By Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net,

In Bill Simmons’ 700 word epic “the book of basketball,” he ranks three current Boston Celtics amongst the top 75 individual players of all-time: #63 Ray Allen, #54 Paul pierce and #22 Kevin Garnett. These three future hall of famers have 28 combined All-Star appearances in their NBA careers.

I was quite impressed that the ESPN Sports Guy was able to keep his Boston homering to a minimum in his very entertaining, informative and even-handed descriptions of Boston’s big three. I half-expected him to rank all of three in the top 50.

Wherever their place in the long term basketball pantheon may be, this star-studded trio, the “Boston Three Party,” will determine if the #4 seeded Celtics can get past #5 seeded Miami. For KG’s comments on the playoff go here.

“We have everybody healthy going into the postseason which is the number one goal going into the season,” star small forward and 2008 NBA Finals MVP Paul Pierce said.

What makes the NBA playoffs a hundred times more interesting than the regular season is that players actually care about playing defense during the postseason. Sometimes. Are the Celtics where they need to be at that end of the floor?

“The sense of urgency has to be there. Hopefully we learned from this (a double digit loss at Chicago, their ’09 first round playoff opponent) and we’re going to come across some elite scorers in these playoffs. We have to learn from these types of games that when a guy gets going, we have to get the ball at the end,” Pierce said.

Chicago’s star player, Derrick Rose scored a career high 39 points on this night.

So will people sleep on Boston because they’re “just” a #4 seed? They did beat Miami in all three of their regular season meetings.

“We’re definitely a team that’s been battle tested. A lot of experience out there, and we know how to win once the playoffs start,” Pierce stated.

Down the stretch, a lot of teams rest their starters and main contributors in order to keep them fresh for the playoffs. However, Boston coach Doc Rivers knows not to rest Ray Allen, the man who truly should have been ’08 Finals MVP.

“He’s a creature of habit, taking away minutes actually hurts him,” Rivers said of Ray.

So what about the trend that’s been KILLING the Celtics lately; by that I mean the best player on the opposing team hurting them? The Heat’s Dwanye Wade is certainly as dangerous as anyone in the league.

“He’s capable of putting up big numbers, and he’s going to have that capability because he’s going to have the ball in his hands a lot of times, so we got to make him work when he’s on defense,” Allen said.

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

By Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net

As the 2010 NBA playoffs begin, the Boston Celtics are the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference, not exactly where they wanted to be. The 2008 NBA Champions bowed out in the second round of the ’09 postseason, and battled a multitude of injuries and chemistry issues this regular season.

“We made our bed now we got to lay in it, and make the best of it, our goals were a lot higher than this, but we’ll take it,” said star forward Kevin Garnett, who I’m pretty sure is the first and only person I’ve interviewed whose been referenced in an Andy Samberg SNL video. (“I’m on a boat” lyrics include “and like Kevin Garnett, anything is possible!”)

On Tuesday night, the poor Celtics (ok, I’m being facetious, no one ever actually pities the most storied franchise in basketball history) lost their first game in KG’s hometown since The Big Ticket joined the Celtics. Boston is 8-1 in Chicago whenever Garnett suits up for them, 0-2 when he sits out. The Celtics (Please don’t call them “the C’s.” That’s almost as annoying as idiots who refer to pizza as “za.” You can take an extra nanosecond to speak another syllable, your time is not that important- seriously) have spent a lot of the season mixing and matching lineups, and/or playing games where they had to limit the minutes of their stars and main contributors.

When they have had everybody up and running at the same time, Boston still hasn’t been able to generate a cohesive flow.

“Everyone’s trying to find some momentum, rhythm, whatever you want to call it,” KG continued. “We’re no different. I’m just ready for it. I think everyone’s been anticipating this. The playoffs are a whole ‘nother season. I’m up for it,” Garnett stated.

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

Are you getting excited for the NBA season to start?  I know I am.  As fun as watching the Cubs suck, football once a week, and the occasional obsession with online Texas Hold ‘Em are, there’s nothing like the NBA.  One of the best parts of the beginning of the season are the predictions people make.  In ESPN the Mag’s predictions, they pick who will win each conference and the NBA title, and also the various individual awards.

Now I love Rose as much as the next guy (who are we kidding, I love him way more than the next guy), but even I wouldn’t go so far as to pick him for MVP this season.  I was thinking more like 2011 maybe.  Ric Bucher thinks otherwise though (if you don’t have ESPN Insider you won’t be able to see it).  Oh and don’t let that Rose injury thing bother you, apparently he practiced today.

Not only does Bucher pick Rose for MVP this season, but Tim Legler seems to think Noah will win Most Improved Player.  If either or both of those players are even in the conversation about the awards, the Bulls will be looking at an excellent season.

Oh and just to get you even more excited, here’s a little “It’s Amazing” recap of the Bulls-Celtics series from last year’s playoffs.  I’ll never get enough of that battle.

h/t: Ethan

Get Pumped.

h/t: BDL

The playoff series between the Bulls and the Celtics has been the greatest playoff series I have ever seen.  It has everything that anyone could ever want in a basketball series: hard hits, clutch shots, huge blocks, high energy, monster dunks, and a ridiculous amount of overtimes.  In just 6 games, here are the stats that summarize the series so far:

• 323 Minutes

• 8 Technicals Fouls

• 106 Lead Changes

• 65 Ties

• 1 Punch to the Head

• 2 Flagrant Fouls (Should be 3, but the league wanted to send a message that punching people in the face is acceptable)

• 7 Overtime Periods

• 1 Rookie of the Year

• 15 Clutch Shots Within the last minute of the 4th or Overtime

• 1 Cut Above the Eye

• 1 Bloody Nose

Now that is a recipe for a great f#$%ing series.  Throw in a little Game 7, the greatest thing in all of sports, and you have yourself the thing that legends are made of.  No matter what happens on Saturday, the Bulls have gained invaluable playoff experience.

Here is the text message conversation I had with Top Ten Nominee immediately following the game, which summarizes pretty much everything you need to know about my feelings regarding this series:

Top Ten Nominee: i havent enjoyed basketball this much in ten years

Stormin Norman: my penis hurts from the bulls boner ive had the last two weeks

Top Ten Nominee: when suffereing a bulls boner for periods of one week or longer, please call the league office at 888-bulls boner

What I like best about this game was that the Bulls made me forget all about Rondo being the biggest douchebag on the planet.  Even though he came out again last night and proved that Tuesday was no fluke (he really is a terrible human being), the Bulls stood their ground, played a very physical game, and outlasted the tired, sad, ugly, whiny old Celtics.  One quick note about Rondo: The league SHOULD suspend him for the combination of punching Brad Miller in the face and throwing Hinrich into the stands.  I don’t think they will, but he deserves it.  He’s a thug and a bitch.

A few nods are necessary after a game like that.  First and foremost, John Salmons exploited Pierce at both ends of the floor.  He held Pierce to just 5-13 from the floor defensively, but what he did on the offensive end is what set his performance tonight apart from the first 5 games.  He went 13-22 and 5-9 from 3-point land to drop 35 points on Pierce.  Pierce could not stay in front of Salmons for the life of him.  I wish Vinny had discovered this earlier in the series, because Salmons can do whatever he wants in isolation against Pierce.

JOAKIM NOAH!!!  His huge dunk to foul out Pierce in the 3rd overtime was amazing.  This kid has been unstoppable, bringing a ton of energy to the defensive end and on the glass all series.  What has been most impressive has been the development of his offensive game from “liability” to “converts sometimes”.  While that doesn’t sound like much, Bulls fans know that it is a huge improvement and will serve to keep him on the floor much longer.

Kirk Hinrich and Brad Miller brought energy off the bench.  I’ve been down on Miller for most of the series due to his complete lack of defense, but it’s hard to stay mad at him.  He scored 23 points and hit clutch shot after clutch shot.  Even when he was playing bad defense he was giving 110% and clearly has the heart and spine that this team needs.  Kirk Hinrich added 11 and brought a steady defensive presence that was key to slowing down Pierce.

Oh and ROY Derrick Rose?  How about a little 28 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists to add to the mix?  Sounds about right.  Besides a few ill-advised passes in his 59 minutes of work, he was absolutely stellar and for the first time this series was able to stay in front of Rondo.  Oh, and one more thing.  Did you see that block he made on Rondo with 7 seconds in the game?  Big players make big plays in big games.  Get used to it.

Didn’t hear much out of Kevin Garnett tonight, huh?  Game 7  is at 7:00 pm ct on Saturday.  Don’t miss it.