Separately, Cassell really needs to look beyond himself as the 1st option on the break… dude, you’re playing with Paul and KG for Christ sakes!! Honestly I love his offense, but this isn’t the Clippers man.  Since he a veteran he’s going to find his niche because he realizes the guys respect Doc.  How about PJ coming out of retirement, just because he wants another title; too funny.  It should be painfully clear to everyone by now that this team is obnoxiously talented @ every single position. Battier, not as talented and without Yao, we simply pounded the ball inside to Powe & KG with tremendous efficiency. Tonight Dallas will look to run and I expect KG’s off man, whether it’s Perk or Paul to throw down tonight. Dallas has a decent bench, but they lack defensive prowess to hang with us for more than 2 quarters.

The Houston game showed me that this team is really serious about a title. Rondo’s opening minutes really impressed me. I respect that 1) he stood up to skip-to-my-lou and 2) rebounded after that initial distraction.  I loved that he brought his street ball element in that game, it’s precisely the type of move you’d expect from an up-and-comer.  Rondo is maturing this year and honestly the sky is the limit when you’re that athletic. That’s the thing most folks don’t realize about NBA ballers, they are some of the best conditioned athletes in the world. These guys are incredibly strong, cat-quick, have amazing reflexes/recognition, and really understand the game. I know this because @ 22 I played with a few NBA starters. When you’re on that level and playing with similar talent the holes in your game disappear.   As a result, your game opens up and you focus on all the little things it takes to win. Pierce has always been a complete player, it just took comparable talent for the non-basketball fans to realize it.  1 thing is for certain, these guys know their role and believe in each other.  This trust factor makes all the difference.

Kudos’s to danny-boy and you too Doc; I didn’t know you had it in you.  Man I sure wish Red was here to see all this…

My favorite source to hear about as a sportswriter during the NFL free agency madness is the ubiquitous “source close to player X”. Who is it per se? The agent, perhaps wanting to scare another team into a better offer for their client? One of the players entourage just running off at the mouth? The team GM with the intention of swinging favor with the press and the fans towards the team and away from the player? Well a source close to Randy Moss claims a 3 year, 27 million dollar deal is on the table right now and Moss is contemplating signing it. The recent loss of Asante Samuel means that Pats fans will have to hope that this Moss source is well connected to Randy. I for one hope it is a strange, grudgemaster genius in a gray hoodie.

Congress wasted 4 hours and 42 minutes of taxpayers time and money today and accomplished nothing. Oh wait. We learned that they like to divide among party lines. Shocking, huh? Republicans took Clemens side while the Dems tended to lean towards McNamee story. Chairman Waxman perhaps permanentley tarnished his reputation by apoligizing to McNamee is his closing argument/statement. Apoligizing to a cop turned drug dealer who admitted to dozens of lies today? I bet your constituants in the 30th district in California liked those comments Henry. Clemens may have hurt himself by trashing steroids in one of his final statements, while not even referencing HGH. However, Clemens did defend himself forcefully throughout the hearings. When commenting on whether or not he had visited Jose Canseco’s house for a party 9 or 10 years ago, while unsure if he had, “I know one thing. I wasn’t there huddled up making a drug deal.” Now where were Canseco, Chuck Knoblauch, and Andy Pettite today? These men who could cooraborate McNamees story were not called to be there? Perhaps Congress didn’t want more of McNamees lies exposed. It is said that everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame in life. It looked today as if Congressmen/women wanted their 5 minutes on ESPN today. Perhaps Rep. Christopher Shays put it best saying that these meetings were “spectacular”. Spectacular for face time in an election year.

Rick Pitino dressed up as everyones favorite gangster Tony Montana on Saturday. After a lousy first half, he switched to a conservative blue suit. He claimed he spilled diet coke on Tony’s, but I think Louisville players were just ripping him apart with Scarface lines. “I told you Rick, no kids. But you wouldn’t listen.” “Say hello to my horrible suit“. By the way Louisville came back from an 8 point halftime deficit to knock off #6 Georgetown, probably guaranteeing we will never see Rick Montana again. Well except when he is recruiting. I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.

Shaquille O’Neal held his introductory press conference today and sportwriters everywhere rejoiced. In addition to giving himself the above title, he called the trade “The Amare Stoudemire Project.” Even though Shaq said he was done rapping or acting, he still was telling some stories that he may have been taking artistic license with. Whether it was Dale Brown and John Wooden waking him up as he slept through a class at LSU, or him only finding out about the trade after its completion as he left a doctor’s office, its clear the old MC still likes to spit a tale once in a while. Shaq is the only person alive who can say the phrase “I’m very, very excited” in a monotone and you believe him. The six titles that Jordan has also seems to be a driving factor for Shaq as he referenced getting six on numerous occasions while invoking Jordan’s name. The “I will win because everyone doubts and/or hates me” mantra that has cropped up in sports seems to have a firm grasp on The Diesel as well. One of the few times he smiled during the questioning was when he said, “I love making people eat their words” only to top that with “When I get angry, I win championships.” Thats right Shaq. All of us go around doubting fourteen time allstars who have four rings. Especially when you add them to a former back to back NBA MVP in Steve Nash. Good luck getting into the playoffs. You should be able to squeak out a seven or eight seed.

Rajon Rondo was once thought to be in the mix and possibly become the #1 pick in the 2006 NBA draft. He has shown the draftniks right on the last two nights with not only sensational play, but also the desire to want to ball in his hands late. Despite numerous turnovers late in a 1 point to the Cavaliers he came back to shred the Clippers last night with 24 points and 8 assists. Even with the Big Three, the Celtics will need Rondo to keep up his dominating play and attitude in order to bring title 17 to Boston.

 It is a bad time in beantown. Grown men were seen with reddened eyes all across the city monday morning and the state of shock continued into this afternoon for this writer in particular. To go into the particulars of what happened would be as futile as describing your first love lost. It was real bad, enough said. Tipoff three hours away in Cleveland for the Celtics has me digging out of the despair if only until Tommy Heinsohn’s first mention of “The Loss” as it will be known henceforth. Cheer up everybody. The NBA playoffs start April 19.

Now, I know what you’d say and the PATS know it too. You are money. Hobbs is just a back up nickel back pretending to be a 3 down player, so you guys need me like TI needs TIP. Gay, sure he’s great, but like TIP we keep passing each other in the mirror and then the shit mysteriously breaks. See you in 6 months Randall, maybe Rodney and Seau can lend you some of their rejuve-juice so 10 years and like 100 picks later you’ll be HOF too. Seriously though, Gay, you were one of the PATS who showed me something else Sunday. There will always be spots for players like yourself on our team.

I think that ultimately the bold play is this… move Harrison to nickel, he can moonlight blitzing, have fun stopping the run, and won’t be able to break a linebacker’s arm. Sorry Senor Seau, I’m retiring you now, please remember to discard your popcorn on the way out… oh and don’t forget Wilson too, you guys can catch that next flick together. Sanders I now promote you to SS with Sir Merriweather at FS. From now on I’m just going to call Merriweather “kid instinct”. Pioli/Belicheck please draft me another money corner to play with and resign me, or I guess you could try Plan Brown and I-smoke-a-lot Andrews. PATS fans out there, isn’t that the play??? After all if that doesn’t work, we both know you’ll get a $15 mil bonus and $9 mil over 4 years somewhere else.

Book the tickets to Canton! Legendary patriots linebacker Andre Tippett was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame today. As only the third pat to end his career with admittance to 2121 George Halas Dr, today’s selection put him in with 1982 teammates Mike Haynes and John Hannah. The first patriots Superbowl appearance in the 1985 season was fueled by Andre’s 16.5 regular season sacks and dominant postseason. He ended his career after the 1993 season with 100 sacks. This writer is now going to look for his Andre Tippett Starting Lineup action figure from 1985 Christmas. Unbounced will be there in six months at the induction and we hope you are there. Perhaps by then Darrell Greens speech that started today will be over.