The Celtics did a good job of getting Kevin Garnett the ball in the paint. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

By Christopher L. Gasper, Globe Columnist

It was fitting that Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett all did their post-game interviews in the same claustrophobic sliver of the Celtics locker room, a parcel of wood-paneled space between the door to the trainer's room and the post-game spread. They talked in the same manner that they had played -- with their backs against the wall.

This was the last stand for the Core Four and everyone knew it. A loss to the NBA's South Beach nouveau riche and this Boston basketball revival was over. Nobody in the NBA comes back from down 3-0 and no team, no matter how gritty, is likely to accomplish it against a team with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in its employ.

These Celtics have made a habit of beating the odds in spectacular fashion -- the 24-point comeback against the Lakers in Game 4 of the 2008 NBA Finals and the unexpected 2010 run to the NBA Finals the two best examples -- but they knew what they were up against this time.

A profound and profane Garnett called it "desperation basketball." Call it preservation basketball after the Celtics scored a 101-91 victory over Miami Friday night at TD Garden.

"We're a team that is very, very, very, very gritty," said Keyon Dooling. "We just continue to hang in there. We're confident. We came out and we treated this like it was a Game 7. We wanted to leave everything on the court."

The parquet panegyrics for this group were already being prepared. But as Pierce, Allen, Garnett and Rajon Rondo have done so many times over the last five years when pushed to the brink they dug in their heels.

Garnett had his 11th double-double of the postseason, finishing with 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight impressive knuckle push-ups after being fouled hard by Udonis Haslem. Pierce needed 21 shots to score 23 points, but was a perfect 7 for 7 from the free throw line. Rondo (21 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds) continued his evolution into the Green's go-to guy, scoring 8 points in the fourth. Allen had another reassuring shooting night, going 4 for 8 for 10 points.

Sunday's Game 4 looms as another got-to-have-it game. Lose that one and it's likely that all is lost in the series. But the Celtics deserve at least a day to savor their triumph over the Heat, especially because there was the fear that Miami had already absorbed Boston's best shot in Game 2, an instant classic, highlighted by Rondo's 44-point tour de force and Miami's 47 free throw attempts.

Coach Doc Rivers tried to spin that deflating overtime defeat into a cause for confidence, pointing out what the Celtics could do better.

The first item on the checklist was getting the ball to Garnett, who shot just 6 of 18 in Game 2. KG was fed early and often. He scored three of the Celtics first six baskets and had 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting at the half.

Another area of home improvement for the Celtics was the bench. Dormant and dominated by Miami in the first two games, the Celtics' reserves answered the call of duty this time. Led by Dooling, who had five of his 7 points in the first quarter, the Boston reserves had eight points in the first quarter, or one more than they had in all of Game 2, when Miami's bench players outscored them, 25-7. More important was the defensive energy they displayed in helping to hold Miami to 27.8 percent shooting in the second quarter.

Rivers exhumed little-used forward Marquis Daniels with sublime results. The lithe Daniels sliced through the Miami defense with shrewd and opportunistic cuts and finished with 9 points. Daniels had played a total of seven minutes in the previous six games. He logged 7:24 in the first half Friday night, helping the Celtics build a 55-42 halftime lead.

"Marquis was phenomenal tonight. Keyon Dooling was phenomenal," said Rivers. "Every guy actually that came off the bench contributed for our basketball team. We needed it tonight."

The best news for Celtics fans was that scales of NBA justice seemed to tip in their favor. After two somewhat dubiously officiated games in Miami, the personal fouls in Game 3 were dead even at 24. James and Wade, who combined for 35 free throws in Game 2, took five in Game 3, all belonging to James (1-5). The duo had five fouls at halftime, one more than in all of Game 2.

Early on it looked like James was headed for an NBA Classics evening, dropping 16 in the first quarter. He finished with a mere 34. If it weren't for Bron-Bron's brilliance this game would have been a total blowout.

The Celtics led by 22 at the end of three quarters, but James made all manner of shots in the quarter to keep Miami from getting completely massacred. That proved important when the Heat used a 16-2 run to cut Boston's cushy lead to 91-82 with 5:41 to go. The Heat would creep as close as 95-87.

Many were wondering what Rondo would do for an encore after Game 2. It was not the stuff of Celtics lore, but rather a harmonious blending of facile facilitation and efficient offensive production. It was Rondo as maestro, instead of virtuoso.

Rondo is self-aware enough to realize now that he can no longer defer to the Big Three in the fourth quarter. It's his time and his team now.

"He's been timely in the scoring category all playoffs. He's had some big fourth quarters," Dooling said. "Obviously, we ask him to do a lot. He has to facilitate, make sure everybody gets off. We expect him to score his points. We expect him to rebound. We expect him to be a masterful play-caller. That's what happens when you pursue greatness."

The Celtics had heart. But they left TD Garden with something even more valuable.

"It's a series now. They have hope," said Miami forward Shane Battier.

Rajon Rondo is right. The Celtics do need to toughen up if they're going to be more than Ocean Drive roadkill for the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals.

Allowing a virtual layup line as the Celtics did in Game 1 -- Miami had 19 layups -- is utterly unacceptable.

But the answer is not coming out tonight in Game 2 and turning AmericanAirlines Arena into a mosh pit, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade into tackling dummies and Miami's slam dunks into body slams. That's not the Celtics' game, especially with designated enforcer Kendrick Perkins now applying his frontcourt frontier justice in Oklahoma City. Perk was quite the deterrent Tuesday night when the Thunder allowed 120 points to the Spurs, no?

The Celtics are a tough team, but their don't-mess-with-us mien hasn't been defined by physical prowess as much as mental fortitude. That's the type of toughness the Celtics need against the Heat, the kind that allows you to prevail in a hostile environment against the odds, the kind that plants a seed of doubt in the opponent's psyche.

These Celtics are tough because they don't quit. They're undeterred by age or injury. They're hyper-competitive and uber-stubborn. That's the toughness advantage that Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rondo, Ray Allen and Co. are supposed to enjoy in this series.

It's also what was missing from Game 1 once Miami pulled away in the third quarter. The Celtics became stagnated and frustrated. Trailing by 11, Boston's first four possessions of the fourth quarter of Game 1 went: Keyon Dooling hopeless 3-pointer, Ray Allen missed 20-foot jumper, Brandon Bass brutal missed jumper and Mickael Pietrus 24-foot prayer.

The closest shot was Bass's 17-footer, and this was with both Garnett and Rondo on the floor.

Rather than heeding Rondo's call to send James and Wade to the floor, I'd rather see Rondo and Pierce go to the free throw line, something that never happened in Game 1.

Going Olivia Newton-John ("physical, physical") with the Heat is not a recipe for success for the Green. It was the Celtics who became distracted when faced with physical play in their last series. In Game 4 against the 76ers, they blew an 18-point third quarter lead in part because Evan Turner and his cohorts resorted to chippy tactics. Afterwards, coach Doc Rivers declared his team lost its composure.

A bruise and bang strategy has already failed against the Heat in these playoffs. The Indiana Pacers tried to rough up the Heat. All they did was awaken the two-headed monster of LeBron and D-Wade.

Indiana's Tyler Hansbrough did exactly what Rondo has endorsed, sending Wade to the deck with a hard foul in Game 5, drawing blood -- and the Heat's ire. It didn't slow down Wade, and the Heat punked the Pacers with a pair of retaliatory flagrant fouls via hitmen Udonis Haslem and Dexter Pittman, prodding Celtics legend and Indiana president Larry Bird to label his team "soft"

The approach completely backfired on the Pacers, as it inspired Miami.

The way to undermine the Heat and make its best players uncomfortable is not to create physical challenges but mental ones, which is what Indiana did by outplaying them and taking a 2-1 series lead.

The Heat are labeled as fragile front-runners, a team that wilts under the weight of impossible expectations, endless enmity and enormous egos. When confronted with adversity they become unhinged.

Who can forget Wade heatedly bickering with coach Erik Spoelstra in the huddle during the Heat's Game 3 loss to the Pacers? Remember Spoelstra announcing that Heat players were crying in the locker room after a loss to the Bulls last year? How about Wade caterwauling after that same defeat that "The world is better now because the Heat is losing."

Mental stress is much more damaging to the Heat than physical stress. LeBron, one of the three most physically imposing forces in the history of basketball along with Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O'Neal, is built to withstand such punishment. There are gymnasts who don't roll on the ground as much as Wade, who seems to complete every acrobatic drive to the hoop with a trip to the floor.

Beating up the Heat isn't the way to beat them. Making them feel the pressure of their unfulfilled promise and confront the idea of another season without a championship is.

The only way for the Celtics to do that is to have KG, Rondo and Pierce produce offensively because the best defense against Miami's relay-race run-outs is a great offense. It's harder to run on made baskets.

The Celtics have now played six playoff games against the hated Heat and lost five. The one game they won came last year, when the Celtics Core Four outscored Miami's unholy hoops trinity of James, Wade and Chris Bosh, who is sidelined with an abdominal injury.

For the Celtics to win against the Heat last year four had to be greater than three. It wasn't and they lost.

The math is different this year because of Bosh's absence and Allen's ankle injury, but the Celtics Three and a Half Men have to be greater than Miami's dynamic duo. LeBron (32 points) and Wade (22) outscored Rondo, Garnett and Pierce by a score of 54-51 in Game 1.

That can't happen.

The great fear, however, is that James is now immune to any type of psychological warfare from the Celtics. He laughed in KG's face in Game 1 when Garnett was taunting him.

Monday night was the ninth time that James has scored 30 or more points against the Celtics in the Big Three Era in 19 playoff games. James now has a winning record against the Celtics in playoff games -- 10-9. The Jedi mind tricks might no longer work.

The Celtics have to make the game tougher on James and Wade, but acting tough isn't the answer. Displaying their trademark mental toughness is.

The Celtics will need to have their bearings for the Philadelphia 76ers Saturday night. (Jim Davis / Globe Staff)

By Christopher L. Gasper, Globe Columnist

The Celtics' Eastern Conference semifinals series with the Philadelphia 76ers has been a series of lost opportunities. Now, it has the potential to be a series that is just lost.

Reaching Game 7 for the Green has been like mindlessly following the siren song of a GPS to an unfamiliar address. You don't really grasp how you got there, but all that matters is that you arrived. So the Celtics are playing an elimination game tomorrow at TD Garden instead of taking their talents to South Beach for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat.

The Celtics are on the precipice of squandering a 3-2 series lead and an open invitation to reach the Eastern Conference final for the third time since 2008 after an 82-75 loss in Game 6 that was to basketball what City Hall Plaza is to urban aesthetics.

There are those who will point to the Celtics' uninspired first half of the regular season and their current collection of maladies (Avery Bradley's season-ending shoulder injury, Ray Allen's ankle and Paul Pierce's knee) and say the team has overachieved.

Painting the Celtics as the Little Team that Could makes for a nice story. However, in a postseason without Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard and with the Heat potentially sans their sole reliable big-man, Chris Bosh, bowing out to the upstart 76ers is not an acceptable denouement.

It simply is not, especially when you consider that the only reason this peculiar series is going the distance is because the Celtics have made goodwill donations to each of Philadelphia's wins.

In Game 2, the Celtics shot 23.5 percent in the third quarter. They basically ignored coach Doc Rivers' game plan and Kevin Garnett for three quarters. They battled back to take the lead late in a see-saw affair and still had a chance to tie trailing by 3 points with 12 seconds left. But Kevin Garnett was whistled for an illegal screen and Philly stole an 82-81 win.

In Game 4, the Celtics stormed out to a 14-0 lead against a Sixers team that had bowed its heads waiting for the guillotine to drop. They led by 18 in the third quarter. However, the Celtics shot just 11 of 35 in the second half and Rivers stuck with his small lineup too long in the fourth, as the Sixers escaped with a 92-83 win.

Game 6 saw an uninspired Celtics club deliver one of the worst-shooting performances of the New Big Three era -- 33 percent.

Further illustrating the point that the Celtics' losses in this series have been as much about their play as the 76ers is that Philadelphia's field goal percentage in its wins (41.2 percent) is lower than in its losses (43.8 percent). The 76ers have averaged 85.3 points per game in three victories and 89 points per game in three losses.

The 76ers have come up with some clutch shots and big plays from Andre Iguodala, Evan Turner and Jrue Holiday. But the degree of difficulty involved in this series has largely been of the Celtics own doing.

It's easy to peg the Celtics procrastinating personality as the culprit, but it's also tied to their on-court identity.

Rivers' oft-repeated mantra is it's a make-miss league. Viewed through the prism of his own jump-shooting team, it really is. In the Celtics' three wins in the series they've shot 49.1 percent from the floor. In three losses they've shot 39 percent.

The Celtics are a make-miss lot because they're a jump-shooting one. According to NBA.com stats, 26.6 percent of the Celtics' points in the playoffs have come on mid-range shots (defined as outside the paint, but inside the 3-point line). That's the highest percentage of any of the remaining playoff teams.

During the regular-season, the Celtics were tied (with the Sixers) for the NBA lead in percentage of points that came on mid-range shots (27.2 percent). In Boston's wins in this series they've averaged 44 points per game in the paint. In the losses, it dipped to 24.7.
The Celtics ranked second-to-last in the league in percentage of points in the paint (38.1 percent), only the New Jersey Nets scored a lower percentage of their points from inside the paint.

That's a tough way to make a living, especially with a team whose stars have a lot of mileage on their NBA odometers.

The player most adept at getting into the paint for the Celtics is point guard Rajon Rondo. That's why Rondo, a tepid performer in Game 6, will determine if this is it for the current Core Four.

The mere idea of the trio of Garnett, Pierce and Allen having their run ended by a team that is the eighth seed in the East, went 10-14 over its final 24 games, and has been blown off the court twice by the Celtics in this series, makes one want to bang their head against a basket support like KG does with his calvous dome.

Losing to LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in the conference final is an honorable demise for the New Big Three era -- anyone still think the Pacers would be a tougher opponent for the Celtics? -- but losing to the 76ers is a dishonorable and disappointing end.

Sorry, but like Pierce, that's a hard truth.

Six months ago, when the season tipped off on Christmas Day at Madison Square Garden, if any of the Parishioners of the Parquet had been told that they could sign up a binding contract that would ensure the Celtics' path to the Eastern Conference finals was the Atlanta Hawks and the 76ers they would have brought their own pen or signed in crimson if necessary.

Game 7 is a destination the Celtics shouldn't have arrived at, but they're taking the route they always do -- Hard Way.

They're a make-miss team in the ultimate make-miss game. Either they make it to the Eastern Conference final or they miss a golden opportunity.

By Christopher L. Gasper, Globe Staff

During the Celtics' gratifying playoff run, Kevin Garnett has become a basketball version of David Ortiz. Counted out, Garnett has staged a remarkable revival, evoking some of his best days.

The Big Ticket and Big Papi are kindred souls of Boston sports. Both are 36 years old, both came to Boston from Minnesota, both have been doubted, dismissed and labeled diminished -- or worse -- as they approach the final straightaways of their distinguished careers.

Garnett is never going to average 24 points or 13.9 rebounds per game again, as he did during the 2003-04 season. Ortiz is never going to drive in 148 runs, as he did in 2005, or slug 54 home runs, as he did in 2006. But that's not the point.

The point is that both KG and Big Papi are performing at a level that few thought they would be able to reach at the advanced stages of their careers. They are defying aging with open defiance of both Father Time and those who had written their epitaphs.

They are also redefining what it means to be past one's prime, their excellence in lockstep with their contempt for their naysayers.

KG and Big Papi's renaissance fare was on display Monday night at roughly the same time, as they helped propel their teams to important victories, separated by 404 miles and a few channels on the cable box.

Garnett, who has hopped in the hoops Delorean to become the go-to scorer for the Celtics in the postseason, dropped 20 points on the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday evening, as the Celtics took a 3-2 series lead with a 101-85 victory that put them one win away from a place few thought they would be three months ago -- the Eastern Conference finals.

With the Red Sox trailing the first-place Baltimore Orioles, 5-2, in the sixth inning, Ortiz jump-started a Red Sox rally with a mammoth home run that sailed out of Camden Yards, landing on bordering Eutaw Street like an artillery shell with seams.

That was the spark for a three-run sixth that allowed the Sox to tie the game. The Red Sox went on to claim an 8-6 victory -- their 9th in 11 games -- to pull back to .500 for the first time since April 30. Suddenly, a season on the brink may be on the brink of turning the corner.

Perhaps, then it was fitting that after the big win in Baltimore, Ortiz channeled his basketball counterpart in vituperating his detractors.

Ortiz was asked by ESPNBoston's Gordon Edes about the team meeting he called on May 11, a season-altering assembly in which the law was reportedly laid down to the team's laggard starting pitchers. It came the same night that Josh Beckett was boxed around by the Cleveland Indians in the wake of his ill-timed tee time.

Ortiz, the longest-tenured Red Sox, was indignant at the notion that up until that point anyone questioned his leadership -- or anything else.

"I don't get no respect," he told Edes. "Not from the media. Not from the front office. What I do is never the right thing. It's always hiding, for somebody to find out."

It was hard to read those words and not think of Garnett's public censure of the media 11 days earlier, after he dropped 28 points and 14 rebounds in the clinching-game of the Celtics' first-round series with the Atlanta Hawks.

A rejuvenated KG admonished his doubters, the ones who thought such dominant performances by him were only found on YouTube or NBA Classics on NBA-TV.

"...It's almost like you guys are shocked," said KG. "Like this ain't what I do every day, like this ain't what I was made for. It does come off disrespectful at times. I put a lot of work and time into this, and there are certain levels I expect from myself.

"I take this very seriously, so you guys calling me old...you have no idea what you are doing when you say those 'old' comments. I appreciate that. I don't read your columns, but it gets back to me."

You're welcome, Kevin.

Both KG and Big Papi turn the slightest questioning of their ability into a personal affront. Despite the difference in their public demeanors they're both intensely proud men. It's part of what makes them great, and has allowed them to thumb their noses at athletic actuarial tables.

It's obvious from his comments that Ortiz is still embittered by the fact the Sox have resigned him to playing for his contract each year and the way he was treated in 2009 and 2010, when glacial starts had commentators dancing on his grave and NESN asking fans if he should still be the DH.

He's not only still with the Sox, but atop the American League leaderboard. Ortiz ranks in the top 10 in the American League in batting average (.333), runs batted in (30), home runs (10) and on-base percentage (.402). Only Josh Hamilton has a better AL slugging percentage than Ortiz's .616 and his 1.019 OPS is third-best in the AL.

The once-declining DH leads all of major league baseball in extra-base hits with 25, and since the start of the 2010 season, only five players have more extra-base hits.

Garnett has averaged 19.3 points and 10.5 rebounds this postseason. The rebounding total matches what he put up during the 2007-08 playoffs, when the Celtics won Banner No. 17. He has twice as many blocks this postseason (18) than he had all of last postseason, and is just two blocks shy of his total from the 2009-10 postseason. That was accomplished in 23 playoff games.

Usually, in sports if something is too good to be true, it turns out it's not. We've learned that disappointing lesson too often, too many times.

Hopefully, Garnett and Ortiz are age-old exceptions in every way because it's too enjoyable to watch them buck the odds and carry their teams.

By Christopher L. Gasper, Boston Globe columnist

Whenever the best-point-guards-in-the-NBA debate -- a polarizing topic that raises voices at barbershops, office cubicles and places of bibulousness while turning the closest of friends into intellectual combatants -- is conducted, the strongest point made against Rajon Rondo in comparison to his peers is his lack of consistent points.

Rondo's contemporaries like Chris Paul (the man he was nearly traded for), Deron Williams, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook and Tony Parker not only have to deliver the ball, but deliver points on a nightly basis for their teams to succeed. It's non-negotiable that if those guys don't score consistently their teams can't win.

Playing with three future Hall of Famers, Rondo's scoring has been a luxury, not a necessity. His shortcomings as a shooter muted by the Celtics' acclaimed trio. Feeding both the ball to and the egos of the Big Three has been his primary job.

But that has changed in these playoffs, and it certainly changed Wednesday night in the Celtics' 107-91 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. With Paul Pierce diminished by a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, and Ray Allen playing on a gimpy ankle, suddenly it has become incumbent upon Rondo to score.

With Pierce previously struggling in the series and at the start of Game 3, missing his first six shots, the Celtics needed Rondo to pick up the scoring slack. He grabbed the rope and tied the 76ers in knots with daring drives to the basket that made you think they should change the name of H-O-R-S-E to R-O-N-D-O.

Rondo submitted 23 points, 14 assists, and 6 rebounds with just one turnover. He shot 9 of 16 from the field, and most impressive was a perfect 4 for 4 from his personal waterloo -- the free-throw line.

A restive Rondo confronted the challenging of scoring like he did that hapless camera man in Atlanta.

"Teams dictate their defense by trying to play off of Rondo," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "When Rondo becomes an offensive threat then Kevin [Garnett] becomes a better offensive player. Ray and Paul are better offensive players because you can't spend the game trying to help off him.

"I thought he really set the tone for us."

What we are witnessing is the evolution of Rondo. Still only 26, he is like a tree that is growing and sprouting branches in new directions.

In Game 3, he wasn't facilitating and occasionally overpassing. He was dictating and totally taking over. Rondo scored 13 of the Celtics' 28 first-quarter points on 5 of 8 shooting.The NBA's assist champion registered only one in the first -- and it was a good thing.

Rondo scored 11 straight points for the Celtics in the first quarter. That bought time for Pierce to awake from his slumber and slam home a pair of dunks late in the quarter in a 25-second span that ignited both the Captain (24 points and 12 boards) and the Celtics.

"Offensively, Rondo really carried a great part of the load, and [KG] did also," said Pierce.

Rondo doled out five assists in the first half to go along with 17 points, tying him with Garnett, who finished with a team-high 27 points, for the team lead at the half.

But then in the third quarter, when the Celtics pulled away, Rondo turned back into an adept distributor with six assists in the quarter. It was a masterful performance. The Celtics shot 65 percent in the second quarter, and then followed that up with a 62.5-percent third quarter (10 of 16).

Games like these are more impressive than the triple-doubles for Rondo. The triple-doubles play to his established strengths -- rebounding and passing. He's always going to fill up a stat sheet with numbers like it's a Dow Jones stock ticker.

At times in the past, Rondo has been a timid shooter, but in these playoffs he has shot the ball without hesitation and with conviction. He might have been too eager to score in the clutch at the end of Game 2, as he appeared to wave off an open Allen.

Using his man as a free safety is now perilous strategy. Rondo scored 20 or more points eight times during the 66-game regular season. He has done it three times in eight playoff games.

Those are games that give us a glimpse of the future, that show he can take the baton from the Big Three. They're the games that show that Rondo can be more than an All-Star point guard. He is capable of being the focal point of a franchise.

Triple-doubles are like shiny trinkets at an antiques store. They catch the eye, but they're not necessarily the most valuable items on the shelves.

Even in Game 1 of this series, the most significant part of Rondo's play wasn't his triple-double (13 points, 12 rebounds and 17 assists). It was that after going 3 of 9 in the first three quarters, Rondo didn't shy away from shots LeBron James-style. He shot 3 of 6 in the fourth quarter, canning two jumpers from 18-feet and another from 19-feet.

The two best games Rondo has played in the playoffs thus far weren't his two triple-doubles. They're the 20-point, 16-assist outing he had against the Atlanta Hawks in Game 4 of the first-round, a game in which six of the eight field goals he made came from 18-feet and beyond, and Wednesday night's tour de force.

Both Rondo and the Celtics had something to prove to the 76ers after a pair of one-point games on the parquet.

"Obviously we had two close games at home, and we wanted to show these guys and send a message tonight, and I think we did a pretty good job of that," said Rondo.

Rondo sent a message of his own, not just to Philadelphia, but to the rest of the league that the days of playing him as just a pass-first point guard have passed.

By Christopher L. Gasper, Boston Globe columnist

A team that is in this position because they heeded the words of Al Green at the trade deadline -- "Let's Stay Together" -- was singing a different tune Monday night. This time the Green's mien was best summed up by channeling Denny Green.

After the Philadelphia 76ers evened this throwback Eastern Conference semifinals series at a game a piece with an 82-81 victory Monday evening at TD Garden, Paul Pierce was asked if the youthful 76ers had taken the Celtics by surprise with their fortitude and fearlessness in the first two games, a pair of one-point affairs on the parquet.

The suggestion of the Celtics underestimating the Sixers had Pierce parroting the infamous words Green, then coach of the Arizona Cardinals, uttered after his team squandered a 23-3 second-half lead to Celtics coach Doc Rivers's beloved Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football in 2006.

"They are who we thought they are," said Pierce, who after a 2 for 9, 7-point performance last night is 5 for 20 in the series. "They are a tough defensive team. They grind it out defensively. They try to fast break, and they're not going to give in. They have a good coach over there who instills his mentality into his players. So, nothing surprising, they are what we expected them to be."

What they are is a team that isn't going to beat the Celtics in a seven-game series, unless Boston decides to make some charitable donations as they did in Game 2. That's not to discredit the 76ers, but this was a game played on their terms -- muddy, ugly, and without a lot of redeeming qualities until the denouement of the fourth quarter.

The danger is not that the 76ers are being underestimated by the Celtics. It's that we're overestimating them now heading into Wednesday's Game 3 in Philadelphia. The 76ers are balanced and very well-coached, but not better than the Celtics, even if Pierce is performing at 70 percent because of a sprained MCL in his left knee.

Two months ago if you had told Celtics fan that the path to the Eastern Conference final wouldn't include a matchup with either Chicago or Miami then they would have been doing cartwheels down Causeway Street. Much of the season was spent fussing over the Celtics escaping having to face Miami or Chicago in the first round.

The idea of dismantling the Big Three at the trade deadline was based in part on the predication that even if the Celtics won the Atlantic Division and ended up in the top four seeds it would be awfully difficult for the Celtics to beat both the Bulls and the Heat to reach a third NBA Final in five seasons.

They don't have to.

All that stands between Boston and the Eastern Conference final is eighth-seeded Philadelphia, a team that went 10-14 in its final 24 games. Yes, they upset a hollowed-out Chicago club in the first round, but the battered Bulls would have forced a decisive Game 7 on their own court if not for a situational basketball brain cramp by C.J. Watson.

If the Celtics blow this series to the upstart Sixers then -- sorry, Paul -- they're not the team we thought they were, plain and simple, injuries or not. (Ray Allen, bad ankle and all, still gave you 17 points in Game 2).

I know Philly won two of three from the Celtics in the regular season, but was anyone really predicting that the New Big Three era would end at the hands of the...76ers?

That doesn't mean this is going to be an easy series. Philadelphia is a gritty, grinding team. During the regular season, it set an NBA record for fewest turnovers per game (11.2). The Sixers were third in both opponent points per game (89.4) and field goal percentage (42.7).

The Sixers are so quick and athletic that at times is appears they derive their abbreviated nickname from how many guys they have on the court.

But the 76ers can only win the series if these games devolve into Philly Frenetic scrums. The Celtics don't need to oblige them by losing their basketball bearings, as they did Monday night.

The Green did what the Sixers couldn't in Game 1 -- stop Kevin Garnett.

Inexplicably, KG took just five shots through the first three quarters, or a third the total of Brandon Bass, who was tossing up shots like they were part of a 2-for-1 special at his local supermarket. Bass was 5 of 15 for the game, despite not playing the final 16:58 of the contest.

Boston shot 9 of 37 in the second and third quarters and trailed, 57-49, at the end of the third.

The Celtics finally went to Garnett in the fourth quarter, and he delivered, going 5 of 7 for 11 points -- as many as the entire team had in the third quarter. KG finished with 15 points (on 7 of 12 shooting), 12 rebounds, one costly illegal screen call and no real explanation for why he didn't get the ball more.

"I don't call the plays," said KG, adding he plays whatever role the team asks.

One of the men who determined the plays, Rivers, said his charges took the offensive blueprint for the game and threw it in the trash.

"We didn't go to him. It's plain and simple," said Rivers. "My thought: We never established the post. ...I really thought we started out the first four minutes of the game moving the ball, playing the right way, and then I thought, honestly, we chased shots as a group."

The Sixers aren't afraid of the Celtics. "We like playing against Boston. We feel like we match up well with them," said Jrue Holiday, who had a game-high 18 points.

The feeling should be mutual.

The 76ers remain who we thought they were, a team the Celtics should beat in a playoff series.

By Christopher L. Gasper, Globe columnist

If the Celtics won ugly in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series with the Atlanta Hawks, then Rajon Rondo's triple-double was also more attractive on the stat sheet than on the parquet.

In his return to the series after an unbecoming ejection in Game 1 and resulting one-game suspension, Rondo had 17 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists on Friday night. But he also shot 7 of 22 from the floor, missed makeable layups down the stretch, air-balled a floater late in the fourth quarter, and had six turnovers.

An acquaintance I watched Game 3 with dubbed it the least impressive triple-double he had ever seen. That's hoops hyperbole, and you know a guy is a great player when you're nitpicking his triple-doubles. But the point is that Rondo's 20th career triple-double was a labor of love and not a work of art.

Sunday night against the Hawks was another story, however. In a contest that wasn't much of one -- the Celtics led by as many as 37 points -- Rondo submitted a performance that in sheer numbers didn't equal what he accomplished on Friday night. But for basketball aesthetics it was superior, like comparing the Sistine Chapel to a paint-by-numbers piece.

Rondo sparked the Celtics to a 101-79 victory over Atlanta and a 3-1 series lead by playing what is known in Brazilian soccer as jogo bonito, or the beautiful game.

The Celtics' restive point guard turned the TD Garden floor into his personal canvas, painting a masterpiece with each pass or stroke of his jump shot. Yes, I said jumper. Rondo had 20 points, 16 assists, three rebounds and remarkably just one turnover. It was more impressive than the triple-double.

"Yeah, because it was needed more," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who could have set up a triage on his bench with all the injuries the Celtics were dealing with -- Mickael's Pietrus's hamstring, Avery Bradley's shoulder, Ray Allen's ankle, and the latest malady, Paul Pierce's left knee.

Basketball isn't all about cold, hard stats. It can be as much performance art as it is athletic endeavor. But if you crave statistical evidence for why this was a better game for Rondo let's start with his 20 points.

Of Rondo's eight made field goals in the game, six of them came on jump shots, none closer than 18 feet. He had two lay-ups, the second of which was a dazzling display of legerdemain. Late in the third quarter, Rondo drove the lane, faked a wrap-around behind the back pass and then pulled the ball back and dropped it in as the Hawks parted like the Red Sea.

"Every day he does something to impress me on the basketball court," said teammate and Rondo whisperer Keyon Dooling. "I really like when he looks at the rim. Teams are going to be going under on him a lot. If he is hitting that jump shot there is not way you can guard him."

By now we're used to Rondo racking up assists like a North End resident racks up parking tickets, but he set the tone for the game with his distribution of the ball. He had 13 assists and no turnovers in the first half. His lone turnover came at 10:43 of the fourth quarter, when he went for a jump pass and faked out his teammates.

It wasn't a bad pass nor a bad decision. A 16-to-1 turnover ratio in an NBA playoff game is nothing short of brilliant. Rondo once had a 19-0 ratio in a playoff game, the Celtics' triple-overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls in Game 6 of a 2009 first-round series, but he shot 4 of 17 in that game.

The most obvious difference between Games 3 and 4 for Rondo was rebounding. However, there weren't many rebounds to be had, in large part due to Rondo's orchestration of the Boston offense. The Celtics shot 66 percent in the first quarter, 63.6 percent at the half and were shooting 60 percent at the end of three quarters.

Coming into the game, Boston had shot just 40.6 percent from the floor in the series.

I'll take this Rondo over the Game 3 triple-double Rondo any day of the week. If Rondo plays like he did Sunday night then the Celtics can beat the Miami Heat or anyone else in their postseason path.

Perhaps the problem with Rondo is that we try to qualify and quantify him, when you really can't do either. You can't compare him to his All-Star contemporaries at point guard like Chris Paul, Deron Williams or Derrick Rose because his style of play doesn't fit neatly in between the lines.

Rondo is one of the most unique players in the game. Unique is an over-used word. But he is truly one of a kind.

There is no one else in the league who plays like the Celtics' sui generis floor general. There are two All-Star players in the NBA who have a game unmatched by anyone else lacing them up in the league -- Rondo and LeBron James.

James is unique because of his ability to handle the ball and pass like a little man despite being the size of an NFL tight end. Rondo is unique because of his preternatural passing ability and ability to rebound the basketball like a man eight inches taller.

"He is incredible. We get to see him every day. It's still impressive even though you see it every day," said Dooling. "The way he sees the game is totally different. He really is a detail-oriented person. Guys just love to play with him. When he's out our guys don't get their normal shots. He can make every pass from every angle. He is a pretty special passer."

The Celtics won pretty and are now sitting pretty in their playoff series with the Hawks and in the Eastern Conference in general.

No more winning ugly, as both Rondo and the Celtics played beautifully.

This week's video Q&A focuses on lingering questions about the Patriots' Spygate scandal, the Red Sox and Paul Pierce's place in basketball history.

By Christopher L. Gasper, Globe Staff

Usually, the Patriots treat first-round picks like they do the opening coin toss -- they always defer. This year they flipped their philosophy.

Perhaps coach Bill Belichick was influenced by the last-minute loss in Super Bowl XLVI, or the winnowing window of his franchise quarterback, or having turned 60 earlier this month experienced the coaching equivalent of a mid-life crisis. But to borrow a slogan from the team that beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl, Belichick went all in during round one of the 2012 NFL Draft.

After years of stockpiling draft picks to the point they belonged on "Hoarders" and trading down or out when it was their turn to pick -- the team had dealt down a first-rounder in each of the previous four drafts -- the Patriots went for broke to fix their defense Thursday night. They traded up twice in the first round to select a pair of defenders, Syracuse defensive end Chandler Jones (No. 21) -- the long-sought pass rusher -- and Alabama linebacker Dont'a Hightower (No. 25).

The first trade saw them surrender a third-round pick (No. 93) to the Cincinnati Bengals to move up six spots for Jones. The second swap sent a fourth-round pick to Denver (No. 126) to ascend six spots again for Hightower and left the Patriots with just a pair of second-round picks in the remaining six rounds of the draft.

It was such a stunning reversal of draft philosophy that you had to wonder if Belichick and his brain trust had accidentally gotten locked in a broom closet in Fort Foxborough. The Patriots hadn't traded up in the first round since 2003, moving up one spot (from 14th to 13th) for defensive end Ty Warren. They did it twice in less than 20 minutes this year.

Instant analysis of a draft amounts to an occupational hazard for sports writers. No one, including Belichick, knows how these two players are going to pan out. The draft is part guessing game, part science, part plain dumb luck.

But what we can consider is the player-picking philosophy, and the Patriots' has taken a significant U-turn. There is recognition that with quarterback Tom Brady turning 35 in August there is now more sand at the bottom of the Patriots' championship hourglass than the top.

Time is now part of the team-building equation.

Oh, the v-word, value, is still a cornerstone of the decision-making. Belichick said that the pick at No. 21 was an either/or between Jones and Hightower. They got both players and managed to hold on to their second-round picks.

"I thought we got good value for them," Belichick said. Of course.

However, after having expertly restocked an aging team on the fly over the last three years by taking a total of 33 players in the draft, the Patriots valued quality, not quantity this time. When you go 27-5 during the regular season the last two seasons with the 30th- and 31st-ranked pass defense, you're only a player or two away from lifting the Lombardi Trophy.

The Patriots should be applauded for altering their approach. The team's first-round draft philosophy in the past, as spelled out here by Friend of Bill and former NFL personnel man Mike Lombardi, has been to identify a half-dozen or so players that have comparable draft grades then maneuver for additional picks while selecting one of those players.

The problem with that is there is no way that those six players are all going to have identical NFL careers. Two could be Pro Bowlers. Two could be solid starters. One could be a borderline NFL player. One could be a complete bust.

The Patriots never completely whiff on a first-round pick because of the quality of their scouting department. But that approach has probably cost them some truly impact players, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Evidence of the value-added methodology is that from 2009 to 2011 the Patriots made 14 selections in the second and third rounds, the most in the NFL, but made just two first-round picks (Devin McCourty and Nate Solder).

There is a financial component as well to the shift in thinking. The new NFL collective bargaining agreement has lowered rookie salaries and actually makes a first-round pick more desirable since teams have a fifth-year option on those contracts. For players taken between picks 11 through 32, the option is the average salary of the top 3-25 players at their position.

Picks in rounds 2-7 can only sign four-year deals with no option. But you would hate to think that it was strictly finances that prevented the Patriots from moving up in the past.

The idea of targeting specific players has worked before for the Patriots. Prior to last night, the last time they traded up for a player was 2010. They moved up two spots to draft some guy named Gronkowski. The counter of course is Chad Jackson in 2006.

That just goes to show that the draft is not about accumulating picks or manipulating the board. It's about accumulating talent. You can trade up, trade down, stand pat or stand on your head, but at the end of the day it still comes down to scouting and evaluation.

After all those years of rolling over picks like a 401k, Belichick cashed in his chips.

The 2012 first round for the Patriots will be judged not just against this year, but against past drafts when the Patriots passed on picks and players. If the 6-foot, 5-inch, 265-pound Jones becomes the pass rusher the Patriots need or Hightower turns out to be David Harris you'll stop hearing about Clay Matthews, Brooks Reed and Jabaal Sheard, the ghosts of Patriots' drafts past.

If not, the Patriots may have ended up deferring on more than draft picks.

Tonight's chat will run from 7 to 8 p.m.

Join me throughout the first round of the NFL Draft for a live discussion of the picks.

By Christopher L. Gasper, Globe columnist

The end was swift and stunning. Suddenly, the puck was behind Tim Thomas and the Washington Capitals were hugging the TD Garden boards and each other in celebration. A moment later the Bruins were in the handshake line, sent home empty-handed without a Game 7 victory, a playoff series win, or Lord Stanley's Cup.

A captivating and charmed 12-month span of hockey came to an unexpected conclusion. Joel Ward's backhanded sweeper at 2:57 of overtime put the defending Stanley Cup champs into a state of pucks repose. No need to get the Duck Boats ready this year, just the golf clubs, thanks to a first-round exit courtesy of the Caps.

There will be a rush to do a postmortem and try to detail the reasons the Bruins bowed out in the first round after suffering a 2-1 overtime loss to the Capitals in Game 7 of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series. You can blame the power play (0 for 3 last night and 2 for 23 in the series), the play of Washington's playoff neophyte netminder Braden Holtby (2.00 goals against, .940 save percentage), or the lack of production from the Bruins' best players -- Rich Peverley (3 goals, 2 assists) and Andrew Ference (a goal and 3 assists) ended up as the Bruins two leading point producers in the series.

But what last night's loss provided is a greater appreciation for just how special last year's Stanley Cup run was, because this year's edition of the Black and Gold had largely the same cast of characters and got a much different result.

Last year's club was truly remarkable -- and blessed. It was the first in NHL history to win three Game 7s in one playoff year. It was also the first Bruins team in 27 tries to win a series after trailing 0-2, as the Spoked-Bs did to Montreal in last year's first-round. It had a goaltender in Tim Thomas who repelled more rubber than any goalie in Stanley Cup playoff history (798 saves). It overcame an inept power play.

Still, any number of unfavorable bounces or missed opportunities last year could have derailed the Bruins' Stanley Cup run, as it did this year.

The series with the Capitals was thisclose. After seven games, all decided by one goal -- an NHL first -- the cumulative count for the series was Capitals 16, Bruins 15. A solitary goal, triggered by an unlucky Benoit Pouliot dump-in, the difference between going on and going home.

That's not to ascribe the Bruins' success last year strictly to great goaltending and good fortune. It was much more than that. Last year's team was a model of resiliency, finely-tuned team play, and clutch individual efforts. They rose to the occasion and never shrank from the moment.

The short summer, a long, grinding regular season, the absence of Nathan Horton, and a recusant Capitals club that got a style makeover from coach Dale Hunter made it difficult for the Bruins to recapture that playoff magic, the 13th successive champions who failed to retain their Cup holder status.

That doesn't dull the disappointment of a first-round exit or provide underperforming Bruins like Milan Lucic, David Krejic and Brad Marchand with an alibi. But it illustrates that exultation and lamentation are separated by a margin as narrow as a skate blade this time of year.

Thomas never would have become a Conn Smythe-winning icon if the Bruins hadn't escaped against Montreal in the first round last year.

"We're not going to sit here and pick at our team," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "When I look at this hockey club and what it went through last year and you look at teams that have been through that situation and how they've struggled throughout the year...we had to really grind it out. It was a challenging year for our guys, and it was a challenging series as well.

"They made it tough on us. They deserve a lot of credit for the way they played and the number of shots they blocked. They helped their goaltender, but the young goaltender played extremely well. Let's not forget to give them a lot of credit for the way they handled us.

"At the end of the day when you look at your team, the team wasn't playing its best hockey in the series. Before this day started you just hoped you could get through this Game 7 and then hope to pick some momentum up as you moved forward in the playoffs. But you had to get through this game and we weren't able to."

The good news is that the core of this club figures to return intact, unless general manager Peter Chiarelli decides now is the time to sell off Thomas. The most prominent free agent is Chris Kelly, a versatile forward the Bruins should do their best to retain. The Bruins should get a boost with the addition of blue-chip blue line prospect Dougie Hamilton.

Perhaps the most encouraging sign for the Bruins in defeat was the coming of age of Tyler Seguin. No. 19 was the Bruins' best forward in the last three games of this series. He scored the Boston's lone goal last night, knotting the game, 1-1, in the second.

That goal, even more than the Renoir game-winner he scored in overtime in Game 6, was a sign of Seguin's maturation. Noticeably contact-averse early in the series, Seguin crashed the net and battled with Washington's shut-down defense pair, Karl Alzner and John Carlson, before diving and poking a loose puck past Holtby.

It was the type of no-guts, no-glory goal you would associate with Lucic or Bergeron. It's the type of goal that earns the respect of your teammates and lets them know that you grasp what being a Bruin is about.

Hockey is over this season in Boston, but the Bruins run of success isn't. It has merely paused to allow them to catch their breath.

This week's Q&A focuses on the Bruins' Game 7 vs. the Capitals, and the likely Hawks-Celtics matchup in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

By Christopher L. Gasper, Globe Columnist

Daniel Bard is right. He can't make eight guys in the bullpen better, but what he can do is provide relief that goes beyond pitching.

He can soothe the battered psyche of a baseball team and its fed-up fan base simply by being a familiar face performing in a familiar late-inning role.

Bard's return to a relief role was triumphant, both for him and the Red Sox last night in Minnesota, as Bobby V's Rock Bottom Band bounced back from a Hindenburg weekend by ending a five-game losing skid with a 6-5 victory. Bard entered a tie game in the eighth with one out and a runner on third. He didn't do anything spectacular, inducing a lineout to third and a popup to shortstop to end the inning, but you could hear an entire Nation exhale when he walked off the mound.

The obvious question is where do the Sox go from here? Do they act like nothing significant happened Monday night and allow Bard to make his regularly-scheduled start in Chicago on Friday? Or do they recognize that Bard is just the ballast a rudderless team and listing bullpen so desperately need?

What the Sox decide to do is going to provide keen insight into the culture and commitment to winning of the Red Sox in 2012.

If the reluctant reliever is returned to a starting role then the message is that nothing has really changed since last September for the Red Sox. They're still coddling and empowering players, like helicopter parents.

It obvious that Bard prefers to be a starter. It's obvious that general manager Ben Cherington has made assurances to Bard that he'll be given every opportunity to start, in part because Cherington recognizes the cost-efficient value Bard could provide in the rotation if he develops into a front-line starter.

But if the manager or the general manager being worried about offending, alienating or upsetting a player prevents him from doing what is in the best interests of the team, then the Red Sox' problems go much deeper than a raft of injuries to key players and poor pitching.

It speaks to an organizational fatal flaw of pandering and capitulating to players. It makes last September a painful flashpoint for a more pervasive issue.

The old bromide about a happy employee being a productive employee is true, and the Sox should want to create a welcoming work environment for their players, especially in this city. But at the end of the day, the players work for Valentine and Cherington, not the other way around.

If that fundamental work place hierarchy isn't established you end up with a pitching staff where guys get to choose their own role and their own receiver, even if it's to the overall detriment of the team. It sure seems like Josh Beckett has tabbed Kelly Shoppach as his personal catcher, so the red-hot Jarrod Saltalamacchia will likely take a seat Tuesday night against the Twins. Great.

Someone has to be the adult here -- and it's unfair to ask for it to be Bard -- and point out the obvious change of circumstances since the plan to make Bard a starter was approved. If not, the message that gets sent is either that satisfying a player's wishes are more important than the team's success, or that forced to make a choice, the Sox value long-term developmental and financial gain more than winning this year.

Either rationale is utterly disheartening.

If the decision is strictly a baseball one and has nothing to do with interpersonal fallout then it should be an easy one -- Bard goes back to the bullpen. Nothing undermines a team, a manager, and a season faster than an unreliable bullpen, as the Sox have witnessed.

Maybe Cherington and baseball operations remain convinced that Bard can be Jered Weaver. He has done nothing in his first two starts to be yanked from the rotation on performance. In an ideal world, we would all get to see how this Grand Experiment turns out. However, the experiment has now become a luxury the Sox simply can't afford.

It could be an opportunity for the Red Sox to resurrect another Grand Experiment though -- Bill Jamesian bullpen philosophy. In 2003, the Sox had the novel idea that using your best relief pitcher just in closer situations was an inefficient deployment of talent. This idea got boiled down to the ill-fated Closer-by-Committee calamity, but it was fundamentally about using your best reliever in the most important juncture in the game, which isn't always the ninth inning.

It wasn't last night. The most important juncture was the eighth, when Bard came in with the go-ahead run on third base and one out.

It could be more valuable to have Bard extinguish rallies than ring up saves. He is the only guy on the staff who has a proven track record doing that. Last year, he allowed just 5 of 34 inherited runners to score, 15 percent. For his career he has allowed 24 percent of inherited runners to score. The 2011 major league average was 30 percent.

Closer-by-default Alfredo Aceves allowed 38 percent of inherited runners to score last season and is at 34 percent for his career.

Franklin Morales, the presumptive eighth-inning guy, allowed 38 percent of inherited runners to score last season and 33 percent for his career. Vicente Padilla is at 35 percent for his career. The Sox bullpen has allowed 41 percent of inherited runners to score this season.

While it's always going to be necessary to have the defibrillator nearby when Aceves, who apparently attended the Heathcliff Slocumb School of Closing, is in a save situation, Bard doesn't have to collect saves to be the bullpen savior.

Plus, putting Bard in the bullpen permanently wouldn't just allow the Sox to restore order to their season but to their organization as well.

By Christopher L. Gasper, Globe Columnist

Four is an integer of interest these days on the Boston sports scene.

The Bruins are tied, 2-2, after four games of their playoff series with the Washington Capitals, thanks to a 44-save performance Thursday night by Washington goalie Braden Holtby, playing in just his fourth NHL playoff game. Four is the number of wins the Red Sox have in their first 12 games under manager Bobby Valentine headed into Friday's Fenway Park centennial celebration. The Celtics are set up as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, and the Patriots have four picks in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft, which will take place next week.

So, here are four sports musings for Friday:

1. The Bruins are being beaten at their own game -- No one from Washington has blocked this many attempts at passage since last year's polarizing debt-ceiling budget debate. The Bruins, who tied for second in the NHL in goals during the regular season, have scored just seven in four games in a series that is tighter than a pair of skinny jeans. The Capitals have found hockey religion in the form of defensive-minded play, and a stingy netminder in Holtby.

Before the series, the feeling was a low-scoring, tight-checking, goal-starved series would benefit the Bruins with Tim Thomas in net and coach Claude Julien's dedication to defensively responsible hockey. But that grinding style of play, coupled with the Bruins usual playoff power-play ineptitude (0-12), has allowed a team with lesser overall talent and depth than the Bruins to turn a first-round formality into a hard-fought series.

The only way for the Bruins to shake off the Capitals is to get some of their big guns to stop shooting blanks. None of the Bruins' top five goal-scorers during the regular season -- Tyler Seguin, Brad Marchand, Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron -- has found the back of the net yet. The quiet quintet has one measly point in the playoffs, an assist belonging to Bergeron. That's an express ticket to an unwanted and unexpected tee time.

2. Ray Allen's ankle situation is concerning -- Allen didn't make the trip to Atlanta, and Friday night will miss his seventh straight game and 13th out of the last 18 due to a balky right ankle. The Celtics' resurgence has been a feel-good story, and with Dwight Howard hors de hoops for the season thanks to a back injury, Boston's path to another NBA Finals got even clearer.

But Allen's condition is worrisome. Either the ankle is not coming around and has reached a stage where it's a chronic ailment that could affect him in the playoffs, or Allen, a free agent after this season, is making a business decision to protect himself and his marketability this summer by not playing hurt. Neither Allen injury scenario bodes well for Banner No. 18.

The former is the dreaded and anticipated breakdown of one of the Celtics' vaunted Big Three. The latter is Allen being miffed about nearly being traded by the Celtics to Memphis at the trade deadline and confirming the rumblings that he's not in love with his new role as a sixth man. In the last two days both the Globe and Herald have had stories implying that Allen feels slighted by the organization and hinting that he could be playing elsewhere once he hits free-agency.

3. The Red Sox' unsettled bullpen is contributing to the hysteria surrounding the team -- The most disconcerting thing about the Red Sox -- besides the fact they would play "Sweet Caroline" in the eighth inning even if Fenway were engulfed in flames -- is the bullpen, a unit that is a conflagration in the making.

Here are the relievers with corresponding ERAs that the Yankees used on Thursday night in a 7-6 win over the Minnesota Twins after starter Phil Hughes was tagged for six runs in 5 1/3 innings: Boone Logan (1.23), Rafael Soriano (1.80), David Robertson (0.00) and Mariano Rivera (4.15). There is a better chance of Terry Francona returning as Red Sox manager this season than Rivera finishing the season with an ERA above 4.00.

The Sox' farraginous bullpen simply can't compete with the arms the Yankees have. It's a complete mismatch and the lack of proven, reliable options undermines Valentine far more than any careless words he utters to the media.

It may be unfair to Daniel Bard, but to give Valentine and this team a reasonable chance to succeed the Sox will have to consider moving him back to the bullpen at some point.

4. Likes and dislikes of the 2012 NFL schedule -- What any Patriots fan has to like about the schedule is the paucity of high-end quarterbacks on the team's slate. Three of the Patriots' four losses last season came at the hands of Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger. Their porous pass defense struggled against elite QBs. The two best quarterbacks on the schedule this year are Peyton Manning (Denver) and Joe Flacco (Baltimore). Houston's Matt Schaub would also be on the list, but he's recovering from a Lisfranc fracture in his right foot, an injury that can have long-term effects.

What I don't like about the schedule is the placement of the two Jets games. Everyone is talking about how easy the Patriots schedule appears, but the difficulty of their slate will be determined in large part by whether the Jets resemble the dysfunctional, bickering bunch from last season that missed the playoffs or the team that advanced to two straight AFC title games.

The first Jets game comes on Oct. 21 at Gillette Stadium. The week before the Jets have a nice cushy 1 p.m. home game against the rebuilding Colts. The Patriots meanwhile have to fly to Seattle and play the Seahawks in a 4:15 game, ensuring jet lag and a wee-hours of the morning arrival home, which could mean losing a half-day or more of preparation time. The second clash with the Jets comes on Thanksgiving and is on the road, which means already limited time to prepare, truncated even more by a travel day. Granted, both teams are playing the prior Sunday at 1 p.m., and the Jets are on the road (Rams) while the Patriots are home (Colts). But such a pivotal divisional game shouldn't have its game-planning compromised.

My biggest issue with the NFL schedule overall is the expansion of the Thursday night television package. It seems hypocritical for commissioner Roger Goodell to go on a player safety crusade and then have the league increase the number of games that are played on Thursday nights without building in byes.

How is this for player safety? The Ravens will host the Patriots on Sunday night football on Sept. 23, and then turn around and host the Cleveland Browns the following Thursday. Inexplicably, not a single one of the 14 Thursday night games this season features a team coming off a bye week. That could do more damage than Gregg Williams and his bounties.

Is the NHL out of control with their recent hits and suspensions? How does the Patriots' schedule look? CineSport's Noah Coslov and the Boston Globe's Chris Gasper discuss this and Bobby Valentine.

It could be worse for the Bruins.

Fellow Stanley Cup aspirants the Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins, both trailing 3-0 in their playoffs series, would gladly trade places with the goal-starved Black and Gold, who have found the Washington net dead-bolted and their series with the Capitals deadlocked, 1-1, heading into Game 3 Monday night in the nation's capital.

There is a bit of unease about the Bruins' first-round series with the Capitals. The series has turned a wee bit worrisome after Washington squeezed out a 2-1 double-overtime victory on Sunday at TD Garden to even the proceedings.

Obstructionist policy, all the rage in Washington these days, has been translated to the rink by coach Dale Hunter and the Capitals, who have limited the Bruins to two goals in two games. Washington newbie netminder Braden Holtby has stopped 72 of 74 shots in 144 minutes and 14 seconds of action. A big goalie clad in red, white and blue derailing a Bruins Stanley Cup title defense is too familiar a story.

Where did the goals go? That is the question the Bruins, a team that scored 260 goals during the regular season, tied for second in the NHL with Philadelphia and only trailing the Penguins, have to answer before they take the ice for Game 3.

Games in which teams scrounge around for goals like they're trying to dig up loose change in their couch cushions would seemingly play into hands of the Bruins, with their penchant for defensive responsibility and the presence of Tim Thomas in net. However, if they let Holtby continue to gain confidence and the Capitals to continue to believe they're engaged in a winnable series then goal-gridlock could backfire on the Bruins.

It might be time for Bruins coach Claude Julien to start tacking up flyers around the Bruins' locker room. They could read: "Missing: Scoring Touch of Top Two Lines. Last seen during the regular season. Please return to 100 Legends Way, Boston, MA as soon as possible. If found contact 1-888-GOAL or backofthenet@bostonbruins.com."

The Bruins top two lines have yet to register a point in the series. The trios of Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Rich Peverley and Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and Tyler Seguin going silent.

Both Boston goals, Chris Kelly's game-winner in overtime in Game 1, and Benoit Pouliot's net-crasher in the third period of Game 2, have come from the third line That line has all six of the Bruins points in the series, despite possessing only one of the team's six 20-goal scorers this year (Kelly).

It would help the Bruins if they got Seguin going.

The physicality of the playoffs seems to have muted Seguin's game a bit. In spite of a team-high eight shots on goal, he has not resembled the player who led the Bruins in goals (29) and points (67).

During the regular-season, it was clear that whatever line Seguin was skating on was the Bruins' most potent one. When Julien needed to recharge the batteries of a lagging Krejci, he put Seguin on his wing.

For all the talk of digging deeper, getting more dirt under the fingernails and tossing pulchritude aside to get more goals, perhaps it makes sense for Julien to pull Seguin off the Bergeron Line, which has the defensive responsibility of matching up with Alexander Ovechkin's line, and see if he can re-ignite his chemistry with Krejci and Lucic.

Perhaps, pairing up the Bruins two most individually skilled offensive players could crack the Capitals' defensive shell and jump-start two players the Bruins are going to need to lift Lord Stanley's chalice once again.

Krejci said after Sunday's loss that he and linemates Lucic and right wing Rich Peverley weren't clicking.

"I just don't think we're playing our game, especially my line. I don't know what it is, but we have to find a way to help each other out there," said Krejci. "It sometimes seems like the one guy is working and the two others are just waiting and hoping for the puck to get a scoring chance. It doesn't work like that. We got to help each other out there. If we do that we have good players, and we have good size so we should be able to get some scoring chances."

The buzz words in the Bruins locker room after Game 2 were net-front presence, crashing the net and screening. Shield Holtby from shots, so he can't shield them from the net.

The Bruins were more apt to blame themselves than credit Holtby, who had 43 saves in Game 2, for the paucity of pucks that have found the back of the net. Krejci shrugged off a question about whether a lack of familiarity with Holtby, who was playing in the AHL playoffs last year, has made him harder to solve.

"Obviously, he's played real well for them so far in the first two games, but in saying that a lot of our shots have come from the outside," said Lucic. "We haven't done that great of a job getting second, third shot opportunities -- pounces on rebounds -- and getting in his face. Can't take anything away from him; he's made the saves and stepped up big, and we just need to find ways to create more offense."

One way to do that is to reunite Krejci and Seguin. If Julien thinks it's too much of a risk, he could at least let them play together on the power play, which has sadly picked up right where it left off last postseason (0 for 6 so far).

With a Stanley Cup title to his name, Julien has proven that his way works.

But to make things harder for Holtby and the Capitals the Bruins need to get more offensive, unless they plan on getting the Flyers and Penguins to donate a few spare goals.

By Christopher L. Gasper, Globe Columnist

The Spoked-B on those Bruins sweaters last night might as well have stood for bullies because it was clear from the drop of the puck that the Bruins planned to begin their Stanley Cup title defense by dropping the Capitals early and often.

This was a game of two teams with distinctly different styles. It was force (Bruins) vs. finesse (Capitals). The Bruins imposed both their will and their game on the Washington Capitals last night at TD Garden, outlasting Alexander Ovechkin and Caps kid goalie Braden Holtby to score a 1-0 overtime win and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series.

Yes, these aren't your older brother's Capitals. They've abandoned their ping-pong style of hockey and no longer act like they're fatally allergic to defense. They play a more measured, responsible game.

But the Bruins clearly felt that they could push Washington around a bit and wasted no time doing so, setting the tone for the game and the series. A game that was short on goals was not on physical contact. The Bruins served Washington a heaping helping of bangers and mash, and I'm not talking about the traditional English dish.

"We don't want to let them play their fancy hockey and their skill game," said Bruins forward Brad Marchand. "We want to focus on playing physical and keeping it simple and playing hard and being tough to play against. We did a pretty good job of that tonight. It's only one game. There is still a lot of time left."

The Black and Gold's Big Bang theory worked on night one.

Boston made its presence felt early with some big hits, and defenseman Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg made a point of knocking around Ovechkin to try to knock him off his game. To his credit, Ovechkin seemed like one of a few Capitals willing to consistently engage in the physical stuff with the bruising Bruins. Most of his teammates were looking for salvation in form of the referee's whistle.

The Russian goal machine gave as good as he got and had a building-shaking collision with Seidenberg in front of the benches in the second period that sent both men tumbling to the ice.

Ovechkin registered a game-high seven hits, but just one shot on goal, a power play laser that Tim Thomas turned aside in the third period. Even with Ovechkin playing a physical game, the Bruins exceeded the Capitals hit count, 40-29.

The Bruins will be more than happy to have nights like last night where Ovechkin, who even in a down year finished fifth in the NHL in goals scored, takes more shots at Chara and Seidenberg than he puts on Thomas.

"That's what it's about -- trying to shut him down because he is their biggest offensive threat," said Seidenberg. "We just got to play tough and try to disrupt his speed and time ... He likes to play a physical game. We do too. It's fun. I think we all like it out there. It's been fair."

This is what the Bruins do. They did it to Vancouver last year. They intimidate and instigate and aggravate. They force teams to fight for every inch of ice. They tilt the rink to their favor and their terms. Finesse teams like the Canucks and Capitals can either whine to the media and the officials or fight through it and try to hurt the Bruins where it counts -- on the scoreboard. Of course, that is easier said than done with the Bruins' commitment to defensive responsibility and a tuned-in Thomas in net.

The Bruins, who tied for second in the NHL this season in goals scored with 260, have enough skill to compete with Washington in a more wide-open game, but to do so would allow the Capitals to get comfortable.

Instead, the Bruins instituted Capitals punishment all night and took Washington out of its comfort zone in Game 1, locking it into a pucks tractor-pull that wasn't decided until Chris Kelly blasted a slapper past Holtby at 1:18 of overtime, the goal set up by a well-executed Bruins' counter-attack.

Don't let the score fool you. The Bruins dominated this game for long stretches. They outshot the Capitals by a 17-2 count in the second period and after two periods the shots totals stood at a lopsided 26 for Boston to just 7 for Washington. Holtby, making his first career playoff start, was keeping the Bruins at bay with a stream of steady, if unspectacular, stops.

If the Bruins' power play hadn't resorted to its feckless playoff form (0-4) then perhaps additional time wouldn't have been needed at all. Coach Claude Julien admitted after the game that if the Bruins had lost the talk of the evening would have been a power play that failed to convert on a four-minute man advantage and a 4-on-3.

That could come back to haunt the Bruins in series where they're playing against Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and offensive-minded defenseman Mike Green.

The Bruins sent a message to the Capitals in Game 1 about what kind of series this is going to be. It's the type that Capitals coach Dale Hunter would have embraced during his rough and tumble playing days. Whether his team is built for that type of hockey remains to be seen.

We already know it's tailor-made for boys in the Spoked-B sweaters.

"They have a ton of skill, and a way to kind of slow them down is to be physical, and we have a physical team," said Marchand. "When we're playing that way we're playing our best hockey. It was just something we wanted to establish early and just continue to build off it."

The Bruins have established their tactics in this series -- hit 'em hard and hit 'em often. They delivered the blows, including the decisive one in Game 1, now we'll see in Game 2 Saturday afternoon at TD Garden what the Capitals have planned for a counterpunch.

There has to be parameters set for Daniel Bard to continue as a starter for the Red Sox. (Brad White / Getty Images)

By Christopher L. Gasper, Globe Columnist

If Daniel Bard's first major league start was supposed to provide conclusive evidence of how his right arm can best be deployed for the Red Sox this season then what was submitted was like the outing itself -- open to interpretation.

Bard did nothing to sway public opinion on whether he should be a starter or a reliever. Those lined up on either side of the debate like Republicans and Democrats before his first big league start are likely entrenched in the same spots after Bard pitched five uneven innings in Toronto on Tuesday evening, credited with allowing five runs on eight hits while striking out six.

Proponents of Bard's conversion to a starter will point out that he only allowed one extra-base hit, at one point set down seven in a row, generated enough swings and misses from the Blue Jays to lobby for a wind farm subsidy, and had his final line inflated when Justin Thomas allowed a two-run single.

Bullpen backers will point out that Bard's effort wasn't better than that of Felix Doubront. That he still looked like a two-pitch pitcher (fastball, slider) who intermittently had difficulty putting hitters away. That Aaron Cook probably could have given you a similar start, and that another reliever-turned-starter, Texas's Neftali Feliz, tossed seven shutout innings on the same night.

Evaluating whether Bard's switch to the starting rotation was a worthwhile undertaking is not going to happen after one night in Toronto. It's going to take some time, but we should at least set some parameters. If it turns out Bard is basically your average No. 4 starter then his days as a starter need to end.

For Bard's move to the rotation to be a success he has to show that can he can be a top three major league starter. Anything less and he belongs back in the bullpen.

The Yankees showed last year that you can exhume No. 4 and No. 5 starters. What really matters is your Big Three. The Red Sox learned that lesson the hard way last year when Buchholz was sidelined by a balky back and the Sox were starting the likes of Kyle Weiland, Andrew Miller and a broken-down Erik Bedard in September.

Even if Alfredo Aceves, who lowered his earned run average from infinity on high to a mere 27.00 with his first save, proves he can close, the Sox still might need Bard in the bullpen as the eighth-inning guy because not all late-inning pitching is equal.

Not all saves or holds are equal. Not everybody can pitch or produce in a late-inning role in a city full of fervent, emotionally invested fans like Boston. Preserving a late-inning lead in Oakland or Kansas City isn't the same as doing it in New York, Boston or Philadelphia.

If you disagree with the geographical premise then you have to allow for the psychological one. Saving Game 91 isn't the same as trying to save Game 6 of the World Series, just ask Feliz or Calvin Schiraldi.

It was exactly the kind of flawed thinking that dismissed the human element of pitching late in games that led to the Sox' ill-fated Closer by Committee catastrophe in 2003 -- a pitching theory so pernicious that it created a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder for manager Grady Little that proved fatal in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series.

Mark Melancon, Bard's successor in the eighth-inning role, has already experienced more pressure in the Motown Meltdowns than he did all last season saving 20 games for a horrific Houston Astros team (56-106). Closing out games for a team where victories are a pleasant surprise is different than doing it for a team that is expected to win.

As bad as Bard was last September -- 0-4, 10.64 ERA, three blown saves -- he has proven he can pitch in Boston in a pressure, late-inning relief role, which is no small feat.

The only time Bard pitched in the playoffs, 2009, he pitched three scoreless innings across two appearances and struck out four without a walk. In Game 3 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of Southern California, he entered in the sixth inning, inheriting a bases-loaded, no outs situation and induced a run-scoring double-play grounder and a pop-up. He then set down the side in order in the seventh.

Any pitcher who can pitch in the cauldron of noise that is Red Sox Nation and not allow a run over a span of 25 consecutive appearances, a team record, and toss 26 1/3 straight scoreless innings of relief, as Bard did last season, is more valuable than an average No. 4 or No. 5 starting pitcher.

That's because nothing eats away at the morale or the psyche of a team like a blundering bullpen.

Sox general manager Ben Cherington is right to be bullish on making Bard a starter because the righthander has flashed the stuff to be a top three starter. So, if Josh Beckett is thumbs down or Clay Buchholz proves too frail, Bard can be an inexpensive insurance policy.

Bard's transformation into a top-of-the rotation pitcher would also give the Sox the flexibility to part ways with the peevish Beckett and the remaining $31.5 million on his contract after this season, if now in their coupon-clipping days they deem that money better spent nowhere.

But if a month or two into this grand experiment the Sox bullpen is still undermanned and unreliable, and Bard is not out-pitching Doubront, never mind Buchholz or Beckett, the plug has to be pulled.

The Sox will have other options for fourth and fifth starters like Cook, the still-unsigned Roy Oswalt and the rehabbing Daisuke Matsuzaka. This is not even taking into account the fact the Sox told us one of the justifications for the team's frugality this offseason was so they could sock away money for in-season acquisitions.

Bard will continue building his case to be the starter on Marathon Monday, but what it takes to make it in the long-run should be clear.

This week's Q&A focuses on the Celtics and the playoffs, the Celtics' tough stretch of games against top-tier opponents, and the Red Sox.