More Real-Time Ramblings

I've spent some time clicking around on Twitter lately and while I'm still not about to sign up for an account, I have started to see the benefits to some of them. The ones that comedians use to post jokes a couple times a week are quite amusing (Colbert's is especially funny). But, the main reason for doing this again is not Twitter envy, it's based more on the fact that it worked the last game 7 the Celtics faced and I'm not about to risk the mojo. So, get comfy, here we go again.

7:57 Ok, I'm strapped in and ready to go. I just want to say the NBA screwed this up royally. They should have switched the Celtics/Magic game with the Lakers/Rockets game. But, no, the West Coast game needed to be over by 2 pm local time while the Celtics game will be done at almost 11 pm local time when most people have to work the next day. Good looking out for your fans. And yes, this rage is based solely on the fact that I'm going to have to deal with the Family Guy season finale overlapping with this game.

7:59 Full confession here: I have no freaking idea how this game is going to go. The Celtics are the mentally tougher team, but the Magic are more talented and healthier. This could go down to the wire, or either team could win by 20. Then again, Patrick Ewing guaranteed a Magic win, so I think that bodes well for the Celtics.

8:02 Wait, are they showing the starting line-ups? On TNT? That's a pleasant surprise. Stan Van Gundy lounges on the bench and looks like he's just waiting for a table at AppleBee's. Nice and relaxed. Meanwhile the jumbotron shows a video chronicling all the game 7's in Boston. I need to download that immediately.

8:08 You ever know a guy who everyone tells you is so great, only when you see him it feels like he's trying too hard to convince everyone how nice a guy he is, so all it really does is make you convinced he's a giant douchebag? Dwight Howard, everybody!

8:09 The refs call an offensive foul on Ray Allen for trying to get away from J.J. Redick. Should have been a no-call, Stan Van Gundy tried for two years to get away from Redick. (rim shot) I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your waitresses.

8:13 All the Magic points have come on 3-pointers. Please, fire away, I'll take my chances. You'll miss a lot more of those than you'll make and that'll lead to long rebound opportunities. Yes, take your big man out of the equation, Orlando. Good call.

8:18 It's 17-9, Orlando. I don't like the way this has started. The Magic are getting every loose ball, every rebound. They're just playing harder right now.

8:23 Pierce gets mauled on one end with no foul called, the Magic bury a 3 down the other end. This is going badly, quickly.

8:26 Paul is called for a foul, so he and the official talk about it. I can only imagine the official is telling him about the great deal he just got for his family to visit Disney World. But, Scal is checking in for the Celtics, we'll be ok now.

8:27 The Celtics have a 2-on-1 breakaway... and the layup is blocked. You ever get the feeling that it may just not be your night?

8:29 Again, the Celtics are expecting Pierce to find his own offense. He takes it to the hole and gets his first points of the night. But, no, let's run more offense so Scal can shoot three's.

8:35 Perk forces Howard into a terrible hook shot from 12 feet. Howard has no game from more than 7 feet. Why does everyone continue to tell me how great he is? Also, this is why I love Perk. He won't ever be a dominant center in the league, but he'll make guys like Howard work for the next 10 years.

8:36 At the end of 1 quarter the Magic lead 27-17. The Celtics need to pick up the intensity or this could get out of hand.

8:38 Just to clarify something: I don't care how great your mansion in Hollywood is. If you throw a party and the only alcohol to drink is Smirnoff Ice, I'm going to stop being your friend.

8:40 Ok, lets get this down to 4 at halftime. That's nice and workable. The lineup to start the second quarter: Pierce, Marbury, Scal, House, and Big Baby. This would be Doc's "throw a line-up against the wall and see what sticks" strategy.

8:42 The Magic go massive, bringing in Tony Battie along side Dwight Howard. Fun Fact: Tony Battie once hit on my sister Amy.

8:44 Howard travels and steps on the line at the same time. Begrudgingly, the refs call him on it.

8:50 Marcin Gortat slams home the dunk, making it 35-21. Unfortunately, he simultaneously poked 3 people in the 4th row with his nose. Oh, that's right: down 14, I've openly turned to insults.

8:53 Celtics get it to 37-27. They just can't seem to get the lead down to less than 10.

8:56 Howard body checks Perk and trips Davis at the same time, committing the rare double foul at once... so the refs call him for 3 seconds in the lane. I hate NBA refs sometimes.

9:00 Ray Allen finally shows up in the game, hits a layup and gets the lead down to 6. Maybe they can finally make that run I've been waiting for.

9:03 Howard gets called for his third foul... sure, it's actually the 10th one he's committed, but who's counting.

9:07 Ray Allen buries the Celtics first 3 pointer of the night. Took them long enough... and it's immediately answered by Rafer Alston. Man, they can not close the gap in this game.

9:10 Out of a timeout the Celtics commit a 24-second violation. That's a hell of a coaching job there, Doc.

9:12 At halftime it 45-38. Ok, they're down, but at least its a manageable deficit.

9:15 Hehe... Family Guy.

9:20 I got to be honest with you, Will Ferrell, I have no desire to see Land of the Lost. It's the first movie of yours that I'm planning to skip since Bewitched.

9:35 Celtics start the half on a mini 4-point run, cut the lead to within 3. They just need to get over that hump and get a lead here. Let Orlando fight to stay in the game for a change.

9:37 Rashard Lewis hits a 3. Davis was no where near him, cause he can't stick with him. He's killed us all series. Why not throw Mikki Moore at him, just to see if the height messes with him at all. What could it hurt, Doc?

9:42 J.J. Redick for a long 3. Now I remember why I hated him at Duke. Also, I take back my "fire away, I'll take my chances" comment from the start of the game.

9:47 Turkoglu for yet another 3. It's back to a 10-point Magic lead. The Celtics can not let this get back out of hand. Then you're essentially asking them to win the game twice.

9:54 Perk misses two really close layups. The Celtics have missed a bunch of layups tonight. Perk needed to dunk that shit.

9:57 Rondo buries a long two-pointer to beat the third quarter buzzer. It's 66-61 after 3 quarters. Ok, if the Celtics can stick around for the next 8 minutes they can make a charge and steal this game.

10:04 Instead the Magic hit a couple 3's and it's 74-61. Shit, did I miss a pre-game ritual that I forgot about?

10:06 TNT scans the crowd for 'celebrity' fans and comes up with Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and Eliza Dushku. Really, this is the best we can do? Ok, I've been to dozens of games the last few years and I've never seen any of these people. Also, bandwagon celebrities suck worse than the average bandwagon fans cause they take the good seats.

10:08 Turkoglu hits another 3. I blame Ben Affleck for this. Isn't there a Red Sox game you should be fighting for camera time at?

10:11 Jees, the Magic lead is already up to 17. What the hell just happened? That escalated quickly. It definitely jumped up a notch. Ok, new goal: get it to 10 points with 5 minutes to go. That's a workable goal.

10:12 Howard picks up his 5th foul - that could help. Maybe we won't be so tentative on the drives to the hoop now.

10:17 I've never seen more commercials for a show where I don't know a single person that enjoys it than House of Payne.

10:27 With 5 minutes left the Celtics are still down double-digits, 90-75. I bet you $10,000 the Afflecks have already headed for the exits.

10:28 Howard checks back in. The Magic have only lost 5 points of the 17 point lead they had when he went out. I'm going to use that as ammo to prove Howard isn't as important to his team as the rest of the NBA commentators would like us to believe.

10:30 A personal 5 point spurt by Turkoglu makes it 95-78, Magic. Fine, he's a good player, but I bet he has really bad B.O.

10:31 I just want to give credit to the guy sitting behind Marv Albert and Reggie Miller. You were on TV for a solid minute and you didn't pull out a cellphone, wave or otherwise embarrass your family. Kudos to you, sir.

10:32 Alston nails another 3. The lead is 20 now as people start to head for the exits. Honestly, I can't blame them. Reggie Miller is talking up Dwight Howard. The dude had 12 points. It was Turkoglu and Lewis who beat us tonight, not Howard.

10:33 Doc is ready to concede the game. And you can tell, cause Tony Allen checks in. That's right, the Human White Flag is in the game. I guess you can't be surprised this team ran out of gas. We used to use Scal as our Human Victory Cigar; now we're expecting him to be the first guy off the bench and guard the other team's best scorer. When I actually type that out, I realize it's amazing we made it to 7 games.

10:35 Time to look to next season. Here are the free agents and what I expect: House (player option, probably sticking around), Glen Davis (someone is going to over-pay him this offseason. I hope it's not us), Marbury (yeah, the experiment didn't work - bye), Powe (can't expect people will be lining up to pay him coming off knee surgery, we could get him for cheap), Gabe Pruitt (saw no reason to bring him back), Mikki Moore (I always liked him, would like to see if he could crack the rotation with a full training camp). Speak of the devil, Moore checks in.

10:38 It's over. Final score, 101-82. Well, that sucked. Kind of a bummer ending to the title defense. I don't see Orlando beating Cleveland more than twice in the next series. Honestly, though, I'm just in the camp that's rooting for "anyone but the Lakers." Then again, I don't really care: I'm checking out of the NBA until next October. It's NBA draft and Red Sox until Patriots' Training Camp.