How Great Is Your Foul

If you're just reading that the Celtics survived another epic battle against the Bulls tonight, go catch some highlights; it's not to be missed. But if you have, read on.

I'm not sure what the Celtics and Bulls do at this point for an encore, really. But the idea that the fourth game in five that goes to overtime, between teams that are clearly so even that "Coin Flip" does not begin to describe the whisper of difference that they've seen to this point... it's been, um, tight really.

Tonight's game is going to get lost in the storm of whether Rajon Rondo got the foul call he should have for bloodying up Brad Miller on what might have been a tying drive in overtime, leading to Miller missing the critical free throws. The trouble is that how you see that call is tied up in what laundry you want to win; my general Masshole antipathy tells you that while I don't really care that much for the Bulls, I'm still going that way. But no one is arguing that it's a flagrant unless Miller is bleeding, which he did. Rondo could have concussed him and it would have looked better. And if you're going to take down the champions in their building, even in their weakened fever state, you have to be more than a coin flip better.

As for the rest of the fourth overtime in five games -- and just by writing that, this has gone far beyond the Are You Kidding stage...

> Um, not to take anything away from Paul Pierce and his team-carrying ways in the clutch, but especially after Ray Allen was on the bench with foul trouble, how do you let him keep shooting the same shot, from the same location, to keep beating you?

If it's my team, I've seen this movie before. I'm tripling the Truth to get anyone else to take the shot instead. Given how scared Stephon Marbury seems of The Moment now, and how genuinely cursed Tony Allen appears to be, the fact that Pierce was able to do his usual late-game magic has to be driving Bulls Fan crazy by now. At the end of this series, the critical difference between these teams might have just been Vinny del Negro at coach, which wouldn't be the biggest possible surprise.

> It was nice, as a Sixers fan who knew John Salmons when he was useless, to see that some things don't change. 17-5-3 in 49 minutes isn't exactly scintillating, and neither is 5 for 15.

> As close as the Bulls came to winning tonight, when you shoot 40% from the field and your opponent shoots 48%, that's just a losing play. Yes, the Bulls got to the line more and made more threes, but that's just too much brickwork to overcome, especially on the road.

> If you don't think this one is going to Game Seven, I've got a bridge to sell you. First off, this Celtics are slaves to the drama, as last year's Hawks and Cavs tilts show. Second is that the refs are going to wrap up Game Six with a bow after the Rondo foul. Third is that the Association is going to want to wrap up the best first round ever with the biggest Game 7 ever. Don't be surprised if the Celts just start the bench players and run the white flag in Chitown.