NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Just how many old guys can the Celtics stock up on? Let’s see they have Grandpa Kevin Garnett, age 33 with 14 years in the league. Then there is Grandpa Paul Pierce, age 32 with 11 years in the league. Then there is Grandpa Ray Allen, whom they shopped around this winter, but nobody wanted a 3 point shooter that used a walker, soon to be age 34 with 13 years in the league. (Stats from NBA.com)

Now they reach for the geritol and sign Rasheed ‘Technical waiting to happen’ Wallace, age 35 in September with 14 years in the league.

Sure the Celtics won a title two years ago, because for some unknown reason nobody got injured. Last year was more reality than fantasy as Kevin Garnett was injured.

Unfortunately it is a fact of life for Hoop Stars in the NBA that age limits your jumping ability, your quickness, your hops (ability to jump fast), and leaves you more injury prone. Good Luck Boston on picking up an aging brooding Rasheed Wallace.

How will Rasheed Wallace get along in Boston?

Rasheed will always be remembered affectionately in Detroit for being a great teammate and delivering the 2004 title. Thank You, Rasheed.

And with Rasheed Wallace severing ties with the Pistons on Sunday by giving an oral commitment to sign with Eastern Conference rival Boston, the soul has left the building as well.
Multiple media outlets reported that Wallace, 35, agreed to the mid-level exception for $5.8 million per season, and it’s believed to be for two seasons.
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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

It was a game 7 to remember if you are a Magic fan and a game 7 to have lobotomized from your consciousness if you are a Celtic fan. After such a tremendous season last year where it looked by some fans to be years of future domination, the Celtics looked tired and used up by the end of this series.

Certainly it’s not what the coaches were suggesting, but the lads in sneakers decided to execute the rope-a-dope in the opening quarter. The Magic took advantage for 27 points and leads as great as 13 before settling for a 10-point edge at the end of the first frame. The visitors attempted six 3-pointers and hit five of them, firing away as if this part of their game was somehow a surprise to the opponent.

The Celtics added to their woe by committing five turnovers in the period. Dopey indeed. While the Los Angeles Lakers showed earlier in the day how to handle a Game 7 at home, taking a 15-point lead during layup lines, the Celts came out flat as a flounder
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Dwight Howard and Paul Pierce

If there is to be blame on one side of the sports ledger then there is to be some praise on the other side and Dwight Howard lives on the other side. It is his Orlando Magic team that became Celtic slayers and are now going to enjoy a coming out party in the conference finals.

How does one add notches to a growth chart of a Man-Child who is 6-11?

Do you measure the strength of his thunderous dunks? Note the developing accuracy of a short hook? Count scowls instead of smiles?

Dwight Howard is aptly referred to as a Work in Progress. But I believe we judge too harshly.

He is here.
Can you believe it? Orlando Magic make history with rout of Boston Celtics
It’s about time the national media show Magic some respect

His team is going to the Eastern Conference finals. Smiling before and after, it hardly seemed a burden for Dwight to lift the Orlando Magic on his back, as he did Sunday night at TD Banknorth Garden.

He took on the league’s most storied franchise, a franchise that had a 17-3 record in Game 7s, a franchise that doesn’t hang division championships on its rafters — only NBA titles.

Orlando 101, Boston 82. Ding, dong, the defending league champions are toast.

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

With a minute left in the 4th quarter and the scored tied, Derrick Rose took Rajon Rondo to the hole and drew a suspect foul, but it was not a shooting foul. On the ensuing play, Derrick Rose slipped going to his left and the ball rolled out of bounds. Interesting, the Bulls go to their rookie point guard with the game on the line.

A blurb on the TV showed that there had been 80 lead changes in the 5 game series. 3 of these games have gone to overtime.

Rajon misses after Marbury turns down a shot and Ben Gordon shoots an afterthought jumper at the other end for the lead.

Paul Pierce goes one on one and shoots a turnaround jumper at the foul line to tie it up.

Pierce and Allen try to carry on without Garnett

Chicago goes to Gordon to win the game and he misses a step back jumper. Odd shot selection.

We go to OT. Paul Pierce knocks down a step back jumper from the right side of the top of the key to give the Celtics a three point lead with 36 seconds left.

Will the Bulls go for the 2 for 1? Yes, Ben Gordon forces a 3 on a quick shot and Tony Allen fouls him. Bad foul.

Gordon makes the first, the second, and the third. Tie score. Time out Boston with 27 seconds left.

Will Boston go to Paul Pierce one last time? Read more

NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

The Chicago Bulls have no illusions about this series. They only see the opportunity to win this opening series and move on. Kevin Garnett, the Celtics leader, is hurt and out of the playoffs. The Celtics miss him, but are not using it as an excuse.

It is Derrick Rose vs. Rajon Rondo

The real battle in this series has been a surprise. It is all Derrick Rose against Rajon Rondo and once again, both players were brilliant.

Rose (11 rebounds, nine assists) scored 10 points in the first half, before going scoreless in the third. The NBA Rookie of the Year then took over in the fourth making five of his six shots. His lone miss was a last-second shot that would have won it for the Bulls.

“My team is looking for me to be aggressive,” Rose said. “I was looking to push the ball and get my teammates involved.”

Rondo, Rose’s counterpart, was an absolute force again for the Celtics, finishing with 25 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and two steals. Paul Pierce had a team-high 29 points — 11 in the two overtime periods.

“[Rondo is] a good point guard,” Rose said. “He does everything you need to get done on the court. It’s fun out there when we are playing against each other.”

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Rose ruled the 4th quarter and Ben Gordon made a great shot to move the game to the second overtime, where John Salmons performed some heroics to win the game. John Salmons not only had 20 points, but he sealed the game with two free throws and then blocked Paul Pierce’s last second attempt to win the game.

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Chicago has it all set up for them to win easily at home tonight, but easily just does not come easily in the NBA playoffs. The Bulls may not find the friendly home confines to be the answer they are hoping for.

Derrick Rose needs to find a way to slow down Rajon Rondo before they change his name to Raging Roundballer. Rajon had a triple double on a sprained ankle in the last game. That is right; he did it on one leg. Pretty impressive.

Rajon rules in spite of nothing up his sleeves

If the Bulls can bring the effort then the odds are that the Celtics will find themselves down 2 - 1 facing another game in Chicago without Kevin Garnett or Leon Powe.

It is that needed effort that has Bull Coach Vinny Del Negro concerned.

”Never think you can use logic in basketball,” Del Negro said. ”Playoff basketball just doesn’t work like that. Every game causes different adjustments, different matchups.

”We have to control [Rondo] in transition; he’s like a one-man fast break. His rebounding and his assists are killing us. We have to do a better job of keeping him off the glass and pay a little bit more attention to him. We have to do a better job keeping him out of the paint. He’s very quick and tough off the dribble.”

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Here is a team that won over 60 games playing a team that won only 41, but that 41 is deceptive, because they added Salmons and Miller to that roster and Derrick Rose just kept on improving.

This is not a blog about the Celtics being one and done, but it does play into my prediction from last year.

Funny thing about predictions, you can always bring up the ones that are correct and just forget the ones that are way off. Even timing just gets in the way of the truth. It is kind of like golf, fishing, or stock investing. Hey, did you hear about my fishing trip last summer? There as this fish and it was so big that it barely fit into the boat and, oh, there was this golf hole, number 5, and using a 7 iron, uh then there was that small company in my portfolio and it just zoomed and , wait, wait, wait…We were talking basketball here.

Last year, my prediction/concern was that one of the 3 amigos would get hurt. They didn’t and Boston won. This year Garnett did get hurt (the 3 amigos are getting old and brittle.) and Chicago may steal the series.

In the NBA, there are few office pools because there are few series upsets. The higher seeded home teams should win handily at home and lose by a bucket on the road. That is not happening here. In Boston these two teams look equal. Chicago may get at home and win easily.

Ben Gordon almost out dueled Ray Allen to win this last game, while Read more

NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Derrick Rose led the Bulls over the Celtics in a first round road playoff victory.

Chicago 108 Boston 95

Derrick had a great year as the leading rookie in the NBA (my opinion), but he saved his very best for this game. The Celtics are fragile playing without Kevin Garnett and the Bulls are hungry with their star rookie looking the hungriest of all.

Derrick Rose is beating Boston single handedly

Rose followed up his 11 assists with a season high 36 points.

If USA Basketball kingpin Jerry Colangelo has any doubts about the availability of Chris Paul or Deron Williams for 2012 in London, this game should put to rest any anxieties he might have concerning potential point guards.

To put Rose’s game in perspective, his season best was 27 points. He had never made more than eight free throws in any game. He matched his season high for field goals (12, in 21 attempts). No one in NBA history has scored more points in his playoff debut and only one, Lew Alcindor, scored as many.
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In fairness to the Celtics, Rajon Rondo also had a great game with 29 points.
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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Oh boy, this changes things almost entirely. Cleveland has to be as happy as you can get. Kevin Garnett will not be in the playoffs. He has a knee injury that will not heal.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Thursday that Garnett will not be ready for Game 1 against the Chicago Bulls and possibly won’t be back at all.

“It’s not official that he’s out for the entire playoffs, but it’s official as far as I’m concerned,” Rivers said before practice at the team’s workout facility. “I just don’t see how. I hope I’m wrong, but I just don’t see it.”

Garnett has been the Celtics’ inspirational leader since joining them in a 2007 trade that completed the new Big Three and propelled the franchise to its record 17th NBA title. He averaged 15.8 and 8.5 rebounds per game for the defending champions this season.

“I’m devastated for him,” Celtics guard Ray Allen said. “This is the time of year you’ve been waiting for.”

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Kevin is not too happy about being injured

Without Kevin Garnett, the Boston Celtics are not a serious threat to win the Conference playoffs, let alone the NBA title. The real shame of the matter is that the 3 Celtic stars are getting older by the minute. If they want 1 more title, they do not have a lot of time left.

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

The hard feelings are there and will remain until most likely Cleveland beats Boston in a playoff series. Cleveland feels this year is the year. The Cavaliers do not like the Celtics.

Look out Celtics, here comes LeBron James

Last year Boston knocked out LeBron and the Cavaliers in a 7 games series. Boston only won home games. This bothered Cleveland a lot. This year the home court will belong to Cleveland. If Boston wants to get to the finals they will run into Cleveland and have to win a game in Cleveland.

It appears the Cavaliers will face the Pistons in the first round and even though the Pistons are on the downhill, Cleveland would love to put them away.

Yes, it could be a big year of vindication in Cleveland.
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Kevin Garnett returned to the Boston Celtic lineup and the Celtics once again look tough.

Garnett, performing for the first time since sustaining a right knee strain Feb. 19, scored 10 points in 15 minutes, following a prescribed plan to sit out the final 18:53 of action. Garnett followed the spirit of the orders in staying off the court, but could not contain himself otherwise, cheering on his teammates during a dramatic finish.

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It was Boston 80 and the San Antonio Spurs 77.

Hey, who is that tall guy?

There is no doubt that when the big three are healthy that the Boston Celtics are one of maybe 5 teams in the NBA with a chance to win it all. Not only that, but you would have to call them the favorites until someone proves otherwise.

Kevin has played for a long time, but is still one of the top players in the NBA. Boston is getting Kevin back just in time to tune up for the playoffs.

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