With their backs against the wall, responsible for a sudden regionwide crisis of confidence, the Celtics responded with one of their best, most balanced games of the season to punch Atlanta 110-85 and regain control of the first-round series.

The C's put on a virtual clinic of how to spread the ball around, rely on your stars, let the bench guys contribute, and never really let the other guys into the game. Garnett set the defensive tone early, and finished with 20 points. Paul Pierce had some big rebounds, and finished with a nice 22/7/6. Ray Allen drilled a couple of smooth 3's when the Hawks sorta-kinda-not really threatened in the fourth, and finished with 19. The three-headed monster is back!

Off the bench, Leon Powe did his Super Leon Powe thing, picking up 10/7 and stepping into a couple of Atlanta charges, one of which put Joe Johnson on the bench for most of the first half. Sam Cassell, under fire for looking for his shot first, justified it by hitting six of eight for 13 points.

Some of the Hawks who led their team to the two wins in Atlanta turned invisible. Josh Childress did nothing off the bench, Marvin Williams looked lost all night, and Mike Bibby is apparently allergic to something at the Garden; he shot a stinky 2-for-8 and contributed one whole assist. Even Josh Smith saw his contributions limited to 18 points (10 on free throws) and one hard foul on KG.

Want more? John Hollinger breaks down the game in the Daily Dime, Steve Weinman at CelticsBlog says this win is personal, and Steve Buckley salutes Paul Pierce. Want a dull column, 60% of which was written before last night's game even started, clucking at Boston fans and unfavorably comparing Pierce to John Havlicek? Dan's your man.

Another day, another pitching gem from the Red Sox. This time, it was Daisuke Matsuzaka blowing away the Jays for seven innings, while Dustin McGowan was doing the same to the Sox' anemic offense. Ortiz homered in the seventh for the first run of the game. Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima immediately gave Toronto the run back, killing Daisuke's W. But once again it was Papelbon in the ninth (including a sweet pickoff of John McDonald, which had the Jays crying balk), and once again it was a ninth-inning dramatic win.

Ortiz led off with a walk; Manny followed with a single. Tuesday, it was the other way around. Jed Lowrie came in to pinch-run, and got thrown out at home: a great throw by Vernon Wells on Brandon Moss' single. Try, try again: Jason Varitek singled to almost the exact same place, but this time Wells' throw was off, Manny scored, flipped his helmet nonchalantly into the sky, and walked off a winner. Wakefield tonight.