Lakers Over Celts: Los Angeles 99- Boston 90

[opi@unesco.org]

    I hope we win the next one in the Forum on the 25th of February.
That would be so sweet. As for last night, at least the Celts seemed to
have "went the distance" last night, despite just 25 minutes from Walker
and disappointing 2-14 shooting by starters Battie and Griffen.

    Here's the deal. The Celts have lost 6 straight games and faced
double-digit deficits and garbage time 4th quarters in most of them. Yet
I honestly think they can win 3 of the next 4 to close out the century,
which after all was the "Celtics Century" in basketball ("rafters, baby"
as McHale would say).

    The upcoming four games should be entertaining, too, with the
possible return of Pierce and Fortson for the final three games against
the Clippers, Sacramento and Denver. The Atlanta home game on Wednesday
happens to be the last time any person will see our Celts play on the
parquet floor, so it is a must win, a destined win, for our team. The
Clippers game is absolutely critical, too. If we can't stop our 9-game
road losing streak against them finally at or near full strength, the
bleeding will probably continue into Denver and there is no possibility
we can make the playoffs. I'm not even sure ML Carr's 15-win Celts team
played this badly on the road (.111 winning percentage thus far).

    As for Danny Issel and the McNuggets, a split of the season series
is just not enough. We absolutely must sweep them to vindicate Celts
tradition and our trading acumen. Fortson, Pierce and Walker must do
whatever it takes to make that happen. They must will the team to
victory. In the best case scenario, Fortson and Pierce can also give
just enough support against Sacramento so that Walker can find some of
his old fury for just one night in the matchup against MVP candidate
Chris Webber. Webber is capable of humilating Walker. They aren't even
on the same planet anymore, statistically speaking (Webber has 11rpg,
4.1apg and a league leading two triple-doubles this season).

    If we enter Y2K at .500 (14-14), then the sky is the limit as far as
I'm concerned.  I think 12-16 is more likely (tough losses to Atlanta
and Sacramento, close road wins against the Clippers and Denver). Right
now, ANY win against any team would seem like a miracle. I hope the
Celts players remain professional enough not to sweat through this
crushing 6-game losing streak as much as I am out here. It's killing me.
I took every measure necessary last night to prep for a big Celts win.
Although I'm not Catholic, I did 10 Hail Mary's last night and 10 more
this morning before clicking onto the net (this usually works, because I
save it for the special occasions). These were sincere Hail Mary's. The
only thing I didn't have time for yesterday is to go to the gym and do
"8" reps of everything (I mumble to myself "rebound, rebound, rebound"
as I do the weights). Well I hate what this losing streak is doing to
me. I love our Celtics, but they are killing me. Jerks.

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