The Big Two

Sometimes it feels like Boston's Big Three consists of two players, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. During the first five games, Ray Allen was making his case as the most dominant of the Big Three, shooting .572 from the field and demoralizing teams by hitting a variety of fading right of fading left jumpers from everywhere on the court, including international waters.

Since game five, however, Jesus Shuttlesworth has been hot and cold, but for the most part, cold.

Meanwhile, KG has literally and metaphorically hoisted the Celtics and the entire city of Boston on his back, leading the Celtics to the fourth best start in NBA history at 28-3. He is the defensive catalyst on a team where defense sets the tone for each game. He is also the team's emotional leader, getting his teammates locked and loaded for every game, big games out West where the team needed to be pumped and less meaningful games at home that the team still needed to win.

Not to be outdone, Paul Pierce is conjuring up memories of Larry Bird. He is playing intelligently, and filling up box scores with rebounds, assists, and steals. He is also scoring when necessary, taking games over when the Truth was the only thing separating the Cs from defeat.

Regardless of the outcome of tonight's game, I expect Garnett and Pierce to keep growing as a fearsome duo. We can win this thing, I think, if Garnett and Pierce both have career years, and Ray Allen and company play solid supporting roles.

We still need a vet point guard to enable Tony Allen and Eddie House to focus on what they do best, but that is the subject of a different post.