Poor Chicago. True, the Bulls could have made things interesting at the TD Banknorth Garden on Friday night if they'd actually shown up ready to play. But we imagine that they knew, as they sat in the locker room before warmups, that the Celtics weren't going to let anyone speculate about Boston's ability to bounce back from a loss.

The guys in green were going to come out hard against anyone they faced - and the Bulls happened to find themselves the likely recipients of a Detroit-prompted slaughter.

Sure enough, the Celts tidily disposed of their Bull counterparts, 107-82 (the neat little 25-point margin was a nice touch). Sole holders of the best record in the NBA (21-3), and tied with San Antonio for best home record (13-1), Boston came out ready to play and faced a Chicago lineup that clearly wasn't quite as gung ho for a ballgame.

Your Big Three Breakdown:
Pierce: 22 points
Allen: 18 points
Garnett: 12 points

-- Here's your question of the day: How will the rest of the Bruins respond to the injury-prompted loss of right winger Glen Murray? We find out today, when the Bruins host the Blues.

-- Listen, Boston.com. We'll absolutely agree that Tom Brady is a great football player. We'll even note that he's a hottie (although we still prefer the pre-GB version). But we can't NOT mock a decision to state that one of the things that is perfect about Boston is Brady's chin. WOW.

Image of a Celts victory by flickr user Eric Kilby.