".....love that dirty water...."

[JB <jimmetz@xxxxxxx>]

	Just what's up with the Boston sports scene? The Patriots pull another 
horseshoe out of their ....., after winning the Superbowl, riding a 
streak of luck and freak occurrences. The Bruins, while winning their 
division last season, got blown out of the playoffs in the first round, 
lost their goalie, their top defense man and arguably their best 
forward, over the off season and are playing their best hockey in 
years, while the Celtics lost their point guard, the sixth and seventh 
men in their rotation and like the Patriots and the Bruins, after 
humiliating  starts, are sitting (tied) in first place in their 
division.
	If I wasn't a rational man, I'd be sitting on a mountaintop, with 
charts and graphs, trying to plot the planetary influences. I'm 
beginning to feel like the hero of the "Ballad of a Thin Man." You know 
the one; "Something is happening here, but you don't know what it is, 
do you Mr. Jones."
	The next challenge for the Celtics is the renewal of a long and  
bitter rivalry, with the hated Sixers. Tomorrow night,  Allen Iverson 
and company come to town, sporting a new, tough guy, attitude.
		On the "Celticsstuff" board today, MM posted  a few articles from the 
Philadelphia papers. Every other word was; "tough, " toughness" and the 
like. Me thinks, the lady doth protesteth too much.
 From Erick Snow:
{"It's personal," the Sixers' floor leader said. "It's personal. It's 
always personal when the team put you out of the playoffs. I mean, it 
was personal for them when we beat them eight straight, right? That was 
personal for them. They put us out of the playoffs. It's got to be 
personal. And I'm quite sure they expect it to be personal."}
	Gone is the big African elbow; Dikembe Mutombo. Bar room brawler, 
Derrick Coleman, is on the injured list and  their biggest player Todd 
MacCulloch, has bad feet. In their place, is Keith Van Horne, who while 
shooting very well the last two games, is no threat to kick sand in 
anyone's face, let alone piss on their shoes. Greg Buckner, a Dallas 
castoff, who fights Aaron McKie for minutes, is a hard nosed defender, 
but I don't think the Celtics are going to fear driving the lane 
against this bunch of  perimeter players.
	Any team that has Allen Iverson is a threat, to win any game, no 
doubt, but this game does not scare me the way the Sixers did in the 
last few years with Mutombo and Theo Ratlieff defending the interior.
	Tony Delk and Shammond Williams should be able to tire out Iverson.
	While Buckner may draw Pierce and give him pause, Paul  does not have 
a  particularly tough match up on the defensive end, which should help 
him (as if he needs any).
	Can Van Horne guard Walker? I don't think so.
	Who will guard Vin Baker? This just might be part two of the Vin Baker 
"Resurection."
	If the Celtics keep passing the ball, they will win this game, because 
Iverson won't.

		JB

	Unchain My Heart !