New England Gets Its Hopes Up

Celtics snap the Rockets 22-game winning streak tonight in Texas rather, um, convincingly... assuming a 20-point road win convinces anyone. It was purely a second half experience, as the visitors went 54-29 after intermission. Leon Powe had 21 in 18 minutes to make the bench go, and Garnett and Pierce combined for another 42. The Rockets shot under 41% from the floor and were only 3 for 9 from the line, and the Celtics combined rebounding with ball control to take 15 more shots from the floor.

End of a fine run for Houston, of course, who can now return to collapsing without Yao, the way all of us smart people knew they would. (With the Lakers winning, they lost the top spot in the West tonight... and only 6 games out from not qualifying for the playoffs at all. Ye gads, the West is a scary place.)

With the Celtics now five games up on Detroit, they've got the #1 slot in the East lined up, and with Garnett having had enforced rest due to injury, all they really need is to get Ray Allen back up to speed... and to shake loose any residual fear that sterling regular seasons only lead to playoff heartbreak. Gosh, that would be bad, if they encountered heartbreak...