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Matt Geagan is a sports producer at WBZ-TV… which means he’s not just into basketball. You can catch MattyG’s thoughts on all things sports on his FoxSports.com blog. You can email him at MattyG@RedsArmy.com |
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Finally!! |
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AP Photo |
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Yes it has finally happened. Matty G has witnessed a Celtics win this season. Having gone 0-10 it was huge sigh of relief when the clock hit zero and the Celtics were on top. The C’s had finally pulled one out and proved they can still win. Maybe even play the role of spoiler down over the next month. This wasn’t only a win though. It was a thriller that came down to the buzzer, twice. The Celtics blew the lid off the game in the 2nd OT, and it was something I hadn’t seen all season. It was an incredibly smooth ride to the TD Banknorth Garden, and it only took me 15 minutes to get there from Storrow Drive. I usually hit the tail end of rush hour, so I expected to spend at least a half and hour fending off those crazy Boston drivers. I got to my secret parking spot early and got a chance to enjoy an awesome spring night. How could I not go into the game with confidence? Everything was working out so well. I ran into a guy from Chicago who was asking where to get tickets. His duck boat broke down before it hit the water so he had to kill time for the rest of the night. That’s the best thing about a Celtics game. You can make a last second decision to go or not, and still get a ticket. That doesn’t happen for Sox tickets, and who wants to go to a Bruins game? Anyways, he was asking about the team and said he hadn’t been to a basketball game since the Michael Jordon was there. If he stayed the whole time, he got his $10s worth. The first half was great. Rajon Rondo got the start, and was making great passes (he ended up with five assists). Ryan Gomes was catching and shooting, which is something he needs to do if he wants that long jumper to work. Dwight Howard is a great player to watch, and we got a few good shots at Grant Hill and Darko Milicic. The C’s led by 10 at the half, and things were looking up. But I had felt the same way six times before and it all came crashing down at some point. But then again, if the Celtics had a 30 point lead I probably still would have been worried. Of course it happened again. They still led by three at the end of the third, but they looked terrible. They have been outscored in the third four of the last five games, and given up an average of 25.4 points. They look like zombies after the half. Not only that, but we lost two beers to the parachute drop and didn’t even get one out of it. With the Celts down four with only 2:15 left it started to get glum. After “the tank” game last week, I really couldn’t describe the frustration. I though my wish for as many loses as possible was really coming back to haunt me. 0-11?!? That’s ridiculous. I was considering the rally cap, but why bother? Then Paul Pierce made a jumper with seven seconds left to tie it up. In the first overtime, he hit a three with 19 seconds left to tie it (with the rally cap in effect). Then Al Jefferson took over. He scored eight points and pulled down three boards. The C’s went on a 9-2 run, and had control for the entire five minutes. They even played Cannonball scene from Anchorman to get everyone fired up. It was the best I had seen the Celtics play in a long time, and they deserved to win this one. The fans really got into this game too. It’s great to see the 49 losses don’t scare people away. They still sold over 16,000 even though not everyone showed up. We snuck into great seats and only had to move down one row early on. We sat behind a little kid who was very excited about his Celtics card set. He even knew who some of the old school guys were, like Dee Brown and Reggie Lewis. Not bad for a 7-year-old. The girl that was sitting next to me may have had a Wally Szczerbiak official jersey, but she knew who Kendrick Perkins was. I was impressed but, how could she not after the night he had, he hauled in 12 boards, scored 11 points and had four blocks. He hasn’t done much since he singed his extension, so it was good to see he could still show up. Perk and Al held Howard to 12 points and 14 boards, which is impressive. I stayed the entire game, and took it all in. Who knows the next time I’ll see this? It took me even less time to get home, and I was as giddy as a school girl about the win. 1-10 for the season with two more games to go, so there is still a little more hope. At least now I’m tied with the Chicago guy in the win column. |
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Matty G Sees The C’s Win |
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NBAE/Getty Images |