Week Three of College Football Reveals….

Week three placed a scare in #1 Oklahoma, #3 LSU and #10 South Carolina.  While at another level of the Top 25 #21 Auburn was having their 17 game winning streak stunted by Clemson, Notre Dame was getting their first win of the season at the expense of #15 Michigan State, Illinois was slipping by #22 Arizona State  and Jacory Harris was dismantling #17 Ohio State in a game that would pit two schools with extremely severe NCAA infraction ramifications facing each school, as they try to rebuild both reputations and their national prominence.  All other ranked teams were handling business as usual, unless you want to call the Washington-Nebraska shootout a scare for the #11 Corn Huskers 51-38.

Then there is the brilliant stepchild of NCAA football, #4 Boise State, flexing its' muscle on Toledo 40-15, #12 Oregon released its' frustration on Missouri State 56-7, #23 Texas redeemed is previous upset by the Bruins to secure a basically one-sided game 49-20.  It was #20 South Florida making the loudest noise, with a 70-17 over the undermanned Rattlers of FAMU, but #2 Alabama was making the largest statement of the day, displaying a potent offense with the most impressive and stingy defensive unit in land.  It would appear right now that the road to a National Championship would take an early route through Tuscaloosa.

But there are a few Heisman hopefuls that will have a say-so in the final mapping of the road to a National Title.  Kellen Moore, the accurate QB for the Boise State Mustangs, threw for 5 TD's on 32-42 passes and 455 yards.  LaMichael James ran for 204 yards on 12 carries, with a long run of 90 yards for one of his three touchdowns on the day.  Not to be outdone, Marcus Lattimore would finish his day with 246 yards on 37 carries and also score three touchdowns to become the first RB to reach that total playing for a Steve Spurrier coached ball club.  Andrew Luck kept his supporters comfortable with his Heisman status with a 20-31, 325 yard day and two scores, as he barely broke a sweat in the lopsided victory over Arizona.  Landry Jones, who is an outsider in this class of stars, has been mentioned slightly in the award discussions, but did himself no favors with an effective but average performance, 18-27 199 yards and two TD's to go with two interceptions.  While Denard Robinson and his Wolverines were resting this weekend, Trent Richardson was busy keeping his name in the hat with a three touchdown day, with scoring runs of 58 and 71 while amassing 167 yards on just 11 carries for the day.  James has the most 200 yard games (4) over the last five years for any BCS running back.

So after three weeks, it appears that Alabama will be a force in the SEC, and the giant in that conference, slowly growing into its Nick Saban stature again.  Boise State should cruise through the Mountain West, but better yet finish undefeated to hang at one of the Top four spots in the polls and later the BCS rankings for an outside shot at the illusive BCS National Championship game.  Oklahoma is vulnerable for an upset and will have to rely on more consistent QB play and efficiency to go wire to wire to a Championship season.  Oregon may be able to reestablish its' place among the championship discussions by running the table, which will include Luck and company.  LSU will face the same challenge it faces every year, beat their Western Division foe, Alabama, just to get to the SEC Championship Game, which normally means the winner is one half of the BCS Championship Game.

Well there are many scenarios to consider early in the season, but with 25% completed, the Cinderella Story, Boise State versus South Carolina, the Moore led Broncos against the Lattimore dependent Gamecocks could give college football a story for the ages and possibly one of the biggest moments in sports for both institutions in the same year.  But we're just going into the second quarter of the season with a full three quarters of a season to play, but this is starting to look like something special if the two can find a way to will their respective teams to blemish free seasons.

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The 2011 College Football Season Is Underway

With week one of the college football season nearing conclusion following tonight's Miami-Maryland matchup, fans and media have final been able to talk about the quality of teams, Heisman Candidates, conference and national championship predictions and new stars to be tracked.  This a welcomed focus from the NCAA violations, pay of play debates, fired coaches and death penalty discussions.  In the end #5 Boise State has established itself again this year as a National Contender, LSU proved that it can win with the depth and athletes on roster, #1 Oklahoma is for real, #2 Alabama is ready to reign again, #14 TCU, #3 Oregon, #16 Notre Dame and #19 Georgia are probably waiting for next year, and #12 South Carolina has the opportunity to make the preseason computer predictions come true.

College football is probably the most exciting sporting event in America.  When you lose you fall to a place that redefines your season.  When you win it determines who you are and when you continue to win your hopes are magnified to establish the collegiate atmosphere that makes college athletics the best entertainment in America.  Many of us don't like the BCS, but the NCAA has continued to allow us to be excited about game day in our cities, game of the week on Thursdays, and national powers meeting on neutral fields to give us the preview of National Championship matches and the aspirations of finding the National Title in the unexpected cities.

With Boise State's win over Georgia and LSU's win over Oregon, the focus has to be on Boise State as they have again proven that they are the best of the Mountain West and possibly one of the best in America.    The Broncos don't appear to have another real test until week 10 when they host TCU, an early upset victim on day one of the opening season "five days of football."  While #4 LSU will make claim to their status with the dominance of Oregon, they will have a proving ground in the SEC that will force their championship caliber play ever week in their conference.  South Carolina saved the dream season with a series of unbelievable scoring opportunities in the third quarter early to secure an eventual victory that saved the Dream Season, generated by great recruiting in the last three years and the legend of coaching, Steve Spurrier, having one last run at the National Championship.  But first things first, the SEC East, then to Atlanta for the SEC Championship, a road paved with rocky obstacles in the SEC, starting in Athens with a desperate Georgia program.

This could be the year that Boise State plays South Carolina in the BCS National Championship game with South Carolina winning.  If that is the case will computers then rule the world, because only a computer could have credibly created that scenario, but the schedules actually present the series of games and match ups that allow this to be the most dramatic college football season in the history of the game.  Just think did baseball set the stage and is there credence in the concept that, "winning begets winning?  South Carolina is a top institution that has established itself as a power in athletics and a power in International and Research Curriculm.  Could this be the year that the school gets credit for doing it all right.  That's how big this season could be for the University of South Carolina.

Expectations are high in Alabama, LSU, Boise State, Oklahoma, #6 Florida State, #8 Texas A&M, #9 Oklahoma State, #10 Nebraska, #7 Stanford and #11 Wisconsin, but there is something about this "Cinderella Story" brewing in South Carolina, co-starring Boise State.

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Pay for Play, No Way In The NCAA

Modern college athletics has become a major focus of egos, finance, investigations, corruption, cover-ups, infractions, penalties, suspensions, dismissals and scandals.  At the root of all of this, money, luxuries of life, cars, jewelry, and even tattoos and drugs.  The problem is said to be the NCAA and its member schools who are making tons of money on the backs and skills of the many student-athletes of its member institutions. Along with the coaches who are making millions of dollars and have no true commitment to the student-athlete.  The student-athlete is left to attend class, practice, work-outs and games with no opportunity for them to work and sustain any sense of fiscal or financial comfort while attending school and playing the sport of choice under scholarship.  A great surface argument and rationale for the recent consensus attitude, "if you place it in front of me, or make it available I'm going to get mine, nobody else is looking out for me".  So the stage is set for over zealous and selfishly driven boosters,  agent's or runners, to place these valuable luxuries of life, through cash and goods, into the hands of less than naive student-athletes who then have been tainted and become rule violators, ineligible players, and often an embarrassment to their family, community, institution and self.  Instead of the disclosure of such violations and atrocities, along with the sanctions that follow, becoming a deterrent, we find that the cycle of events is increasing and becoming more prevalent.  That's right, it is becoming the rule, rather than the exception.  

So, how do we fix a system that appears to have penalties in place for such infractions that hinder the violators from easily advancing their careers in many cases, and places sanctions that incur financial consequences, while placing burdens on many from advancing the momentum of program success.  We first have to look at the perception of college athletics.  No longer is a great value placed in the opportunity for a free education, once we devalued the asset of an education, we established the altered view of the role of the student-athlete, the institution and amateurism.  We have forgotten what a college is meant to be in the life of young adults and the improvement of our society.  We overlook the thousands of enrolled students who support the institutions with their tuitions for their education.  Many who have to work their way through school just to pay for tuition, books, food and lodging, all of which is paid for the student-athlete on scholarship.  We tend to overlook the academic responsibility to attend college and the reason we go to college to improve our opportunity in life for the future.  Athletics provides the same forum for those athletes who have an opportunity to move on to a profession that will pay them millions to perform in their sport of choice.  And to qualify, all they have to do is attend class, practices, workouts and perform to the best of their ability.  The reward, they move on to the job of a lifetime, their dream, the unbelievable, professional athletics.  The college or university becomes their nurturing showcase, without it they are just another athlete with dreams and desires, but nowhere to exploit the skills or display their talent.  With such a gift, an opportunity, why is it necessary to make this group of special humans any more human than the general scholarship student who has to maintain a much higher grade point average than the average student-athlete to retain their scholarship?  The ROTC scholarship student has to make class, make military drills and maintain a higher grade point average, along with being obligated to a three-year stint in our Armed Forces upon graduation.   Most will say, they chose that route, and the controverting response is that the student-athlete chose that route as well, with many more concessions than any other scholarship or non-scholarship students in all NCAA member institutions.

Now let's find the flaw in the NCAA, where student-athlete scholarships are for only one year, renewed annually based solely on the discretionary ruling of a head coach.  A student-athlete is vetted and recruited to an institution based on his or her athletic performances in high school, which the coaching staff is hoping will translate into a quality and even star-like performance at the college level.  If that does not happen then a student-athlete could lose that scholarship because the speculated potential of the respective student-athlete was not reached to the expectation or need of the coaching staff.  This is unacceptable as it contributes to the devaluation of the student-athlete philosophy.  If a student-athlete accepts a scholarship and enrolls in an institution and meets all the requirements in the classroom, works out at their maximum capacity, and contributes to the best of their ability they should be allowed to complete their education under scholarship regardless if they fail to meet the speculated performance level aspired by the coaching staff.  This of course being that all moral and ethical standards of both the institution and society are maintained.  That institutional obligation should be a part of the complete commitment of the NCAA member schools, as they should be viewed as equitable students and athletes.  This consequence to the coaching staff, institution and school, is a mere fiduciary responsibility to the results of vetting, recruiting and signing of a student-athlete to scholarship, that should be viewed as a contract.  A contract that is mutually sustained by the services of the student-athlete and the consideration extended of a free undergraduate education, that they have up to five years to complete.  If this is not changed, then a student-athlete should be allowed to change institutions without the inconvenience or penalty of having to sit upon changing institutions at the Division I level.  While the ambiguity of many of the NCAA rules need to be changed or amended, the next major flaw is the penalties for rules infractions having entirely too much to do with the program and the student-athlete and not enough to do with the coaches and athletic directors.  This needs to be overhauled promptly, as we have created a detour from the true destiny of our educational and amateur athletic system.

The resolve or compromise can be found in more commitment to the student-athlete scholarship, stiffer penalties for coaches of programs that break the rules, giving our student-athletes the tainted personal growth and development, bankrupted of integrity and nurturing a cheating mentality, and a delusional view of life as a responsible adult.  While the outside influences of boosters, fans, groupies and yes agents, will loom as the most uncontrollable feature in the college athletic environment, it can be countered with a regulated method of allowing student-athletes, after their freshman year, to sell personally provided sports gear and achievement memorabilia for an amount to be regulated and capped by the NCAA.  The proposed sale of sports gear would be limited to the amount of gear in any one season, not to exceed an amount determined by the NCAA and reported to the member school compliance department for proper documentation of the transaction.  All students would be given the simple method of reporting such sale, requiring the purchaser to sign a simple form of acknowledgement.  If a student-ahtlete would sell an item outside of the parameters set forth, then such athlete would be deemed permanently ineligible to continue playing at a NCAA member school.  If a coach knowingly allows a student-athlete to breach such a privilege provided by abusing the cap, or failing to report, then they would be likewise prohibited from coaching for a period equal to the term of a full scholarship, which currently would be five years, with the "5 to play 4" allowance to student-athletes.  This would allow athletes to offset the much argued inability to work and generate spending money for general social luxuries supposedly available to other students, while not increasing the budget of schools with lesser internal means to expand spending on student-athletes.  The obvious funding of this potential stipend would then be based on funding from third party sources and documented for regulatory control.  Likewise, the question of value of the respective athletes in  regards to payment systems being arbitrarily proposed, would be mitigated as student-athletes would be able to either promote their value on the playing fields and courts or market their qualities within the community through speaking engagements, youth programs, autograph signing and outreach programs that would foster other respect by the public that would allow their respective logo items and memorabilia to be sold up to the maximum allowed by solid community service and character-based issues.  Example of an interior lineman spending time at reading programs and visiting hospitals, versus the well publicized quarterback or running back that is known solely by his often announced achievements on the field.

Rules are not made to be broken, they are made to stop people from taking advantage of others.  Rules are made to set a level playing field, and equitable opportunity for fairness in competition.  Rules will be broken, but when you want to stop an increase of rule breaking, establish an environment wherein it is less necessary to break that rule and more detrimental to consider the infraction.  Pay for play, no way NCAA.

The Decision, The Promise, The Collapse

Last year LeBron James made a decision to leave Cleveland after establishing himself as the new "Superstar" on the block.  But after 7 seasons with the Cavaliers, he failed to win a championship after a few somewhat gallant efforts.  It was the obvious belief of Lebron that owner Dan Gilbert was not committed to the acquisition of  players to help him accomplish his goal to win an NBA title.  Therefore, in a much publicized vetting process, Lebron chose to accept an offer to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in "South Beach" in a highly drama filled production on television, making the Miami Heat fan base believe they had an instant dynasty with this combination of heralded free agents.   This decision also left the state of Cleveland in a state of shock, disappointment, hurt, anger and dismay.

Then there was the promise to the southern Florida fans that there would be one, two, three, four , five, six and yes, even seven championships on the horizon for the Pat Riley managed franchise.  A franchise that has been to the promise land and experienced the reward of faithful support to a previous superstar roster headed by Wade and Shaquille O'Neal in 2006.  This promise would be questioned early in the season by a series of losing streaks and a failure to see the synergy of what was deemed to be the best collection of three skilled basketball athletes since Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett came together to form the original "Big Three" and accomplish the goal that had eluded these fine athletes throughout their careers.  But all of a sudden, in the second half of the season this team began to find their roles.  The Heat defense became a work of art.  Their late game playmaking was a consistent success, and they were in the title hunt again and all seemed worth the early frustration, an investment into building a team and a championship franchise with the formula controversially discussed throughout the season by media, knowledgeable fans, novice and comedians, debated as justifiable or overrated as an equation for success.  The promise seemed viable, when the Heat toyed with the 76er's, out battled the league MVP Derrick Rose and his record leading Chicago Bulls, only to easily dispose of the favored but gimpy Boston Celtics.  The new "Big Three" had overcome the franchise that was a frustration for them all in so many different ways, to evolve as the Eastern Division Champions.

Forget stats today and lets' fast forward to the championship series with the Dallas Mavericks, a team that scores a lot of points, and supposedly plays little defense with the characteristic of outscoring opponents, not stopping anyone.  A franchise that has never won a title, and was the victim of the 2006 Miami NBA Championship, when they, the Mav's opened with a 2-0 lead, only to lose four straight in experience and display the worse modern day collapse in a championship series in modern day.  This included a double digit lead in game three, before the wheels came off the championship vehicle, designed and created between 2000-2006, by the flamboyant billionaire, Mark Cuban.  When Miami opened with a strong second half victory in game one this year, the rout was projected, and the Dallas dream was advertised as another potential nightmare.  Then came game two, and the apparent second demise became the Dallas dream, as Dirk Nowitzki led a struggling Mavericks squad to a miraculous come from behind victory in literally stealing game two.  With the series tied 1-1, the stage was set for Dallas to control their destiny at home with three consecutive games at home, in the 2-3-2 finals format, but Bosh, Wade and James would crash the party and flirt with stealing the series while in Dallas, with an aggressive defensive scheme that made the Mav's work hard to find open shooters, that once found, appeared too anxious and tired to throw a basketball in the ocean, not to mention a seemingly small basketball hoop.  Now the stage was set to anticipate that the series could possibly not even return to "South Beach," with the Heat being crowned in Dallas.  Jason Terry, a former sixth man award recipient, who is possibly the most productive sixth man offensively, was not convinced, as he stated that Lebron could not keep up the intense defense for seven games that has appeared a challenge for Terry in producing the necessary perimeter support to offset the intense Heat defense pressure after three games.  Lebron disregarded the audacity of Terry to challenge his stamina and capacity to continue the defensive shutdown and fourth quarter productivity.  This not only was a challenge, this was a statement that Dallas was in this series for the long haul and that anyone writing this team off was sadly mistaken.  In game 4, Terry looked like a prophet, as the fourth quarter displayed an anemic Miami offense, that after holding the Mavericks to under 40% shooting, could not stop the final quarter shooting of Dirk and Terry, as the Heat only developed 14 points, with Lebron nowhere to be found in the final quarter scoring.  The 21-14 fourth quarter tied the series at 2-2 and the series was now a competitive matchup of scoring shooters against tremendous superstar athletes. Who would win, who has the best coaching, who has the best finishers, who has the most heart, who can handle the pressure and who will win?

The final game in Dallas produced the largest margin of victory for either team, as the Mavericks won by 9 points and crossed into their comfort zone of 100 points, winning 112-103.  Returning home Coach Eric Spoelstra stated that they were just where they wanted to be, with home court advantage, something they strived for in closing out the regular season and the chance to close the championship series out at home.  While it was another good sound bite, the Heat were in trouble and they knew it.  All the buzz words, cliches, and words of confidence were no match for a Dallas team that was not intimidated by the contemporary "Big Three" and had found the range from long distance, mental toughness, aggressive defensive pressure of their own and a goal to vindicate their 2006 collapse and leave the Heat feeling the taste of favored disappointment as they shot their way to the 2011 NBA Championship with class, teamwork, perseverance, mid game adjustments and great rotation production from their bench that took the Heat from "The Decision" by Lebron, inclusive of Bosh and Wade, to "The Promise" by Wade, James and Bosh, led by James and "The Collapse" also led by James, as the "King" only scored 18 points in the fourth quarter in 6 games.  By the way, Nowitzki scored 62 over the same period.  Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle out coached Spoelstra, Dirk outplayed Lebron,  Terry outplayed Mario Chalmers, Tyson Chandler outplayed Udonis Haslem and Jason Kidd and J.J. Barea combined to outplay Wade.  Let's face it, the Dallas fans outcheered the Miami fans, even in South Beach. 

Thunder Way Out Of Character In Loss

Rick Carlisle pointed to the great defense played by his Dallas Mavericks squad as the key to Saturday's 93-87 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.  He immediately mentioned the 87 points put up by the Thunder as the indicator, nearly 15 points below their season average.  The 36% shooting and 1-17 from three point range would seem to support his contention.  But a closer look at the game as a whole would basically place this loss on the lack of efficiency of the Oklahoma offense, from shot selection and to the absence of necessary spacing which allowed easy double teaming and eliminating open shot opportunities.

A more noticeable point would be that the Thunder started the game sloppy, turning the ball over 6 times in the first quarter, limiting their shot opportunities early and allowing the Mavericks to gain a 25-12 advantage, which it nursed throughout the ballgame.  For the remainder of the game, the Thunder only had an additional 8 turnovers, playing aggressive defense in their own right and losing the second quarter by one point 25-24.  In the second half, the Thunder won the third quarter 20-18 and the final quarter 31-23, obviously holding Dallas to only 41 second half points.  The Thunder's defense was actually stronger than Dallas in the second half.  The 20-37 shooting by Dallas in the first half was stymied to 16-45 in the second half.  In holding on to a six point victory, Dallas was held to 12 points below their season average.

Let's face it, this was an ugly game that experience won, but defense was not the key.  The young guns found the basket to be very small early, dug a first quarter hole that they could not dig their way out.  Spacing and rushed shots delivered a horrible shooting night and down the stretch time ran out on the host club.  In the end, Westbrook had one of his best shooting nights of the playoffs with 30 points on 8-20 shooting and 13-14 from the line, but his floor management was weak dishing only 4 of the team's 6 total assists for the night.  Dirk and Kevin cancelled each other with poor shooting evenings both only making 7 field goals each on 21 and 22 shot attempts respectively.

The Thunder were far from the team that has risen rapidly to a Western Conference Championship contender.  They were sloppy with the basketball, did not make the extra pass and they failed to follow the Scott Brooks pattern of inside out offensive rhythm.  Carlisle says it was defense, observation says it was youth and too much comfort with being home, and "shell shock" when shots didn't fall early.  And by the way, with several statistical factors being close, the Thunder had 9 blocks to the Mavs' 4.  Game 4 should go to the Thunder and the Oklahoma marketing staff might want to try a "White Out" rather than a "Blue Out" to allow the home team to feel at home psychologically.  

First Game Not The Indicator in the Playoffs

With Chicago disposing of Miami with ease in the second half of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals 103-82 and Dirk Nowitski single handily destroying the Thunder 121-112 in the West, Game 1 in these series would imply a possible run to the finals in favor of the host teams.  But let's fast forward to last night where the Bulls went cold, and the Heat decided to extend their defensive efforts on Derrick Rose and challenge all other shots on run-outs towards open shooters and weak side challenge rotation on all penetration.  The result was a 34% shooting night for Chicago, with Rose shooting only 7-23 against a smothering Heat defense, and a 85-75 victory for the Miami.  Now the series moves to South Beach, where the Heat have not surrendered a playoff loss.

In Texas, Dirk's 48 point shooting performance was so fascinating that he has generated national media and analyst discussions over his recognition in the class of "greatest all-time."  After only missing 3 shots from the field and setting a new playoff record at the charity stripe (24-24), Dirk and team are now being all but crowned the Western Conference champions.  This night for the ages will forever be remembered and that leads to the next thought.  Dallas allowed 112 points in a game that was supposed to define the course of this series, but without real defensive success, future games allowing over 100 points could prove to be the downfall for the favored Mavericks, as very few games in the playoffs, and definitely not in one series will go into the 100"s for both teams.  The Thunder got there with horrid play from their star point guard, Russell Westbrook, coupled with the fact that the league's leading scorer, Kevin Durant, was overshadowed while scoring a mere 40 points, as well.  This series can easily be tied going over to Oklahoma if the Maverick do not improve on the defensive end while enjoying offensive success, primarily on the perimeter.  As we often say, "live by the shot, die by the shot."

These series actually have the makings of very entertaining and see-saw scenarios right down to game 7, where anything can happen.  The shroud of greatness will only be achieved by Dirk, Derrick, Lebron, Dwyane, Kevin or even Russell and Chris, with victories in the final match of these 2011 Titans that have arrived at the mecca of basketball, the NBA Championships.  Don't crown a champion too soon!

Westbrook Leads Memphis In Comeback Victory

Russell Westbrook wears a Thunder uniform, but in the fourth quarter of Saturday's game, Westbrook single handily shot his opponents, the Memphis Grizzles, back into a game that late in the third period was a Thunder game to lose with a 15 point lead.  With an 11 point lead at about the 7:43 mark of the 4th, Westbrook went 8 of 10 possessions failing to set the Thunder in an offensive set and established isolation for himself missing shot after shot, along with turnovers, even waving off the best fourth quarter scorer this season, Kevin Durant, twice.  Not to mention the league's best scorer who shoots 60% in the final period.  The result was a total melt down, and a 23-10 final period that sent the game to overtime, where the home team took the momentum into the extra period, scoring 15 points and holding OKC to 7 points for the 101-93 win and a 2-1 lead in the series.  Westbrook gets the slight nod over a strong finish by Zach Randolph (21 pts.) and Mike Conley (18 pts.), Jr., as the key player in this Memphis comeback victory.

In other games this weekend we have watched a very disoriented defending champion, Lakers squad, fall to 0-3 against a surprisingly more physical Dallas Maverick team that has been criticized for its' lack of physicality versus their strong and streaky shooting skills.  In game three the Lakers appeared on their way to recovery from a home court collapse leading by 7 points with 5 minutes remaining when the team just stopped playing defense again late in the game and allowed the Mavericks to find open players possession after possession, while missing their shots.  The result, a 20-7 run to close the game for a 98-92 loss to Dallas, who now lead the series 3-0.  Perimeter defense, along with poor rotation and decisions defending the "pick and roll" are a part of the problem.  But when Pau Gasol defends Dirk Nowitzki, Dirk is 16-19 in the series, all others defending Nowitzki have held him to 16-38 accuracy.  Kobe Bryant has taken the blame for the late game collapse, but LA has to see championship support performances from others such as Steve Blake, Shannon Brown, Matt Barnes, and obviously the melting Gasol.  Without it, a Phil Jackson coached team will be swept for the first time in his NBA coaching career.

In Boston, D. Wade found the going just as tough as in many previous trips for the all-star guard, who hasn't won in Boston since the development of flat screen television technology.  Boston appeared to gain needed rest with the extra day scheduling and shot 50% from the floor, and road the 28 point, 18 rebound performance of Kevin Garnett, who shot13-20 (65%), while dominating the glass and leading the Celtics to a 97-81.  During the middle of the third quarter, Rajon Rondo went down with a severely dislocated left elbow and was taken to the locker room for diagnostics, and eventual treatment, only to return to the bench at the end of the quarter and back into the game to start the fourth.  While dragging the arm around like a heavy piece of luggage, Rondo would score 4 points while grabbing a rebound, posting a couple of assists and even had a steal using the wounded arm.  By the way there was also a deflection that generated another Miami turnover.  On this night it was the original "Big Three" scoring 70, with the new south beach "Big Three" accounting for 45 points.  Literally ruining a very good performance from Mario Chalmers (17 pts.) off the Miami bench.  The Heat-Celtics matchup is now a series again.  Look for the series to be tied after Monday going back to Miami to begin the best of three to see who advances (Miami leads 2-1).  Experience and chemistry versus speed and athleticism, which will prevail?

Down in Atlanta the Bulls-Hawks series came into the weekend tied 1-1, with the home court advantage shifted to the host club for game three.  But the game became a highlight reel for the league's MVP, Derrick Rose, as he poured in a career high, 44 points on 16-27 shooting (4-7 long range), while dishing out 7 assists, as the Bulls won relatively easy 99-82 (Chicago leads 2-1).  Atlanta has failed to get significant scoring in the paint in previous losses, but in this game they generated 44 points in the paint, but had no answer for Rose defensively.  But this series may come down to sheer scoring, and if it does, the Hawks average 86 points for the season and the Bulls 94.  You do the math.