Sports Redux: You Forget About Ray, You Pay

The Charlotte Bobcats are kicking themselves this morning. They're not a very good team, but they're still in the playoff hunt, and they seem to play good teams tough all the time. And they took the Celtics deep into the night last night, as the C's fell behind early, fell behind again late, scrapped their way back, and had to rely on two daggers from Ray Allen to escape with the win.

Ray tied the game at 101 with a three at the end of the first overtime. At the end of the second OT, down one, Paul Pierce drove into the lane, drew a double-team, kicked it out to a WIDE-OPEN Ray....ballgame. It wasn't at the buzzer like Ray's magic shot in Charlotte last year, but it'll do. It'll do. Ray finished with 22, Pierce with 32, and Rondo with 21. Tony Allen, though cleared to possibly play for the first time in weeks, didn't get off the bench. With the win, the Celtics slipped back past Orlando for 2nd place in the East.

Josh Beckett got his final spring tune-up, in a 4-3 win over the Pirates. He grumped about his high pitch count - his 88 pitches only got him into the 4th inning - but manager Terry Francona doesn't care. "I said, 'You're ready to pitch, you're strong as a horse, you're healthy.' For a guy like that, I could care less what his ERA is," said Tito. Brad Penny will pitch against the Twins today, and then the Sox will leave Florida behind, playing in a pair of games at the Mets' new park before OPENING DAY next week. We're finally ready.

If you just can't wait until September, Patriots Daily caught what might be an outline of the Pats' schedule for 2009. Another December trip to Buffalo sure would be fun!