The Boston Celtics are going to look drastically different next season and Boston fans are anxious about it.

People begin to wonder if the Boston Celtics are going to have enough to make a deep playoff run next season. The team’s chemistry issues affected the way they played when the game was on the line. Instead of putting the ball in Rondo’s hands, Paul Pierce would call his own sets or go for the home-run with a Ray Allen three.

One good note for the Boston Celtics is that their head coach Doc Rivers agreed to return to the sideline and honor the final year of his contract, the sheriff is back in town and the posse could be close behind. But plenty of questions remain.

Can the team re-sign key unrestricted free agents Paul Pierce, who Tuesday night declared his intention to opt out of his contract, and Ray Allen? When will Kendrick Perkins be healthy enough to return from surgery to repair a torn ACL?

Rivers and his players prided themselves on the fact that when Boston’s starting five of the past three seasons — Pierce, Allen, Perkins, Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett — were all healthy, they had not lost a playoff series. That led the team to one world title and put it on the cusp of another.

But the Celtics now face the very real possibility of starting the 2010-11 season with only Rondo and Garnett in the opening-night lineup. What’s more, Boston currently has only five players under contract for next season, and one of them — Rasheed Wallace — is, by all indications, set to hang up his headband after a 15-year career.

Danny Ainge has a decision to make and he cannot let…

Lakers, Celtics, the two winningnest teams in NBA history get it on for all the marbles in a pivotal Game 7 in the NBA Finals.

Boy, it doesn’t get any better than that. But for some reason, even when Lamar Odom was a kid with limitless imagination growing up on New York’s playground courts, he thinks he might have dismissed Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals as a bit too extravagant.

When the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA finals, Odom realizes it’s a fantasy come true for any basketball player with the audacity to dream this big. “It’s historic, especially when you talk about these teams and what they stand for, the pride,” the Lakers forward said Wednesday. “This is what you envision when you’re a kid in your backyard. Counting down, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…”

Another memorable chapter in the NBA’s best rivalry will end with a coronation at Staples Center, where the defending champion Lakers will try to earn their 16th banner while denying the Boston Celtics their unprecedented 18th title in the clubs’ second finals meeting in three years.

For the fifth time in their 12 finals meetings, Boston and Los Angeles need all seven games to decide it. Each previous time it went to Game 7, the Celtics won — but when the current Lakers and Celtics take the court for the NBA finals’ first Game 7 since 2005 and just its second in the past 16 years, most will try awfully hard not to think about the history and pressure heaped on their shoulders.

It’s fine for kids and historians to savor this scenario, but Kobe Bryant knows…

Looks like Garnett has screwed the Celtics over.

Things already got personal in the 2010 NBA playoffs as Kevin Garnett found himself in the middle of an altercation before getting suspended for the following game in their playoff series with the Heat. And mind you, this is only after the very first game of the very first round of this year’s postseason wars.

And in case you’re not paying attention, yup, Kevin Garnett was suspended by the league for throwing an elbow to the face of Miami’s Quentin Richardson in an altercation that occurred late in the fourth quarter with only a few seconds left remaining in the game. The Celtics won that game, 85-76, to take the early 1-0 lead over the Heat in the first round.

With KG suspended, the Boston Celtics will host the Miami Heat in Game 2 without their emotional leader and the only real forward they have who can play defense. Sure, the Celtics can try fill up that hole on Tuesday night with Glen Davis, Shelden Williams and Rasheed Wallace but let’s face it, none of these guys can play D as good as Garnett does.

This gives the Miami Heat a golden opportunity to tie it at a game a piece with the series moving to the American Airlines Arena in Miami for games 3 and 4. If the Heat win both games at home then the Celtics will return to Boston facing elimination from the playoffs in Game 5.

Yup, Kevin Garnett’s suspension could be the turning point in…

Who made the right moves for the 2010 NBA Title?

Shaquille O’Neal joins LeBron James in Cleveland, Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant are now teammates in Los Angeles, Rasheed Wallace is now in Boston and Vince Carter hopes to bring some magic to Orlando, that’s just some of the huge storylines we can look forward [...]

Is this the year that LeBron James finally becomes a champion?

That’s what we’ll soon find out as the 2009 NBA basketball season kicks off. And in case you’re not paying attention, the NBA season is kicking off, and it’s kicking off in style, pitting the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers on day numero uno.

That’s right, these two teams in the East will renew their storied rivalry in the season opener and since the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers are two of those teams that has made huge moves during the offseason, they have become two of the hottest commodities in the league right now and watching them play against each other to kick off the season is definitely must-see TV.

Can Rasheed Wallace help bring the Boston Celtics back in the NBA Finals? Is Shaquille O’Neal the guy who helps LeBron James give the Cleveland Cavaliers their first championship in franchise history? Whichever team wins this Tuesday will give us an idea.

For Boston, Kevin Garnett is back. After some knee problems last season, KG is definitely looking like the Big Ticket…

I absolutely have no idea.

After missing out on the world championship, falling out of the race as early as the second round of the playoffs, the Boston Celtics are reloading coming to the 2009 NBA basketball season, signing free agent Rasheed Wallace to improve their frontline.

Aside from signing Rasheed Wallace, the Celtics have also signed Shelden Williams, making it two solid former North Carolina forwards that should be a force to be reckoned with inside the paint.

With these acquisitions, why would the Boston Celtics still need a 6-9, overweight monstrosity like Glen ”Big Baby” Davis? We all know he won’t be starting ahead of Kevin Garnett anyway and with ‘Sheed here, that’ll cut his minutes down further.

STILL, the Celtics figured Glen Davis was still a necessity, re-signing the power forward to a new deal. It’s reportedly for two years worth $6.3 million, with $3 million due next season.

Go figure.

Many believe that Davis’ value doubled after he performed admirably in the playoffs, filling in for the injured Kevin Garnett. Unfortunately, with Garnett expected to be fully healthy and free agent Rasheed Wallace added to the frontcourt, Davis will return to a reserve role.

He knows it too.

”I feel like my role hasn’t changed a lot,” Davis said. ”I feel like I just have to be ready to go out there and play. If my role is to do whatever I have to do, I’m going to…”

Replacing Trevor Ariza with Ron Artest is a downgrade, let’s just put that one out first.

Sure, Ron Artest is obviously the more talented player but why in the world did the Los Angeles Lakers let an energy guy like Trevor Ariza go and jam Artest up on their roster that just might mess up the chemistry these guys have been trying to establish the last couple of years?

That is the dilemma the Lakers are in heading to the brand new 2009 NBA basketball season. For a team that already won the NBA title, was getting a guy as volatile as Ron Artest the right way to go?

For all of you who didn’t know, Ron Artest signed a mid-level exception to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, receiving $18 million over three years.

This is the same guy who mixed it up with Lakers star Kobe Bryant on multiple occasions during the 2009 NBA playoffs. Hell, they almost killed each other with elbows then and they’re suppose to be teammates now?

Sure, he will add extra toughness to a Lakers team trying to defend their championship. But if Artest can’t put his ego aside, they might as well kiss their bid for a re-peat goodbye.

Well, they’d have to anyway with Shaquille O’Neal now…

Madre de Dios, this offseason just keeps getting better and better.

Everybody should be hyped up for the coming 2009 NBA basketball season now as early as July with the number of blockbuster deals we’ve seen.

Get this; Richard Jefferson is now in San Antonio, Shaquille O’Neal will now play with LeBron James in Cleveland, Vince Carter returns to his home state in Florida to play for the Orlando Magic and Ron Artest just joined the defending NBA champions Los Angeles Lakers. And just when you thought it won’t get any better, another deal comes out.

And the latest is Rasheed Wallace agreeing to play for the Boston Celtics for at least two seasons. Although nothing is final yet since free agents can’t officially sign with new teams until July 8 this Wednesday, ‘Sheed has committed his 34-year-old ass to Boston, grabbing this opportunity to play for a legitimate title contender now than waste the remaining few years of his career with the inept management skills of Joe Dumars in Detroit.

The Boston Celtics wanted him bad too. A contingent from the Celtics organization, including owner Wyc Grousbeck, president Danny Ainge, head coach Doc Rivers and Boston’s ”Big Three” of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all descended on Wallace’s suburban Michigan home for a three-hour meeting with the free-agent forward.

During the course of the meeting, the Boston Celtics…

Although everybody knows the Western Conference is always better, I always found the East to be more entertaining.

Probably because I’ve always hated watching John Stockton and Karl Malone play in those stupid shorts in Utah or watch the seven-foot Vlade Divac get taken down by six-foot-three point guards in Sacramento. And while those guys’ playing days are over, I’d still keep my eyes glued on the East for the 2009 NBA Playoffs just because this side of the NBA has two of the hottest commodities in basketball today, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. Oh yeah, the East still has the Pistons too although I’m not counting on them to win anything this year.

Yup, the Detroit Pistons, after all the struggles they went through all year, still found their way to the postseason as the no.8 seed. How about that huh? Still, the festive mood in Detroit could end sooner than you think since they have the overall no.1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers waiting for them.

Unlike the Detroit Pistons, the Cavaliers have been playing tremendously that the merit the trip to the postseason. They have the best home record and would definitely not lose a home game to the struggling Pistons.

The Pistons have now lost Allen Iverson for the year and Rasheed Wallace now comes off the bench, how in the hell can their fans expect their team to overcome a…

Yep, I’m actually calling my boys retards.

There comes a point in a sports fan’s life that you just can’t take all the shit that your favorite team has been doing any longer. And although the Pistons have underachieved this 2008-09 NBA basketball season, I was still rooting for them, hoping that they’d still be able to get it together at some point.

But after watching my Detroit Pistons lose for the seventh straight time, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I mean, puh-lease, how bad can the Pistons get this year? And just when I thought it wouldn’t get any worse for Detroit, they opted to go with Walter Herrmann to take the potential game-tying three-pointer that missed badly in a 90-87 loss in New Orleans.

Walter Herrmann?!? You sick fucks chose Walter Herrmann to take the three-pointer at the buzzer against the New Orleans Hornets?!? Wow. That’s just fucking pathetic. No wonder these guys have been losing faster than Hulk Hogan loses more of the remaining strands of hair on his scalp.

On Friday, the Piston retards will be going up against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, the Orlando Magic. And since Detroit has now lost eight straight…