Celtics vs. Heat Preview

The Celtics and Heat are set to square off in about an hour on TNT, thank god. The longer I can go without having to hear Tommy Heinson’s voice the better. The Celtics are coming off a disappointing loss against the New York Knicks on Christmas day, and the Heat are coming off an impressive redemption win against the Mavericks as their 2011 Championship banner was raised to the rafters. It appears Paul Pierce won’t play again tonight, which is a huge loss for the Celtics. I did not get to watch any of the Christmas day game, but Rondo lead the Celtics with 31 points and 13 assists, having a very good game. I was not surprised that he played well. Rondo obviously can’t feel very secure being in Boston as they nearly traded him away in the offseason for Chris Paul, so it is in Rondo’s best interest that he plays at a very high level every game or he could be out the door. In my opinion, the Celtics know that Rondo is a pretty good player, but only if he has a supporting cast. With the big 3 nearing the end of their days in the NBA, the Celtics organization knows that in a few years, Rondo could be the only big name left in Boston (that is assuming you consider Rondo a big name). Chris Paul, as we all know, can at least keep a team afloat without a supporting cast, but I do not have much faith that Rondo could do the same. Look for Rondo to have another big game tonight with Pierce out, but for his efforts to come up small again. The Heat big 3 have a year under their belt now, and this year they could be a very scary team.

I also can’t believe Garnett did not get a suspension after grabbing Bill Walker’s neck at the end of the game on Christmas. It was totally unnecessary and something like that could easily have led to something more. With that being said, he will be playing tonight and don’t expect to see much of him. He has shown the most signs of aging of the Big 3, sustaining injuries the past two years that have forced him to miss significant time. It will be very interesting to see how these older teams deal with the plethora of back to back games this season, as the league is trying to fit as many games in as possible. Final score tonight will be Heat 100 Celtics 88, as the Heat will improve to 2-0 and the Celtics to 0-2. Happy New Year.

AFC is up for grabs

Heading into the last week of the season, the AFC is looking like a mess. The Broncos headed into week 15 with a head of steam and were cooled off by the Patriots. Everyone gave the Patriots credit but claimed they wouldn’t make it past the favorites, Baltimore. Roughly four hours later, the Steelers became the favorites to win the AFC after Baltimore’s awful performance against the Chargers on Sunday Night Football. Then, less than 24 hours later, the Patriots were on the fast track to home field advantage throughout the playoffs as the Steelers and a hobbled Big Ben got “Sanduskied” as the lights were going on and off in San Francisco.

This past week, the Patriots barely squeaked past the Miami Dolphins, the Steelers blew the doors off of the Rams without Big Ben, and the Ravens got by the Browns 20-14. Tebow was not saved again on Saturday, throwing 4 picks and the Broncos as a team were just blown out by the Buffalo Bills who looked like the team that beat the Patriots earlier this year. So with all that being said, who comes out of the AFC to represent in the Super Bowl? I really want to say the Patriots, but that defense is terrible. I can easily see them going down to the Steelers or Ravens, but then again, I don’t know if i see the Ravens or Steelers making it to the Pats. The Patriots will most likely get the home field advantage and already have a first round bye. I could very well see a Cincinnati or a Denver Broncos knocking off a team in the Wild Card round and giving the Patriots an easier road to the Super Bowl.

The Broncos have what it takes to beat the Patriots. The final score of the game a few weeks ago was determined by 3 drives at the end of the 2nd quarter. The Broncos had the lead and Lance Ball put the ball on the ground which led to a touchdown, then Tim Tebow put the ball on the ground that led to a score. Finally, the Broncos punt returner decides he wants to try to catch the punt on the run and lets it go right off his hands to give the Patriots another score right before the half. I just don’t trust the Pats defense enough to say right now that they will go to the Super Bowl. I have never seen a defense that horrible win a Championship, but then again, one of the worst teams I have seen in fantasy football won a Championship last night so anything is possible. Take the poll below on who you think will win the AFC. It’s shaping up to be a great playoffs, and that’s mostly because Mark dirty Sanchez and Rex’s Feet aren’t going to make it.

Monarchs vs. P-Bruins

Tonight’s game started off in a unsual way. Two fights in four seconds. Bruins enforcer Lane MacDermid squared off in a disappointing “fight” to start the game, ending almost as soon as it started. The following face-off, Marc Cantin and Monarchs Rob Mignardi dropped the gloves for a good bout. 36 seconds later, Justin Johnson scored his first goal of the season. Coincidence that the Monarchs biggest enforcer scores seconds after two fights? The game quickly settled down, and Linden Vey seemed to be all over the ice for the Monarchs, nearly scoring on a few great chances in the first period. Vey finally found the back of the net on a beautiful set-up pass from Thomas Hickey 6 minutes into the 2nd period, but he was quickly answered by Providence’s Josh Hennessy. It was all Monarchs after that. Robby Czarnick and J.D. Watt added goals in the 2nd to give the Monarchs a nice 4-1 cushion going into the 3rd period.
Lane MacDermid seemed to be out to hit every guy in sight in the 3rd. I guess I would be like that too if half of my ice time was spent in the penalty box. Johnson tried to go after MacDermid after a questionable hit in the corner with the clock winding down, but MacDermid clearly wanted nothing to do with him. The game ended with a scuffle, and it looks like the Monarchs and Bruins will be ringing in the New Year in a good one on Saturday night.

Welp. That was Embarassing

So unfortunately, because I live in New England, I wasn’t able to watch the Broncos game. I like to think of it as a Christmas miracle. But I pretty much got everything completely wrong in my post earlier this week about what would happen this weekend. Denver got blown out, Tebow threw 4 picks. Pretty embarrassing considering Buffalo lost at home to the Dolphins last week. With that being said, I am not surprised. Listen, Tebow’s mojo runs on Jesus’ interest in every game. Would you want to work just hours before you’re two thousand eleventh birthday? I don’t think so. The fact that Jesus doesn’t even have a retirement plan is just beyond me. You have illegal immigrants getting food stamps and social security and Jesus has worked miracles for over two thousand years and the guy still has to work.

With that being said, lets just give Tim a break here. He wasn’t into the game at all. He was probably spending all week getting the final touches ready for his best friends birthday party on Sunday. If Jesus can turn water into wine I have no doubts that he can lead the Broncos to a Super Bowl. If Tebow played flawlessly every week and the Broncos won every week, Jesus’s cover would be blown. It’s kind of like if we all saw Santa, then all would be lost. Have faith. Tebow will win next week and the Broncos will make the playoffs.

 

Happy Birthday Jesus!