See you next summer Obama

The Celtics let the good times roll last night in our nation's capital, surviving 104-102 against the Wizards for their ninth straight win.

Ray Allen scored 18 points, which helped him go over 20,000 for his career. Rajon Rondo led the C's (18-4) with 21 points (including a sick dunk late in the fourth quarter) and 11 assists. Kevin Garnett had 17 points, Kendrick Perkins added 16 points and 11 rebounds while Paul Pierce notched 12 points.

The Wizards (7-13) can still talk with the best of them but at the end of the day, they're just not very good. And I don't think having uberbozo Flip Saunders on the bench will do anything to change that losing atmosphere.

Gilbert Arenas led Washington with a game-high 25 points and eight assists. Brendan Haywood and Andray Blatche both scored 17, Antawn Jamison had 16 points and Caron Butler was held to 10 points.

The Wizards led 28-27 after the first quarter but Boston looked to blow it open with a 37-22 second quarter. Washington outplayed the Celts in the third (24-19) and the fourth (28-21) but they had nothing to show for it.

Winning was a direct result of good work at the free throw line (26-14) and on the glass (40-34). It wasn't pretty but it was a road victory and those are always tough to come by in the NBA.

The C's visit another underachieving team tomorrow night when they take on the Bulls.

Phil Kessel, now there's a haircut you can set a watch to

In a scheduling quirk by the NHL, the Bruins and Maple Leafs played twice in six days in Boston. Boston embarrassed Toronto 7-2 on Saturday and last night, they let them hang around a little more but still dispatched them 5-2 at the TD Garden.

You almost feel bad for Phil Kessel, who was held scoreless in his first two games back in Boston. Then you remember how much money he's making to do nothing but score a few goals and you reassess things.

After stumbling around for much of the early season, the B's (16-9-5) have found their game to the tune of 8-1-1 in their last ten and first place in the Northeast Division.

Boston jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second period as three completely random players found the back of the net: Mark Stuart (from Johnny Boychuk, Daniel Paille), Derek Morris PPG (Zdeno Chara, Michael Ryder) and David Krejci.

Toronto (10-14-7) scored two quick goals in the third period to make it somewhat interesting. Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin were the two Eastern Europeans out of central casting to score for the Maple Leafs. Mark Recchi put it away with a pair of late goals for the Bruins.

With 2:37 left in the game, Recchi scored a power-play goal from Blake Wheeler and Krejci then he had an empty-netter from Patrice Bergeron and Marco Sturm.

Tuukka Rask continued to prove why it's Tuukka time as he improved to 9-2-2 with 32 saves. Injury or not, Tim Thomas has earned his seat on the bench and Rask deserves to be the starter for the time being. Kudos to Bruins coach Claude Julien for realizing this early.

The B's will travel to Long Island tomorrow night to take on No. 1 pick John Tavares and the Islanders.

It's time like this when you have to say, boy do the Patriots suck

If you could tell a few weeks ago that the Patriots were about to blow up, you're a more perceptive person than me.

The loss to Indy was obviously devastating and getting embarrassed by the Saints didn't help anything but losing 22-21 to a pretty average Dolphins team (without Ronnie Brown) yesterday afternoon was downright depressing.

Now the Patriots (7-5) sit just one game ahead of Miami (6-6) and the Jets (6-6), two shitbum teams that have no business even thinking about the playoffs but here we are.

Yesterday's loss had all the similar ingredients to every one of New England's other road losses this season. Did you know they haven't won a true road game yet this year? The new rule is they go for it on fourth down regardless of score or situation. The offense completely disappears in the second half and the defense can't make one noteworthy stop against scrubs like Chad Henne (335 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception) since they have absolutely no pass rush. Also, our red zone attack is pathetic.

Oh and Tom Brady (352 yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions) makes a couple uncharacteristic mistakes based on the fact that our offense is completely predictable, without a running game and basically revolves around Wes Welker (10 catches, 167 yards).

Other than his 58-yard TD catch to start the game, Randy Moss was invisible (2 catches, 66 yards).

Kevin Faulk's 6-yard run gave New England a 14-0 lead in the second quarter before Miami slowly started to chip away at our lead which you knew the Pats wouldn't hold.

First Davone Bess scored a 13-yard touchdown, the first of his career which is surprising because we made him look like a hall of famer yesterday (10 catches, 117 yards).

Dan Carpenter's 29-yard field goal with a second left in the first half cut the Patriots' lead to 14-10.

After a Dolphins three and out, New England had its final highlight of the day: a ridiculous 81-yard catch and run by Sam Aiken. Brady just threw it up in a crowd on the sideline and somehow Aiken came down with it, kept his balance then sprinted for the score.

Carpenter's 24-yard field goal made it 21-13 in the third quarter before Brian Hartline caught a 7-yard pass in the corner of the end zone from Henne. The Dolphins missed the two-point conversion but two things were clear: 1) they'd score again and 2) New England probably would not.

Therefore Carpenter's 41-yard kick with 1:02 left was no surprise. New England got the ball back but Brady promptly threw a bad pick to Channing Crowder when he was being taken down and that was that.

The Patriots have four more games: vs. Panthers, at Bills, vs. Jaguars, at Texans. It's a very winnable final four games but after yesterday's mess, who knows if this team can do anything anymore. They look lost and broken.

Gregg Popovich's face will haunt your dreams

I'm not saying Popp isn't an incredible coach, a connoisseur of fine wine or a sly, intelligent man but damn son, does your mug have to be on HD?

The Celts went into San Antonio last night and knocked off the Spurs 90-83 for their sixth straight win. It wasn't a game that would have been called pretty (even with Eva Longoria in the Tex-Mex crowd) but Kevin Garnett led the C's (15-4) with a game-high 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Ray Allen had 15 points, Rasheed Wallace scored 13 off the bench and Rajon Rondo added 12 points, 12 assists and three steals.

For the second straight game, Paul Pierce scored less than 10 points (8 this time) but Boston still found a way to win. The Captain gets off the hook too since he carried the team earlier in the season when Ray and KG were finding their games.

As it has since the stone age, San Antonio's (9-7) fortunes still rest on the shoulders of Tim Duncan (16 points, 15 assists). The Spurs big three of Duncan, Tony Parker (17 points, 7 assists, 1 smokeshow wife) and Manu Ginobli (11 points) are still formidable although Ginobli is looking more and more like Bailke (sp?) from Perfect Strangers both in resemblance and basketball skill.

I will give the Spurs credit though as they picked up DeJuan Blair in the second round of last summer's draft. Anybody who likes the Big East could have told you this kid was a baller.

With that said, he killed the Celtics last night with a career-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. Boston is the second worst rebounding team in the NBA (I have no idea why) and they won last night despite being just pummelled on the glass (55-32). How you can win a game like that? Not sure.

It did help that the Spurs shot a Rondo-like 7-for-17 from the line.

With one more win tonight in Oklahoma City (don't sleep on Kevin Durant and the Thunder), the Celtics will come home with a perfect road trip.

Kids gather 'round while Grandpa Recchi tells you about when real men played hockey

On the day that the Bruins officially signed Marc Savard to a seven-year extension, it was only fitting that he scored his 200th career goal as a nightcap in a 4-1 win over the Lightning at the TD Garden.

Boston (14-8-5) have won six out of their last seven and they regained control of the Northeast Division. Marco Sturm led the way with two goals while Patrice Bergeron scored once and had two assists while Mark Recchi had three assists.

Tim Thomas (7-6-3) had one of his better games of the season, making 39 saves against the talented Lightning (10-8-8).

Savard opened the scoring with a power-play goal 8:05 into the first period. He banked a shot off Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith's (35 saves) skates from the side of the net. Derek Morris and Zdeno Chara assisted on the goal.

Almost six minutes later, Bergeron scored off assists from Chara and Recchi.

Sturm is the most mercurial player on the Bruins. He's talented for sure but he goes through long stretches of ineffectiveness not to mention he's about as fragile as J.D. Drew.

Therefore it was nice to see him score two in a row during the second period. Recchi and Bergeron assisted on both of Sturm's goals.

Boston travels to Montreal tomorrow night for a game with some historical significance. It will be the 100th anniversary for the Canadiens so those jokers will be going nuts. Is there anything else to do in Canada? Didn't think so.

Ray Allen ain't dead yet

Sure he maybe robotic and any day now he might be getting the senior discount but Ray Allen (at times) can still stroke it with the best of them.

Allen had his best game of the season last night (27 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) as the Celtics (14-4) rolled over the Bobcats (7-10), 108-90 for their fifth straight win.

It's amazing that Allen has been able to focus lately and play so well given his son's serious health issues but on a lighter note, damn his wife is fine.

Kendrick Perkins (21 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks) continues to blossom into one of the best centers-an endangered species in the NBA-that absolutely nobody outside of New England talks about.

Kevin Garnett added 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Rajon Rondo (8 points, 9 assists) and Eddie House (12 points) also contributed to the win.

For probably the first and last time of his life, Nazr Mohammed led his team in scoring with 16 points off the bench. Raymond Felton had 14 points, Boris Diaw scored 13, Stephen Graham added 12 and Stephen Jackson mustered 11 for his new squad.

Things will get harder as the Celts end the road trip with a back-to-back: at the Spurs tomorrow night then at the Thunder on Friday night.

Saints are for real, Patriots are not

With one game, the New Orleans Saints proved to the NFL that they are the best team (forget Indy) at this moment. Similarly, with one pathetic performance, the New England Patriots raised many questions about their abilities when they play good teams.

In the Bill Belichick era, it's hard to remember a more thorough beating than the one the Saints (11-0) threw the Patriots (7-4) last night at the Superdome, 38-17.

Drew Brees (18 of 23, 371 yards passing, 5 TDs, perfect QB rating) completely tore apart New England's secondary. Marques Colston led New Orleans with 121 yards receiving and a touchdown while Devery Henderson had 116 yards and a touchdown and Robert Meachem added 69 yards receiving and a touchdown.

Tom Brady (21 of 36, 237 yards, 0 touchdowns, 2 interceptions) never looked comfortable and his main weapons, Randy Moss (3 catches, 67 yards) and Wes Welker (6 catches, 32 yards) were neutralized. The offensive stars for the Patriots were Laurence Maroney (64 yards rushing, 2 TDs) and Sam Aiken (7 catches, 90 yards) which is never a good sign.

After Jon Carney's 30-yard field goal gave the Saints a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, New England took its only lead of the game on Maroney's 4-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1.

New Orleans went up 10-7 after Pierre Thomas' 18-yard catch and run. At least four Patriot defenders whiffed at tackling him. Even more depressing than that was the blown coverage on the next Saints drive that allowed Henderson to be wide open for a 75-yard touchdown.

Stephen Gostkowski's 36-yard kick cut it to 17-10 but you can't settle for field goals against the Saints. Brees closed out the first half with a perfectly threaded 38-yard touchdown pass to Meachem.

Maroney gave New England some life with a 2-yard touchdown to start the second half but the Saints came right back with a touchdown 1:22 later. Brees hit third tight end Darnell Dinkins for a 2-yard score. All that was left was a 20-yard touchdown pass to Colston in the fourth quarter and the Saints' quest for a perfect season look very good.

More relevant to me is where do the Patriots go from here? They'll be favored in and should win their last five games (no guarantees) but where is their signature win? They'll win the AFC East and make the playoffs. But how can anyone take this team seriously when they completely crumble against the best teams?

They go to Miami on Sunday to try and sweep the Dolphins this season.