Wednesday 10 January - Boston

After another day at work of doing not much - really just waiting for my two assigned major jobs to kick off and then that will change - decided to head off to TD Banknorth Arena to watch the Boston Celtics play the Indiana Pacers, with Free Wheeler and Dan "Hassell" Huff. Leading up to the game, I hadn't heard too many positive things about the Celtics, however there certainly were excuses for them being 12-21 (that's wins-losses). Tonight for example, the two Celtics with the highest points per game average (Paul Pierce and Wally Szczerbiak (trying saying that when pissed)) didn't lace up due to injury, another of their potential starters didn't either, and there were two knee injuries suffered during the game.

Points of note about tonight:

• The bars around the stadium - of which there are a shitload - close at 3/4 time. Sharp. No chance of getting a beer afterwards at all.
• Everyone needs ID to get a beer. Even blokes who would unquestionably be at least in their mid 30s need I.D. And out-of-state drivers licences are only acceptable if you are 25 or older. Why I don't know, and don't want to ask the stupid question because they generally get stupid answers! Myself and Free Wheeler both needed passports.
• Crowd is very fickle. The Celtics got within 4 points with 4 mins to go, and the locals were on their feet and making more noise than a labrador with a ham hock being stolen from it. 2 mins later, the Pacers were 9 points up and they were leaving quicker than the English batsmen left for the pavilion in Australia. Any blues (errors) on the Celtics behalf were immediately chastised. I can see Pete settling into this type of crowd - like the rest of them, he's got a memory that's as short as a bee's private appendige.
• Tony Allen was the leading player on the court with 3 mins left in the 3rd quarter. He got fouled, and then thought he'd play up to the crowd by dunking, instead missing and falling and buckling his knee. The points clearly wouldn't have counted. Being an aussie rules bloke, the sport with the highest level of serious injuries in the world I believe, I suspected straight away he'd done something serious, but I don't think those around me did. Yada yada yada, it looks like we'll see him in 12 months or so.
• Every break in play = entertainment. The Celtics Dancers, some 'percussion' band playing on old buckets, competitions, gymnasts. Obviously the fans get bored very easy 'cos there's not a minute of the night where there's nothing happening on the court - although some may say that that those moments come when the Celtics have the ball.

What's the best way to change the momentum of the game when the opposition gets on top? The Celtics were probably the better side for 75% of the night. Unfortunately, there were two periods in the 3rd and 4th quarters where Indiana just smashed them. The Celtics' theory was to play their natural game, which is to play at pretty high speed, but to play even faster, like an angry bull at a red rag. It was similar to what the Aussie cricket team do - whenever Ricky's men are in trouble, they just swing even harder and back themselves to get out of it. The Celtics just kept making blue after blue and Indiana just kept scoring. In hindsight, perhaps they should have slowed the game down, to change the tempo of it, just as the Sydney Swans love doing. There's no right or wrong answer probably. Anyway, hindsight's a wonderful thing, nearly as wonderful the biggest roughie kicking clear by 2 in ths straight in the last leg of the quaddie when you've got the field going.