NOT THE BEST BOSTON SPORTS WEEK

Hmm. Can it really be so? Did the BC Eagles football team fire there coach after 2 successful years that led to a ACC Coastal Division crown? Did the BC Eagles basketball team defeat the 31 UNC Tar Heels and then go on to lose 2 straight, at home, versus mediocre teams? Did the Bruins lose 2 straight games? Did the Celtics lose 7 of 9 games after starting with a NBA record 27-2 start? Yes.................to all four.
The Eagles did fire Jags. It was warranted. BC gave him the job over more qualified and well-known options. They did not know he would take the gift and then use it and attempt to go elsewhere. He took the interview with the Jets and thus, lost his job. To make matters worse at The Heights, the basketball team defeated UNC at Chapel Hill last week, then went on to get upset by heavily underdogs in Harvard and Miami. The team went from being unranked on Sunday(1/4/9), all the way to #17 in the country a day later, and now out of the mix today, less than a week later. Amazing.
The Celtics woke up X-Mas morning with a steller 27-2 record. The team then lost to the Lakers, ending a 19-game winning streak. Then the unknown and unheard of happened;the team started to lose. More often than win. On this blog last week, I could not explain how the team slumped and lost to the lowly Knicks to end a porous week. Now I'm flabbergasted that I can't explain how that the team lost...............to the horrific Bobcats the next game(114-106 OT), then to the Rockets the next night(89-85). The Rockets loss was less of a surprise, but considering the Celts were 18-1 at home maybe not. One issue is poor defense. Others include Rondo getting contained, the loss of Tony Allen(injured) and poor 2nd halves/4th quarter's. Against the Knicks last Sunday, the Celts got outscored by 28-15. The Rockets outscored the Celts 18-11 in the final frame days later, including holding the green scoreless for the final 1:34. Ouch. It gets worse. The Celts headed to Cleveland for a big-time match-up in Cleveland. The Cavs stayed undefeated at home(19-0) and tied the season series at 1 up in the process. The Cavs also passed the Celts for the best record in the East. It's early though.
Today, the Celts finally won(94-88 in Toronto). Close game, right? No. The Celts led by 20 points but got outscored in the final frame 33-19. A good win, but the weakness is still there. You may think I'm off base to criticize the team. They are 30-9 with an 11 game lead within the division. They are only 1 game behind the Cavs(29-6), and tied with the Magic(29-8). That's true. But this team has some work to do and coach Rivers knows it. It took Ray Allen's 36 points to end the skid and improve to 1-3 this week. A rematch with the Raptors takes place in Boston tomorrow, as does another Atlantic Division home/home series with the Nets this week.
No real worries for the black and gold. The team is beyond great. Okay, they did lose a tough 1-0 game to the Wild to start the week. But they are still nicked up(Hnidy, Bergeron, Sturm, Ference, Fernandez and Lucic) and will get healthy. Everyone but Sturm(out for the year) and Bergeron(out for a few weeks if not more) will be back this week. The team has 3 All-Stars(Chara, Savard and Thomas) and could of had more(Kessel 24 goals 17 assists, Wideman 25+/- and Krejci 30 assists 16 goals). Youngsters Hunwick, Krejci, Wheeler and Kessel are solid. Six players have a +/- of a +20. They do everything well. No real weaknesses here. The 2 game losing streak came to a halt after winning 6-4 versus Ottawa and 5-1 versus Carolina this week at the Garden. Ryder netted 2 goals in the latter game and now has 17. The team is 31-7, good enough for 66 points, which is best in the East. Washington is a distant 2nd with 57 points. MTL has 56 points, 3rd best. They have won 7 of 8 and enter the Garden this Tuesday for a gigantic match-up. The Bruins will either be 12 points up or 8. A key 4 point swing is up for grabs. Fortunately, the Bruins will be at home. We wish them the best. They also play the NYI and Washington on the road. To top it off, the Bruins future looks great as the Providence Bruins are on top of their division too.
In other news, the Red Sox came to terms with John Smoltz, Takashi Saito, Rocco Baldelli and Mark Kotsay. All are minor splashes, or educational gambles. Theo is the man!