Celtics

It was never a matter of memorizing dead spots on the parquet or the way the lip of the south rim bent ever so slightly. The lighting? Nothing out of the ordinary, Andrew Toney reports. In fact, said the former Philadelphia 76ers guard, the only thing special about the creaky court on 150 Causeway Street was that it served as the stage for his most famous role: the Boston Strangler."My first step out of the locker room, I was in range," Toney says. "It was easy. I have no explanation for it. It was just easy for me to score at Boston Garden."

Schedule says Boston Dave Hyde Sun Sentinel After 22 straight wins, the schedule-maker will beat the Heat more than the Celtics on March 18. This is how it happens in the NBA, where regular-season wins and losses have to be measured by the schedule. The Celtics game is the third road game in four days for the Heat. They play at Milwaukee (March 15), at Toronto (March 17) and then in Boston. The Celtics, meanwhile, only play the lowly Bobcats in the four nights leading up to the game.

If he so chooses, Paul Pierce could Tweet some taunts about a sweep and not blame hackers for it this time. The Celtics moved one victory away from fulfilling Pierce's tainted Tweet — "Anybody got a BROOM?" — with a dominating 94-71 victory over the Magic Saturday night at raucous TD BankNorth Garden. It was their sixth straight triumph in the NBA playoffs. Game 4 is scheduled for Monday night, which gives the Magic two days to orchestrate a search party and find the missing offense of Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis.

Boston Celtics forward-center Chris Wilcox will miss a month because of an ulnar collateral ligament sprain in his right thumb, coach Doc Rivers said, according to ESPN.com. Wilcox, 30, who played on Maryland's 2001-02 national championship team, injured his thumb Tuesday against the Bulls and had sat out the past two games. "Chris is out; he's out for a while," Rivers said Sunday. "I don't know how long, but the first report I got was three to four weeks. " Wilcox is averaging 4.7 points and 2.3 rebounds in 13.3¿minutes per game.

Two wins away from the NBA Finals, the Celtics have plenty of reasons for confidence. But overconfidence? Don't count on it, no matter what Paul Pierce said. Before leaving the court after Boston took a 2-0 lead over the Magic with a 95-92 win on Tuesday night, Pierce said in a live 60-second television interview that the Celtics were coming home to close it out. Coach Doc Rivers said Thursday he didn't like the remark, although he was pleased that Pierce was confident.

Walton set precedent Dom Amore Hartford Courant There probably were those who chuckled or rolled their eyes when the Celtics picked up Bill Walton for a magical mystery tour in the mid-1980s. A once-great center, no longer a star, no longer able to stand up to the rigors of full-time play, just what did Red Auerbach think he was doing when he signed "Big Red"? You know the rest. Walton knew how to win, and knew how to tailor his remaining skills to the needs of a team that was already solid, and chemistry paid off in a championship.

A person with knowledge of the negotiations says the Celtics are making progress on a deal that would bring Shaquille O'Neal to Boston. Earlier Tuesday, the four-time NBA champion said he will be in the league next season and would rather retire than play internationally. The 38-year-old O'Neal spent last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He has struggled to find a contract from a team that can guarantee him playing time, enough money and a chance for one more championship.

BOSTON — Isn't this the way it's supposed to happen? The defending NBA champions with their superstar guard heading home for two elimination games. Or the underdog team looking to pull off the ultimate trifecta of upsetting two No. 1 seeds and one No. 2 to return the championship banner to its parquet home for the second time in three years. Such are the things that big TV ratings are made of. The Celtics wove those storylines to reality Sunday with a 92-86 victory over the Lakers to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Looks like the Heat worked out their issues with big teams, last shots and being crybabies, huh? Of course, when someone goes up, someone goes down … Meet the Celtics! After losing at home to the Clippers last week, coach Doc Rivers noted, "No one cried; we're OK. " By the time they lost back-to-back to the 76ers and Nets, Doc had cranked the spin up so high, press people were toppling over. "It doesn't bother me unless they're going to start to have back-to-backs in the playoffs," Rivers said.

Memorial Day proved to be a memorable weekend for coach Anthony McDonnell and his Soccer Association of Columbia/Howard County U12 Classic II girls soccer team, the Celtics. The Celtics won the 36th annual Virginian Memorial Day Soccer Tournament by beating the Alexandria Revolution White team, 2-0, in the finals. The tournament provides a venue for more than 600 boys and girls soccer teams with players 9-19 years old to compete. The teams came from several states including Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia as well as Washington, D.C. and Canada.

Enough is enough Teddy Greenstein Chicago Tribune I can live with the one-game clip. But if I were dean of discipline, Rajon Rondo also would have to agree to some conditions. Start with publicly apologizing to official Marc Davis. Acknowledge that you intentionally bumped him. He didn't get in your way, as you pathetically claimed. Go to some elementary schools and tell the kids that what you did was inexcusable. They look up to you; they're watching you. Why should they respect referees after seeing what you did?

Before the Washington Wizards hosted the Boston Celtics on Sunday in the first game of a home-and-home set, coach Flip Saunders said he wanted to see John Wall play with more enthusiasm. Wall sulked through the Wizards' loss in Milwaukee on Friday and Saunders criticized his effort, claiming there would be consequences if he couldn't handle his emotions better. "I told him, if he doesn't play hard and he doesn't have a smile on his face, I'm going to take him out," Saunders said of Wall.

St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Aberdeen will close out the annual Christmas Street celebration with a Christmas concert, featuring the world renowned singer/songwriter, Charlie Zahm, at 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3. St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Aberdeen will close out the annual Christmas Street celebration with a Christmas concert, featuring the world renowned singer/songwriter, Charlie Zahm, at 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3. Zahm is one of the most...

When Celtic Crossroads performs at the Columbia Festival of the Arts on June 24, the seven-member band of Irish musicians will sound off with a more modern take on the traditional music of their homeland. Call it non-traditional Irish music. When Celtic Crossroads performs at the Columbia Festival of the Arts on June 24, the seven-member band of Irish musicians will sound off with a more modern take on the traditional music of their homeland. Granted, the group's stage show includes fiddles, flutes and a harp.

Memorial Day proved to be a memorable weekend for coach Anthony McDonnell and his Soccer Association of Columbia/Howard County U12 Classic II girls soccer team, the Celtics. The Celtics won the 36th annual Virginian Memorial Day Soccer Tournament by beating the Alexandria Revolution White team, 2-0, in the finals. The tournament provides a venue for more than 600 boys and girls soccer teams with players 9-19 years old to compete. The teams came from several states including Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia as well as Washington, D.C. and Canada.

When LeBron James announced last summer where he was taking his talents -- turning his back on his hometown of Cleveland and disgusting sports fans across America with his choreographed performance on ESPN -- he became the NBA's public enemy No. 1 outside of South Beach. Over the past 10 months, we were subjected to things like ESPN.com's Heat Index , websites calling for coach Erik Spoelstra's head , a slew of stories on the Miami chemistry experiment (heck, even Fast Company recently got in the act )

BOSTON (AP) -- The Boston Celtics reportedly have reached an agreement in principle to keep 38-year-old center Robert Parish, the oldest player in the NBA, on the team through next season.Under the agreement, Parish would be paid $3.5 million, with a small amount deferrred, The Boston Globe said today.Bob Woolf, who represents Parish, had sought a two-year contract, the Globe said, but Parish said he was satisfied with one year."I can live with that. I think it's fair," Parish said. "I'm really glad to have it done so I can get on with the rest of the season and not worry about it, and also so that I can enjoy my summer."

Heat are peaking Paul Doyle Hartford Courant What we've learned after two games is that the Heat's Big Three looks in championship form and the Celtics' Big Three looks, well, old. And with the Heat possessing home-court advantage, it's hard to envision the Celtics winning this series. That's not to say Boston won't make it interesting. The Celtics are too good and too experienced to fade away meekly, and it's conceivable that Boston could will itself to win all the games on its home parquet and push this series to the limit.

The Tilted Kilt is a Celtic-themed chain bar-restaurant where the waitresses are less-dressed than the Caesar salad; think Hooters dressed up in skimpy tartan duds. At first glance, it looks like the only thing it's got going for it is a good view, and maybe excellent fried chicken. At other bars with scantily dressed waitresses, there's little craft beer and not many draft lines — just your usual domestic swill. But, the Kilt, open since September, is an unpretentious, affordable spot with ample beer options.