(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

As long as you remember that formula, you should be good to go in life.

The best finals shooting performance ever? That would belong to Ray Allen, who made his first 7 three-point attempts before missing one to end the half. 7 threes, which — just in case you were abducted from earth 2 days ago and hadn’t seen this — tied an NBA record for an entire game. Ray, ever the humble minimalist, needed only 1 three-pointer in the second half to break the record and got just that.

Yes, Ray bounced back perfectly from his foul-plagued Game 1, single-handedly keeping the Boston Celtics in the game in the first half. It might be weird to read the words “kept in the game,” given how Boston had a 6-point lead at half time, but make no mistake – without Ray’s ridiculous first half, Boston isn’t close. The Cs had no first-half offense other than good ole Jesus Shuttlesworth, who weighed in at exactly half of their points (27 of 54 after two quarters). None. Zilch. Zero. Nada.

And they paid for it. All game long. They paid for it in the first half, when Ray going nova was just enough for that 6-point advantage, and nothing more; and they paid for it in the second half, when the Lakers suffocated Ray, limiting him to just 5 points, with no other Celtic in enough of a previously established rhythm to count on.

And so it became that, with a bit over five minutes to go in the game, with the greatest three-point shooting performance in NBA Finals history on their side, Boston found itself looking up at a 3-point deficit, on the road, against the defending champs — the same guys who haven’t lost on their home court this postseason. Only this time, Ray was all dried out, and those Los Angeles Lakers came knocking on the Celtics’ door, saying “we’re going to take this game now.”

The only thing LA wasn’t expecting was for Rajon Rondo to answer the door, and say this:

I mean, he probably didn’t call them Dutch, and the crazy part was most likely directed exclusively at Ron Artest, but you get my gist.

Yes, Rajon Rondo took this game over in every which way and drove it home. It wasn’t just the 10 points in the final six minutes (though they surely helped) or the gaudy numbers (19, 12 and 10 – his fifth career postseason triple double). It was the game-long control of the tempo (somebody had to find Ray Allen on those semi-transition three point shots). It was the willingness to have the ball in his hands late in the game, poor free-throw shooting be damned. It was blocking Derek Fisher’s potentially game-tying shot. It was knocking the ball out of Kobe Bryant’s hands to seal the deal with 39 seconds left.

And most of all, it was the ridiculous — yet undeniably true — notion that in a game pitting a team full of savvy, experienced veterans who know how to win against another team full of savvy, experienced veterans who know how to win, the most savvy player, the one who knew best how to win, was the young point guard with arms as long as the Mississippi.

Ironically, the Ray and Rondo show had help from everybody except Boston’s other two stars. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were terrible yet again, with Pierce being a nonfactor on offense (2 of 11) and Garnett once again seeing limited action due to foul trouble (24 minutes in which he accumulated 5 fouls to 4 rebounds). In fact, KG’s only meaningful contribution came in a form we haven’t seen from him in a while: absolutely gorgeous passing. Garnett had 6 assists – 3 in the fourth quarter – and repeatedly found his teammates in the lane, taking full advantage of the space created by Allen’s early barrage. Even this comes with a hint of sadness, though, when one remembers that KG used to average 6 assists a game during his peak. Oh well.

The rest of the Celtics, though, were there all night. Nate Robinson had 7 straight points to set up Rondo’s final stretch. Sheed was arguably the best Boston big man on the court before fouls got the best of him. Glen Davis hustled like mad, occasionally getting him a basket. Kendrick Perkins recovered from trying to do too much in the first half, instead settling into a more fitting role of getting the ball near the rim and dunking it/laying it in. Tony Allen managed to play 12 minutes without turning the ball over even once. A fine all-around effort from the green supporting cast.

The Lakers missed that equivalent supporting effort very much. The “other” Lakers were atrocious, ranging from doing nothing (Lamar Odom had 5 fouls in 15 minutes) to taking simply awful shots (Derek Fisher: 2 of 8, JordanShannon BrownFarmar: 3 of 9, Ron Artest: Ron Artest.). Worse than those terrible numbers, they wasted a phenomenal performance by the ever-so-x-factorish Andrew Bynum. Bynum did everything one could ask from him. He scored 21 points without needing the ball in his hands, instead doing his damage off last-second lobs, loose balls and offensive boards. He blocked 7 shots and altered many more. And most importantly, he stayed on the court for an amazing 39 minutes. The Lakers cannot afford to waste games like that from Bynum. With the current state of his knee, you have to fully utilize anything he can possibly give.

Another Laker player who didn’t give his share was Kobe Bryant. Kobe was as out as he’s ever been recently, scoring only 21 points on 20 shots and adding 5 turnovers to boot. And while Laker fans will point to his bogus 3rd and 4th fouls — which clearly weren’t fouls by any stretch of the imagination – the truth is that he just wasn’t there. He didn’t make the shots that he usually makes and didn’t play the smart type of basketball that was there for the entire Phoenix series.

What smart type of basketball? That would be passing the ball to Pau Gasol — and fast.

Pau continued to dominate, scoring 25 points on 10 — TEN!!! — shots, throwing in 8 boards and 6 blocks for good measure. If you’re looking for an explanation as to why the best power forward in the game continues to watch his teammates run their offense without him, there is none. Nothing more to say on this subject.

All in all, you get a series that is much, much closer than it was two days ago — and not just because of the scoreboard. The Lakers have yet again demonstrated a self-sabotaging tendency to waltz away from their optimal game, while 50 percent of Boston’s core stepped up its effort dramatically. This leaves us in a situation where we don’t really know what to expect anymore. The tight officiating, the inconsistent superstars and the wild bench fluctuations mean that this series could go absolutely anywhere.

Last time around, I said that the Celtics need to kick the door open if they don’t want it to close on them. Well, they didn’t kick it, but they applied enough pressure for the Lakers to open it for them. And tough as the 2-3-2 system is for the team hosting those middle 3, the Celts now have homecourt advantage. It’s on the Lakers to play to their strengths and take it back.

If not, they could be left in the dust, wondering why they didn’t give their shaggy Spaniard the damn ball.

Making predictions, breaking down the future and saying things like “this team is done” or “this team is unbeatable” have made a lot of very talented people a lot of money and has given a lot of less talented people a very fun pastime. And in a seven-and-a-half month season, culminating in a two-week NBA Finals, it’s only natural that we look ahead, throwing out bombastic statements, defending them to the death despite their conformation being months away.

But sometimes, we need to remember that the beauty of the game is the game itself, not the conversations around it. And no matter how logical that next step seems, when the basketball is actually played, we always run the risk of getting our socks knocked off.

So allow me to officially apologize to the Boston Celtics for counting them out.

I had plenty of good reasons. The shaky bench. The old age. The effort that just wasn’t their any more. The presence of two (seemingly) far superior teams within their conference

None of it mattered.

None of it mattered because the one, biggest, baddest reason as to why the Boston Celtics were finished turned out to be untrue. For 15 months, it had seemed that Kevin Garnett would never be capable of playing at the level Boston needs to make substantial Playoff noise. And yet, against many people’s (including yours truly’s) favorite for the NBA title, Garnett finally reminded us why he deserved this place in this list , why he is an all-time great even though he was plagued by various Troy Hudsons in his starting line up, and why, when discussing a player of his caliber, you can never count him out until he finally hangs them up.

Overreaction? Tell that to Antawn Jamison. You can probably find him weeping in the corner.

Garnett looked like the KG of old, torching whoever guarded him (though, to be fair, Mike Brown could have been putting random people from the crowd on him and it wouldn’t have been as bad as guarding him with Shaq), consistently banging home that mid-range shot and showing that he is still more than good enough to orchestrate a dominant defense. Throughout the series, Garnett averaged 19 and 8 on 52% shooting – pretty similar to his regular season numbers in 2008 (18 and 9 on 54%). That is nothing near his all-world numbers from earlier in the decade, but it’s just what Boston needed — at just the right time. And that’s before factoring in his effect on defense.

As for the rest of those problems?

Tony Allen played the James Posey offensive spark/defensive stopper role, and combined with Glen Davis’ hustle and Rasheed Wallace coming back to life, the bench wasn’t a concern. Ray Allen continues to ignore the hints he gets from his odometer, Paul Pierce shook off a bad offensive start to the series and came up big in games 5 and 6, while acting as the primary defender on a certain someone whom I shall not name (he’s been named enough already, and if I eventually address his performance this series, it will be a long, thought out process, not half-heartedly thrown-out statements that take the limelight away from the teams who have earned it). And the effort? Apparently, they were just saving that for the postseason. As much as I don’t believe in flipping the switch, Boston proved that they have the championship pedigree needed to do so.

And above all, the masterful Rajon Rondo keeps on blossoming before our eyes, extending the “best PG in the world?!” discussion to, at the very least, a four-man race.

I apologize for focusing so much on the series preceding the one I should be talking about – and, yes, I’ll get to Orlando/Boston in a minute – but this can’t be reiterated enough. Because while the result of Boston’s six-game win over Cleveland was largely attributed to the fallacies of the losing squad (specifically those of a certain someone whom I still shall not name) this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Boston won this. Fair and square. And if their form from the first half of Game 1, Game 2 and Game 4 through Game 6 carries on to this series, they have a heck of a chance to make it back to the NBA Finals.

Of course, to do so, they must stop the team that has been playing the best basketball in the league for quite a while.

For months now, several voices have been ignoring the Magic, giving reasons such as “they’re not as good without Hedo” or “they rely too much on Vince Carter,” while people who actually watched the games half-groaned, half-cried: “Hedo wasn’t that good! They don’t need that much from Vince! STOP IGNORING JAMEER NELSON!!!”

Amazingly, their voices remain unheard in certain circles for reasons I cannot explain. While the Magic’s 8-0 run in the postseason so far is somewhat tarnished by the teams they met – both of which seemed quite content with playing the doormat – it still takes a very good team to capitalize on those “just-happy-to-be-here” feelings. Even though the Hawks’ second-round performance was as apathetic as they come, this was the East’s third-best team. And yet, they were obliterated completely, each and every strength nullified, each and every weakness exposed.

No, don’t let the “we just beat the number one overall seed” hype fool you: these Magic are favorites. And while this series is a whole lot closer than it seemed a few weeks ago, we must still remember that even though Boston’s defense seems to be returning to near-2008 levels, Orlando has been playing a similarly elite defense for two straight years, now — along with far superior offense. In fact, throughout this postseason, the Magic have been number one in both offensive efficiency (a ridiculous 116 points per 100 possessions, which is a full 2.8 points more than the Suns) and defensive efficiency (94.6, which is 2.7 points less than the Celtics).

Then again, these Celtics don’t really give a damn about favorites. That should give us a great match-up in and of itself — a match-up enhanced by the fact that, to my eyes, each team’s weakness is pretty ably countered by the other team’s strengths.

Boston struggles against young, athletic teams? Well, the Magic have their share of oldies, but they don’t get much more athletic than Dwight Howard. With Jameer and Jason Williams running the show, Matt Barnes, Mickael Pietrus and the still-athletic-when-he-wants-to Vince running the wings, and an abundance of three-point shooters trailing, this team should be able to run as much as it wants. Heck, we might even see some Brandon Bass.

The Magic’s weakest positions defensively are point guard and power forward? Well, those two positions are manned by Boston’s two best players, if the Cleveland series is any indication.

Boston has a bench full of question marks? The Magic go a legit 11 deep.

Dwight Howard’s offensive game still tends to be inconsistent (though it’s much, much better than the rep it gets)? Kendrick Perkins is the best Dwight-stopper in the league.

It goes on and on.

And there are so many x-factors. There literally isn’t a single player in the starting lineups that won’t have a crucial role in this series.

For the Celtics: Rondo will have to get to the paint, draw fouls on Dwight, create shots for his teammates, and basically carry Boston’s sometimes struggling offense through those sometimes struggly stretches, while trying to stop the scorching Nelson; Allen and Pierce will be counted on to make shots, whether by creating for themselves and trying – sorry if I sound like a broken record here – to draw fouls on Dwight (mostly Pierce) or by making spot-up outside shots (Ray); KG will need to exploit Rashard Lewis like he exploited Jamison; and Perkins? Well, Perkins is up against Dwight. Good luck with that.

For Orlando: Jameer will have to keep up his ridiculous play, breaking down the Boston defense and generally being unstopable; Vince will have to make sure Pierce doesn’t find a rhythm while fitting in to the offense, scoring when he is needed and deferring when he isn’t; Barnes will need to run through screens after Ray Allen; Lewis will have to make weakside threes and maybe even, god forbid, drive to the hoop against Garnett should he be able to force him out; and Dwight will have to stay out of foul trouble to anchor the defense, while still posing a strong enough offensive threat to shrink in the Boston defense, and maybe even getting Perkins and Garnett into some foul trouble of their own.

And those are just the starters. The series could eventually be decided by the benches or by the coaches or by the refs (hate to bring them up, but this has become an increasingly important factor with Dwight). Anything can happen. Everybody is important.

Which is why I think the Magic win.

When considering everything and anything, they just have more. They are deeper. They are younger. They are healthier. They are just as good, if not better, on defense. They are way better on offense. They have the better coach. They have home-court advantage.

The Celtics made everybody – including me – look like idiots after handing it to the Cavs. They sure could do it again. The difference is that this time, they aren’t facing a team on the brink of a mental meltdown. They are facing the defending Eastern Conference champion. They are facing a team that is playing better basketball — better than last season’s Magic and better than this season’s Celtics.

Magic in 7

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.

This series is not.

On paper, this should be a nail biter. The teams split the regular season series. Both won their first round series in 5 games. Both teams are as healthy as they will ever be (and yes, I’m assuming that LeBron’s elbow is fine, because he’s a cyborg and cyborgs don’t feel pain). And while the Cavs are deeper, and had the far superior regular season record, they are also employing a line-up that has played less than 10 games together, including in the playoffs, and lack the championship pedigree of their green opponents. All in all, this evens out.

Until you look at the fine print.

How did Boston got those regular season wins? Well, one was on opening night, against a Cleveland squad playing it’s first game with Shaquille O’Neal in uniform after a shaky training camp, without Delonte West who was battling personal issues. Since then, Cleveland acquired Antawn Jamison, got Delonte back, got Shaq in the mix, and gained two rotation players in J.J. Hickson and Jawad Williams (though the latter might be kind of a stretch), while the Celtics regressed to .500 ball from Christmas Day onward.

The second Boston win came 10 days before the end of the season, after the Cavs clinched the league’s best record, without the aforementioned O’Neal. Cleveland basically rolled over for 3 quarters, allowing Boston to go up 22, before LeBron decided he feels like trying and instantaneously made it a close game, only to lose the game on some questionable decisions – and missed some free throws – in crunch time.

How did Cleveland get their wins?

One was a late February game, one week after Jamison joined the team, which was close for three quarters before the Cavs turned it up in the fourth (notice a trend here?) and won by 20. The other was a mid-March, Shaq-less contest, an 11 point win that wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated.

“Sure,” you could say, “but how about those first round series? Boston looked much better there!”

Well, the Cavs, playing at first gear, beat a Bulls team despite the Bulls playing two or three of their best games of the season. The Celtics, with extreme motivation, beat a Miami team that consists of Dwyane Wade … and … yeah.

Not to take away from the Boston’s win against Miami – they upped the defensive intensity, and managed to convincingly win a series that many, including yours truly, predicted would be very close. But how does that help them against Cleveland? Letting Wade get his and stopping the likes of Beasley, Chalmers, Haslem and Jermaine O’Neal’s dead body is hardly the same as letting LeBron get his and stopping Jamison, Mo, Shaq and an array of three-point snipers. Besides, just letting LeBron get his could be enough to lose.

Look, I might be selling the Celtics short. I pretty much declared their title chances – for this year – over once Kevin Garnett was ruled out from last season’s playoffs, and my stance didn’t change one bit even when they started the season 23-5. And while I still believe the Celtics as presently constructed to be all but done as far as a title contender, I may be letting that opinion get the better of me.

And yet, the question remains:

When have the Celtics ever given us any indication that they are capable of beating these guys?

Even at full strength, rolling towards a title, a much stronger version of these Celtics needed 7 games and a fourth quarter outburst from P.J. Brown to put Cleveland away. And this was when Cleveland had, maybe, 10% the supporting cast, the Celtics had James Posey (whom they’ve never adequately replaced), and Kevin Garnett was still one of the best players in the league.

So yes, Rajon Rondo will probably have his way with Mo Williams, weaving his way into the paint for numerous floaters and funny looking layups, just like Derrick Rose did before him and Jameer Nelson will do after him. Ray Allen will make some big threes, Paul Pierce will still be Paul Pierce, KG will yell at all sorts of things, be them opposing point guards or stationary objects. Heck, maybe even Rasheed Wallace will get off the bench and show the Cavs that even though he already mailed in a playoff series against them last year, he’s still enough of a bonehead to do it again. You know, all the those Celticy little things we’ve come to know and love.

And after all that is said and done, LeBron will get his ridiculous stat-line, Jamison will get his 18 points without releasing the ball from above his shoulder even once, Anderson Varejao will draw 5 charges and 8 technicals, some kind of dude with an unnecessary J in his name will score a big three and follow it up with a 5 minute hand shake/rain dance, and the Celtics will go home.

I know this sounds bleak, and not very fun. But I promise you, it’s not like that. It will be a fun series. The games themselves should be fairly close – not the defensive slugfest kind of close, but the entertaining kind of close, as these teams have quite regularly produced in the past.

And don’t fool yourself into thinking that this series can’t affect the NBA title. In fact, this is the ultimate Cleveland gut check: for all of Lebron’s greatness, he hasn’t beaten a legit, top tier team in the playoffs since the Pistons in 2007. Unfair as that assessment may be, it’s on him to prove that he can hold up to that pressure. If he doesn’t against Boston, he won’t against Orlando/whoever comes out of the West.

As for the Celtics, this series can dramatically alter their future. If they somehow take this to 7, or even win (which I don’t see happening, at all, but you can never be sure in this league), then maybe they stay course, hope KG’s knee is better after yet another summer off, re-sign Ray Allen, sign another, strong mid-level bench guy (not like Sheed), and take another shot. If they lose in a blowout … well, then maybe it’s time to blow this thing up. (Fun side note: if Allen leaves in free agency, no team is a better fit for him than Cleveland. Nobody.) The whole Ubuntu, heart of a champion mentality of this squad will be put to the test here, even if it seemed like it abandoned them during the season.

And no matter what happens, whether this goes 4 or 7, we’ll get to see two very good teams doing what they do best. You can never go wrong with that. It’s just that at the end of the day, one of these teams is better than the other.

By quite a margin.

And they have Lebron.

Cavs in 5

(Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)

Rockets/Lakers.

Celtics/Magicians.

All the garbage that’s been written so far is now meaningless. All the banter is worthless. Are the Lakers too soft? Are they too arrogant? Are they too lazy? Are the Rockets better without Tracy? Are they even good without Yao? Are Shane and Ron the worst match up for Kobe?

Your opinions on these questions no longer matter. In about an hour, fiction becomes fact.

Unfortunately, it’s really hard to see a rag-tag squad of over-achieving Rockets led by Ron Artest waltzing into Staples Center and beating a team with so much basketball talent. Kobe, Pau, Lamar, Trevor and (I guess) Bynum should really have no problems beating Ron, Von, Aaron, Shane and Scola. Generally, the NBA is the most just of all the sports leagues in that the best team almost always wins in a seven-game series. Injuries and momentum-fueled runs (e.g., the Warriors over the Mavs) do alter this on occassion, but the “better team” wins way more in the NBA than the NFL or MLB. Throw in the fact that the Lakers have the best two players in the series in Mamba and the Spaniard, and you have to expect LA to pull this one out at home — especially after Kobe refocused himself yesterday by spending his whole Saturday evening watching four straight airings of Kobe Doin’ Work.

Celtics/Magic is much more interesting (yet, paradoxically, the game that interests me less) in the sense that we really have no idea which team is better. With Paul, Ray and Rajon, the Cs have the pedigree of Playoff success while Orlando has exactly zero proven, ready-for-primetime players. Then again, Truth looks run down until the final five minutes of every game and the Boston frontcourt is shakier than Vin Baker in the morning. Will Dwight go 20/20 again? Will Rashard be aggressive? Will the Turkism Michael Jordan stick his patented dagger threes? Will Rafer slap or kiss anyone’s head?

In reality, none of us know what’s about to happen. And this is exactly what we’ve been hoping for while watching the NBA all year.

A Game 7 is the best thing in sports.

And, today, we get two.

Enjoy.

Game 1 featured Derrick Rose’s national breakout, which to those of us who have been salivating over the dude all season was just great to watch. Game 2 featured Ray Allen’s game-winning trey with two seconds remaining, which to those of us who love all-time great jumpshooters and were saddened by his gross 1/12 shooting display the previous game was just great to watch. Game 3 was apparently a blowout, which to those of us who missed the game because we were off at a horrible business conference and were hoping we didn’t miss anything too fantastic was just great to hear.

Then came Game 4.

I don’t want to make too too much of this since the first great game of the Playoffs each year is always overblown because people forget how great the previous year’s Playoffs were (not to mention the fact that aside from the Orlando/Philly series, LA/Utah Game 3 and NO/Denver Game 3, this year’s First Round has been fairly whatever), but that right there was one helluva basketball game.

Given the world we live in today, most of the discussion about yesterday’s game will undoubtedly center around asking why Doc Rivers didn’t foul John Salmons when the Celtics were up by three before Ben Gordon drilled that dagger or why no one could make a clutch free-throw (though, even in a hyper-critical climate of people discussing sports on TV like it’s the Cuban Missile Crisis, I’m sure the sloppy analysts paid to break down the game will still fail to mention Big Baby’s borderline tackle of Joakim Noah on the “screen” that set Jesus Shuttlesworth free prior to that huge three at the end of regulation).

But round these parts, we would much rather just praise the game’s greatness. There are too few spectacular Playoff games to waste our fan energy on nit-picking every little flaw or second guess every decision. Theoretically, we watch basketball — and all sports — because we enjoy them. So, to me, it seems counterproductive to only sit around talking about all the stuff we didn’t enjoy after the game is over. Alas, that’s what most people want to do.

But round here we say fuck that.

Round here we talk about the Rondo vs. Rose mano-a-mano duel that kicked off the 4th Quarter. Round here we talk about Ben Gordon, who just when you don’t think he could possibly be any dumber after turning the ball over trying to go one-on-two for no real reason while freelancing outside of the offense (best Twitter line of the entire game: “@the_tigercub I suddenly want to spit into Ben Gordon’s cereal.” ) completely redeems himself with a game-tying three to send the game into a second overtime. Round here we talk about Paul Pierce overcoming some serious ballhandling issues and general poor play to stick a few patented daggers late in the fourth. Round here we talk about Ty Thomas making some of the best and worst plays you’ll ever see on back-t0-back possessions as if he’s deliberately trying to force his inclusion into the Gerald Wallace/Josh Smith section in the second edition of Free Darko Presents the Macrophenomenal Basketball Almanac. (I never write the proper review of this that I had intended, but trading these guys $15.64 for the right to own this book is one of the better moves any basketball fan can make this year.) Round here we talk about Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo again — what an epic shootout that was. (My in-game tweet from the time “@BothTeamsPlayed Can these other eight irrelevant players just got off the court please?”)

And round here, we watch clutch shots again. (via Hoop Doctors)

Enjoy. (Or at least try to.)

(Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, I forgot to mention another bracket-gimicked thing that I was involved in. This one honestly seems pretty poorly run since no one really knows what’s going on, but it’s a “Blog Madness Tournament” that is essentially a debate type thing where good sites like What Would Oakley Do?, Hail Mary Jane and a bunch of other dudes I’ve never heard of discuss sports.

It’s hosted by some site called Sports2Debate that I really know nothing about and had never heard of previously, but I agreed to participate nonetheless and apparently advanced instead of some other NBA site cause I posted a few things and they didn’t. Thrilling, I know.

The whole thing is whatever, but I figured I may as well repost what I wrote since I so rarely write my actual opinions about the current NBA season over here anymore and it’s already written anyway.

The question was: “In the current NBA, who is the best ______ ?”

And we were supposed to give answers for the following categories: (1) rebounder, (2) thief, (3) dunker, (4) at taking it to the hoop, (5) outside shooter, (6) leader, (7) passer, and (8) ball-handler.

The other guy in the debate was Bob Boozer Jinx, who runs a pretty decent-looking Bucks blog I’d never heard, and he said Dwight for the best rebounder before passing the mic to me. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the rebounding category and all the others.

Good luck with that one, five other guys.

#1. The best rebounder in the world is Dwight Howard. Since this is a debate and that fact in undebatable, I agree that we should just move on to best shooter.

I’ve long held that Peja Stojakovic and Allan Houston are the co-best shooters of all time. Most people seem to think that Peja has fallen off a little since his Kings days due to the back troubles. That is certainly true in the sense that he does have some nights where is isn’t absolutely lights out from three, but looking past his injury woes this season, he still hit 44.1% from three last season. But if you’re not consistent every night, it is hard for me to consider you the best shooter in today’s game anymore.

Ray Allen is the next obvious candidate. He, too, is not as consistent as he once was, however, and, anecdotely, I’ve seen him miss an awful lot of wide-open threes since he’s become a Celtic. I feel like he was making more contested shots at a higher percentage in Seattle and Milwaukee. Given his third-option status (or even fourth with Rondo), I was fully expecting some 45+% for Ray Ray from behind the line in Boston. And while he has been back to straight water for most of this year, I can’t simply ignore the fact that his jumpshot turned into hot garbage for almost an entire month during last year’s run to the title. Yes, he found his groove again before the Finals, but his 1/6 and 4/12 shooting nights were a big part of the reason it took the Celtics 20 games to close out Atlanta, Cleveland and Detroit.

Thus, I’m going with Steve Nash. Not only is he one of the most underrated great shooters in NBA history (check the mind-boggling yearly 3PT percentages…or, all the percentages, really), but he has to be the best pull-up three-point shooter off the dribble I’ve ever seen. Many people might wanna say this is all D’Antoni, but check the numbers he was putting up in Dallas and his first go-round in the desert and it’s pretty clear that no other high-minute, high-volume long-distance is on par with Mr. Nash right now. Throw in his uncanny ability to pull-up in the clutch for a key three whenever the Suns need some quick points, and the two-time MVP clearly reigns supreme.

[Bob Boozer Jinx never showed back up, so I just kept going with the rest of my arguments.]

#2. The best passer in the league is unquestionably Chris Paul.

His ability to penetrate and move whereever he wants on the floor allows him to find any and every possible angle to deliver an optimal pass. As such, he not only finds guys perfectly when they do get open within the offense or on the break — something he does as well as anyone in the League — but he also creates passing lanes that would never exist if the ball was in the hands of a mere mortal.

Moreover, CP3 places the ball perfectly into the hands of a shooter. This is a mostly overlooked aspect of passing the ball as most people dwell on assist totals and spectacular, Jason Kidd-esque, cross-court bounce passes that make the crowd go “ooh” and “ah.” But more often than not, the precision of a delivery in something as simple as a swing pass or a drive-and-kick makes the difference between whether or not a jumpshot goes in. Paul puts the ball right into the shooting pocket more than anyone else in the Association aside from possibly Nash.

Similarly, he hits guys in stride on the break or in motion off a screen with similarly uncanny consistency. Whether it be a bounce pass to a guy streaking to the rim from the wing, another guard leaking out past half court of David West coming across the lane at the high post, he hits them in a spot where not only are they in a good position to score, but they catch the ball in a place where Chris Paul has essentially already made the decision on what move they should use or where they should go next.

In summation, CP3 runs shit.

#3. Since this debate appears to be over, I’ll just post the rest quick-style cause why not?

LeBron is the best at taking it to the hoop. His reluctance to do so for stretches allows for a case to be made for Dwyane Wade, but King James’ freight train in a bulldozer’s body plus the lightning first step and ability to cover ten feet in one stride put him well beyond anyone else in the League at getting to the rim — maybe ever if you weigh the fact that MJ was playing against athletes like Craig Ehlo who probably couldn’t even physically play in today’s NBA. [Note: Tony Parker is having a truly transcendent and completely overlooked season right now. Had this been done with more precision, he would have definitely been an honorable mention here as number three behind LeBron and Flash. Nobody -- NOBODY -- can stay in front of Tony Parker right now. He has the whole League back-pedaling on ice skates.]

Best dunker in terms of effectiveness in a basketball game has to be Dwight. Or still Shaq maybe. Given Vince and JRich’s ages creeping up, I’m not sure who’s the best dunker in a dunk contest sort of way. I’ll say still Vince. He was so ahead of his time his parents haven’t met yet as recently as two years ago and he hasn’t lost that that much off his vertical yet.

Best ball-handler is CP3 — just ask Jason Terry. Can’t recall ever seeing Frenchie get his ball took neither though. Kobe, Steve and AI are certainly in the mix. Chauncey and Deron are always in total command as well. [Note: DWill's crossover has no peers, only admirers.]

Best leader is a pretty stupid thing to rank people on. But it’s gotta be Duncan, right?

Best thief is CP3. He’ll steal your first-born child. The combo of Flash and Super Nintendo Chalmers in Miami is scary some nights though.

[And through those such shrewd debating stylings, I walked away victorious by a vote of 3-1 -- and that didn't even include me voting for myself since I was not allowed. Try to contain your excitement.]

"Why don't you or Manu take the MVP this time? My mantle's full anyway."

I don’t normally get too worked up about this stuff, but it’s about damn time.

Allen is receiving his ninth selection in a year where he’s shooting a career high 50% from the floor, an impressive 41% from three and a near-perfect 94% from the line. Meanwhile, he has been Boston’s most consistent offensive player all season and dropped a “Fuck this bullshit” 36 points in victory over the Raptors on January 11, prior to which the Celtics had lost seven of their last nine. And they haven’t lost again since.

Coincidence? Possibly.

Eastern Conference All-Star? Yessir.

Yes, Michael Finley, that is the prettiest jumpshot you've ever seen in your life. (With apologies to Shawn Respert.)

(Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

Plenty of your favorite shooters will routinely hit 40+ out of 50 three pointers while shooting around and guys like Jason Kapono and Ray Allen probably drop like 47 or 48 out 50 at times without even really noticing. Basically, take the best shooter you’ve ever met in your life and realize that even a guy like Troy Murphy would make him or her look like Rajon Rondo.

With that in mind, how many free throws do you think Steve Nash, a guy whose name really needs to come up more often in the “best shooter of all-time discussion,” can make in a minute? (via TrueHoop)

Charlotte 114
Boston 106

New Orleans 116
LA Lakers 105

Of course, we shouldn’t overplay two random January games: The Hornets are the second best team in the West, Chris Paul was/is sensational (32 points and 15 assists last night with 0 turnovers) and David West went off in the fourth quarter (he scored 15 of his 40 points in the final period). And while the Celtics have now lost five of their last seven, the team’s 27-2 start didn’t just happen on it’s own. Then again, when you start off 27-2 and, less than two weeks later, you’re not even in first place anymore, there is certainly some reason for concern — particularly when your most even-keeled veteran is giving other teams “The Blueprint” on how to beat you.

I mean, the Lakers and Celtics are still clearly two of the three best teams in the League (along with Cleveland). That’s still a certainty.

But the stratospheric gap between those top three and the next five is starting to look a lot slimmer than it did before Santa showed up. And based on Upset Sunday (three days ago when New York beat Boston, Washington beat Cleveland, Toronto beat Orlando, and Memphis beat Dallas), even some of the bottom feeders are reaffirming the fact that no team is Teflon.

So without trying to overstate this into one of the eleventy billion “What’s wrong with the Celtics?” stories that will undoubtedly be published today, it is notable that there are five pretty good teams in the East (Boston, Cleveland, Orlando, Detroit and Atlanta — and maybe six depending on the progression in Miami) and that the Celtics are going to have to beat at least two of them in the Playoffs to give us the seemingly-inevitable-two-weeks-ago Finals rematch with L.A.

I'll be impressed if you can name three of these guys. (Photo by Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Images)

Essentially, let’s credit him for getting better — but let’s realize that we’re basically crediting a dog for his newfound ability to merely piss on the rug instead of shit.

And while every scout, coach and waterboy in the League knows that, I’m not sure why Ray Allen is saying things like this after the Celtics loss on Sunday night to the Knicks in MSG. (via CelticsBlog)

It also hurt that the Knicks got mileage out of putting 6-foot-11 forward Jared Jeffries on Rajon Rondo who had just three points after scoring 26 against New York on Dec. 21.

“That’s now the blueprint on how to beat us, so we just have to counter that,” Allen said. “Put a big guy on [Rondo] and just force him to shoot.”

Adds Doc:

“There’ll be nights when Rondo is not making shots”

Great PR campaign you guys have going here.

On the other hand, maybe it’s not such a big deal to publicly tell people how to beat you when it’s this easy to decipher how to do so via simple game-film analysis — something Seven Seconds or Mess provides oh so astutely in the video below. (via FanHouse)

Regardless, you can bet Phil Jackson and Mike Brown are taking notes.

(Photo by Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images)

Rajon just wants his RING!

Rondo will be getting his wish first, and the Celtics unveiled a little preview of the bling that the players will eventually receive during the Shamrock Foundation’s Championship Celebration Gala last night. The players will officially have the rings presented to them before Tuesday’s season opener against the Cavs, but the best part about the whole thing is that when the team did their fittings, Tony Allen had his molded to be a pinkie ring.

“You never know with TA,” said Ray Allen. “I told him that it might be pretty intense. That little pinkie will have to do some weight training to keep that thing up.”

Says Tony:

“It ain’t like I’m gonna wear it,” he said, clearly tired of the pinkie jokes. “It’ll get put up. Then if I get another, I’ll put it on my ring finger. But I won’t wear this except to banquets.”

Banquets like the Players Ball, he means. (Photos via Red’s Army; music via Bun B and the late, great Pimp C)

New Orleans set the stage perfectly, prompting everyone to be slightly more engaged than normal. Having CP3, DWest and Byron Scott all representing the most exciting team in the League in its own building certainly helped, too.

Of course, we all loved Birthday Cake, Kapono’s record-setting title defense and the Boobie Gibson show. And, hot damn, there really can’t be enough said about Dwight’s performance. That tip dunk was borderline extra terrestrial and the phone booth costume change theatrics leading to that Superman throw down was the perfect blend of showmanship and freakshow athleticism.

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Even the actual All Star game was worth the hype. Predictably, with Kobe out, the two usual suspects showed up at winning time: Bron and Wade. But the most impressive display was the shooting pyrotechnics of Ray Allen. Indeed, Jesus Shuttlesworth turned water into twine down the stretch, drilling Tom Emanski-esque, back-to-back-to-back dagger threes in the waning minutes. LeBron and Wade closed it out for the East with two impressive drives to the cup, but it’s hard to believe they win without Ray Ray, who would have been MVP had the voting not gone all American Idol for the first-time ever.

Either way, watching the best shooting display in an All Star Game since Glen Rice got me thinking: Is it possible that Ray Allen is the best shooter of all time?

(40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks)

I’ve always thought Peja is the best I’ve seen, with Bird, Dale Ellis, Allan Houston, Ray, Reggie, Dell Curry, Hornacek, Hersey Hawkins and Drazen all coming up just a whisker hair shy of Mr. Permanent Five O’Clock shadow himself.

Honestly, it’s a question that I don’t think gets asked that much. All these guys are listed as “one of the best shooters ever” but I’ve hardly ever seen any rankings. Obviously it’s tough given that the difference at the top is so minute and full of subjectivity, but with Ray Ray soon to become the all-time leader in career threes made, this question is bound to come up more often (Reggie is #1 now but is only up by about 500, which is a little more than two typical seasons for Allen).

So in a quest to get some sort of answer here, we’re gonna take an extended look at this subject at Both Teams Played Hard in an attempt to get something close to a ranking of the Top 20 shooters of modern NBA history.

(Note: As always, I’m not going back before 1980 in these history debates because (A) I think the game changed after Bird/Magic, and (B) I wasn’t alive before that.)

After some quick research, here are the early contenders:

• Ray
• Peja
• Bird
• Houston
• Reggie
• Hornacek
• Dale Ellis
• Dell Curry
• Drazen
• Calvin Murphy
• Hersey Hawkins
• Mark Price
• Rip
• Chuck Person
• Wesley Person
• Chris Mullin
• Glen Rice
• Michael Redd
• Mitch Richmond
• John Stockton
• Dirk
• George Gervin
• Dennis Scott
• Rashard Lewis
• Freddie Brown
• Brent Barry
• Steve Nash
• Detlef
• Joe Dumars
• Rickey Pierce
• Terry Porter
• Sean Elliot
• Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
• Mike Miller
• Chauncey Billups
• Dan Marjerle
• Danny Ainge
• Alex English
• Ginobli
• Jason Terry
• Hedo
• Wally Szczerbiak
• Dana Barros
• Scott Skiles
• Kiki Vandeweghe
• Kyle Korver
• Rolando Blackman
• Sam Perkins
• Mike Finley
• Jim Paxson
• Bernard King
• Adrian Dantley
• Kobe
• Vince Carter
• Terrell Brandon
• Voshon Leonard
• Craig Ehlo
• Steve Smith
• Tom Chambers
• Danny Ferry
• Ben Gordon
• Tracy Murray
• Bob McAdoo
• Sheed

(Another note: I’m not including any of the Kerr/Legler/Hodges/Hoiberg types. They never played a significant enough role to count. Yes, they were all incredible and possibly better pure shooters than anyone on this list…but they weren’t really legit 4th Quarter NBA-caliber players. I’m looking for the best shooters who are real players, not specialists.)

Okay, that’s the loooong list of 60ish guys who either my memory and the percentages consider to be somewhat legit contenders. I’m sure I missed several. And a few of these guys probably don’t even belong.

Also…there are various others that don’t match up with the stats or my memory. For instance, Shane Battier has a career 3PT percentage of 39.1%, which is good for 40th all time. But I have to believe that’s more circumstantial than anything else. I mean, he’s a good shooter and all, but he doesn’t strike fear into opponents. Similarly, Raja Bell is somehow 17th best of all time, which to me is more D’Antoni/Nash than his pure ability. Neither is making the list.

On the other side of things is Dan Majerle, who I’ve always considered one of the most dangerous shooters of all time. But for all his Playoff heroics and propensity to drill daggers, he never once shot over 40% from three in a season. Danny Ainge, too, has lower numbers than I expected. But since I remember these guys being dead-eye, I’m keeping them on the list for now. Why? Cause it’s my list.

Unfortunately, that’s all for now, folks.

But this will be an on-going project and we’ll revisit it soon in the coming weeks. And for all those out there reading (Hi Mom!) please let me know about the deserving guys I’ve certainly overlooked, especially those early 80s guys that I’m not going to remember as well.

‘Til later…