Sports Redux: Sweet Sixteen

The boy is counseling the man. Except that Rajon Rondo's now The Man. It's confusing. Anyway, Rondo told Kevin Garnett late in last night's game to "relax a little bit" (yeah, good luck with that), and an inspired KG helped carry the C's down the stretch to another nailbiting win versus the Hawks.

The finish was as wild as this much-hyped regular season contest deserved. The spunky Hawks had the lead well into the 4th quarter, but a Perk block led to a Rondo layup for a 74-72 lead. Mike Bibby hit. KG hit. Joe Johnson hit. Pierce hit. Atlanta fans were actually involved and excited. But it was Garnett - who scored or assisted 15 of the C's' last 22 points, and Ray Allen, who hit the final two free throws to ice it - who got the last laugh. For the 16th straight game.

Asked about the wild and crazy vibe in the building, Doc Rivers said, "We play in this atmosphere every night,"& according to John Hollinger, who breaks down the tough task of defending the title. Now the task for the C's is not to overlook the underwhelming Bulls/NY/Philly part of the schedule, while they prepare to go to LA on Christmas and remind the cocky Lakers who exactly is defending it.

The Bruins are hopefully ready to play tonight; they haven't played in eleven weeks (by our unofficial count) and the Maple Leafs are in town, as the only team that's gotten out of the Garden with a 60-minute win. Meanwhile, the Patriots are probably hoping for crappy weather conditions on Sunday to kill Arizona's passing attack. We're still, meanwhile, getting used to the idea of rooting for the Cowboys this weekend.