Push for # 1

What a proud proud win by the Boston Celtics and what a terrible loss for the Cleveland Cavaliers. With Boston trailing by two games for the number one seed in the Eastern Conference this was a truly great win for the Garnett-less team. What a bad loss for the Cavs who couldn't take advantage of Kevin Garnett's absence in Boston. I had already penciled in a loss before tonight's game even began; perhaps I should have let the fact of home court advantage persuade me otherwise. The last fifteen meetings between these two opponents have yielded victory to the home team and even without KG the result was no different for Boston. The Celtics masterfully clamped down on LeBron James who made only five of his fifteen shots. This will be a key component in defeating the Cavs in a playoff series; and how impressive it was to do so without last year's defensive player of the year. Yet after this proud win on Friday night the Celtic's were beaten thoroughly by the Magic and are now 5-3 since Garnett's most recent stint out of the line up. Also without Rondo the Celtics fell far behind too early and could not recover; despite outscoring Orlando in the third and fourth quarter. The newest members of the team struggled and looked lost several times during the game. Moore and Marbury will prove valuable additions when they adjust to the Celtic system, but were inadequate today. In 36 minutes these two combined for a measly five rebounds and four points in today's defeat.

The Celtics have shown great inconsistency in The Big Ticket's absence marred by an embarrassing loss to the Clippers. After an encouraging win against the Cavs and a tough loss at home to the Magic how will this team react to another week without their best defensive player? Any games they win without KG are a great plus and Pierce and Ray Allen will not let the team suffer a losing record during this span. With an easy schedule on the nearest horizon Boston should have no trouble stringing some wins together. The Heat, Grizzles, Bulls, and Bucks are all teams that should be beaten before Garnett supposed return.

The true push for the number one seed in the Eastern Conference begins right now as the Celtic's await Kevin Garnett's much anticipated return. Now with the Magic as another legitimate contender for the top seed, Boston has little margin for error in these last twenty games. I believe that in order to achieve the best record in the Eastern Conference they cannot lose more than five games. There is an interesting mix of match-ups down the stretch with five quite challenging and the rest dominated by shoe in wins and slight challenges. The Miami Heat are playing well riding the coat tails of Dwayne Wade's MVP season and face the Celtics three times before the year's end. Perhaps one loss to this team (who has been stuck at four games over .500 all year) could be viewed as understandable, but there is no excuse to lose to the Nets, Bulls, Thunder, Clippers, Grizzles, Bobcats, 76ers, or the Wizards. The true danger lies in games against the Hawks, Spurs, Magic, and Caviliers who are all vying for playoff seeding. Bad blood runs between Boston and recently formed rivals Atlanta and Cleveland; even worse these will be road encounters. With or Without KG the push for the playoffs is now and we can expect a 15-5 run to finish out another fine regular season campaign.