The Sound of the Suburbs

You gotta love the NBA playoffs. High drama on an hourly basis, if not minutely (sic).

Glen "Big Baby" Davis' clutch game-winner in Game 4 ... just magical (sorry Orlando fans). As a longtime Celtic hater, I have found myself rooting for them since a) my Pistons are toast, b) I grew up in Beantown and c) they are leaving their guts on the floor every night without Kevin Garnett.

This kid Rondo, what did he have, 14, 15 boards? How many point guards have done that besides Magic Johnson? Paul Pierce always comes up big. Ray Allen is the sweetest shooter in the league. But the Celtics have showed true Red Auerbach grit with guys like Davis, House and Scalabrine making a difference while most NBA playoff benches are MIA (yes, I'm talking to you, Andrew Bynum).

While the heralded Lakers didn't show up for what should have been a Chick Hearn third-quarter refrigerator game, and instead left the series to chance with a now two-out-of-three challenge to a gutsy Rocket squad, Boston took care of business on the road in Orlando.

You can only admire The Celtics.

Most defending champions struggle in the next year's playoffs just because they are Public Enemy No. 1, but this team is doing it without their best player, KG, a defensive stalwart and competitive monster who is disabled by injury. It's clear, however, that his spirit radiates down the bench with this group. That is the hallmark of a true leader.

And it must be said, what Laker fans are in meltdown over represents the complete opposite. Kobe Bryant spends so much time trying to be bigger than Michael Jordan (No. 24? Really?) that he has become the epitome of LA style over substance. Do you think for a minute MJ and company would have let the Knicks, for example, off the floor if Patrick Ewing went down with a broken foot? Uh, no.

He would have put his team's collective foot on the throat of x opponent and been up double digits at halftime en route to a beatdown. That's the difference between Bryant and Jordan.

Meanwhile Boston now has to hold serve at The New Garden to advance to the ECF Finals, which would be a great accomplishment for a team that has not only lost KG but Leon Powe, a key rotation player. The Celtics, Denver and Houston have been the most tenacious teams in the playoffs thus far (hall pass for Cleveland, they just haven't been tested yet) and that's what the postseason is all about: temerity.

After holding off the Bulls in seven, a series for the ages, Boston's fatigue showed in Game 1, but despite that inevitable loss they are in the driver's seat. It's the mark of a great coach, Doc Rivers, to keep his team playing at the highest level humanly possible against all odds. That as opposed to Action Jackson, who should have said two words to his team in the locker room today: Willis Reed. He was part of that fabled Knick team that rose up and whipped Wilt, Elgin Baylor and The Logo in The Finals years ago when men were men and steroids, not to mention flagrant fouls, did not exist. Phil should have called time out before his team went down 26-12 today, but his Zen philosophy wouldn't allow it. I don't think Red Auerbach or Red Holzman would have followed that route.

Celtic Magic is really predicated on hard work and effort. Here's hoping they get to Cleveland and make them sweat, just in the name of tradition.