Double Standard

Last night in Boston, the Celtics took Game 1 in a cover your eyes ugfest, 76-72. I won't say too much about the game in the hope of getting it out of my memory faster, but please consider the following...

1) If you are an apologist or watching an NFL fan, it's a tight and tense defensive struggle. If you live in the world of reality, it's a two-bagger (her face, and yours, in case her bag slips).

2) Telling: the Cavs had 18 of the first 22 free throws in the game, and LeBron James sold a flagrant foul on Sam Cassels. That bleating you just heard was Celtics Fan being convinced that James is getting the Dwayne Wade Memorial Treatment... and in the post-Donaghy NBA world, you can't tell him to go soak his head. (Well, OK. Actually, you can.)

3) Cleveland's best player was Zydrunas Ilgauskas, which tells you just how much the Celtics were keying on James. If Big Z can keep giving them 22 and 12, the Celtics won't be able to give James as much attention as they want,and the Cavs will win this series, in 6. (The fact that I've picked the Celtics tells you all you need to know about my faith in Big Z.)

As much as you'd think Cleveland has to be encouraged by just a 4 point loss on a night when James couldn't put it in the ocean, the Celts did survive nothing from Ray Allen and 4 from Paul Pierce (perhaps the most erratic Celt in the playoffs so far, and a cause for real concern if you are a Masshole). Between the two of them, they went 2 for 18 with 10 turnovers. Yes, the game was that ugly -- and, one suspects/prays, an outlier for the rest of the series. I'd hate to think that the Pistons are playing in the more watchable series in the conference semis.