Sports Redux: Homeward Bound

Objectively, the Celtics are right where we want them. They did their job and took one in LA, and have two chances to finish the Lakers off at home. Realistically, though, the C's had a golden opportunity - just waiting there - to snatch another game, and thus the series, away from the Lakers last night, but just couldn't finish it off.

The Celtics did themselves no favors by digging another monster hole in the first quarter. While Kobe Bryant led the Laker charge, KG got in early foul trouble, PJ Brown was having a rough time filling Kendrick Perkins' shoes (Powe started, and played five minutes; see, this is why we're not 100% on board wit Doc still), and Rajon Rondo looked mostly lost. Which is why the "Green 17" people were talking about after one referred to the deficit.

The Celtics roared back into it in the second, with Pierce (48 minutes, and every one vital to keep the Celts in the game) and Tony Allen (!) sparking the comeback. We noted in last night's liveblog that a typical Celtics third quarter would end the series. But it kept not quite happening. Even with Kobe off the mark, some of the Lakers that we've mocked stepped up on both ends of the floor. Gasol hit some big shots and outplayed Garnett, and even Odom played well. At least Sasha Vujacic, that little weasel, had a crappy game.

And when it was on the line, a fired-up Kobe got the better of a drained Pierce, stealing the ball (technically, separating Paul's body from the ball, but we're not refs so what do we know) and going the distance for the dunk, the exclamation point, and the return trip to the TDBN Garden.

So now what? It's hard to picture the Celtics falling down in a big hole at home. It's almost impossible to imagine that Garnett will be as ineffective as he was last night (and no, 14 rebounds doesn't an effective game make). And it's hard to see the Lakers playing a physically and mentally tough game for the second time in a row, in front of a crowd hungry for purple-and-gold blood. We're going to win this thing, folks. Don't worry.

The Sox and Josh Beckett didn't waste any time taking the rubber match in Cincinnati. Beckett blew the Reds away for seven innings. The offense supported him with four home runs (Crisp again, Ellsbury, Drew again, and Pedroia) and sent appropriately-named starter Homer Bailey to the showers and possibly to AA Chattanooga. It's on to Philly tonight, where watching Bartolo Colon bat promises to be quite a spectacle.

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/AP.