I loved Doc Rivers’ quote about this play: “You know, Kevin kind of was a little amped to begin the game. He turned into Bruce Lee there for a minute with the karate chops.”

A little amped? More like completely and totally out of his mind, just like Kevin Garnett is every time he steps on a basketball court. If I had Garnett’s focus and intensity, I could build mountains with my bare hands and write 5,000 blog posts a day. But I’m not wired like Garnett and, quite frankly, I don’t think anyone else in this world is.

By the way, I think I’m still laughing at these elbows. Have you ever seen anything else like them, in a basketball game? I know it wouldn’t have been funny if Garnett’s second foul had cost the Celtics at all, but it didn’t and so I can still laugh at the absurdity of Garnett’s Bruce Lee behavior.

"Can the NBA gods keep rooting against me much longer?"

Steve Nash has experienced a whole lot of agony during his career. Honestly, it’s become an annual passage of spring that he has his heart torn from his body in breathtaking fashion. There was the Tim Duncan three-pointer, the Robert Horry clothesline, and now the Ron Artest miracle putback. Is there any way Nash HASN’T lost in his postseason career?

Yet he continues to chug along — battered nose, bruised eye and all. And, despite all the devastating losses, Nash’s confidence remains intact. (Arizona Republic)

“They held home court,” Nash said after Game 5′s agonizing loss Thursday. “We’ll go back and do the same, and we’ll come back here (Staples Center) for Game 7.”

Joe Namath did not draw much pregame notice for his 1969 Super Bowl guarantee, but Nash, far from sounding like Muhammad Ali boasting or looking like Babe Ruth pointing, has the attention of his teammates.

“We can’t make him look bad,” Suns forward Grant Hill said.

The Lakers have not lost a best-of-seven playoff series after they have taken a 3-2 lead with a Game 5 win since Namath’s guarantee year. What is feeding Nash’s confidence is the progress the Suns made with each game this series. They lost Game 1 in a blowout but lost Game 2 after taking a tie to the fourth quarter on the road, won Games 3 and 4 with improvements and played their best defense of the series in Game 5.

“I stand by what I said,” Nash said Friday. “I didn’t say guarantee, but I have no problem with that.

“It’s a belief. I believe we’re going to come home and win and go back and play Game 7 over there.”

I’m so torn about who I want the Celtics to play in the Finals.  On the one hand, there’s the possibility of a rematch with the Lakers.  The Celtics still think they should be the two-time defending champions and would be if Garnett hadn’t gotten injured.  Then there’s that whole Celtics-Lakers rivalry thing — it’s a pretty big deal when the two teams play each other.  It’d be nice for the C’s to prove that last year was a fluke and beat their most hated rivals, all at the same time.

On the other hand, I adore Steve Nash.  Not in a sick way or anything, but he plays basketball the right way and always has.  He’s willing to sacrifice his body to win games and is as unselfish a player as they come.  If you don’t want Steve Nash to win a title by the end of his career, you’re either heartless or dumb.  How can I root against Nash and for the Lakers?  It’s not only counter-intuitive, it’s sacrilegious.

On top of my unconditional love of Nash, I’m even more confused because the Suns aren’t as good as the Lakers.  Playing the Suns would undoubtedly be an easier series.  While the Celtics and Lakers match up pretty evenly, I don’t think a single player on the Suns team can guard anyone on the Celtics.  Just look at the matchups, please.  The Suns have nobody, nobody, to match up with the Big Four.  The Suns couldn’t possibly stop the Celtics, and the Celtics are good enough defensively to at least slow down the Suns. I could not see the Suns possibly defeating the Celtics under any scenario, but I could see the Lakers beating the Celtics.

So who do I root for — the team I think the Celtics would have an easier time with, or the team I’d rather see them beat?  The team I love or the team I loathe?

At the end of the day, I guess I don’t really care who the Celtics play.  Waiting on the Celtics’ Finals opponent — no matter who it will be — is never a bad thing.

Methinks Dwight was talking about Vince.

It seems like Dwight Howard has some serious problems with his teammates’ heart. (Boston Globe)

Dwight Howard (31 points, 13 rebounds) gave standard answers to most of the questions on how the Celtics beat the Magic, but he did give a couple of revealing answers about his own team: “Next year we’ve got to have guys that are willing to give everything they’ve got to get wins,” said Howard. “In games like this or a series like this, it’s not about skill or talent, because it’s the Eastern Conference championship. Both teams are talented and skilled. It’s about who wants it the most and who is willing to do it for a series. Those guys played like they wanted to win the championship the whole series. That’s why they’re in the position that they’re in now.” Howard added, “Everybody wanted to do it on their own. That’s not what got us back to Game 6 ‑‑ this is Game 6. You know, just everybody wanted to do it by themselves. In a situation like this, you’ve got to keep fighting together.”

It doesn’t take Russell Crowe from “A Beautiful Mind” to understand that Howard’s speaking about Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis.  Orlando’s two most talented offensive players, Carter and Lewis went MIA for the playoffs’ third round.  The disappearances of Carter and Lewis helped expose the Magic for what they were — dangerous front-runners and not much else.

When the Magic were winning, everything looked so easy.  The ball would be moving, shots would be swishing, and defensive rotations would be impeccable.  But give them a deficit, and it was an entirely different story.  I don’t know whether it was because they didn’t have enough heart or because they were simply a poorly-constructed team, but the Magic struggled when they got down.  They were like the hard-hitting heavyweight with a glass jaw: When they got quick knockouts they looked unbeatable, but when pitted against an experienced fighter willing to stand toe-to-toe the Magic wilted.

Everyone wilted, that is, except for Howard.  Howard didn’t advance to the Finals this season but he really proved himself as a player and competitor.  It’s always been easy to complain about Howard’s competitive spirit — he’s always smiling, so it’s easy to use the smile as a convenient excuse to call out Howard’s heart and wonder why he isn’t snarling instead.

But this series, Howard was a warrior.  He battled against four big bodies focused on nothing but being physical with him.  A lot of Celtics fans will be upset about Howard’s elbows (and those fans probably have a good point) but the bigger story was Howard’s improvement.  His team didn’t win, but Howard grew up in this series.  By Game Six, he was an unstoppable force even against a Celtics frontcourt designed almost perfectly to stop him.

Say what you want about Howard’s smile, but at this point of his career all it does is hide the fierce competitor underneath.

The Celtics have gotten rid of their morning walkthrough, but that doesn’t mean we have to. Here are a few Celtics links, and maybe even an NBA link or two, to help wake you up and get you focused for the day.

Prophet?

Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! – “Two years ago, Rivers’ job was to temper the wild expectations of bringing together the Big Three. This time, it was to get these Celtics to believe again. As the Celtics lulled midway through the season, this was the hardest job of all. Around the coach, panic sometimes set in. Assistant coaches barked that Rivers needed to be tougher on the players, that they had too many bad habits that would come back to haunt them. The players themselves would make mistakes on the floor, miss assignments on defense, get destroyed on the boards and retreat to the locker room angry, lost and disillusioned. The players cried for change, but Rivers never gave into any of it. ‘When things went bad, we kind of fight a little bit,’ Allen said. ‘‘We need to do this. … We need to do that,’’ Allen said. Every time, Rivers would march into the locker room and insist, ‘We’re not changing anything.’ Over and over, Rivers would tell them they were the best defensive team in the NBA. He would tell them they still had the core of the ’08 champions, and no one had ever beaten them when the starting five had been together. They watched the Cleveland Cavaliers make dramatic change to their lineup and fail. They watched Orlando make the move for Vince Carter and watched him completely crumble under the burden of expectations in the conference finals. ‘But the one constant Boston had as a contender was that we had the same starting five,’ Pierce said. Rivers always talked about it, always told them, ‘I like this team guys.’ They loved him for it, too. Deep down, they never lost sight of the fact Rivers always fought for them, that he never stopped selling the locker room on the belief that when together, when whole, they were still champions. ‘He stuck to the script the whole time,’ Allen said. ‘There may have been a point when we were wavering, but … he believed in us.’”

Rich Levine, CSNNE – “As the season wore on and the Celtics struggles progressed, Rivers’ words of positivity and encouragement were as consistent as his team’s apathy. Things looked bleaker by the day, but his tone never changed. He believed in what he had, and refused to let anything — even reality, some thought — convince him of anything different. And on Friday night, as the final seconds ticked down on Boston’s series-sealing win over Orlando — one where the Celtics never showed a glimpse of a late-game collapse, ousted their second straight elite opponent and did so thanks to major contributions from Robinson — their coach’s constant, almost dogmatic, rose-colored confidence finally made sense. Eternal optimist? How about Doc Rivers: Modern day prophet.”

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe – “Dwyane Wade will be huddling with his divorce lawyers. LeBron James will be preparing for The Great Recruiting Tour. And Dwight Howard will be sharpening his elbows. But if they get an idle moment or two, those three members of the All-NBA team will rendezvous in Hilton Head, or some such getaway, to watch the Boston Celtics play for the NBA championship.”

Chris Sheridan, ESPN – “‘If you come off the two series they just had, I mean they beat two very good teams, and they made us look like we weren’t very good teams, OK?’ Van Gundy said. ‘Cleveland was upset with the way they played, and we’re certainly upset with the way we played. But when you go through two series like that, I think you have to be fair and say a lot of it had to do with them, and they are playing very, very well right now.’ The closeout game came four nights later than it could have, and Boston emerged from this series with a lot more bumps and bruises than they might have had if they had finished this thing off with a sweep as it appeared they would after taking the first three games. But out of that adversity emerged a positive, a night when the Celtics discovered that Nate Robinson could indeed be the x-factor in the postseason that they thought he would be when they acquired him from New York back at the trading deadline. After Rajon Rondo crashed to the hardwood and bruised his tailbone late in a first quarter in which he was once again dominant, Robinson took over the quarterbacking duties to start the second period and was the difference maker in this game.”

Kirk Minihane, WEEI – “Nate. Well, even in this game, which is easily his finest NBA moment not involving jumping over a chair, you could see why he’s tough to trust. A super-emotional kind of player, and he lets the moment control him. Worked great in Game 6, but he was starting to force the issue a little too much at the end. Nice job by Doc to recognize that and get Rondo back in the game late in the second quarter. Who knows if Robinson can help the Celtics in the finals, but I suspect he’s moved into a “Let’s give him two or three minutes and see if he’s got something” role. But he’ll be on the shortest of leashes. Doc isn’t giving Nate any time to find his rhythm. in the NBA Finals, not if that means that Rondo is on the bench.”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “‘The first thing we said when we got into the locker room was this is where we thought we would be,’ Rivers said. ‘This is what we talked about before the season started. And you know, we did go through some tough times. We started out so well. I thought after 28 games you could say we were the best team in the NBA, but after that we had injuries and fell apart – we had trouble finding ourselves. But we kept saying as a staff, it’s in us. We’ve got to try and get it back out of us.’ Vindication arrived last night, when the most varied Celtics cast of the Eastern Conference finals made survival possible.”

Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe – “Invented by Walter Brown in 1946 and made great by Red Auerbach and Bill Russell, the Celtics are the team that rarely lets you down when it matters most. They don’t choke, they rarely lose Game 7s, and they certainly don’t blow a series in which they lead three games to none. And that is why it comes as no surprise that the Green Team dismantled the Magic on the fabled parquet floor last night. On a night when pundits and poets speculated about an epic fold and exposure of old bones, the Celtics throttled Orlando, 96-84, in Game 6 to advance to the NBA Finals for the 21st time since 1957. The Celtics are 17-3 in the championship round and will play either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Phoenix Suns (LA leads, 3-2, going into tonight’s game), beginning Thursday night at the home of the Western Conference winner. Former Celtic and NBA MVP Dave Cowens, who would have fit in nicely with this crew, was on hand to present the conference championship trophy to owner Wyc Grousbeck. Cowens urged the Celtics to ‘go out there on behalf of the NBA and Red Auerbach and all Celtics present and past and bring home No. 18.’”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “Robinson’s game has never been doubted. When those jumpers are falling, he can be one of the game’s most explosive players, a 5-foot-9-inch dynamo of excitement, just as he was during the Celtics’ 96-84 Game 6 Eastern Conference finals-clinching win over the Orlando Magic. But conforming to Boston’s system was eerily like a public school kid adjusting to private school. He didn’t favor the dress code or the authority. Celtics coach Doc Rivers believed Robinson would flourish with increased discipline and a new environment. Instead, he rebelled at times. Rivers’s patience grew short. Things Robinson got away with in public school he tried with the Celtics, and that annoyed the coach. Robinson did not truly embrace the defensive system. He made poor on-court decisions and his immature actions in the locker room stunned Rivers. So for most of the final month and postseason, Robinson was relegated to the bench. Yet, Rivers repeated that one game during the playoffs Robinson was going to make a difference. And last night was the night.”

Ron Borges, Boston Herald – “‘They actually made their big run with Rondo sitting on the bench,’ Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. ‘I’m not up here saying they’re a better team without Rajon Rondo, but tonight they were in the first half. Nate Robinson was great. In an absolutely huge game he stepped up and played great.’ As Robinson rained on the Magic, he was reminded that all things come to those who wait – even if the wait seems endless. ‘God gave me a lot of strength just to be humble in this whole situation,’ said Robinson, who arrived at midseason after being banished by New York Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni. ‘I was like Atlas. It felt like the whole world was on my shoulders. You know deep down in your heart you’re good enough to play, but you’re not playing. Even my kids asked, ‘Daddy, why don’t you play?’ That’s tough. Now they can say, ‘My daddy went to the Finals.’ ‘”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “Celtics forward Rasheed Wallace and guard Rajon Rondo both tweaked their backs during Friday’s Game 6 and both are expected to utilize the extended layoff before the Finals to nurse themselves back to health. [...] ‘[Rondo is] going to be OK, I’m more concerned with Rasheed, honestly,’ said Rivers. ‘Rasheed got tight, you could see it. I will say this about Rasheed and [Glen Davis], neither one of them was in great shape tonight. You could see that. Rasheed could not move. He looked old tonight because of his back. And I told him when he came back. You could see him in pain, and I said, ‘Thank you for giving me the minutes you gave me.’ So that’s our concern, but we have time, so I think by Thursday we’ll be good.’”

Gary Dzen, Boston Globe – “Pierce on getting back to the Finals: ‘Man it’s a great feeling. You never take these moments for granted. This is an opportunity that I have for my second trip to the Finals. Knowing that a lot of guys never made it. So we’re real excited about this. Going to soak it all up. Going to enjoy it. There’s nothing like it. Being the only team ‑‑ one of the last teams standing. All 28 NBA teams got to watch us now. So we never take these moments for granted. Especially at this point in my career where it’s winding down. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, to get back here is a great accomplishment, but even greater if we win another one.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Before the season started, the Cleveland Cavaliers were anointed the favorite in the East, if not the league. But Celtics coach Doc Rivers constantly told his team that the Magic were the best team in the East, and if the Celtics were going to get back to the Finals, they would have to go through Orlando. After tearing through the first three games, the Celtics faltered trying to close the series out. It took them three attempts to slam the door, but ultimately, the Celtics paved the road to their second Finals in three seasons the same way they did the first time: through defense. ‘They were tough,’ Rivers said. ‘We came in this year thinking that this was the team that we were going to have to beat. Everyone else talked about other teams. We believed that this was the team we were going to have to beat.’”

Peter May, ESPN – “‘They’re a very unselfish team. They don’t care where it comes from,’ Van Gundy said. ‘In the last series, they really rode Kevin Garnett in the post. I thought we took a lot of his post-ups away so they went other places. Nobody seems the least bit concerned by that. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. I think they did a great job at both ends of the floor against us.’ Paul Pierce must have been happy to see LeBron James pondering his future instead of focusing on stopping the Celtics captain. Pierce scored a game-high 31 points in Boston’s Game 6 victory, continuing to excel on isolation plays against the Magic. Game 6 was another example of this. How many out there put Nate Robinson on their Fantasy team for the clincher? In the first five games, he had played 16 minutes and scored 6 points. He then went out and, with Rajon Rondo ailing, torched the Magic for 13 points in the second quarter. Pierce and Ray Allen took over from there. There still is one more series to play. Rivers acknowledged that the great Celtics championship teams of the past have won titles in bunches. The Russell-era Celtics won 11. The Havlicek-Cowens era Celtics won two. The Bird-McHale-Parish era Celtics won three. This group has one — and counting ‘Obviously, one is special but the other groups have a couple, and we’d love to join that club. But we’ve got a tough road. Phoenix or the Lakers, it’s not going to be easy for us,’ Rivers said.”

Michael Whitner, Boston Globe – “Tired of hearing increasing whispers of a possible collapse after the Celtics watched their 3-0 series lead cut to 3-2, Pierce said he didn’t put much stock in what was being said. No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit. Boston fans saw it happen in hockey two weeks ago, when the Bruins dropped four straight to the Flyers after taking a 3-0 lead. ‘I never think negatively — about losing, about being up 3-0 and something tragic happening,’ Pierce said. ‘This is not hockey, this is basketball. It’ll happen one day [in the NBA]; I’m just glad we could prolong it one more year.’”

Dan Duggan, Boston Herald – “Howard assumed a villain role reminiscent of former Pistons forward Bill Laimbeer with a few well-placed elbows during the series. He was called for a flagrant foul for a hard takedown of Paul Pierce in Game 2 and picked up another when his elbow to Kevin Garnett’s head in Game 4 was upgraded to a flagrant after league review. ‘I think it’s ridiculous,’ Van Gundy said of Howard being called a dirty player. The Celtics are far more physical than we are. I’m not saying dirty at all. That’s the way Kendrick Perkins plays him – hit him, hit him, hit him. They’re a very physical team, and I respect that. I’m not saying that as a negative at all, but all of a sudden they’re the poor, picked-upon Boston Celtics?’”

Paul Flannery, WEEI – “By now we all know how Rivers managed this team through the 82-game grind. How he made his stars sit when they would have rather played. How he wouldn’t give Rajon Rondo the keys until he was sure everybody was ready to take them the ride with him. It’s been a masterful performance by Rivers, who along with Rondo, has been the breakout star of the postseason. What we also know now is that Rivers had a plan all along. In April, he and Danny Ainge sat down with his veterans — Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and told them how it was going to be. ‘We brought all three of them in and I said listen, we’re going to practice harder, you’re going to play less, you’re going to have a minute restriction, and you’re not going to like it,’ Rivers said. ‘Kevin and Paul were the toughest. Ray was easy. Ray understood. But Kevin doesn’t have a sit-down button. We lost leads with him sitting on the bench and he’s looking over at you.’ A scary thought indeed, but they bought in like they have always bought in to this team since it was formed three years ago. They all deserve credit for this: from Rivers to the future Hall of Famers to Rajon Rondo and on down to Nate Robinson, who finally delivered on the promise that his coach made that he would help them win a playoff game. What we have all witnessed is nothing short of a stunning reversal of time and fate.”

Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel – “It might not seem like much consolation, but at least the Magic had the guts and gumption to make a series out of it after falling behind 3-0. They could have easily folded and faded like a bunch quitting dogs. Still, there has to be an extreme sense of disappointment through the organization right now. This is, after all, the same Magic team that all season long chanted the words ‘championship’ when they broke their post-practice huddle. The same Magic team that has a picture of the NBA’s golden championship trophy hanging in every player’s locker. The same Magic team whose mantra this season has been, ‘Championship or bust.’ Bust.”

Steve Buckley, Boston Herald – “Teamwork. You have your Big Three, you have your Rondo, and, yes, absolutely, you have guys like Nate Robinson shaking off the dust and making a whole lot of noise. Don’t ever forget that quote from Rivers: ‘I know you all want to win. But we have to do it together.’ Together, the Celtics are headed for the NBA Finals.”

Have a link I might want to look at? Send it my way by email (jayking@celticstown.com) or Twitter.

Is there a better point guard in the league at not only hitting the right man on the fast break but hitting him at the perfect time? Rondo simply knows how to play the game, and runs a break almost like John Stockton did. I used to always marvel at how Stockton found the right guy every time and always hit him when he could do the most damage. Now, Rondo’s exactly the same way.

On another note, can we please get Rondo fully healthy for the Finals? Please?

Boston advances to the NBA Finals for the second time in the last three seasons

Led by the electric point guard play of Nate Robinson–yes, Nate Robinson–Boston silenced the doubters after game 4 and 5 losses, closing out the series 96-84 on their home court in Game 6.

Robinson has been used sparingly in the playoffs, averaging just 5 minutes per game, but when Rondo was shaken up at the end of the first quarter, Nate Robinson started the second quarter.

And what a quarter it was.

Robinson forced Jameer Nelson out of his game with chest-to-chest pressure defense and sparked the offense with 13 second quarter points. Robinson opened the quarter with a three-pointer at 9:49, then followed with another three with 8:21 remaining. The Celtics stretched the lead to 21 points during the second quarter, before a late surge by Vince Carter (13 second quarter points) cut the halftime lead to 13, 55-42.

After losses in Games 4 and 5, the Boston Celtics heard all the comparisons to the Boston Bruins–who lost a 3-0 playoff lead to the Philadelphia Flyers. But the Celtics proved–once and for all- that they are NOT the Bruins.

Boston opened the game shooting very well, but for the first six minutes, their defense was lacking. Howard had three dunks in the first five minutes of play and the Orlando Magic took advantage of open driving lanes.

In the last six minutes of the first quarter, however, Boston locked in defensively, allowing just five Magic points, extending the lead from 17-14 to 30-19. Rondo led Boston with 12 first quarter points, before being hurt with 32.7 seconds left in the quarter. Rondo was injured on one of his many forays into the lane, when he made contact in the air with Dwight Howard, and fell hard on his hip and back.

As Rondo lay on his back, The Garden chanted “Rondo! Rondo!” but it was Nasty Nate Robinson–not Rondo– who answered the call.

To start the second half, Ray Allen hit back-to-back three-pointers , followed closely by a Paul Pierce three–stretching the lead to 22 points– and the rout was on. Ray Allen nailed three three-pointers and scored 20 points. Celtic captain Paul Pierce hit timely shots all night, finishing with 31 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists.

The second half was a glorified victory lap for the Boston Celtics, who were heartily cheered on by the faithful fans of the TD Garden. Late in the fourth quarter, as the win became inevitable, “Beat LA” chants echoed throughout the Garden.

Though the game was in hand for Boston, credit to Dwight Howard for playing all-out until the final horn sounded. While the rest of the Magic appeared defeated sometime in the middle of the third quarter, Howard continued to play with passion and energy. Howard finished the game with 28 points and 12 rebounds.

Now, the Boston Celtics await their next and final challenge, either the Los Angeles Lakers, or the Phoenix Suns, whomever emerges from the Western Conference Finals. Most Celtics fans would welcome a rematch of the 2008 Celtics-Lakers Finals, but it’s hard to root against Phoenix Suns fan favorite, Steve Nash.

Boston split the season series with Los Angeles, 1-1. Boston lost both games they played against the Phoenix Suns this season.