Jay’s Sports Blog™

Honestly after the Hawks series my confidence in the Celtics was shaken a little bit. Even with a blowout win Sunday afternoon, it was the Hawks. How would they handle a real team they had trouble with in the regular season like the Cavs?

Well, the Celtics did win the game but as outlined above, I was worried. They couldn’t win the close games in Atlanta and I was bracing myself for a loss. A night when Ray Allen scored no points and missed all four shots he missed, and a night when Paul Pierce was freezing cold going 2-14 from the field there was no way. Right?

Well the combined 2-18 for Pierce and Allen was exactly how LeBron James shot from the field. The Celtics defense was awesome on LeBron limiting his selection and even when he did drive the lane, he wasn’t hitting baskets. A great defensive effort for the C’s shutting down LeBron, knowing that the Cavs don’t really have someone that can carry the offense.

Good thing The Big Ticket was up for the task scoring 28 on 13-22 shooting. Rajon, who had a great assist to turnover ratio against the Hawks (like 9:1), wasn’t as stellar Tuesday with six assists and four turnovers.

The bottom line is that this kind of game isn’t one that favors the Celtics. It’s all well and good that you shut down LeBron, but Pierce scoring a whopping four points and Allen having zero is unacceptable. LeBron is the type of player that if it’s a close game like last night, he makes the big shots and wins the game for his team.

So I get in my car last night to get the Celtics score while driving home but I had the radio on the wrong station and caught the Sox score instead. “And after seven and a half, 5-0 Red Sox.” Awesome!

I flip back to the Celtics and hear they blew a 12 point lead, and let it slip to two. Into the house and quickly get the Celtics on. Watch until the half and switch back to see how the Sox are fairing.

Um, the game is over. So upon more investigation, Wakefield was awesome. He gave up a whopping one hit through seven and surrendered a double in the eighth. That’s it, two hits. His final line was eight innings, six strikeouts, no walks, and just the two hits. Holy crap.

But leave it to Grandpa Timlin to not work a clean ninth. Timlin and his 11.05 surrendered a hit in the ninth but to my shock didn’t lose the game and even more shocking, didn’t give up any runs. Still, time to go. When Colon is ready to join the team, time to release Timlin. He’s been playing on borrowed time for two years.

Manny and Papi hit back to back jacks in the seventh. For the first time in two years, these guys went back to back. Better late then never. And Youk kept his recent hot streak kicking going two for three with a walk and a run scored. Did I mention Kevin Cash’s 3-4 day and his season average of .361? Dougie who?

Tonight we look forward to the Sox trying to sweep the Tigers. With no Sox, we can all devote our attention to the Sox attempt at a sweep. Go Sox.