Aligning the Stars

Admittedly I'm somewhat distracted right now by the breaking news that Manny Ramirez has tested positive for a banned substance and will be suspended for 50 games starting today.  He tested positive for a female fertility drug, which is apparently used as a mechanism to restart the body's natural testosterone production after the user has finished a steroid cycle.  So much for my vote that he's the greatest right-handed hitter to ever play the game (welcome back, Mr. Aaron!).  Even in the steroid era where nobody can be presumed innocent after so many revelations in recent years, this shocked me.  Manny had no need for steroids, for his gifts of brilliant vision, balance, discipline, reflexes and the sweetest swing I've ever seen made him the great hitter he is, yet the implications from this result is practically a smoking gun.  We should have known better by now, but somehow this is still a devastating shock to the system.  So it goes.  

As for basketball news, the Celtics are looking good once again after pounding the Magic into submission last night to even the series and hearing the news today that Magic point guard Rafer "Skip 2 my Lou" Alston has been suspended for game three after slapping Eddie House upside the head during the second half of game two.  Though Alston hasn't had any luck stopping the Celtic guards or providing effective offense against them, his loss means that the already suspect Orlando point-guard corps is now thinner than Mikki Moore.  This loss would be significant against any NBA opponent, however against the Celtics it is huge because of the out-of-this-world play from Rajon Rondo.

Speaking of Rondo, he continued his downright nasty (and I mean that in the best possible way) play last night, notching another triple double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 18 (!) assists.  The numbers are impressive (especially the assist total) enough, but they don't even capture the extent to which he shredded the Magic from start to finish.  As usual, Rondo was the catalyst and used his speed and energy to wreak havoc on a normally stout Orlando defense and created more scoring opportunities for the Celtics than his 18 assists indicate.  Simmons is right, he's a smaller, faster and nastier version of Isiah Thomas, and I'm totally loving every second of it.

Game three is tomorrow night in Orlando, and while I'd normally pick the home team to win an intense home game after getting humiliated at your opponents house in the last contest, but for a variety of reasons that I will in due time explain, I like the Celtics to win the next game.  The first reason is the absence of Alston and the stellar play of Rajon Rondo.  Anthony Johnson and Tyronn Lue have little hope of containing Rondo on defense, and neither have proven to be players capable of taking big minutes in big games.  Rondo will slash the Orlando guards to ribbons, and even with Dwight Howard defending the rim Rondo's dribble penetration will help the other Celtics find open shots.  The Magic have no answer for Rondo, and that's the end of the story.

Another factor working for the Celtics going into game three is the poor play of Paul Pierce in game two.  Pierce played only 16 minutes in game two because of foul trouble and finished with just three points for the game.  Because of the foul trouble, Pierce actually got an impromptu rest and should be fresh for the next contest.  Pierce is also the kind of player who is competitive and proud, meaning he isn't likely to have two bad games in a row.  With that in mind, I'm looking for him to exploit his advantages against the Magic and spark the Celtics on the road, much as they did against Chicago in game three of that series.  If he can stay out of foul trouble, Pierce should have plenty of opportunities to remind the Magic why he's called the Truth.

In this same vein, I expect Dwight Howard to play better than he did in game two (he got outplayed by Kendrick Perkins and finished with a pedestrian 12/12), but to me that won't necessarily translate into a win for the Magic.  As I've written about at length before, I believe that Dwight Howard's game is limited and that he can be defended more readily than anyone is willing to admit.  The Celtics have played him well all year long, and Glen Davis has personally gotten the better of him before.  He's incredibly talented to be sure, however his strengths don't really match up that well against a tough and disciplined defense like the Celtics.  

Dwight Howard can simply be pushed away from the rim and double teamed all day long, which if done properly can completely remove him from the game and really stagnate the normally fluid, high octane Orlando offense.  Howard struggles to be an offensive threat when he's more than five feet from the basket, and his poor footwork and passing skills can make him a liability on a night where he isn't allowed to live in the paint.  Because of this, the Celtics have an advantage over Orlando and should win this series, albeit in six or seven games (though who wants to?  As I'm writing this, LeBron and the Cavs are KILLING the Hawks again and James just hit a 40-footer to end the first half with a hand in his face and it wasn't luck.  He measured the shot, rose up for a normal jumper and followed through as the ball went through the net, simply sick.)