I'd hope this means more of The Principal, but as long as it means less Doris, I'm good with that.

Amare and KG will renew their war.  Amare needs to limit the fouls, because we need 40 minutes out of him.

Raja vs Ray Allen - Raja must limit Ray to bad shooting like before, and hit  some shaots himself

Grant Hill must have a good game, and keep Pierce from getting in the lane.

Shaq is our advantage.  He needs to dominate Perkins and whoever they throw at him.

Steve Nash needs to have his normal game, and at least keep in front of Rondo.  And don't let the Alien get off on us.

Our $45 million X factor, as usual, is Boris.  If we get a good game out of him, we win.  If we get 2 shots and 4 turnovers in 9 minutes we are in danger.

That's all.  Oh no, I forgot.  We have Barbosa.  If Leo gets hot, we can blow them out.  Spread the floor and have them chase our 3 popint shooters.  On defense, we need the perimeter guys to send the action to Shaq.

In short, we play our game, we win.

I'm going to steal a line from Doug Collins: Barbosa is the wild card here, if he plays well, we have a shot and we can afford having an off night from one of our starters.

Hope Raja can stay con Allen, Billups made him looked bad in that OT.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-shaq2708mar27,0,3913606.story?track=rss

...BTW, this IS a national broadcast, right? Just wondering, because the announcers seem pretty pro-Boston in the early going.

Anyway, back to ball, Boston is up five in a running game with the Suns. Amare's long jumper looks to have not made the trip (at least he missed the only two I saw him shoot, one contested, one not so much). Now he gets called for a travel. Not bagging on Amare, just pointing out that it looks like he's having a little tougher time this game than in the previous meeting with Boston.

...which Shaq gets back with a dunk of his own.

...but the Celtics make a want it more move of their own with the score off the offensive rebound. 23-16, Celtics, for those who wish I'd remember to update the score. :)

Celtics lead 31-18 after he splits the pair.

Suns are shooting 45% to the Celtics' 54%, and they've allowed the Celtics six offensive rebounds leading to four extra shot attempts to boot. Basically, the Suns are getting outplayed in just about every statistical category so far. Mike D'Antoni nails it in his speech - bad offense and bad defense are indeed a bad combination, and the Suns do need to be more aggressive.

...but not more of that - LB dribbling himself into a turnover.

Fortunately, the Celtics mess up too, and Diaw ends up closing it to nine. 33-24.

...perhaps not. He misses one. Guess he's just used to having to make two.

...meanwhile, a Ray Allen three opens the Celtics lead to six.

At least he gets to the line. Which isn't necessarily a good thing.

In this case, it is, though as he gets them both. 44-40, Celtics.

50-48, Suns after the exchange of buckets.

It can't be that bad again right?

All tied up after the three Pierce makes.

I"m sure those rich kids are really having a hard time reading.

Damn, yeah, the NBA cares my ass.

After digging into an early hole, the Suns recovered nicely in the second quarter. In fact, they might be leading by three were it not for that aforementioned bogus blocking call. After the rough start, the game has taken on more of the nail-biting characteristics I was expecting.

Numbers:

• 62% for the Suns, 47% for the Celtics.
  
• 11 offensive rebounds for the Celtics and 9 turnovers by the Suns = eight more shot attempts for the Celts.
  
• Amare has 22 points on 8-10, and just one foul.
  
• Nash has 8 assists with just one turnover, but is below par from the field with 2-5 overall and 1-2 from three.
  
• Shaq is having a nice game except for the fouls. 4-5, and 2-3 on free throws.
  
• Giricek has been perfect, at least from the field. 3-3, including a make from three.
  
• The "good" Diaw showed up for this one. 4-6 for eight points, and also has five assists and four rebounds.
  
• LB apparently left his game on the team bus, with a line of all zeros except for one assist that's canceled out by one turnover. Grant Hill's line doesn't look so great either, but he might still deserve an injury pass.

The Suns are shooting nearly 56% to the Celtics' 46%, but when the other team gets 16 more shot attempts thanks to turnovers and offensive rebounds, it shouldn't be surprising that you're behind.

Amare is still stuck on 22 points, and he has five of the Suns' 16 turnovers.

Did february come back??

..speaking of former MVP's, KG at the line is getting a much-deserved serenade.

Yeah, we done.

But that's not why they lost this one - the suns beat themselves in this game.

• going down by 15 early, rather than being up early by 15.
  
• Not rebounding at all.  Amare 1 rebound in the first half.
  
• turning over the ball on ridiculously sloppy plays.

Seriously. 21 turnovers to 27 assists.  Suns took 18 fewer shots than the Celtics...  The suns also went to the line 9 fewer times.

How about a little more care in handling the ball and a little less complaining to the officials?