Sports Redux: Celtics Working Overtime...Again

The Bulls are the team that won't go away. The Celtics are the team that won't die. This is the series that won't end. The NBA is about an hour away from declaring this a "best 9 out of 17" series.

Somehow, the Celtics fought their way back last night, forcing OT, winning, and taking the slight 3-2 lead as the series heads back to Chicago. On a night when Paul Pierce took 38 minutes to get going and Ray Allen never did, it was Rondo - again - and the frontcourt duo of Kendrick Perkins (48 minutes, 0 fouls, really) and Glen Davis (21 points) kept the C's alive. But when the game was on the line, they turned to the old man...and Paul Pierce delivered. After Ray Allen fouled out, Pierce scored 12 points in the remaining 10 minutes, including the tying shot in regulation, and a miraculous arc over John Salmons for what proved to be the game winner.

There was some controversy at the end. Rajon Rondo fouled Chicago lug Brad Miller - the Bulls claimed it should have been a flagrant foul (after watching the replay, we're looking in the air and whistling). In any case, Miller bricked both free throws with 2 seconds left (the second one on purpose, but it missed everything), and the Celtics eventually got to go home winners. Steve Buckley says anyone complaining about the foul is just jealous. Um, OK. There's a school of thought that says if everyone's complaining about the refs, they must be doing something right. We didn't go to that school.

The Bruins, who haven't played in what seems like three months, finally found out who their second-round sparring partner will be. Since the Rangers lost to Washington, the next lowest seed will be coming to the Garden - so, welcome, Hartford Carolina (Bruins 4-0 in head-to-head this season). The Hurricanes scored twice in a minute and a half to stun the Devils and Martin Brodeur. If you pay attention to these kind of things, that means two NY-area hockey teams were eliminated almost simultaneously. The B's had a full-team scrimmage to keep sharp.

The Red Sox' streak came to an inglorious end, as the Indians battered Brad Penny around, while the Sox were battering Anthoney Reyes around. It was 7-7 after 3, then things settled down for a long time until Javier Lopez dropped Youk's throw to first and allowed the winning run to score on an error. One bright spot: Julio Lugo went 2-for-3 in his first game back in like forever, so he's the team's leading hitter right now. What do you do when there's nowhere to go but down?