It's Not Exactly "Happy Days Are Here Again"

John Rich (one half of Big & Rich) has put out a song that may become (if it hasn't already) the anthem of the "Great Crash."

"Shuttin' Detroit Down" is currently #13 on the Billboard country list, and is up from last week.

Refrain:

Cause in the real world they'rre shutting Detroit down
While the boss man takes his bonus pay and jets out of town/
And DC’s bailing out the bankers as the farmers auction ground,
Yeah while they’re living it up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world there shuttin’ Detroit down.
They’re shuttin’ Detroit down.

To the extent that Rich has captured the mood in the middle part of the body politic, it's not a good sign for whatever the next steps in the bailout are going to be.

No Easy Buckets

What's wrong with the Celtics?

For the second series in a row, the Cs have left Boston with a 2-0 lead, only to return five days later facing a must-win Game 5 to retain home court advantage. The difference with the Atlanta series is that unlike Joe Johnson, who is a quality player with a chip on his shoulder when he plays Boston, LeBron James is the NBA's 'Ace of Spades' -- the best athlete on the floor who can dominate a game (and quite frankly, dominate the man trying to guard him -- Paul Pierce) even as he has shooting nights of 2-18, 6-24, 5-16, and 7-20.

Charles Barkley said it best, a few minutes after Game Four ended -- the Celtics can't get any easy baskets, and the Trio of KG, Pierce and Allen are all jump shooters. (Allen, after getting to the rim several times -- especially early in Game 7 -- has been an 'easy cover' so far this series for the defensively-challenged Wally Szczerbiak; and Wally has hurt the Celts at the offensive end, chipping in with points last night and answering Allen's 15.)

While the Celts are doing a good job stopping the Cleveland transition game, Boston's fast break points are few and far between; and with no fast break buckets, there are few chances for easy points or foul trouble for the opposition.

The trend lines are all bad right now for the Celtics: one of the oldest teams in the league, they have already logged 11 playoff games, and will need at least two more to get out of the second round. The rotation off the bench seems to be in disarray, with Doc Rivers going with Glen Davis, James Posey, Sam Cassell, P.J. Brown, and Pierce for the first 4 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter last night. (That combination probably didn't play together all season, as Brown played only 208 total minutes for the Cs in 18 games; the combination was not among the 50 most efficient 5-man combos for the Celtics, according to NBA.com. By means of comparision, Cassell and Pierce played only 93 minutes -- about two full games -- together all season, and were +19 on the +/- rating.)

Could it all change with a resounding win at home on Wednesday and a stolen game in Cleveland on Friday night? Sure.

But right now, the Cs feel like a middle-of-the-road 52-win team that will do well do push the Pistons to six games in the Eastern Conference finals.

Everyone's favorite current Celt -- Kevin Garnett -- has pulled the franchise back to respectability with his effort on every possession of every game. But like another beloved player -- Ernie Banks -- right now, he seems destined never to play in his game's biggest stage, and to never raise a championship trophy.

Big Win in Beantown

The C's clinched (for all intents and purposes) home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs with an impressive 90-78 win over Detroit, putting them 5 games up on the Pistons (in the loss column) with 23 games left.

Bill Russell's favorite modern player -- Kevin Garnett -- was a man among boys, especially in the first half when he made 8-of-12, and pistol-whipped both Rasheed Wallace and Amir Johnson.

But despite a slow start, the Pistons had a chance with a tie game early in the fourth quarter (69-69); but bad shot-selection by Detroit, together with foul trouble for Wallace, proved the death-knell.

New signee Sam Cassell did not dress for the game, although the Pistons did not seem to be too worried about his acquisition by the Cs:
"Defending pick-and-rolls is not Sam's forte" said Pistons coach Flip Saunders.

Rajon Rondo's effort, including a ferocious dunk on Jason Maxiell, meant that the competition for the 'crunch time' PG position is a long way from over.

C's Return Home

The Celtics staunched the bleeding of an 0-3 start to a Western Conference swing by winning Sunday in Portland, and again last night in Los Angeles (against the Clippers). Of course, both the Blazers and the Clips are on the outside looking-in at the Western playoff picture.

In the East, the Pistons have closed to within 2 games of the Cs for first place in the Conference (and home court until the NBA Finals). More importantly, on Sunday Detroit put a big hurting on the same Suns team that had man-handled the Celtics on Friday night, 116-86.

The Pistons come to Boston next Wednesday (March 5th) for what will be the teams last meeting until (perhaps) the Playoffs.

C's bounce back

Give the Celtics credit.

Just a few short weeks after losing their first "big" game of the year -- to Detroit at home -- the C's have reeled off 9 wins in a row, including an impressive road trip to the West Coast (with wins at Sacramento, Seattle, Utah and the LA Lakers) and recent wins over Houston (albeit without T-Mac).

Boston's most impressive win came two nights ago against the Pistons, where they leveled the season series and also gave notice that a playoff series between these two teams would be very entertaining.

To be continued...

20-2, but 0-1

A mid-December NBA game does not usually remind a viewer of a playoff atmosphere but that was not the case tonight in Boston as the new-look Celtics put their best-ever(*) 20-2 start on the line against the Detroit Pistons. After an exciting, back-and-forth fourth quarter, the Celtics dug back from a 6-point deficit with 1:19 left (and with Pistons having the ball), only to lose with poor clock management in the last 30 seconds.

A few things we learned:

* Ray Allen still has plenty in the tank, especially after having a couple of games off to rest his legs. His turn-the-corner-and-dunk-in-traffic off a timeout with 6 minutes left turned the game around when the Cs were in danger of losing touch (down 7). And his pair of three-pointers (one from the corner off the dribble, the other from the top of the key with 18 seconds left, led the comeback.

Update: Here's the video, now up on YouTube:


* The Cs have no defensive answer for Chauncy Billups (28 pts, 8 assists in 37 minutes), especially in the fourth quarter, when he took Rajon Rondo down to the proverbial "Men's Room" on the low block. Doc Rivers tried Eddie House and Tony Allen in crunch time, but neither proved to be enough. Allen ended up effectively ending the game when he left his feet on a Billups shot-fake on the last possession, sending Billups to the line with 0.1 seconds left.

* The Pistons were able to dictate game tempo, especially in second half. The Celtics have been able to separate themselves from (mostly inferior) opponents over the first quarter of the season with a transition game based on good defense. The defense was there against the Pistons -- Detroit shot just 40.3% -- but the C's were unable to turn missed shots into easy baskets.

* Don't book the Cs for the NBA Finals quite yet. The Cs have fattened up on an easy schedule: most of their games have been against the weak East, and have only played a few games against weak West teams (Sac, Den, LAL). Boston is now 1-3 against elite East teams (0-1 against Orlando and Detroit; 1-1 against Cleveland), and has yet to travel west of Chicago. The next stretch of the season,, with a trip to the Pacific upcoming next week -- and the Celtics trip to the "Texas triangle" in March -- should be very interesting.

* All that being said, the Cs are clearly a challenge for the Pistons, and Boston fans are ready for this rejuvinated franchise. The road to the East will probably go through Detroit, and a Pistons/Celtics series could be very interesting.

(*) - Actually, equalling the best-ever start of 20-2 in 1963-4. Both teams lost their 23rd game, to go 20-3.

Hill to Phoenix

A bright star in college (his Duke teams went to three Championship Games, and won two titles during his four years there), Grant Hill's began with a flourish, winning Rookie-of-the-Year honors in 1994-95. But his career has been hampered by injuries, and his pro teams have never had the success that he enjoyed in college (the best was the 1996-97 Pistons team that went 54-28, but lost in the first round of the Playoffs).

But it was a shock to read this morning's Globe, and to find that Hill had moved to Phoenix in a free agent signing yesterday. The shock was not that Hill had switched teams, but that news about this one-time "next great thing" was mentioned in passing in the "NBA Notebook" column.

Here's hoping that Hill can stay healthy -- and contribute -- to a Suns team whose window is closing.

A New Series?

The Cleveland Cavaliers appeared to be on the brink of defeat a few nights ago, leaving Detroit down 0-2, and apparently demoralized after two heart-breaking losses. But after two wins at home, the Cavs will return to the Motor City Thursday night with a chance to steal a game on Detroit's home floor.

There's no question that a LBJ coming-out party in the NBA Finals would be a win for th league, especially after the disaster of the Suns/Spurs series, and the quiet dismantling of the Jazz that the Spurs have embarked upon during the Western Conference finals.

If Donyell Marshall had made an open three at the end of Game One, or if either LBJ or Larry Hughes had been able to connect in the waning seconds of Game Two, the Cavs would be sitting in driver's seat. As it is, they have put the heat back on the Pistons.

But an NBA playoff series begins when one team loses a home game.

Off the Deck

Less than a day after the Bulls stunned the Pistons in Detroit, and less than 24 hours after the Suns won a must-must-win in San Antonio, the Nets rebounded from an atrocious Game Four finish by controlling Game Five from start to finish. Despite a 1-15 fourth quarter -- and an even more incredible 6 points -- the Nets nonetheless won convincingly.

Jason Kidd (8-14 FGs), Vince Carter (5-11), and Richard Jefferson (6-11) recovered, and moved the pressure from themselves to the Cavaliers. If the Cavs can't close New Jersey out on Friday, you will be able to cut the pressure on Sunday in the Quicken Arena with a knife.

Vin-Sanity

Sure, Vince Carter will take the heat for the Nets' last possession last night in Game Four, where double-team from Larry Hughes forced Carter to panic and, eventually, knock the ball out-of-bounds. But it wasn't just the last-second failures - it was the forced pass to Mikki Moore with 0:46 seconds left (eventually leading to a jump ball won by the Cavaliers), and the 6-23 overall shooting that killed the Nets. (Of course, Carter's partners-in-crime included Jason Kidd (2-13 shooting) and Richard Jefferson (3-12).)

While Carter did make 5-6 clutch foul shots in the last two minutes, it seems unlikely that the Nets can climb out of a 1-3 deficit with the series heading back to Cleveland. LeBron James will be headed to his first Conference Finals, where as they were a year ago, the Pistons seems likely to be the obstacle.

Must-Win Game(s) 3

ESPN briefly flashed a graphic last night in the midst of the Chicago Bulls meltdown (blowing a 19 point lead in a must-win Game Three against the Pistons):

Comebacks from 0-3
NBA 0-81
MLB 1-28
NHL 2-147

What's interesting is that (i) hockey has had more 3-0 leads than the other two sports combined (although the tradition of the MLB with no playoffs until 1969 (only the World Series prior) must have some impact); and (ii) that the Red Sox's comeback in 2004 is such an anomaly (baseball, with its high element of chance, would seem to give more rise to more comebacks than the other two sports - instead the Red Sox are the only team to dig out of the hole.)

New Jersey and Golden State each face must-win Game Threes in the 24 hours. San Antonio faces a "Almost-Must-Win" Game Three as well, although the Spurs seem likely to win.