You Can Buy the Shoes from SATC, But Not the Book

Remember the book that plays a major role between Carrie and Big in the Sex and the City movie, Love Letters of Great Men? It's not a real book! They just invented it for the movie. (Much to the dismay of booksellers—they're been swamped with requests.)

Defeated Britney Spears Tells Us Where She'd Like to Be Buried

Poor, deep-fried, wistful tiny car driver (and, I suppose, musician) Britney Spears has chosen her burial plot. It's located in the bittersweetly named Hollywood Forever Cemetery. After hearing about Marilyn Monroe picking her own grave site, the singer wanted to follow suit and "when Britney saw Rudolph Valentino's grave at the cemetery she shrieked and said she wanted one." Though, she doesn't plan on going there anytime soon. "I'm going to live so I want to be brought to the Forever Cemetery when I'm 101," she said, with devastating optimism, to a pal. We like to imagine that the service, before she is entombed in Hollywood Forever, will consist of mournful piano renditions of her hit songs like "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" and "Lucky," while her two sons, wearing sailor costumes, slowly waltz.

Hiatus

Stating the obvious here, I'm not doing much with the site these days. Until further notice, get your fix from the FSNE site with Bruce Allen's "Banner Headlines", Obey the Truth, and the other links. I didn't see the game tonight, but winning in Miami is nice--the Heat's been better since getting people healthy.

Half-Way to... 40 Wins?

The Celtics have now completed half their regular season schedule at 20-21. I ominously noted in my last post that the win in Houston wouldn't mean anything if the Celtics turned around and lost to the Rockets at home later in the week--and that's exactly what they just did.

I actually fell asleep watching the game, which is just as well given how it turned out, but it leaves me without much to say. The box score reveals how different this was from the Sunday game. Pierce had an amazing 4 points on 1-10 shooting, compared with 27 Sunday. Yao Ming, held to 6 points Sunday, had a 21-15 evening, with 19 in the first half, and he shot 10-14. The Celtics shot 36 percent, compared with 47 percent Sunday. Vin Baker registered his second DNP-CD since coming back to the team last night in Milwaukee following his three-game suspension. Clarence Weatherspoon similarly registered a DNP-CD for the Rockets, making me wonder why Houston traded Moochie Norris for a guy they aren't playing.

I caught just a bit of the Milwaukee game Tuesday, which was similarly dispiriting. I wonder if Ricky Davis was having Cleveland flashbacks as he scored a lot and his team played no defense?

As my nap suggests, I'm a tad overworked at the moment, but more regular and hyperactive blogging should be resuming shortly.

20-19!

The Celtics went over the .500 mark finally with a 97-93 win in Houston tonight. The victory was the team's third straight and first in Texas in a very long time. They may finally be turning the corner with the new personnel feeling comfortable, though Pierce provided a reality check in Sunday's Globe when he said, "I see it as probably around the All-Star break when we're really going to start coming together."

Jiri Welsch and Walter McCarty had 21 each to complement Pierce's 27. Jiri was a blistering 7-8 shooting, 3-3 from three, and Walter hit 5-10 from beyond the arc.

Houston came in a highly touted defensive team, and Boston's 47% shooting came against the club leading the league in defensive field-goal percentage. The Rockets aren't so good on offense, as they often hoisted shots at the end of the clock after being very slow to run their sets. Yao Ming also was a non-factor with just six points in 23 minutes--he didn't play in the fourth.

It's a nice road win and all, but it won't mean much unless the Celtics can beat Houston again at home on Wednesday night. Hopefully we can start carrying over our strong play on the road (10-8, 6-1 at Western teams) to the home games.

Think, Then Speak

ESPN's "NBA Shootaround" show seems to be full of inane comments from the panel that are calibrated just to get people riled up, not to actually be correct. Case in point: last night they brought up Ricky Davis's dissing of Cleveland in advance of the Cavs' first visit to the Fleet since the trade. Bill Lame-beer (not exactly unbiased toward the Celtics, one would think), seizing on Davis's comment that Boston is a much better team, then said the funny part was that the Cavs might have a better record than the Celtics come year end. Excuse me?

The Celtics pummeled the Cavs 107-82 last night. LeBron James had 19 points in 43 minutes and looked terrible doing it. Paul Silas kept him on the floor to the bitter end either to punish him or, as he said afterward, to try to let him find himself. Meanwhile, the Celtics had six guys in double figures, including Pierce's 30-12-8 performance. Davis, obviously pumped to stick it to his old team, put in 16. Brandon Hunter made his NBA debut with two points in seven minutes.

Hunter is getting the playing time now that the Celtics are rather thin across the front line. LaFrentz, attending his first game since knee surgery, is out for the year (even though he told Willie May--the "modern-day Edward R. Murrow" in the words of Peter Stringer--he could recuperate before season's end in an interview last night, don't bet on it). Vin Baker's status is also up in the air, with Vin slated to return from a three-game suspension Tuesday night in Milwaukee (before that we play in Houston Sunday night at 8:30). Chris Mihm and Mark Blount started at the 4 and 5 for the second consecutive game, now that Jim O'Brien seems to have figured out that playing Walter McCarty big minutes at power forward isn't going to work.

The game also marked the return of Tony Battie, Eric Williams and Kedrick Brown (Doc Holliday must have been happy to see KB back in town). Battie had a strong 10 point-13 rebound night, while Williams and Brown, both of whom started, were pretty quiet.

Michael McClellan has a good take on Davis over at Celtics Nation.

Also, this letter to the Globe indicates I was somewhat correct to view Peter May's column earlier this week on Baker as unduly harsh:

To claim, as May does, that this relapse means that the Celtics can no longer "trust" Baker, since it violates the agreement they had made that he would not drink, is absurd. It presupposes that trust can only be maintained in a "perfect" recovery, which is false. There are very few recoveries that are perfect. The key factors in whether Baker--or anyone else--succeeds in his recovery from alcoholism are the degree of insight he has into his condition, how committed he is to getting better, and what positive steps he is willing to continue to take.

Anyone who believes that a relapse somehow changes everything--that the Celtics are now forced into some kind of momentous decision--is misunderstanding the natural history of the disease and the perseverance and commitment required to manage it.

ROBERT J. PETRELLA, MD

Pierce was fined $7,500 for throwing the ball in the stands during the Orlando game Wednesday night.

The upcoming schedule: at Houston Sunday 8:30, at Milwaukee Tuesday 8:00, vs. Houston Wednesday 7:00. That last one is Asian-American night at the Fleet, on account of Yao Ming.

Boston 101, Orlando 93

Tonight's game was a nice rebound from the dreadful loss to Detroit on Monday. The C's got much better inside play with scoring in the paint and strong board work. I really liked what we saw from Chris Mihm in his extended minutes with Baker now out for a few games with his booze suspension. The only negative came with some frustrating calls in the third, leading Pierce to lose his cool and throw the ball the length of the court to protest a traveling call. It was highly uncharacteristic of him to show such a temper.

I'll leave my remarks to that since it's ungodly late. Just one more thing: isn't it cold of Peter May to be writing about how the C's can get out of Baker's contract on the morning after we get the bad news? Jeez, how about an ounce of compassion?

Unfortunately, I Saw This One Coming

Vin Baker has been suspended three games for violating his rehab program's conditions. Sunday I wrote the following:

The lineup continues to be in flux. Vin Baker has been replaced in the starting lineup by Walter McCarty, a move that O'Brien says is to get more "mobility" on the floor. Baker was scoreless in 11 minutes last night. I commented on his plight yesterday, which continues to be a problem for the Celtics. The big fear is that he starts hitting the bottle again (could that be behind his decline already?).

I certainly hope not, and I guess it's possible he's violated the program without that meaning that he's going out on benders every night. Still, with his play falling off so precipitously, one has to wonder.