More than any other game this season, last night's Celtics game resembled an episode of Full House. There were a lot of laughs at the beginning, some serious moments towards the end, but it all wrapped up very neatly, complete with an "awwww" track from the studio audience.

Aside from the cheeseball 90's sitcom aspect, this one had trouble written all over it. A hungry Rockets team (even without Tracy McGrady), and the first game back after a long road trip always seems to be tough. But the Celtics pounded Houston early, outshooting the Rocks by about 94%-23% (our unofficial estimate) through the first and most of the second quarters. It looked like it might have been a blowout.

But the second half got terrifying, and not just because Kimmy Gibbler showed up. Yao Ming's presence inside got Kendrick Perkins and Scot Pollard sent home with six fouls apiece, the Rockets' bench (mostly Bonzi Wells) seemed to be hitting everything while our bench (mostly Posey and Tony Allen) were doing the opposite.

So it was time for one man to step up, in a way that the Full House metaphor falls apart. Even Uncle Jesse can't take over a situation the way Kevin Garnett can, as the big guy drained everything down the stretch, killed Houston on defense, and all but willed the C's to the win. We've been saying all year that, as good as Garnett is, we haven't felt like he completely took over a game yet. He hadn't really needed to, but the last five minutes of last night answered that. A great win.

27-3. With a two-point loss to the East's most complete team, an OT loss to last year's Eastern champs, and a close loss on the road to a stacked Orlando team. Drink it in. That San Antonio game can't come soon enough.

Image from Amazon.