Rajon Rondo is in no way whatsoever anywhere close to the player Chris Paul is.  Chris Paul is the best point guard in the world, hands down, and Rondo is just an over-confident kid who’s lucky enough to be able to play along side future Hall of Famers like Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.  I know trash talking is another part of the game, and believe me, nothing gets me more fired up than watching KG bark in the face of his opponents.  But Kevin has earned that right, and Rajon hasn’t.   If my sexy wet dreams come true, then Danny Ainge will just package Rondo in a wonderful trade for CP3.  Then we’ll see who’s trash talking whom.

It looks like Celtics’ forward Kevin Garnett will miss at least the first round of the play-offs.  But looking at the previous time-tables for KG’s return, I wouldn’t expect him back at all this season.

Last 3 weeks became last 3 games, which became last 2 games, which became the last game, which became the play-offs, which became this.

Only question now is: Without Kevin Garnett do the Celtics “have no chance at winning another title,” “need a miracle to win another title,” or “need to start planning their off-season vacations?”

I’m sorry folks, it looks like that’s all she wrote.  I’d like to say the C’s still have a chance without KG, but they are slim. Very slim.

Boston will begin their play-off run against the 7th seeded Chicago Bulls.  The Rose-Rondo match-up should be a dynamic one, and this gives all us UConn fans a chance to see our fellow Husky Ben Gordon again. Oh, the memories of BG back in the day…

The Masked Wonder

The Connecticut Huskies conclude their NCAA championship run with a heart-breaking loss to Michigan State in the Final Four, 82-73.  Despite UConn possessing an apparent front-court superiority, the Spartans were swarming in their paint presence and over-whelmed the UConn offense.  Husky guard AJ Price and Kemba Walker seemingly finally ran out of gas, as Price when 5-20 from the field for 15 points, and Walker was well below his norm, posting 5 points on 1-5 shooting from the floor and a horrendous 3-9 from the line.  Kemba Walker, who shot 75% from the free throw stripe this season, started off 0-5 from the line.  Kemba was not alone in his free throw troubles, as the Huskies as a team shot a repulsive 21-33 from the stripe.

In a nutshell, the UConn Huskies started off flat, continued flat, and ended flat.  Coach Calhoun did say it well in his post-game interview that the difference between the two teams was not large, or apparent at all, but the Spartans were able to piece together a few more timely runs than Connecticut.

Despite the rough ending to the 2008-2009 season, it was a great one for the Connecticut Huskies.  We experienced the emergence of Hasheem Thabeet as a serious threat, and the only question is when he will declare for the draft and what car does it want to buy first.  AJ Price returned with a vengeance from last year’s season-ending surgery to solidify himself as one of the top guards in the nation.  And when Jerome Dyson went down for the season, and hopes looked bleak, Stanley Robinson emerged from the trash heap (pun intended) to step up in his absence, and he was a force.  It saddens the Husky Nation to see such great players depart from the school, with nothing but our memories to hold onto.  Best of luck to our leaving players: Jeff Adrien, AJ Price, Craig Austrie, and most likely Hasheem Thabeet. You all will be missed.

All in all, it was a memorable season for the UConn Huskies, and all we can do now is look back and smile.

Well, most of us will.

Ray Allen air-balls a three-point attempt at 0:33 with Charlotte leading 109-108.

Bobcats secure the rebound.

Looking to ice the game, Raymond Felton misses a jump shot with 0:11 to go.

Leaving Ray Allen time for one last shot.

Charlotte Bobcats – 109

Boston Celtics – 111

I’d have to say this was my most anticipated game of the week. The past games against the Flyers have been head and head against the Bruins this season, and I was not disapointed at all with this game.

From the start of the first, the Bruins looked sloppy. Timmy Thomas in goal. Defense was slipping, and soon enough only 4:54 seconds in, Giroux scores off a rebound on Timmy. That goal opened up the team, and then after 10:39 Lucic gets an amazing pass from Ryder, rips a shot past Niittymaki. The next 6 minutes are heaven for the bruins. Coburn and Parent are in the box for a 1:54 5 on 3 for the Bruins. Wideman manages to convert, and Lucic scoring a minute after sending the Bruins to the locker rooms with a 3-1 lead for the second period.

Timmy finished the game with a career high, 45 saves and outstanding consistency.

TIMMY! My boy Tim Thomas is no doubt going to be the star of this game. After the first five minutes, Wheeler and Wideman head to the box giving the Flyers a 5 on 3 for 1:53. Timmy makes an AMAZING superman save, robbing Hartnell and losing his helmet. He continued to make another 8 stops with traffic in front of the net, keeping everything out, and surviving the entire power play. Sadly, Mike Richards got a redirect past Thomas, ending the second with the score 3-2.

Lucic celebrating his second goal of the night.

Third period, put me to sleep. Consistant back and forth excluding the very impressive goal from Mark Recchi four minutes in. Tim Thomas looking strong stopping anything and everything that is coming his way. With 1:24 left, Niittymaki leaves his net, and the game is a 6 on 5. To my utter dissapointment, Gagne scores on a rebound from the slot 12 seconds later. The Flyers get one last shot off with Timmy making the save, and Chara clearing it out with the final score of 4-3 and another win for Boston.

That was an ugly win for the C’s, but a win none-the-less.  Boston began their home-stand by being presented with a platter of cupcakes in the form of the Oklahoma City Thunder.  No matter how hard I try, I can’t look at this team as being real.  They just look like a team some kid put together on one of those “create-a-team” modes on a video games, and apparently wasted their #1 pick in the fantasy draft on Kevin Durant and ended up with a bunch of bums to fill out the roster.  R.I.P. Seattle SuperSonics; we will never associate Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Ray Allen, or Rashard Lewis with the likes of the “OKC Thunder.”   They are so lame, it was near impossible to find a Celtics-Thunder picture on Google.

Tonight’s game started out horrendous for the Celtics, spending significant time in the first half playing catch-up with the lowly Thunder. I mean, Kevin Garnett makes a huge difference to this team, but they shouldn’t downright suck when he’s inactive.  For a second there, I actually thought the Celtics were trying to pull an old school street ball move, hustling the rest of the NBA teams by racking up as many losses as possible before getting serious during the play-offs.  Mikki Moore really emerged as a solid contributor in this game, providing a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while allowing the Celtics to remain in this game at all.  Eddie House also was a big force off the bench tonight, providing his usual rain from 3-point land with 16 points.  All of you fans planning on voting for the “Sixth Star Award,” Edward L.  House III deserves your vote as much as anyone.

Captain Pierce showed why these Celtics are his team, coming up big in their time of need, finishing off with 27 points.  Unfortunately, it took a share of forced contested shots to achieve this, without filling out the rest of the stat-sheet. Despite that, he was huge for Boston tonight.

Glen “Big Baby” Davis has really become a man of late.  Hopefully he will discontinue the sideline water works as a result.  He has become a real animal for this team in KG’s absence, and his confidence has gone through the roof. (Maybe even a little too confident, seen by his attemps to “take it to” Dwight Howard last week, and promptly getting denied) Baby finished with a stellar 19 points and 10 rebounds after being clocked in the head by Kevin Durant’s elbow.

Personally, I really enjoyed Glen’s dramatic soliloquy in his post-game interview.  Who knew Big Baby has a way with words?  Maybe he’s putting his emotions into poetry instead of tears on the bench now. (Last time I’m going to mention that incident, I love Big Baby, I really do.) Seven more games until the end of the regular season, and the Celtics look poised to roar into the play-offs, hopefully healthy at last.

Oops, final score was 84-103.  I forgot to mention it.

Wow, where to begin on this game last night. The Leafs are in a tight struggle to gain access to the playoffs, so this game they brought it all.

From the first period started the scoring explosion. The first goal was tipped in off a loose puck past Fernandez. This was soon answered by Kobasew with an excellent backhander to tie the game, then Ryder with a backhand as well, to give the bruins a 2-1 lead.  The period went on with the scoring explosion, and allowed for two more Leaf goals, and one more Bruins, making the score 4-3.

For the second period, I thought I might have a chance to finally hit the bathroom and not miss a thing, boy was I wrong.  Alexei Ponikarovsky started the fire with a snap shot, making it his 23 goal.  The rest of the period, the Bruins stepped up, scoring four consecutive goals from Recchi, Thorton, Krejci, and Wheeler, making the score 7-4.

Chuck Kobasew celebrates scoring the Bruin’s first goal of the night on Toronto Maple Leaf’s goaltender Justin Pogge.

To my complete surprise the third period was quite a lot of back and forth. The third consisted of battle of the goaltenders. Both Fernandez and Toronto’s keeper Justin Pogge had complete domination of the net all period. Finally though, Niklas Hagman found an opening and ripped a wrist shot past Fernandez for the game’s final goal and the final score of 7-5 giving the Bruins the two points.

Coach Claude Julien was completely happy with the performance, except on the defensive end, but understands that after not playing in 5 days, the team gets sloppy. The Bruins have a game today against the Flyers is bound to be an exciting one. I’m hoping that they can buckle down defensively, keep up the offensive intensity,  and have my boy Tim Thomas in net to completely dominate Philidalphia.

Well, it sure wasn’t the prettiest of games, but the Connecticut Huskies are on their way to the 2009 Final Four in Detroit, and I couldn’t be prouder of this team.  These UConn Huskies, whom we all loved to hate over recent years have finally lived up to expectations.

All the adversities, all the doubt…

#3 Missouri – 75

#1 Connecticut – 82

UConn started off hot, jumping off to a 13-2 lead within the first few minutes, but the Tigers quickly recovered the lost time.  The Missouri Tigers were able to control much of the half’s tempo, mostly due to Hasheem Thabeet being forced to the bench after drawing 2 fouls. No disrespect to Gavin Edwards, I like the guy, but the UConn defense is not the same without the big guy in the game.   AJ Price and Jeff Adrien controlled UConn’s offense during the first half, each tallying 10 points, with the Huskies holding the lead after 20 minutes.
The opening minutes of the second half was as bad as you’ll see the Huskies this NCAA tournament, as UConn erratically shot a horrid percentage while committing turn-overs left and right.  Luckily, Freshman Kemba Walker had the most impressive performance of his young career, which probably was the reason the Huskies were able to fend off the raging Missouri Tigers.  Walker splashed 23 points on 7-9 shooting, while tallying 5 boards and 5 assists.  Jay Billas titled the display “New York City Toughness” or something silly of that sort.  As much as we all would love to say that Kemba is going to be the foundation for this team for years to come, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is gone after his Sophomore season.

The present foundation of this UConn team, senior point guard AJ Price, also tallied 18 points, showing why he is considered among the top guards in the nation.  As for the 7’3″ monster from Tanzania, Hasheem Thabeet, one might say he was completely invisible in this game.  Well, the person who says that doesn’t know much about basketball, as Thabeet may have not filled out the stat sheet, he made a huge difference in this game just by being his 7-foot self.  Us Husky fans should be eternally grateful for Stanley Robinson, who stepped in for the absense of Jerome Dyson and has been a force for the Huskies on both ends of the floor.

See you all in Detriot! Go Huskies!

I don’t even know where to start on tonight’s game!  As I munched away on Cocoa Krispies in front of the television, The Los Angeles Clippers rolled into the TD Banknorth Garden and were bulldozed by the obviously superior Boston Celtics, 77-90, and it wasn’t even that close.  The Celtics offensive attack was so well-balanced, it’s hard to decide where to begin.  But really, how huge has Kevin Garnett’s return been for this team? Logging only 18 minutes, KG splashed 12 points and added a couple rebounds and assists. Just having him on the court changes the entire complexity of this Celtics team.

Ray Allen lead the Celtics with 20 points on 8-10 shooting, including 3-3 from beyond the arc. Sugar Ray has been delivering all season, and I don’t know about the rest of you, but his is unarguably my MVP for the Celtics this season. Need any proof? The numbers don’t lie.

Speaking of solid, my man Kendrick Perkins has been solid as a rock lately, registering a beastly double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. If only he could steady his free-throw shooting, which has been painful to watch.

The Celtics bench looked a bit worryingly shaky in the second quarter, efficiently blowing the lead built by the starters. The chemistry shown over recent games all but disappeared during that stretch, and it compelled me to look up the statuses of James Posey and P.J. Brown.

All in all, it was a nice workout for Boston, and I’m looking forward to an interesting match-up later this week between the Magic and the Celtics. The question remains whether the “plan” on Kevin Garnett’s PT is going to be warped for this high profile game.
Box Score

Brett Tucker

Hello everyone! My name’s Brett Tucker. Like Adam, I will be covering most of the Hockey aspects of the blog, with what happens with the Boston Bruins, and anything of significant importance in the NHL as well.

Today, the Boston Bruins took on the New Jersey Devils at 3:00 PM EST, with the return of the New Jersey Devil’s netminder, Martin Brodeur, who is of Wednesday, March 18th the most winning goaltender in the history of the NHL, passing Hall of Fame legend Patrick Roy’s record of 551 wins. The Bruins were well aware.

From the first face-off, both teams were looking sharp, and under control. Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas was in net.  After a quick 15:46 of play, the Devils make a mistake of having too many players on ice, and give the Bruins a power-play, which they take complete advantage of. Bruin’s right wing scored on a wrist shot that hit a Devil’s defenseman’s left skate and slipped past  Brodeur for his 25th career, and season goal giving Boston a 1-0 lead.

Soon after the second period begins, right wing Chuck Kobasew, and Center Mark Savard both score giving a 3-0 lead. With 7:16 seconds left in the second, rookie left wing Andy Green of the Devils got a tip in past Tim Thomas.  One minute later, Bruins answer, with left wing Milan Lucic with a great wrist shot right over Brodeur’s stick side.  Leaving the third period scoreless and giving the Bruin’s a 4-1 win, and Clinching the Northeastern Conference playoff spot.

Tim Thomas finished with 41 saves, maintaining his title as the leader in both Goals Against, and Save Percentage.

The Bruins have come a long way this season. With a successful draft attaining Michael Ryder, and Blake Wheeler; Both candidates for the “Rookie of the year” award, have strongly worked their way into the top three spots of the NHL. I’m expecting highly for the Bruins this year, and expect them to go far in the playoffs.

Box Score