This year we have heard more boo’s for the Celtics than the previous 2 years combined. In fact, I can’t remember a time during the Big 3 era (before this year) that the fans booed the C’s. Last night, during the Celtics debacle against the Grizzlies, the boo’s started raining early in the 2nd quarter when the team got down by 18 points. Throughout the 2nd quarter there were a smattering of boo’s on nearly every play. Then as the team walked off the court at the half, if I were to gauge the volume of boo’s coming out of my television, I would have to say they were just as loud as the fans give to refs on very bad calls. You would have to think as a player that would be completely humiliating for the pride Boston fans expect from their players. So I don’t drag on too much, I was very pleased that the fans booed the team. 18-12 on the home court, a worse record than on the road is pathetic. We expect more. Thats my opinion vote on yours:

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(Photo via AP on NBAYahooSports)

On March 7th, 2010 the Boston Celtics seemed to be back on the right track and Celtics fans everywhere seemed to be getting more comfortable with their team. It is now three days later and those same people are pissed off, embarrassed, and shocked at what has happened since the come from behind victory at home against the Wizards. Although the game against the Wizards was not exactly what you would call pleasing, player’s and fans were satisfied that the team was able to fight back and grab the W.

Two night’s later the Celtics traveled to Milwaukee to take on a red hot Bucks team. Since the trade deadline the Bucks have improved tremendously and have themselves sitting at the number five spot in the Eastern Conference. With this being said no one, I repeat no one, expected the Celtics winning streak to be broken up by the Bucks of all teams. Well folks I’m sorry to say that four game winning streak lasted no more. In a hard fought game the Celtics could not prevail and lost to the Bucks.

Following the game I checked my Twitter account and was shocked to see that most Celtics fans really weren’t disappointedwith the loss. I can not say the same for myself. Things were being said such as, “The Bucks are a good team”, “We only lost by two points”, and “We can’t win every game”. Well all of those statements are correct, but what they lack is a true look at reality.

So far this season the Celtics have lost games to numerous opponents that an “elite” team is expected to beat. Here is a quick list of teams they should have beat but didn’t, just in case you have happened to forget or better yet tried to forget.

• Indiana Pacers
• Philadelphia 76ers
• Los Angeles Clippers
• Golden State Warriors
• Chicago Bulls
• Detroit Pistons
• New Orleans Hornets
• New Jersey Nets (I still hate to mention it)
• Milwaukee Bucks
• Memphis Grizzlies

If I counted correctly that is ten losses against teams the Celtics SHOULD be beating on paper. Those teams also have a combined record of 246-394, which is terrible if you ask me. Along with those ten losses against sub-par teams the Celtics have also gone 3-11 against the “elite” teams in the league (Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, L.A, and Orlando). Oh, and don’t even get me going about their 18-12 home record. That is enough right there to piss off the 18,624 people that give their hard earned money to watch this team play.

With all of this being said Celtics fans have jumped off and back onto the ledge many times this year, and quite frankly there is nothing wrong with this. This is a team that is expected to win and has shown signs that they can win, but they have yet to prove they can do this consistently. At this current time the Celtics shockingly remain in contention for the #2 spot in the Eastern Conference. The downside of this is that they have done it with one of the easiest schedules in the league so far. Their strength of schedule is good enough to rank them in 29th out of 30teams in the league, only behind the New York Knicks.

So as you can tell I, along with many other Celtics fan, am disgusted with the recent play of this team. The thing that is so frustrating is that we all know, well we at least think we know, this teams potential and what they are capable of doing when they play up to their potential. So far this season they have only done this a few times and as a dedicated fan we should demand much more energy and fight out of this team.

I’ll end by saying this: the boos raining down last night on the parquet floor were well deserved. Maybe this will wake the team up and make them realize that us fans aren’t happy. But then again if a loss to the Nets didn’t wake them up, I don’t know what will.

As I sit here looking back at last week’s NBA action I realize that this was one of the most messed up weeks of this season. Lebron’s ankle injury, the Lakers three game losing streak, and the Mavs twelve game winning streak combine to give you one heck of a week in the NBA. As I always do on Wednesday’s, today I sat down and put together our weekly NBA power rankings. There may be some surprises to you so make sure to check out the full rankings here. For now here is a quick preview:

• For the first time this year the red hot Mavs take over the top spot in the power rankings.
• With a huge win over the Lakers the Orlando Magic have jumped to the #2 spot this week.
• Lebron’s ankle and the Lakers struggles drop the teams to #3 and #4 respectively.
• The Nuggets, Hawks, and Jazz continue to play well and remain in the middle of the rankings.
• A four game winning streak was just enough to put the Celtics up one spot to number eight in the rankings.
• The offensive power house Suns and the red hot Milwaukee Bucks round out the top ten this week.
• Teams that deserve credit but didn’t quite do enough: Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, and Portland Trail Blazers.

After tonight’s game in Milwaukee Celtics fans can put another tally in the woulda, coulda, shoulda but didn’t won column. The Celtics used lock-down defense in the final 2:38 of the fourth quarter to cut the lead to only two points with 3.9 seconds remaining. Doc drew up a play to get Paul Pierce open for his classic step back shot but Pierce couldn’t come through and the Bucks defeated the Celtics 86-84.

Many will argue that tonight’s game isn’t a big deal and that the Celtics played well (which they did). But just like when we say a “win is a win”, we also have to say a “loss is a loss”.  On this night the Celtics got out-played and out-hustled by a team in which they should have defeated. Don’t take anything away from the Bucks, they are a solid team, but when it comes down to it there is no excuse for losing to a team that clearly doesn’t match up with the C’s on paper.

As one of our twitter friends said after the game, “The Bogometer was at about 90% tonight”. If you don’t know what that is, it is the meter that measures the play of Bucks center Andrew Bogut. Tonight Bogut got the best of his opposition by dropping in 25 points and grabbing 17 rebounds. If the Celtics were to face off against the Bucks in the playoffs it is clear that Kendrick Perkins would need to step up his game to limit Bogut. So far this year he hasn’t done that.

As for good news… well there’s defenitly a lack of that. Because I’m trying to get myself in a better mood I will point you in a direction for some stress relief after this dissapointing loss. Check out this video of Rondo throwing in a monstrous put back.

As expected, Michael Finley made his debut for the Celtics tonight and actually didn’t look too bad. In seven minutes of playing time Finley dropped in five points on 2-3 shooting, including 1-1 from behind the arc. I guess that’s not bad for a guy whose role we really didn’t know before the game. If I was a betting man I would bet that the minutes he played tonight will be a good indicator of how he will be used the remainder of the season.

In other news, the guy they like to call “Young Buck” was involved in a few altercations with Celtics players tonight. In the fourth quarter Brandon Jennings was involved in a scrap with Glen Davis following a foul on a breakaway lay-up. Jennings looked over Davis acting tough before teammates came in to break up the scuffle. Following the game you could notice Jennings also running his lips to Kevin Garnett while both teams were entering the locker room.

With this loss the Celtics snap their four game winning streak and look to get back on the right track tomorrow night at home against Memphis. Memphis is another one of “those teams” that can give the Celtics problems because they like to run and gun. If the Celtics want to avoid a two game losing streak they will have to play 48 minutes of “Celtics Basketball”.

Job Applying For: Father of a young child.

Glen Davis’ Resume:

May 10th 2009 – Pushes child at Amway Arena following a game winning shot in game six of a Eastern Conference Semi-Final matchup.

October 26th 2009 – Involved in an altercation between himself and a former teammate at LSU. The fight sidelined him for over eight weeks.

January 20th 2010 – Shouts an obsentity to a Detroit fan who called him “Fat Boy”. Fined 25k for the comment.

If you ask me this is not a resume that exactly qualifies you to be a father, but maybe this is what Glen needs to grow up a little bit. According to the Boston Herald Davis’ fiancee Jenna Gomez is pregnant with their first child. Let’s just hope that his kid doesn’t get the treatment that the poor kid sitting courtside at the Magic game recieved.

Following the signing of Michael Finley last week many people projected that he would be making his Celtics debut on Sunday night against Washington. If you watched the game then you probably noticed that never happened and that he was dressed in a suit watching the action on the parquet take place. Tonight, according to Gary Washburn from the Boston Globe, Finley will be in uniform ready to be called upon if needed.

Via Gary Washburn (Boston Globe):

Doc Rivers said Michael Finley will be in uniform and active but isn’t sure how much he will play.

As I, and probably many of you expected Doc is unsure of the role Finley will play tonight. I have still yet to grasp the move and it’s purpose but I guess only time will tell. Tonight will more than likely be our first sighting of Finley in green, whether that will be playing solid minutes off the bench or just garbage time remains to be the bigger question. Just remember that he is thirty-seven years old.

Photo via Yahoo Sports/Getty Images

You dont have to be a statistical freak to understand that Ray Allen is a different man since the trade deadline. I am a statistical freak, though, so I’ll rip you off a few stats:

BEFORE DEADLINE
16.0 PPG
SINCE DEADLINE
18.7 PPG

BEFORE DEADLINE
33.3% 3 Point Percentage
SINCE DEADLINE
44.2% 3 Point Percentage

BEFORE DEADLINE
89.4% FT
SINCE DEADLINE
91.7% FT

BEFORE DEADLINE
44.7% FG
SINCE DEADLINE
57.7% FG

You can’t sit here all day and convince me that Ray Allen was simply in a slump for the whole start of this season. I don’t believe for a second that he “magically” turned it around and flipped his numbers like this (since the day after the deadline). Instead, I am 99.9% confident, like I as well as many others have said before, that Ray was stressed, and not playing his game early this season, but especially when all the trade talks came about. There is no room for all of the excuses that, “He can play past everything that happens on the outside of the court.” Thats naive to the fact that he is a human, not a robot. Now he knows where he is going to be for the rest of the year and can settle back into his role, and only have to worry about doing what he does best- shooting lights out.

Shooters shoot, and the way Ray Allen goes about his off season regimen, I would expect him to be just as successful next season. Therefore, I really hope the Celtics hold onto him for years to come. I don’t want to harp on that too much right now, though, and instead worry about what is going on right now. When the end of the year arrives, Ray Allen will be right around his yearly averages since joining the Celtics in the 07-08 season. After the first half of this season, we may have to suggest this is the best Ray Allen we have ever seen in a Celtic uniform. I won’t jump the gun too quickly, but THIS Ray Allen, is the one that will help lead us through the playoffs.

(Photo Via AP on NBAYahooSports)

Usually we don’t do this, and really probably shouldn’t, but words can’t really explain last night’s victory over the Washington Wizards. The Celtics struggled early and then came through when it mattered most to grab a three point victory over the Wizards. For more info on this game check out Gino’s Jungle.