Buzzer Beater

Sean Marshall and BC pulled out a close one last night at the buzzer, just a great game (really a great finish). It was a testament to the will of the Sean William-less team, a team who will be fearless against any opponent despite the glaring lack of depth. Tyrese Rice is playing at an extremely high level right now, and dominated the game last night.
I don’t really have much else to report, the win last night was the first good sporting news in a while, since in the last week BC hockey lost twice to Vermont, basketball lost to Clemson, and that whole football fiasco. (Apparently you can run into receivers in the endzone without attempting to make a play on the football without a penalty. That is, only if you are wearing a Colts uni, if not, first and goal at the one.)
Enough sour grapes. What I do have to look forward to is BU/BC hockey tonight in Conte Forum. Should be fun. Also, tickets to the Beanpot Tournament between Harvard, Northeastern, BU, and BC go on sale tomorrow at 7 AM, so my buddies and I are planning to take a taxi over to the ticket office at 6:30. It is not Duke basketball, we don’t have to go camping. This is a very good thing in New England. Have a good one.

Dave

Hook That Horn

For the first time in a long time, I have woken this morning feeling excited about the Celtics. It's true, the Celtics did not play last night. And if they did, I'm sure they would lose, and look pretty bad doing it. With the amount of the injuries the C's have right now, they are the worst team in basketball. It's not even that close in my opinion. However, hope came out of something at least last night. And it wasn't even near Causeway Street. It wasn't even in the same time zone. In icy Stillwater, Okla. last night, the Oklahoma State Cowboys took down the Texas Longhorns in a triple-overtime classic. I don't even want to call it a classic. That doesn't do it justice. This game was one of the best college basketball games in the last ten years, tournament or not. The encouraging sign for Celtics' fans should've been generated by the freakish man-child pictured above. That man, or boy even (he was born on 9/30/88!!!), is Kevin Durant. Durant is hands-down the best freshman in the college and is taking the Big 12 by storm. The 6-9 swingman leads the conference in points and rebounds. After registering 37 points and 12 rebounds last night to go along with four blocks, Durant's averages sit at 24.5 points per game, and 11.5 rebounds per game. He is averaging 34 ppg in conference play. He is the real deal, a combination in my eyes of Kevin Garnett and Tracy McGrady. And as he showed last night, even as an 18-year old freshman, he is not afraid to take over a game. Every big shot the Longhorns took last night came from Durant. He showed no fear. I for one hope that Durant comes out of college after this year. I am a fan of David Stern's rule saying that kids can no longer come out of high school and enter the draft, but with Kevin Durant, it would not have mattered. This is where Celtics fans, like myself should be excited. The Celtics obviously suck. If they keep sucking (they most likely will), they will have the best chance of acquiring the first overall pick in the NBA Draft in June. With that pick, I hope they would take Durant. Sure, Greg Oden will probably be available as well, and the Celtics should be happy to get either. In Oden, you have a legitimate center prospect, something extremely rare in today's game. And two weeks ago, I'd be all for taking the Ohio State big man. Not anymore though. I think it will take Oden a few years to really come into his own. Sure, playing with his offhand has slowed Oden some this year, and he's still been great. But it just doesn't seem he is totally ready yet. When he comes totally into his own, he will be amazing, but Durant is ready to be amazing now. And hopefully he can be amazing in Celtic green. The Celtics are off until Friday when they take on the Sacramento Kings. It almost hurts me to say it, but go Kings. The Celtics will be better off for it, as they limp towards the end of the season. They'll need as much help as they can to get the number one pick. Even then, nothing's guaranteed. It's all about the way the ping pong balls bounce. Just ask Rick Pitino.

-MC

The NBA- I Love This Game!!!

I wrote in the high school paper about three years ago, how one of my New Year's resolutions was to not watch an NBA game outside of the Celtics all year. After last nights brawl at the Garden between the Nuggets and the Knicks, it's easy to see why. Give me one example of this happening in a college basketball game in the last 10-15 years. It could have happened, I'm not totally sure, but I sure as hell don't remember it. It's always over such petty reasons too. Like last night? The Knicks were mad the Nuggets had their starters in with a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter with less than a minute to go. New York's Mardy Collins decked J.R. Smith on a fast break and it was on. This is my first problem. The Knicks said it was a matter of disrespect and what not. What is this? The YMCA league? For crying out loud, a bunch of millionaires whining is ridiculous. And the Knicks should be used to it by now. They're a sorry excuse for a basketball team to begin, who you would think would have gotten used to getting their faces knocked in occasionally. Ridiculous. And let's investigate Carmelo Anthony's part in this. What a punk. The guy comes into the whole thing, and just makes it escalate into something truly ugly. Him and Nate Robinson made this what it was, but I'll let Robinson off because he didn't pull the shenanigans that Anthony did. The guy came in and gives this little sucker punch on Collins. What does Carmelo do after he decks Collins? He runs away. I'm not even spinning this a certain way. Just watch the video. Carmelo hits and runs. The whole ordeal was an absolute joke and does nothing for putting down the people that say that the NBA is just a bunch of thugs. What in last night's brawl does anything to disspell that? Nothing. It's not fun to be David Stern this morning. All of a sudden, what basketball these guys are using doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

-MC

News and Notes from the NBA

Here we go, AI is NOT COMING TO BOSTON, or I am at least praying, but he probably will. I’m hoping for a three way deal as my buddy Andy wants between Philadelphia, Minnesota, and Boston, in which AI goes to Minny, Minny sends us Garnett, and we dump Wally and somebody else on Philly. Imagine how good the Celtics would be with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. It’s probably not going to happen, but we can hope.

Celtics win Saturday was an aberration. I went to the game Friday against the Suns, and they flat out suck (until the get Garnett).

New NBA Composite Ball is back on the shelves in favor of the classic leather. Steve Nash and Jason Kidd complained the new ball was cutting their hands. Thanks for cutting 100 jobs at Spalding once their stock tanks. Good job guys.

Nash was filthy against the Celtics yet again Friday, and his hands were good enough for a V.

Dave