Weekend Wake Up: Celtics Sap Magic, Flyers Soar, Dice-K’s Non-No-No

↵↵Celtics Take Magic’s Pride. At this point, it’s not even fun to watch. Do you like seeing great rotations on defense and the occasional brilliant hustle play from Rajon Rondo? If so, Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, in which the Celtics built a 15-point lead on the Magic by the end of the first quarter, led by double digits thereafter, and won by 23 was probably for you. But between the Magic’s will to win deserting them at this critical stage of their season—the little effort plays on possible offense rebounds and vital box-outs weren’t there, and their allergy to driving the ball was glaring—and the Celtics clicking in every respect, it’s hard to expect anything but another dominant, double-digit win in Game 4. For the Magic, that would be an unsatisfying coda to a very good season, but for the Celtics, it just paves the path for a probable Finals rematch against the Lakers. (The one must-see moment from last night? Kevin Garnett colliding with Stan Van Gundy. Try not to laugh. You’ll be trying harder than the Magic did.)↵

↵↵Flying By. The Canadiens’ 5-1 trouncing of the Flyers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals could have been a momentum changer. But the Flyers’ 3-0 shutout in Game 4 showed there may be no momentum left for Montreal. The Flyers, in their three wins, have outscored the Habs 12-0. A Flyers-Blackhawks Stanley Cup Finals seems like an inevitability, but, hey, comebacks from 3-0 and 3-1 down can happen.↵

↵↵No Dice-K. It seemed more and more unlikely as the night wore on and the defensive plays got more and more ludicrous. But when Daisuke Matsuzaka’s no-hit bid ended on a Juan Castro blooper with two outs in the eighth inning, a few outs after a sensational double play keyed by a diving catch by Adrian Beltre, it just seemed like the logical end. It was also the better one for everyone outside of New England’s sanity. After all, this meant Red Sox fans wouldn’t be able to crow about their beloved catcher being behind the plate for five no-nos, and a certain hyperbole-prone Boston sports dude wouldn’t be able to call this the most dominant night ever in Boston sports. No, Matsuzaka and Daniel Bard just combined to one-hit the Phillies, the best team in the National League. That’s impressive enough.↵

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