Sports Redux: Order Is Restored

Admit it. There were moments in those dark dark days of a few weeks ago where we worried about the Celtics. The relentless Cavaliers and the upstart Magic were challenging our rightful spot at the top of the East.

Well, for now at least, problem solved. The Celtics went to visit those upstart Magic last night, and pretty much strangled them. Orlando was held to 80 points, their lowest of the season. Dwight Howard, America's favorite All-Star, was held to a pedestrian 11/11 and fouled out. And Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, concerned about his team's performance and worried about his brother Luigi, said afterwards, "I'm frustrated in myself." That's what we like to hear from opposing coaches.

The C's were paced by Paul Pierce's 27 points, and pleasantly surprised by Glen Davis' work off the bench. Big Baby scored 16 and helped shut down Howard, saying, "we tried to discomfort him, make him feel angry and frustrated. No smiles and a lot of frowns." Which is exactly the playbook to guarding Baby, but no matter.

The other Celtic in the news was Kevin Garnett, who got named to his 12th All-Star team, narrowly beating Yi Jianlian in votes if not in statistics. KG will join Howard, LeBron, Iverson and Wade as the Eastern starters; expect Pierce and probably Ray Allen to join him on the bench. And we still have hope for Rondo.

The Patriots are in the news, even if (sigh) two other teams are preparing for the Super Bowl next weekend. Matt Cassel has come forward to announce that he's perfectly prepared to play backup again if (a)Tom Brady comes back healthy and ready to start again and (b)if Matt's still a Patriot at the time. Also, the Patriots have unveiled a new logo to commemorate their 50th season of existence, and fans of the old Pat Patriot logo (which we are, along with 69% of Boston.com readers, apparently) will be happy to see it.

The Red Sox/Varitek stalemate might be coming to a head. John Henry visited the Captain-in-Exile for a little while, and Varitek might be realizing (though we doubt Scott Boras is) that the market for .220-hitting 37-year-old catchers might not be what it used to. The Herald runs down scenarios in case this doesn't work out, but Dan Shaughnessy says it oughtta happen, and BloodSox says Jason has nobody to blame but himself. And Scott Boras.

Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press.