What a feeling!!

[Ellie Cutler <ellie@oreilly.com>]

YES!!

With Red and JoJo and Tommy and who knows who else in the stands and clips 
of Bird and Havlicek on the jumbotron, the Celts aced the deciding game of 
a playoff series. This was a great game!  And, I must say up front, in 
spite of the refs.  The Cs were going to the hoop all game long, and ended 
up with about 6 free throw attempts (n/i the last minute) to the sixers 26 
or so. Unbelievable - Pierce, Toine, EWill, Kenny, they all drove to the 
basket and got hit but no fouls were called, while at the other end it was 
the same old 'breathe on AI and he goes to the line."  Unreal - how can 
this happen with no repercussions?  If my job performance was that bad I'd 
be out thumping the pavement.  Do these guys get tenure or something?

With that off my chest, this was a GREAT GAME!  Everybody contributed in a 
major way. Pierce redeemed himself bigtime. In a 5th game, he came up huge. 
49 points, few turnovers, in the groove. OK, Paul, now you can go to the 
next level.  And Antoine - what a beautiful game *he* played.  In control, 
driving, hitting the appropriate 3, steals, assists.   EWill hitting the 
big threes, Kenny Anderson driving to the hoop, Rodney Rogers playing his 
best game of the series. Tony Delk! Huge D on Iverson (glad to see him get 
the time, courtesy of the refs calling two quick fouls on Strickland).

And (aside from Pierce) the unlikely hero of the first half - Mark Blount!! 
He changed everybody's "oh, no, it's Mark Blount" to wild cheers for his 
rebounding, tip-ins, and fouls on Mutumbo.

I couldn't even relax in the last few minutes of the game, after it reached 
blowout status (YES - we blew out the freaking Sixers in Game Five!!). I 
was standing in front of the television alternating 'Play like you're down 
3' with 'Bring in Kedrick!"

And we got to see young Kedrick make a 3 - wasn't that sweet?

I was so proud of our guys. What a feeling!   And I am esp. proud of 
Antoine Walker. He has hung in there with this town, let Paul Pierce get 
the glory, and matured both his game and himself.  Kudos!  When he hit that 
three, I did a Walker walk & wiggle across the livingroom, then turned 
around to see him doing the same thing. He earned it.

Just an incredible feeling, and wanted to share it with some true Celtic fans.

Bring on Detroit! Maybe they can sick Mark Blount on Ben Wallace.

  --Ellie

ps. I felt bad for Vitaly sitting there in his civvies. He didn't even seem 
to be enjoying the game or win very much.