There is no doubt any more. They are legitimate NBA championship contenders.
That was as impressive a Celtics performance that I can remember.
They were down 22 points (33-11) and looked dead. It really appeared their offense, missing Ray Allen (heel), would never rebound on this night against this defense.
But they did. They also got no help from the officials, who let a lot go, particularly when the Spurs had the ball.
The Spurs have been struggling, losing five of six before this game, but they were treating this like a playoff tilt. At 44-21 before the game, and falling in a tie for sixth place in the Western Conference (they were second two weeks ago), they really, really needed this.
Again, I can’t say enough about the Celtics. Sam Cassell had 17 points and Eddie House had a big 3-pointer, closing a four-point deficit to one (84-83), but the key guy in crunch time was Paul Pierce, who had nine points, one assist, a block and three key rebounds in the fourth quarter.
We’ve known for a while that these Celtics are for real, but they moved up a notch tonight in San Antonio.
