Freaky stat of the night...Barbosa has the best +/- on the team tonight.
I don't care what anybody (or the stat sheet) says, he has been fantastic.
He's not known as a defender, but he's playing hard on D every night. He's not a natural PG but he's doing a great job handling the ball. When called for he's scored with the best of them. I expected him to be a scorer, but I never expected him to bring the intangibles.
Tonight was just an outstanding effort from everbody. We let it slipe for about 5 or 6 minutes in the 4th quarter, but this is the closest I've seen of "48 minutes of solid basketball" for years.
Even the guys who didn't do well on the stat sheet (Lee, Barbosa, Bass) impressed me with their defense, effort, hustle and work ehthic. Every single guy on this team played with heart today, and even if we lost I would have been proud of this performance.
As for the guys criticising Bass - all through the offseason and preseason I was one of the first guys saying Bass is limited, but he played hard tonight. It's not all about misses and makes - he was playing aggressive on both ends of the floor, and I appreciate that effort.
My two memories of this game that I cannot shake:
1. The huge smile on Jeff Green's face when he got that fast break layup + 1
2. The huge smile on Terry's face when he hit that dagger
Both of those guys had a look of pride and releif that finally things are coming together. The look said "we are the Boston Celtics, and this is just the start of things to come".
Lets hope the look doesn't lie!!