Thursday Roundup: Celtics' Slump Now Ancient History with Win in Orlando

Remember a couple weeks back when alarmed observers began looking at other eastern contenders following Boston's 3-7 skid?

Thursday night's win over Orlando (Boston's seventh straight following the aforementioned stretch) showed those concerns to be premature.

The only thing that ugly ten-game stretch proved was that the Green Machine is (gasp!) mortal.

This shouldn't come as a surprise, not with Boston being forced to play consecutive seven-game series against Atlanta and then Cleveland in the first two rounds of last year's playoffs.  They can and will lose battles on the hardwood.

But will they lose the war?  That should be the chief concern for Celtic pundits. 

They've got a troika of battle-hardened floor generals in Garnett, Allen and Pierce.  On any given night, any one of them can go for an All-Star performance.  Thursday, it was Paul Pierce, who pasted the Magic for 27 points and 10 boards.  The night before, it was Ray Allen with 23 points.  Other nights, it will be Garnett's turn to lead the charge.

The collective will of those three, along with coach Doc Rivers and up-and-comer Rajon Rondo, is enough to overcome almost any other squad, save two: the Lakers and the Cavs.  The reasons: Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, respectively.

That's why it's believable when Garnett told reporters that Thursday's 90-80 win over Orlando wasn't a "must-win."  Orlando isn't capable of matching the C's will-for-will when it comes down to it, and therefore, not a threat.  Dwight Howard, as gifted and monstrous as he is, is ultimately unable to will his team to a win over a club the caliber of the Celtics.

The only "must-wins" remaining on Boston's schedule are February 5th (hosting the Lakers) and March 6th (hosting Cleveland).  They're the only teams with the combination of talent and psyche to take on Boston when it really matters, so Boston will want to destroy any vestige of vulnerability to those teams.

In the meantime, don't get excited over a back-to-back loss here or a rough stretch there.  Boston is fallible.

Just don't expect them to fall when it counts.

Other Notes:

• Orlando had a rare off-night from three-point land, going 7-for-22 from behind the arc.  Combine that with a pedestrian 11-point, 11-rebound night from Dwight Howard, and it's no shocker that Orlando lost.
• The Magic sorely missed Mikael Pietrus.  Replacement starter Courtney Lee and backup J.J. Redick combined for six points on 1-for-7 shooting.
• "Big Baby" Davis came up huge with 16 points off the bench.  The question now is: will he follow that up with a disappearing act against Dallas on Sunday?
• Every couple weeks national TV reminds us that the Washington Wizards were supposed to be a lot better this season than they currently are.  They're latest embarrassment to a national audience came courtesy of the L.A. Lakers, who thrashed the hapless Wiz 117-97.
• The Andrew Bynum Lakers' brass, players and fans were waiting on has apparently arrived.  The young big man followed up his career-high 42-point outing with 23 points and 14 rebounds Thursday night.  It'll be telling to see if he has the same success against San Antonio on Sunday...
• The one way Gilbert Arenas' injury is helping Washington is by speeding up the filtering process of some of the Wizards' young talent base.  Javale McGee (18 points, nine rebounds and two blocks) looked like a keeper.  Andray Blatche (five points on 2-for-9 shooting) did not.