Celtics (35-9) at Magic (33-8)

[BigAlTheFuture]

Great game. Feels good to be back on top. 

[Brickowski]

Rondo played excellent defense on Nelson, who was a non-factor for 3 1/2 quarters.

They won this game with defense-- we all understand that, right?

[Celtic]

Anytime we hold a team to 38 percent shooting we're good.

Impressive we had the legs on the second half of the back-to-back.

Very nice. Now what sports do I watch until Sunday? 

USA against Sweden on Saturday, soccer game, going to be Dynooooomite!

[Celtic]

Great game. Feels good to be back on top. 

Oh yes, that number one spot fits like a glove.

[RebusRankin]

Great defensive effort by the Celtics tonight. Really shut down Orlando who's a good offensive team.

BBD had a heck of a game, on offense and defense. Pierce was Pierce and KG quietly had a nice shooting night.

[celticinorlando]

dallas is falling apart...i smell a beat down in the garden on sunday

[Greg]

Not to rain on everybody's parade... but I thought I'd point this out:

Glen Davis was the only Celtics player to hit a field goal off the bench.  Wow.

Not a knee jerk, just one game.  But pretty crazy.

[celticinorlando]

STAT OF THE NIGHT: boston beat and controlled orlando without making one 3....unreal

[greg683x]

The most deserving award that cant be won with padded stats or popularity is the MVP award.

I'd offer Steve Nash as two-time MVP as argument against that. Stats padded by playing in the Phoenix offense and popularity contributing heavily to his wins. Look at other multiple MVP award winners. He is nowhere in that category.

True but you could argue that but Nash is the motor for the Phoenix high powered offense, hes the one running it, and not to mention Phoenix was a team that looked to be one of the favorites to win it all those years, so its not like hes on a lackluster team doing it.

Yes, Nash had the ball in his hands as the PG but I would argue you could a)have found other players who could have stepped into that role and done a similar job and b)his stats were still entirely bloated due to the offense they ran. Take a look at David Lee, who I love as a player, him in Green would be great, but he is second in the league in double-double's not just because he is a great rebounder but because of the D'Antoni system he has so many more rebounding opportunities. Just saying stats get inflated in scenarios like that.

And being a favorite to win is part of the popularity issue.

John Stockton never won an MVP and I don't think if you asked people in the know anyone would tell you Nash is a better player, let alone a two-time MVP winning better player.
John Havlicek never won an MVP. Nor did Elgin Baylor, Isiah Thomas or Jerry West. Jerry West! He's the NBA logo but never an MVP! Just showing how the MVP is corrupted by popularity and stats and is pretty ridiculous an award.

Multiple MVP award winners:
 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• Bill Russell
• Michael Jordan
• Wilt Chamberlain
• Larry Bird
• Magic Johnson
• Moses Malone
• Tim Duncan
• Karl Malone
• Steve Nash
• Bob Pettit
 
Who stands out in that crowd?  

Good Point, TP.

Regarding Stockton, yes I would rank him much higher, but with an award like the MVP, with only ONE person winning out of the whole league there are certainly players that will be left out during their careers, especially during the Jordan era.  Those other players you mentioned that never won an MVP, are great players and they all should have won an MVP award in theory, but to make that true, youd have to take an MVP award away from someone also.  Its easy to say that someone should have won one, not as easy to make a case as to why someone shouldnt have.....which is why Nash sticks out like a sore thumb, because its easy to point out why.

Either way, my point was made in a discussion about how All Stars and MVPs should be selected, and I would hope you'd agree that Nash at least deserved to be in the discussion those years because he had the stats, and was a leader on a team that was contending for the finals.

[nickagneta]

Laker game is 10 seconds old and Kobe palms the bal twice right in front of the refs and no call. Did the refs from the Orlando game get beamed straight to the Lakers building when the game ended?

Some more Laker hate here. Schedule makers just love that Laker team. Decided to give then a tough away/home back to back so of course they give the Lakers an away game in their own building and then make them travel all the way back to the same building the next day to play the back side of the back to back. They've played 41 games, 24 home and 17 on the road except 2 of those road games are at home. At 27 games being played in their home building out of their first 42 games the Lakers have played 4 more games in their own building than any other team in the league. That's pathetic.

[cordobes]

STAT OF THE NIGHT: boston beat and controlled orlando without making one 3....unreal

Yeps, and without entirely dominating the boards as well, another odd thing.

[celticinorlando]

it is obvious the sked for boston is really skewed to hurt them...they should be getting into a bit of some wins...but the lakers sked has been pathetic...cant wait until they play boston and cleveland back 2 back in Feb

[Rondo_is_better]

Tonight the game felt like a true playoff game. Grind it out, trade baskets, hold a precarious lead for long stretches, play half-court basketball, and win with execution down the stretch.

Maybe now people will agree with me that we could handle Orlando in a playoff series. In the playoffs, the pace decreases and the game changes in a way that takes away the types of shots Orlando likes to take.

[celticinorlando]

i gotta believe the kobe's finger injury will continue to nag him...

[greg683x]

Laker game is 10 seconds old and Kobe palms the bal twice right in front of the refs and no call. Did the refs from the Orlando game get beamed straight to the Lakers building when the game ended?

Some more Laker hate here. Schedule makers just love that Laker team. Decided to give then a tough away/home back to back so of course they give the Lakers an away game in their own building and then make them travel all the way back to the same building the next day to play the back side of the back to back. They've played 41 games, 24 home and 17 on the road except 2 of those road games are at home. At 27 games being played in their home building out of their first 42 games the Lakers have played 4 more games in their own building than any other team in the league. That's pathetic.

Well.....then Cheers to a rough 2nd half schedule for the Lakers!