The high point of game 1 for me was Leon Powe's dunk over Josh Smith in the 4th quarter. I know that several sites already have posted the video of it, but this is such a great dunk it deserves all the attention it gets.
Almost looked like one of those school-yard brawl videos you see on YouTube, two guys raining punches down on a hapless victim laying sprawled out on the floor. Only thing was, the punchers and the punchee were all wearing white and green. And the guy on the receiving end, Leon Powe, was finding himself pummeled with love by teammates Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell. "At first I thought [Garnett] was going to help me up, then he gave me like two, three, four, five, six Roy Jones punches," Powe said of the mock assault he had to endure after slamming home a dunk over Josh Smith and Mike Bibby midway through the fourth quarter of Boston's 104-81 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series. "Sam might have snuck about two in there."
Not only did KG pummel Powe as he was lying on the floor, but once he finally did help him up, he continued to yell in his ear. This may just be the most memorable play of the playoffs. From the look on his face, it is possible that Leon will think twice before going in for a monster dunk again!
I just enjoyed watching the Wizards get beat by 30 points by the Cavs. That isn't a typo. They beat them by 30 points. Haywood got tossed for a flagrant 2 foul on LeBron and that is big if they decide to suspend him for the next game. I really do hope they suspend him. Those kinds of fouls are dangerous and can hurt players. The Wizards whole strategy has been to foul LeBron hard and on that play, Haywood made now play for the ball and simply went to take out LeBron. They need to send a message that they have to pay for making that kind of play. After all their trash talk, the Wizards find themselves down 2-0 to the Cavs. Maybe they should just learn to keep their mouths shut. I would love for the Cavs to take them out in a long and physical series so that whichever team we face is all worn out, but more importantly, I don't want to play the Wizards again.
There were a lot of writers questioning the Celtics bench and also questioning Rondo. I think both have answered those questions emphatically. The bench, especially Posey, Powe, House and Cassell are going to be very strong in the playoffs. In his first playoff game, Powe came up big for the Celtics. I really love that kid. It was hard to believe that Rondo was playing his first playoff game as he was poised and just played flawless basketball. I was amazed by the tough shots he hit. There was that runner in the lane and then that circus shot on the baseline that ended up getting waived off. And he is only going to get better.
I keep reading how the team is feeding off the crowd and how they got their energy from how loud the Garden was. Hopefully they have other sources of energy because when the series shifts to Atlanta, they need to be just as intense and have just as much energy to beat them, but they won't get it from the Hawks crowd. I would like to see the Celtics close this one out in 4. Allowing the Hawks to beat them even one game should not happen since they are a way better team. I love having home court advantage through the playoffs although I hope we don't have to go 7 games, because having the crowd behind you in a game 7 is definitely an advantage.
I absolutely love this commmercial. It gives me goosebumps every time I see it. I love the shot of KG and Rondo, kind of reminds me of that scene from ET where his finger is glowing and they touch fingers. Come to think of it, KG is rather other-worldly. Here's to making history!
