Game 1 Loose Balls

Unless some new medical information becomes available after the Finals, I have to qualify Paul Pierce's effort to return to the court last night for now as below Willis Reed's performance in the Knicks Game 7 win over the Lakers in the 1970 Finals but above Larry Bird's return from a mild head injury in the 1991 playoffs against the Pacers. Reed led the Knicks to the championship, Pierce won his team the crucial first game of the Finals, Bird clinched a first round series victory. When Pierce first went down, I thought the season was over. He was clutching his knee in a way that looked like he would be going under the knife at the New England Baptist and he was carried off and placed in a wheelchair, the magical season over, being pushed into the locker room. 6:49 remained in the third quarter of Game 1 but with no Paul Pierce to match Kobe Bryant, hope was vanishing. Then a funny thing happened. Pierce came back to the bench, walking under his own power. He checked back into the game with 5:22 on the clock in the third. The Garden was rocking and the team lifted its game to the moment. Pierce hit two huuuuuge three-pointers off great feeds in transition from Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett took control inside and the Celtic defense choked the Laker offense into submission. Pierce and the Celtics still have to win this series for last night to be validated as a truly legendary Celtic moment but for me, last night put Pierce's No. 34 into the rafters. He lifted his team to victory on the highest level of basketball, something that Boston will never forget... Doc Rivers finally figured out his playoff rotation. Since losing Game 4 to the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals, Doc has shortened his bench. Pierce, KG, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins are playing a majority of the minutes with a bench of PJ Brown, James Posey, Sam Cassell playing regularly and both Leon Powe and Eddie House seeing situational duty. This isn't all Doc's fault. Perkins and Rondo were too inconsistent in the early rounds and Ray Allen didn't find his shooting touch until the end of the Detroit series. That forced Doc to try different combinations. Game 1 was a rousing success for Doc. He rode his top seven -- the starters plus Posey and Brown -- like Big Brown down the stretch, getting every single ounce of energy out of them. With television timeouts lasting longer than Flip Saunders on the Pistons bench and the extra days off in the Finals, Doc can afford to push his top players. The biggest challenge for Doc now will be his ability to counter the adjustments that Phil Jackson will make for Sunday's Game 2... The Celtic defense was very good last night but unlike the streaky LeBron James, I doubt Kobe will have too many more 9-for-26 nights... The C's not only won last night, they easily covered that three-point spread... Another Vegas-worthy note, I'm very happy with my +140 wager on the Celtics to win the series... Rajon Rondo arrived last night. It looked like Tony Parker in the 2003 Finals. He was aggressive and shot the ball fairly well. Although I pray every night that he will stop lobbing in some of his entry passes, they youngster showed he is ready for the big stage and hot lights... I know that Jeff Van Gundy will eventually return to the sideline and that Mark Jackson would like to be an NBA head coach as well, but the team of Mike Breen, Van Gundy and Jackson has made the playoffs interesting to watch on television... BEAT LA!!! BEAT LA!!! BEAT LA!!!