Rosalie
Waltham

Mike - I know it took a while to knock off Atlanta, but, why is it so easy for the press and broadcasters (not you or Tommy!), to
jump off the bandwagon of a team that has been so successful all year. Kevin Garnett is taking it on the chin from alot of these guys, and it just doesn’t seem fair. Nor does it seem right that PP has had such bad press also. I guess I take it personally when someone attacks the team they way they have this last week. Written by a die hard, long time
Celtic fan who watched Tommy play!!

Mike: Positive news unfortunately doesn’t sell newspapers or increase talk show ratings. Hopefully fans like yourself will have the last laugh.

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Scott Tomassetti
Rajon vs. Delonte

Back in seattle I can remember that Delonte kind of got the better of Rajon. How do you think that match up will go this series?
Personally, I think Rajon has grown so much since then that he might overwhelm delonte with his D. Delonte still needs to stay close to Delonte to keep him honest at the 3 pt line.

It may be over in Boston but there is still plenty of reasons to watch the remainder of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The great match-ups that will translate into great hockey. Every game will be exciting and Bruins fans still have some connections to each series. Best of all you don’t have to listen to Jack Edwards make the call. So here are the second round match-ups.

(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche

This heated rivalry is renewed. Reliving the battles of the late 90’s and 2000’s, this will be a sight to see. The Avs brought back some of their key contributors to the rivalry in Adam Foote and Peter Forsberg, while things welcomed Darren McCarty back to Motown.  Lots of old faces back in the mix but don’t expected the same blood bath that your custom to seeing between these two in the playoffs. Detroit is a great puck possession team loaded with skill. While the Avs do have some agitators, the series will be less physical and more strategic than a normal AvsWings match-up. The Red Wings come in with a highly skilled and deep team, while the Avalanche do have many big names on their team, Detroit’s depth will be hard to handle.

The Boston Bruins fell in game seven to the Montreal Canadiens 5-0. Most will see this as an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the rival Habs. That, the Bruins once again let fans down in game seven. The casual fan will now look to the Celtics to roll through the playoffs, the Red Sox to continue to out slug everyone, and the Patriots to get even better with the seventh pick in the draft. The B’s had their shot in the lime light and came up empty. Its unfortunate that it turns out this way but when you’re competing with the best team in the respective league, its a reality.

For an instant the Bruins were the toast of the town. They were headlining sport talk shows. There was chatter all over New England when they forced a game seven. There was more hype surrounding the Bruins than there had been in quite some time. A team that was down and out  was about to pull off a Red Sox sized comeback.  It was a young likable team with a ticker the size of the ice they played on. An irrelevant team was relevant again. It was fun to be a Bruins’ fan for the moment. The streets outside the the Garden were filled with black and gold. The Garden itself was electric. City bars were at capacity with puck heads. But like all good things it came to an end.

Here is a complete breakdown of the match-ups for the upcoming playoff series against Atlanta.

Rondo vs. Bibby

Rondo has the physical advantage over Bibby and will be able to get past him on dribble penetration. Bibby at this point of his career cannot stay in front of him defensively. Rondo will have a lot of open looks from 15 feet out and beyond, Rondo has really improved his shot, but it is still not a weapon, so despite the opportunities don’t expect to see Rondo to become a volume shooter. Bibby is a better shooter, but Rondo runs his offense better than Bibby does his. Bibby may bring the ball up but he plays more like a SG guard than a true PG. Bibby will rarely get past his defender, and most of his passes are kick outs to teammates behind him instead of a traditional drive and dish attack. Rondo will have to be disciplined to stay with Bibby and not chase other players in help defense because Bibby will set up outside the three point line and use his quick release on a shot before a defender can recover. Expect to see some isolations run for Rondo to attack Bibby.

The Bruins skated past the Canadiens with a 5-1 victory in Montreal last night. The win saves the B’s season and brings this relentless bunch back to Boston to try and tie the best-of-seven series at three games apiece. Boston, who had only score a total of five goals in the previous four games, lit the lamp up for five in Thursday’s playoff battle.

A major component to the Bruins success was the return of Phil Kessel, who scored the Bruins’ first goal and tied the game at one. Kessel had been a healthy scratch for the last three games of this series. Call it being unfairly singled out for the lack-luster play of the Bruins in game one. But it was a coaches decision for the benching. It seemed that Claude Julien wanted to get a tougher bunch against the Habs. It wasn’t only Kessel that seemed outmatched in that opening game. The entire Bruins team looked terrible. However, with hardly any playoff experience the B’s sub-par play was somewhat expected. I liked the move of changing things up and getting Vladimir Sobotka in the line up but Julien took out the wrong guy in my opinion. Sobotka deserves to play, but not at the expense of Kessel. Julien should have sat out Jeremy Riech or Shawn Thornton in those three games. Both guys are exactly the same type of players. If these two are playing a lot, your team is not scoring. The two players are grinders at best. You need offense and whether it shows up on the score sheet or not, Kessel’s speed and creatability opens the ice for Boston’s offence, especially with no red line.

Here is a look at the 1st Round Schedule for the Celtics. Mike Gorman, Tommy Heinsohn and Greg Dickerson will bring you all the action beginning Sunday for Game 1. Make sure to tune-in to Comcast SportsNet tonight at 8:00pm for a one-hour playoff preview, “Drive for 17 presented by Mohegan Sun”.

Game 1: Sunday, April 20, 8:30 p.m. (CSN HD) — at Boston
Game 2: Wednesday, April 23, 8 p.m. (CSN HD) — at Boston
Game 3: Saturday, April 26, 8 p.m. (CSN HD) — at Atlanta
Game 4: Monday, April 28, 8 p.m. (CSN HD) — at Atlanta
Game 5: Wednesday, April 30 — at Boston (if necessary)
Game 6: Friday, May 2 — at Atlanta (if necessary)
Game 7: Sunday, May 4 — at Boston (if necessary)

Although Montreal has the commanding lead, Boston deserves its due, especially amongst the locals. There is no way in hell that anyone watching at home should hear the Montreal “BOOs” when Zdeno Chara touches the puck in the Garden. And there definitely shouldn’t be any Oh-laay Oh-lay Oh-lay Oh-laay ringing throughout the hub. Kudos to the B’s fans who went out to support the team and did their best to drown out the red shirts.

I understand that Habs fans travel well and hockey is all they got up there but are we that spoiled in Boston where we can’t come out and support hockey’s most surprising team, who happens to be in the playoffs. Yes their run into the playoffs was next to impossible, and beating the Canadiens seemed impossible. Even still, this over achieving bunch of no names deserved our home support and we couldn’t deliver. To have that many Habs fans in our home arena was embarrassing. You wouldn’t have a sea of pinstripes at Fenway or a J-E-T-S chant at Gillette, so why would you let it happen to the B’s.

Game three at the Garden saw the Bruins snap the Canadiens unbeaten streak against them. Marc Savard’s overtime goal gave the B’s a 2-1 victory. That goal was Savard’s first career playoff goal. What a way to get your first. This game could be a huge momentum swing for the B’s. It now gives the young Bruins confidence to beat the Habs. Which is something that hasn’t happened all year.

The Bruins haven’t won a playoff series since 1999, losing three straight. Two of those three times they lost to Montreal. Losing all eight regular-season match ups to the Habs, Boston didn’t have the lead in a single game, for a single second.  Up until Milan Lucic’s first period goal, Boston has either trailed or have been tied with Montreal in every moment of every game in the 2007-2008 season, including playoffs.

This win changes the whole complexion of the series. Montreal still leads two games to one, but it could easily be the Bruins with the series lead or Montreal with a commanding 3-0 lead. After being dominated by the Habs in the first game, Boston has outplayed Montreal in the last two. If it wasn’t for some questionable calls in Montreal late in game two, the B’s would be looking for a  3-1 when the series resumes on Tuesday.

For the first time in four years the Stanley Cup playoffs come back to Boston. Being picked by many to finish dead last in the NHL, Boston was supposed to be the door mat of the league. Now they are in the playoffs. That alone makes the B’s relevant in Boston again, never mind that they face off against their hated rivals, the Canadiens. What is better than a Boston vs. Montreal playoff battle? The B’s head into the series as the heavy underdogs. What else is new?They have been the underdogs all season long. B’s Habs, wouldn’t want it any other way.

2007-2008 Regular season match up

The Habs owned the season series, sweeping Boston in all eight games. To go back further, Montreal has won 11 straight against the B’s. The last time Boston beat the Canadiens was on March 3, 2007 in a 3-1 home victory.

2007-2008 Winner Scores

Canadiens 6-1
Canadiens 2-1
Canadiens 7-4
Canadiens 4-2
Canadiens 5-2
Canadiens 8-2
Canadiens 4-2
Canadiens 3-2

The playoffs, a time presented to us fans that encompasses joy, rapture and a stress level higher than a Jack Clark popup. Well, you know what I mean.

If the season were to end today, the Celtics would play the 35-40 Atlanta Hawks. The only other squad they might possibly face in the first round would be Philadelphia (38-37). But with Atlanta and Philly on tap for a home and home series this weekend, the Celtics’ first round matchup should be decided by Sunday.

As for Atlanta, they are a team that has won five games in a row and is actually stocked with some well-rounded players like point guard Mike Bibby, shooting guard and former Celtic Joe Johnson and power forward Josh Smith.

They are five wins ahead of last years final win total of 30 and are No. 15 amongst all NBA teams with 98 points scored per game. In addition, they are ranked 16th in the league with a 45.3 field goal percentage and are positioned a surprising 12th in the league with a mere 99.5 points allowed per game.