If there's one non-Celtic central to what is rapidly becoming a very anti-climactic Eastern Conference final series, it's probably Rashard Lewis, the Orlando forward who shows all the signs of becoming Rasheed before his time. Last year, when the Magic beat the Celtics in seven games, Lewis --- along with the departed Hedo Turkoglu -- was the wild card. He helped make up for the absence of point guard Jameer Nelson, too. This year, Nelson's back, Turkoglu's on vacation with the rest of the Toronto Raptors, and Lewis is the invisible man. The biggest reason the Celtics have taken a 2-0 lead is that Orlando has been far too easy to guard, and the biggest reason for that has been that they have swallowed Lewis up entirely.

It's become plain that the greatest defensive talent the Celtics have lies in taking the Other Guys out of the game. It was what they did against Cleveland; LeBron James, of course, did them the additional favor of taking himself out of play. They can deprive a team's superstar of scoring help and dare that one player to beat them. In the regular season, that doesn't matter. Orlando won three of the four games in the regular season against Boston, but it didn't score 100 points in any of them. In the playoffs, where every possession counts, this can tighten the throat considerably.

(And not to look too far ahead, but Kobe Bryant can light them up all he wants, this team can guard Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.)

That is the buzzsaw through which they're putting Lewis at the moment, challenging him on the perimeter, and taking advantage of his puzzling disinclination to drive. (Ibid: "Rasheed, ahead of his time.") In the first two games, Lewis is shooting four for 16, and nine of his 16 attempts have been three-point shots. He's managed to grab 11 total rebounds. He's not in the mix at all.

And, were I an Orlando fan, this smiling Dwight Howard from the team's website would concern me greatly. What, precisely, do you have to smile about, young man, either at this practice, or at that odd moment on Tuesday night, when your team finally got a one-point lead and, when we get back from commercials, you're grinning away and talking to your fans? Pro tip: look down at the other bench. Those people are not smiling.