The Celtics Don't Believe in Magic

I'll tell you this up front. I have never been more nervous for a sporting event that has no impact on my life in any way whatsoever. But I was stressing for a good 48 hours, between games 5 and 6. Heck, I couldn't concentrate on my bio study guides, and my fellow clanmates from Age of Empires III (with both expansion packs) were critiquing my particularly lackadaisical play. Just kidding, it was Civilization IV. But all my biggest fears regarding my beloved Celtics (injuries, lackluster defense, stagnant offense, etc.) went unfounded in this last game.

I love this game. I love the Celtics. They made sure to silence the critics for good. They made sure that all talks of a Bruins-esque reverse sweep would not rear its ugly head in this series, especially in front of a hyperactive Boston crowd that seemingly stood up and cheered like no other for 48 straight minutes, and would not let up until the Magic were pummeled into the ground.

A feeling of pure elation struck me as Wyc Grousbeck hoisted the Eastern Conference Championship trophy into the air. Sure, it's not the Larry O'Brien Trophy...yet. But that trophy represented all of the Goliaths that the Davids had sleighed so far. It represented all the doubt and negativity that the Celtics had to overcome. Alright, maybe I'm over dramatizing it a little bit, but the impact that the hoisting of the trophy had on me was big.

It would have taken nothing short of a present day Nostradamus to predict the insanity that is the 2010 NBA Playoffs. This team has made what many critics considered a seemingly impossible 180. From an unfocused, bored, tired, team in the regular season, we have risen from the ashes, and have metamorphosed into a hungry, focused, energetic squad with a common goal in mind.

All of a sudden, Pierce has fresh legs, and is the nimble captain that Boston fans have known and loved. KG's knees literally defied every law of medical science, and have healed beautfully. Kendrick Perkins, whose stellar defense on Dwight Howard will probably not be glorified much, certainly had the most difficult job on the court, and produced. Rasheed Wallace even has shown signs of a pulse (and then some) with his savvy defense, consistently vulgar trash talk, and sweet three point touch (wow didn't think I'd ever be typing that). The bench has come into its own, and is truly firing on all cylinders. Big Baby, Tony Allen, Sheed, and KryptoNate, have all produced in MAJOR ways for this team.

Of course, Rondo, the orchestrator, has truly had a fantastic Playoffs thus far. I feel that this play speaks for itself. It characterizes not just Rondo's fierce determination, but the playoff mentality of the Celtics as a whole:

Rondo made J Will, who should not be discredited for lackluster defense or lack of hustle, because he was technically running for the ball, look foolish. The recurring theme in these playoffs have been the Celtics simply outworking their opponents. Not backing down. Wanting it more. Remember how Big Baby, after receiving a titanic concussion from "Superman," still got up, slipped, fell down, then got back up again? That's what I'm talking about.

Now, Let's get to the fun stuff. I applaud anyone who has endured my little Celtics lovefest that I've blogged about so far.


Here's Jesus Shuttleworth, doin' it real businesslike against Dwight "Flagrant-Foul-After-The-Whistle" Howard:




Next up, we've got the Big Ticket. Who says he can't get up anymore?




And hey, the Celtics are a lovable bunch (despite Perkins smiling an estimated 2.7 times a year). Here's goofy Pierce just toying with Vince:



So the stage is now set. Every Celtics fan is chomping at the bit to take on the Lakers again, as evidenced by the chants of "BEAT LA! BEAT LA!" raining down from the Garden in the closing moments of Game 6. We're ready for the Lakers. Bring it.

Doc Rivers: "This starting 5 has never lost. This starting 5 has never lost a playoff series EVER." Here's hoping the trend continues.

Celtics-Cavaliers Series Thoughts

I'd like to start off my general ramblings on the Celtics-Cavs series by introducing to you the personal predictions of a series of ESPN "experts." As you can see, absolutely NO ONE had any faith in the Celtics, despite their throttling of the Miami Heat in 5 games the series before. They doubted us, citing our age, our lackluster performance in the regular season, and our underwhelming bench. Well, keep doubting us.

The underdog mentality is what has fueled this Celtics squad. It has resulted in a supercharged defense, a revitalized Big 3, and even (perhaps most surprisingly of all) a hungry Rasheed Wallace. These masterful performances have all been orchestrated by Rajon Rondo, the all-star point guard/conductor who has made the seemingly impossible dream of winning another championship a very tangible reality.

Watch as Rondo makes a certain He-who-must-not-be-named look like a tool:



The bench has stepped it up multiple notches as well, especially Tony Allen, who's basketball IQ once fluctuated on a game-by-game basis from Einstein to Soulja Boy. Just check this insanity out:


And of course, some key contributions by some of the members of the Big 3:


Now, here's a video of Pierce dunking on the Queen, that very few people even talk about/care to remember. So, I'm putting this on SNSG for the sake of posterity, and so that the millions of fans around the world reading this blog will never forget about it...


So, there you have it, some of the most memorable plays of the series. What made game 6 of the series even sweeter was that I was watching it with some staunch anti-Celtics people, so when the final whistle sounded, the victory was just that much nicer.

On an unrelated note, I've just written an article written about the Celtics-Cavs series with minimal references to LeBrick, or Elbowgate, or any of that other garbage that the media panders on about. Try finding that on ESPN ;)

Video Game Review: Cursed Treasure

Yes, I am well aware that the Celtics just embarrassed the Cavs on their home turf. I am aware that the Cavs just suffered their worst playoff home loss in franchise history. But, staying true to the title of this blog, I felt that the time has come for me to post my first video game review. (And don't worry, to the millions of fans following this blog internationally, my thoughts on the Celtics game last night will surface eventually).

Game: CURSED TREASURE (Don't Touch My Gems!)
So, I've played a lot of tower games in the past. Bloons Tower Defense 4, 3, 2 and the original, Bubble Tanks Tower Defense, Warzone, Onslaught, Gem Craft, Desktop Tower Defense, etc. So suffice to say, I have a lot of experience in this matter...at the expense of my GPA...and social life (Seriously, if you value academics/ long-lasting friendships, stay away from this game).
So the basic gist of this game is that you try to protect your gems from wave after wave of enemy, with a multitude of towers that shoot, laser, freeze, poison, burn, and scare your enemies to oblivion.

Alright, so I've never written a legit video game review before (except one for Mass Effect, which I submitted to GameFAQs, but they never accepted it for some reason...screw them). I have, however, read way too many video game reviews (My favorites toolbar features IGN, Gamespot, Gamespy, and Gamerankings...I guess that makes me the toolbar), and I feel that the best way to approach reviewing this game would be to break the game down into different components, and talk about each.

GAMEPLAY: Alright, so the typical mechanics of any tower defense game are present here. You pay money, which you get from destroying enemies, to build/upgrade towers. There are three different types of towers, which can be built on different terrain types. The three towers, which I'll call blue, green, and red, all perform different functions. So, it's up to you to find the proper balance, correct placement on the map, etc. Your ultimate goal is to make it past all the rounds, with at least 1 gem remaining in your nest(s).

Alright, so what makes this game interesting, and forces me to neglect studying for my bio midterm, which I have in 5 hours, is the replay value of the game. So, you beat all 15 levels once, but you're still left with plenty to do. You get "badges" for each level depending on how well you play.


Yeahhhh, see that? That's my progress so far. I've got brilliant in 11 levels, which means that I beat the level without a single enemy even TOUCHING my gems. Yeah, I got mad skills. Excellent means that I saved all the gems, but an enemy touched a gem (Spoiler alert: make sure you upgrade your meteor powerup all the way to even have a shot at getting brilliant in levels 11 and 12).

What makes this game cool is that after every level, regardless of whether or not you win or lose, you get experience, which lets you level up. Once you level up, you can upgrade and customize pretty much every aspect of the game. You can change everything from the cost of upgrades, to how much money you get per enemy kill. It's a really creative twist, that introduces a TON of replay value, that makes you thoroughly reconsider getting another hour of sleep in favor of leveling up to level 27 in another effort to try to get brilliant on level 14 (really hard to do btdubs...)


It's a tried and true formula, and while this game may not revolutionize the tower defense genre, it certainly nails down the basics, while introducing highly addictive RPG leveling-up elements.

FRILLS (Graphics and Sound): Alright, now we've got to keep things in perspective. This is a FREE online flash game, so expecting graphics that rival Crysis, or the movie Avatar is asking for a bit too much. Asking for graphics that rival any 3rd-party Wii game would be asking for too little. Burn. That being said, the graphics are crisp, clean, and get the job done. There really isn't much slow down, and everything runs smoothly. As for the music, turn it off. The Pina Colada Song is better quality than the strange pseudo-epic/medieval/techno mashup that drones in the background.

OVERALL: 8.5/10

That's just a random number that I gave this game. It's a lot of fun, there's a ton of replay value, and its extremely addicting, with a good amount of production value.

EDIT: Wow, I can't believe I just spent an hour and a half reviewing an online flash game.

EDIT: Just got brilliant on levels 11 and 12. What up.

Organic Chemistry

I hope this isn't considered blog-cheating or whatever, but I'm posting a link to an article that I think beautifully encapsulates Rondo's progression from an awkward, lanky rookie to the MVP of the Celtics this year. Yeah, I kind of have a man crush on Rondo right now...Enjoy!

>The Organic Chemistry of Superstars

The Celtics are no Longer "Bored"

I got to say, the Celtics during last night's blowout victory over the Cavs, (at the Q in Cleveland nonetheless), were reminiscent of the Championship Celtics squad from two years ago. Lockdown defense, great team chemistry, and stellar play from the bench (Sheed was worth every penny!) The major difference was that the standout player was not a member of the Big 3 (even though KG was ballin), but my boy Rondooooooooooo. He dished out an extraordinary 19 assists, to tie Bob Cousy's single game Celtics playoff assist record...that's crazy!

So now, juxtapose the performance of the Celtics in the playoffs so far, with their insanely poor performance in the regular season. 50-32. Now, that record would be a godsend to a team like the Clippers. But, for a team with the likes of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and one of the top 3 point guards in the league? Not so much. For a team that Sheed (who I'm going to start calling Mr. Ball Don't Lie), prophesied would beat Jordan and Pippen's 72-10 record? Not at all.

Perkins defended the mediocre regular season play of the Celtics by claiming that the Celtics were simply "bored" with the regular season. To quote the big fella, "We’re not trying to lose games but you can see that sometimes maybe we do get bored with the process [of the regular season]."

Maybe that was the case, but let's forget about all that for now, and look ahead to the remaining games in the postseason. We manhandled the Heat, which no one expected us to do, and then stole a road game from the Cavs, which no one also expected us to do. I guess it's safe to say that we are no longer bored, and that killer-instinct playoff mentality that has typified the Celtics since the inception of the NBA is still going strong!

Here's hoping we raise Banner 18 to the rafters of the Garden next year!

Creed Thoughts

So one day, I was neglecting the mountain of problem sets, unread books, and unfinished essays that were cluttering my desk and due the next day, I continued to facebook chat with an assortment of people I didn't know all that well, while simultaneously IMing people on Skype who I knew slightly better. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I was severely Wasting My Time.

I thought to myself, what if I just channeled all of that creative energy into a blog? Then I stopped myself, because I realized that only self-obsessed, slightly narcissistic people write blogs. But then, I thought back to one of my favorite TV shows, the Office, and remembered this part:

Hahaha, Creed is one strange, clueless dude. He's also one of my top three favorite characters on the show, the other two being Michael Scott and Kelly (Dartmouth represent!)

But my point is, Creed is neither narcissistic nor self-obsessed, but he still has a blog. So I wanted one too. So okay, I justified my reason for writing a blog using a rarely seen fictional character from a TV show, but it's all good. In fact, Creed being one of my favorite characters on that show is analogous to someone liking/using Pichu in Super Smash Bros Melee...

Which brings me to my first point, I like video games. (How'd you like that transition?) I kid. I love video games, in fact, I can almost attribute my horrendous GPA from last term to an obscene obsession with Bloons Tower Defense 4 (avoid that game at all costs) which I played on Kongregate.com (avoid that even more). It also kind of explains the title of this blog, which is from one of the dopest songs of all time...

Which brings me to my next Interest: Music. I gotta admit though, I have awful taste. I knew this when I realized that the Pina Colada Song was in my top 10 most played songs in my iTunes library. That song should not be in anyone's music library to begin with, let alone their top 10. Speaking of music, does anyone remember when LeBron was singing the words to a song that some rappers made about HIM as he was playing the Lakers in Cleveland when they were up by 2 late in the 4th quarter? (That was a run on sentence, but this is a blog, so it doesn't matter).

So, that brings me to the NBA, which I guess you could classify as my Passion. I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE Celtics fan. As I write this, I'm draped in nothing but Celtics gear, with a poster of the Big 3 watchfully gazing down upon me. I feel like I have ruined the sanctity of the Celtics by mentioning LeBron before the Celtics, but whatevs...

My obsession with the Celtics is borderline unhealthy. Actually, it is unhealthy. My homepage is celticsblog.com. I am probably the only frequenter of I <3 Celtics Blog, which is an awesome blog, but hasn't been updated in 6 months (literally), but I still check it out everyday in the hopes that it might be updated, but it never is. I can quote random stats from random players (Thabo Sefolosha averaged 4.7 boards a game this year). I think I could name the medical staffs of most NBA teams, but not really. Yeah, I have a single digit Facebook friend count.

Well, so I guess you can kind of get a sense of what this blog's all about. It's mostly just the random musings of me and my buddy (I'm writing this with someone who is equally obsessed with video games and the Celtics btdubs). We'll just write about whatever we feel like writing about, which is mostly video games, the NBA/Celtics, music, food, and who knows, we might even write about relevant topics that have some intellectual worth...but we probably won't ;).

Alright, so wow, that ended up being a lot longer than I imagined it would be. If you got this far, you probably have a lot of free time on your hands haha...

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When i was dead broke man, I couldn't picture this...

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