It's only one won

Well, it was bound to happen sometime. Come on, you didn't think they were going to run the table, did you?

The Celtics lost their first playoff game at home, and frankly, I don't feel as bad as I should about it.

Sure, the huge monkey on the C's back looms larger now than it has before – they have yet to win a road game. Have you heard that yet?

Yeah.

But the Cs have always had the luxury in their previous playoff road games of knowing that they still have home court advantage, that they only need to take care of business on their own floor to survive and advance.

No longer.

Perhaps this is what the Celtics need. Perhaps that home court advantage crutch has been some kind of mental block to allow them to collectively put it all on the line and take one on the road. Now, that crutch is broken and splintered and the C's have no choice but to take that monkey by the throat, rip it off their backs, and slam it against the wall.

Don't get me wrong; winning Game 2 would have been huge for the C's. But now, maybe we'll see a different side of this team than we haven't yet seen in the playoffs. If not, those Green 17 banners will go in the same dumpster they went in 6 years ago when the Nets sent the C's home before they could reach the NBA finals.

I'm not giving up hope yet. Even though these playoffs have been a lesson in frustration for Celtics fans, they have also been a lesson in perseverance, and, so far, survival.

Detroit is a tough place to win. But the C's have done it in the regular season. Now they'll have to do it in the postseason. For the first time.

More Game 2 thoughts:

• Ray Allen is back. Hi, nice to see you again. You knew it was going to happen sooner or later. He just needed a spark, and that spark came early in the third quarter when he stole a Detroit inbounds pass and hit a jumper to key a Celtics run that quickly eliminated a seven-point halftime deficit. You could see his game change after then. Every shot after that he took with confidence, and even though he missed a few more, he still hit huge shots down the stretch to keep the C's in it. If he wasn't in foul trouble he may have had 40. He has gotten over that mental block that was so visibly affecting his game. That can be nothing but a good omen for the C's as they head on the road.
• All five Detroit starters were in double figures, and they added a sixth with the phenomenal bench play of Rodney Stuckey. The C's got 20-plus from the Three Amigos, another 10 from Rondo, and pretty much nothing else. The lesson? Balanced offense and a single solid bench contributor wins games. I don't expect another stinker from the C's bench collectively the rest of the series.
• Rondo (6 for 6) and Perk (2 for 2) were perfect from the free throw line. Hey, it's something.
• P.J. Brown just keeps getting better. Sure, he only had 4 points (2 key jumpers) but he's not in there for offense … any hoops he provides are bonus. He continues to play solid D off the bench and his ascension in the rotation is well deserved.
• Antonio McDyess has been absolutely killing the C's this series. Can he keep it up for seven games? Color me skeptical.
• Tony Allen made a cameo in some critical minutes, and although he looked awful on 2 free throws, and made a bad foul, he had a few good defensive trips. I don't think we've heard the end of him in this series.
• James Posey has been almost invisible this series. He's due for at least one big game offensively and at least two defensively. Getting Posey back to making big plays on both ends will be key to the C's taking one on the road.
• Eddie House was huge at the end of the Cleveland series, and hit big shots in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. But I have a feeling the pendulum has swung back toward Sam again after Game 2. Don't be surprised if Doc goes with a little more Sam and a little less Eddie in Game 3. I'm not sure how I feel about that … but at the very least, players who have gotten extended bench time on the C's and then played again have usually fared well in their first game back. Let's hope the same hold true for Sam's return to the rotation.
• Leon Powe is on such a short leash with Doc in the playoffs, it's affected his aggressiveness, which is about 99 percent of his game. Once again, Leon got some burn in early in the second quarter only to be pulled for Big Baby after one mistake (a travel after a Pierce feed to the post). I feel like Leon is worried more about staying on the floor than doing what he does … and that is Doc's fault, in my opinion. If P.J. Brown wasn't playing so well this would be a bigger deal.
• The best part of the game may have been about a half hour before the game, when ESPN ran a pretty moving piece on Wyc and Corrine Grousbeck's son Campbell, who is blind, and how he has benefited from the Perkins School for the Deaf in Watertown. Anyway, Wyc is talking glowingly of his son, and the school, and starts to list all of the things his son can accomplish in his life now because of the barriers that no longer exist for the blind. Then, Wyc lets out the gem: "He can even be an NBA ref."

  It was such a perfect comment – loving of his son and critical of the shoddy NBA refereeing all at the same time. My admiration for Wyc grew about tenfold after that.