The Beantown Beatdown

Charles Klein

The Boston Celtics continue to write their own version of the Superman comic book series, one in which they, as Lex Luther, emerge victorious over an uninspiring and nonplussed red caped crusader. The Beantown Beatdown, as it has been referred to in the press this morning, showed that it matters not the number of a team's seed, but it's strength of will and character that sets it apart from the rest.

Doc Rivers' Celtics were utterly and absolutely dominant in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals out-hustling and out-scoring the Orlando Magic 94-71. Glen 'Big Baby/Uno Uno' Davis led all Celtics with 17 points and six rebounds as the Big Three of Garnett, Pierce and Allen did not have to do a whole lot to carry the C's to a 3-0 series lead.

And when Rajon Rondo is making plays like this, the Celtics are incredibly hard to stop.

And this Ray Allen dunk encapsulates this game perfectly.

The Orland Magic simply handed the win to the Boston Celtics on a silver platter. Magic coach Stan Van Gundy must have felt like the wolf in the story of the three little pigs, huffing and puffing trying to blow down a brick house as his team tuned him out and showed absolutely no desire to win. 

Jalen Rose decided to refer to Dwight Howard as Clark Kent for the rest of this series. And for the first time, I find myself in agreement with the man from Michigan. Howard has done absolutely nothing in this series to deserve his nickname (aside from his 30 point performance in Game 2). He is Superman in the dunk contests but has been Clark Kent when it matters. And I highly doubt that he will do anything to change that in Game 4.

The Celtics deserve all the credit for the way they have played against the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. Rajon (Ray-jon or Rah-jon) Rondo has been absolutely dynamite at the point the past few months, showing everyone that while he may still lack an outside jumper he can get through any defense.

Rasheed Wallace has proven that he is not the total waste of life that Bill Simmons wrote about on April 7th.

He has gotten under the skin of the Orlando Magic players and has managed to shoot well from beyond the arc, hitting two of three in last night's victory. Kendrick Perkins has played so well defensively that he looks more like the defensive player of the year than the guy he's been tasked with guarding.