A Semiotic Victory Against Dwight And His Magic

103-91, Celtics. Take that Dwight Howard, you pussy. You must be a center to shoot free throws that badly. Seriously, though, I can relate with Tommy at the end there - I too was getting nervous when the lead was shrinking with a couple minutes to go, I mean we were up by like 11 and my heart was a-thumpin'. Maybe there is a need for some more close games, you lose all context of what close games are like after a while. Or maybe we don't need any close ones; twelve point victories are good too. Just keep on winning, boys.

From here on out "the road gets tougher", which could mean almost anything, and surely this West Coast swing will show something about the C's that we don't know presently. But I have a feeling that in the end the trip will deepen our current beliefs, as opposed to revealing crazy and potentially frightening issues, like Rondo choking under pressure or Perk being unable to rebound in locations west of Tulsa. So to Sactown we go...

As a final note on this eve of eves, let me praise Glenn Rivers. Glenn, I don't know what the hell came over you, but your completely rational usage of rotations and substitutions is blowing my mind, buddy. Like tonight I was a little disappointed when you put Pollard in instead of Big Baby, because Howard was out and Big Baby could give us some offense. And then I realized - if all I'm worried about is you playing Pollard a couple of minutes instead of Baby in the second quarter, how can I complain? You're so rational this season - did you stop taking uppers before the games or something? Where is Scal in key moments of the fourth quarter? Where is Posey at center? Why, oh why are you not playing Pruitt twenty minutes a night? Honestly, Glenn, I feel like you are not even you anymore. When people scoffed at you for having Tony Allen in against Detroit the other night I wanted to laugh - didn't they know that was nothing compared to what you would have done in the past? If people had actually watched the Celtics the last few years there's no way we'd be talking now. But here we are. 22-3. Good job, Glenn.