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The Miami Heat opened up their current season playing against their conference rivals, the Boston Celtics. And this time, the whole thing had a little twist. On the one hand, the Heat were going to put op their championship banner (second for the franchise) and LeBron James would receive his first and long coveted championship ring. On the other, the Heat would come out to the court with their latest acquisitions wich included Ray Allen, the ex-Celtic and member of the Championship winning big three.

Allen spent 5 years with the Celtics. He used to be head coach’s Doc Rivers golfing partner. But the relationship went cold and considering that he had some issues in and out of the field with Rajon Rondo, he opted to leave for Miami for far less money. And the uproar has just been out of this world. Some call it treason and unprofessional. After all, he went on to play with the Celtics archrival, the team that have sent them home in the last two playoffs.

So taking this first game was of vital importance for the Miami Heat. After all, they were playing at home against a revamped Boston Celtics that included Jeff Green, who’s playing for the first time in a game that counts since January 2011 and sharp shooter Jason Terry. Sure enough Green only scored 3 points in 23 minutes and he is still far from been the productive player the Celtics need. But he’s going to get there, all he need is a little more time. Boston once again relied their play on their point guard Rajon Rondo and on the talent of veterans Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.

The squad really never dominated against Miami but they managed to cut down the gap late in the third quarter. It was clear that after suffering from cramps, LeBron James wasn’t going to come back for much of the second half and the Celtics tried to build up some momentum to get back in the game. But just as they were starting to close down the gap, Chris Bosh took over and with a couple of baskets and a nice three-pointer in the last 4 minutes of the 4^th quarter, he just closed the deal to guide the Heat to a 120-107 win over the Celtics.

The Heat were guided by James who, despite leaving the game early, finished his season opener with 26 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and two steals. “It was good to cap this night off with a win,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said in the press conference. “It was an emotional time for all of us in our organization.” Ray Allen, who spent five years with the Celtics, had a brilliant night with the Heat. He finished off with 19 points and 2 rebounds. Chris Bosh, on the other hand, close his opening night with 19 points and 10 rebounds for a decent double-double. For the Celtics, Paul Pierce chipped in with 23 points, while Leandro Barbosa gave them 16. Kevin Garnett had 9 points and 12 rebounds but he made the highlights when he refused to acknowledge Ray Allen’s pregame handshake. It was classic KG! Expect big things for the rest of this series.

The Spaniard Pau Gasol is certainly not the LA Lakers’ most loved player by the fans, but once in a while, even those who wished the franchise had transferred the Spaniard during the preseason, have to be thankful for having him around. It was the last shot of overtime of an 88-87 win by the LA Lakers over the Boston Celtics. Paul Pierce shot would had given the Celtics a win, but the ball bounced off the rim. Still, the game was not over, there was little over a second left and Ray Allen had the ball in his hands. That’s when Gasol made that key last second block that gave the Lakers an important win on the road, and builds up a bit of momentum to face the New York Knicks.

Paul Gasol finished the night with 24 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Lakers at the Boston Garden. Shooting guard Kobe Bryant scored 27 points and 5 rebounds to improve the Lakers season record to 15-11. But Perhaps we should also focus on Andrew Bynum clever performance under the baskets. The Lakers big man finished the night with 16 points and 17 rebounds to put an end to a two-game skid.

This was certainly a though game for the Boston Celtics, because it really puts a hold to the good rhythm the Celtics had been building. Consider for a moment that the Boston Celtics had won their last 5 straight games and had won 9 of the last 10 matches, finally coming back from what had been a very under-par start this season. Usually the Boston Celtics’ big three are very fine shooters, capable of making the basket when they need it most. Then again, this wasn’t the case against the Lakers. Sure enough, Ray Allen finished with 22 points and Kevin Garnett had 12 points and 12 rebounds for Boston, but their aim was very off. Garnett was 6 for 23 from the field and Pierce was 7 for 18, including a clean-look jumper at the end of overtime.

So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the Celtics head coach, Doc Rivers was a bit disappointed with his team’s overall performance. “I thought this was an awful game,” said Rivers in the postgame press conference. “If we had won, it would have been an awful game that we won. Give them credit — a lot of that was defense. But I thought a lot of it was self-inflicted.” And it certainly was. There is no way to work around the numbers: 6 of 23 and 7 of 18 from the field are certainly not numbers worthy of players that are bound to end up in the hall of fame.

Still, it would be up to Paul Pierce to lead the Celtics’ effort last night. But even Pierce, the better Celtics, wasn’t at his finest. Pierce finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Those are great numbers. He was also the one who could have finished off the game. He had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation and again in overtime. The first shot he picked up his dribble and got trapped with Allen open in the corner. His second shot simply rimmed out. Stay tuned for more NBA action at betias.com

I want to talk about the Boston Celtics and particularly about the Celtics point guard: Rajon Rondo. In a team leaded by three hall of famers, and surrounded with the likes of 34-year-old Kevin Garnett, 33-year-old Paul Pierce, 35-year-old Ray Allen, and 39-year-old Shaquille O’Neal, Rajon Rondo has been nothing short of spectacular. Not only has he been able to fit in among such a talented group of players, but he has also worked his way into becoming one of the pillars of this championship worthy team.

At 25 years of age Rajon Rondo has already won one NBA Championship, he has been called twice to the NBA All-Star team, and has managed to become the starting point guard in an otherwise veteran team. He had had some trouble earlier in his career particularly when it came to keeping his temper. He was young and talented but needed to put aside his ego and really learn from the Celtics Big Three.

But perhaps the best was yet to come. This season, Rondo completed 17 assists, which tied with Oscar Robertson for the third-most assists in the Celtics season opener. In the third game of the season Rondo kept up his momentum to collect a career-high 24 assists along with a triple-double (10 points and 10 rebounds) against the New York Knicks, the same team –sans Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony that the Celtics would sweep in the first round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs-.It tied him with Isiah Thomas as the only players in NBA history to have at least 24 assists in a triple-double.

Rondo’s 50 assists through the first three games of the season tied John Stockton’s NBA record for most assists in the first 3 games of the season. In the next game against the Detroit Pistons, he finished the game with 17 assists for a total of 67 assists, which is the most assists for a team’s first four games in NBA history. With a 15 assists effort the following day, Rondo again set a record for most assists through the first five games.

Now, before Sunday’s game against the Knicks, head coach Mike D’Antoni made a comment that probably made it to the Boston Celtics locker room. Let’s consider that by this point, the Celtics where up in the series by 3-0 and were about to finish the Knicks off in the Madison Square Garden. Let’s also consider that neither Amare Stoudemire nor, certainly not, Carmelo Anthony had managed to slow down Rajon Rondo. Still, the New York Knicks said before game for began that Rondo was good basically because he was playing next to Allen, Garnett and Pierce, and not because of his own skills.

That been said, Rondo was coming off a triple-double, including a franchise playoffs record 20 assists on game three. And he didn’t slow down on game four. Rondo scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting with 12 assists for a 101-89 triumph at Madison Square Garden. Knicks had Melo, but seem to miss Chauncey Billups a bit too much, and suffered because of it.

That was enough to give the Celtics a well-deserved weeklong rest before round two of the NBA Playoffs. As of press time the Celtics are the only team that has secured a pass into the second round.

Let’s get back to talking about the Boston Celtics for a moment. As of press time the Celtics have now linked 14 consecutive wins. That’s the best streak of the 2010-2011 NBA Season, and at 22-4 they hold the best record in the nation. The squad has the best record in defense.

At 91.4 points allowed per game, the Celtics D has proved to be as effective as head coach Doc Rivers could want it to be. With Rajon Rondo on the floor, the playmaking has been out of this world. His talent and the ability to pass the ball to any of the Big Three, at any given moment has given the Celtics a 25.6 assists per game quota that has ranked them as the No.1 team in the nation.

So if we just look straight at the numbers, one can help but to realize that the Celtics are doing a very fine job this season. There is only one concern. Health. Let’s face it, it is quite evident that the Boston Celtics rooster is made up of experienced and aging NBA veterans. We could expect players of the caliber of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to have proved the committee that they deserve their part in the NBA Hall of Fame. If you take into consideration that you also have the talents of Shaquille O’Neal, that is 4 possible hall of famers in the floor at the same time. And yet they are all over their 30’s and even Doc Rivers recognizes that his big men can’t play for more then 35-40 minutes per game.

So yes, the Celtics have brought in some backup. Figures like Kendrick Perkins, Delonte West, Glen Davis and Nate Robinson are there to fill in the gaps. Rondo is the youngest and strongest (that is, that could go the longest) of the Celtics starting lineup. When Rivers wants to give Rondo a rest he can always count on the small but sharp and fast as a bullet Robinson to get the ball around and into the basket. But then there is the fact of staying healthy.

The Celtics played their Wednesday game against the Philadelphia 76ers without Rajon Rondo who was out because of a foot injury. They also played without Kendrick Perkins who recently underwent ACL surgery, and Jermaine O’Neil who has not only a sore knee but also had the flu. That’s not all. Delonte West is also out due to a fractured right wrist. And yet somehow, the Celtics managed to defeat the 76ers 84-80 and keep on holding to their 14-game winning streak.

The Celtics should have not won this last game against the 76ers. They shot for a season low 38.8 percent. They had to deal with two technical fouls by Paul Pierce and Keving Garnett. So yes, they are winning. 14 games in a row means that the Celtics outplayed the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs that managed to link 12 wins in a row.

What’s the bottom line? The Celtics are struggling and yet they manage to win. They have been able to keep on winning despite the injuries. That’s something that they couldn’t do last year. They have a well-build squad and as of press time they are my favorite team to win this years Championship.