WHAT'S UP WITH THE CELTICS?

Or maybe I should have said...what's down with the Celtics?

I mean, they were doing everything right...they went out and traded a high draft pick for a sharpshooting All Star (experience over potential), got perennial MVP candidate for blooming MVP candidate (again, experience over potential), signed on two proven and playoff tested vets (need I say experience over potential again?), won 65 plus games, got the number 1 seed throughout the playoffs and did it with superb offense and unrelenting defense...All that was left was for their 8th seeded opponent to throw in the towel.

And yet, here we are, gearing up for Game 7 of the Celtics vs the Hawks. What the hell happened?

Garnett, Pierce and Allen are all still playing at around the same level as they were during the regular season so there's no drop off there...Rondo is improving steadily and Cassell and PJ Brown are great additions.

So what's wrong? Pressure getting to the Big Three? Or is it that they are still in that regular season level of play while the Hawks have gone on to playoff mode?

Well, I still think the Celtics got the guns to outbombard the Hawks so I'm going with them for tomorrow.

Hopefully, I don't jinx the Celtics the way I did the Suns.

WILL THE SUNS WIN GAME 5?

We've all heard it.

Shaq doesn't fit the Suns' truly effective run-and-gun game. (true)

Amare is a selfish, bigheaded, childish pseudo-star (again, true)

Steve Nash is getting old (correct again)

Grant Hill is gimpy (yep)

Raja Bell is nothing but a younger Bruce Bowen (weirdly so)

Diaw is a hard foul away from a disappearing act (check)

Barbosa has no defense and, as of this week, little offense (oh why do we even go on?!)

So should we just show the Spurs the door to the second round and spare everyone the sweat and agony?

Now wait just a cotton-pickin minute.

I think the old, gimpy, ill fitting Suns might just give good old TD, Manu and Mr. Longoria quite a scare before fading off into the...well...the sunset.

Why? Coz the Suns got themselves a win. They proved that it could be done. They saw a Spurs team that they could beat. And, just like Atlanta beating up on Boston for the second game in a row, the Suns are just itching to do it again.

So don't write off the Suns yet. I think Shaq might actually come back to life in Game 5. Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire could be logging in double doubles yet. And Mike D'Antoni might actually have a job for a few more days.

Now Game 6 is an entirely different proposition altogether.