Boston Celtics had somewhat of a rivalry going on.  I vividly remember the Pacers constantly running a high pick and putting either Reggie Miller or Chuck Person  in the corner.  That play inevitably ended with either Person or Reggie knocking down the jumper from said corner.  Again and again and again.  Knock knock. Who’s there? The Indiana Pacers, bitch! Larry Bird did not like this.  Not one bit.  So, one night in December, Larry Bird got his revenge. 

Yes, on one legendary late December night, Larry told Person before a game that he had a Christmas present for him.   A very special Christams present for him.  Larry did not disappoint.  In the fourth quarter, after hitting a clutch 3-pointer, Bird turned to Person, who was seated on the Pacers’ bench, and said, “Merry Christmas, Chuck.”

Oh, and not for nothing, on the Sega Genesis, Chuck Person was unstoppable.

Peace out homies. Six two and even!

 Don’t you know about the bird?  Well everybody knows, that bird is the word.   Bird, bird, bird.  Bird is the word.  -Ramones

With tonight’s Three Point Contest fast approaching, I cannot help but reminisce.  I cannot help but go back to a happier place and time.   Go back to a time when Larry Bird was still in his three-point prime.  Go back to a time when it was still fun to rhyme.  So, just like my main man Nas, “I’m takin’ y’all on a trip straight through memory lane.  It’s like that y’all…it’s like that y’all…it’s like that.”  Damn skippy it’s like that.  And now, I’m takin’ y’all on a trip straight to 1988.   Takin’ y’all on a trip to the Prairie State.   Sherman, set the Way Back Machine.      

Chicago, Illinois.  1988.  All-Star week-end.  His Airness and the Human Highlight Reel going toe to toe.  Slam for slam.  Daaaaamn!  And, there was the Legend.  Larry Legend.  Larry Joe Bird.  Bird, Bird, Bird.  Bird is the word.  1988.  Larry Bird.  Reigning three-point king.  Larry Bird.  Two-time reigning three-point king.  Get the papers, get the papers.  Larry Bird doing his thing.  The world on a string.  All that and a chicken wing.  The Legend going for a three-peat.  You know what happened next?  I know you do.  But I love telling it.

As the shooters dressed in the locker room, Bird stood up and announced, “All right, who’s playing for second place?”  Wooo doggie.  It’s on.  Dale Ellis.  Dale Ellis, the Silent Assassin.  Dale Ellis, fresh off his NBA Most Improved Player Award season.  Dale Ellis, third all-time in three-point shots made.  Dale Ellis had one of the sweetest jump shots I have ever seen.  Deadly off the screen.  Like a three point machine.  Eliis was unconscious.  Knocking ‘em down one after another.  Knocking ‘em down all the way to the finals.  All the way to Larry Joe Bird.

In the Finals, Dale still kept knocking ‘em down.  He wanted that crown.  Showing everybody in old Chi-town.  Knocked down shot after shot in the final round too.  Finished with a score of 15.  Pretty, pretty good.  Not good enough.  Larry’s tough.  He plays rough.  Larry Joe ties it up.  Ties it up with one ball remaining.  The money ball.  Goodness gracious.  You know the rest.  You know why Bird was the best.  Like he wearing a bullet-proof vest.  Shooting as if he were blessed.  The Legend puts it up.  A split-second later, the ball barely off his fingers, the Legend turned and walked away.  Turned and walked away with his index finger in the air.  I…am…number one.  No matter if you like it, ready take this, sit down and write it.  I…am…number one.  What does it take to be number one?  Two is not a winner, and three nobody remembers.  Larry Bird:  “I’m the three-point king, I’m the three-point king!”

Peace out homies.  Six Two and Even!

(ESPN 8PM ET)  I know that Dallas have already beat the Celtics in Dallas earlier this year.  I know dallas is in the midst of six game run.  I know Dallas boasts 10 road wins against teams with winning records already this season. I know that’s three more than anyone else in the league.   I’m like Fredo.  I know things!  I’m smart!  Not like everybody says… like dumb…  I’m smart and I want respect!  You know who else is demanding a little respect around here?  Huh?  Do ya?  Sure you do.  The Boston Celtics.  Thats who!  Beginning tonight, the Celtics play the Mavs, Magic, Lakers and Heat at the Garden.  Beginning tonight the Celtics remind the world why they should be the favorites to win the NBA Championship.  The Celtics are getting healthy.  The Celtics own a 22-3 record overall at the Garden.  Vernon here’s got a job. Vernon’s got prospects.  He’s bona fide.  What are you?  I’ll tell you what the Celtics are.  They’re winners tonight.  That’s what they are.  Who are the big winner here tonight at the casino?  Huh?  The Celtics, that’s who.  The Celtics are the big winners.  The Celtics win!  The Celtics win!  Get your popcorn ready!

Peace out homies!  Six Two and Even!