Sure, our team may have been unceremoniously thrown out of the playoffs. We may be getting older, showing weaknesses, and be in for a few years of uncertainty and anxiety. But for a few hours, last night, it didn't matter that the Patriots were firmly in the middle of the NFL pack, because we got to watch the Colts unravel on national TV on the game's biggest stage.
It was a great football game, unless you live in Indiana. Two offensive powerhouses played a defensive first half, then the Saints threw everything off kilter by recovering an onside kick to start the second half. It led to a one-point lead at the end of three, and the Saints did a good job keeping Peyton Manning from getting any real rhythm going. The Colts missed a field goal, the Saints drove and scored (and got a two-point conversion), and Manning threw a killer pick-six interception to Tracy Porter to activate the old Manning face and seal the deal. Congratulations to the Saints, who we liked to go all the way ever since they dismantled the Patriots back in November.
As for our local winter teams, there was a bit of a reversal of fortune yesterday. The Celtics turned into the Bruins, in that they had a big lead at halftime, then watched it completely disappear in the third quarter, as the Magic won the third 36-11, and the game 96-89. "I thought we played like crap," explained Doc Rivers. "When we get a good lead, we relax and teams take advantage of it." If there was a silver lining for the C's, it was that Marquis Daniels played pretty well in 13 minutes, in his first game back in like forever. Whether that's a silver enough lining to make up for the fact that the C's can't beat any of the top five teams in the league is up to the individual viewer, but we don't see how it could be.
The Bruins, meanwhile, were outshot and outhustled by Montreal, but still came away with a 3-0 win, their first in a long long long long time. The 2-0 lead the B's built up (Adam McQuaid and Marco Sturm) wasn't that surprising; what was shocking was that the B's supported Tuukka Rask with good defense and Rask never let the Habs get the better of him. "Our goaltender was unbelievable," bubbled Coach Julien, who probably had postgame remarks already prepared about how these things happen and you just have to keep fighting through them. They visit Buffalo tomorrow.
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