Holy Harangody!

Luke Harangody played his best game thus far as a Boston Celtic last night, scoring 17 points and pulling down 11 rebounds while the Celtics routed the Raptors 122-102. Rondo and the Celtics exposed the Raptors weakness inside the paint early on, and as a result scored 54 points in the paint in their ability to outmuscle, outhustle, and slash past Toronto's passive and less-than-aggressive defense. Rondo had a plus/minus rating of +23 in only 26 minutes played, while Harangody, Nate Robinson, and the rest of Boston's bench helped torch Toronto for majority of the game. The Celtics played extremely well overall last night, and complacency should be their biggest concern when they head to Chicago to face the Bulls tonight.

The Celtics need to make sure they come out firing tonight they way they did in the first half against the Raptors, and not just passively coasting the way they did in the second half when the game was essentially already over. The Bulls are a very talented and hard-nosed team, and are capable of punishing complacency with explosive scoring and drives to the hoop from Derrick Rose and Luol Deng, and can also dominate on the boards thanks to double-double machine Carlos Boozer. The Bulls have played well this season despite injuries, and are yet to see Boozer and Joakim Noah work the paint together since Noah went down as soon as Boozer had returned from injury. If they ever get both big men healthy together, along with their physical slashing guards and forwards such as Rose, Deng, Ronnie Brewer, and Taj Gibson, this team could absolutely turn some heads come playoff time.

However, the Bulls are coming off a loss last night to the lowly 76ers who worked an inside-outside game that enabled them to put up 105 points against this tough Chicago team. The Celtics have been using their combination of outside scoring ability from Ray Allen and Paul Pierce and dribble and pass penetration from Rajon Rondo to guys like Shaq down low to really stretch out defenses and pull out some big wins. If they can continue doing this tonight, Chicago should not be able to contain Boston's versatile offense. Keith Bogans will not be able to keep up with Ray Allen and will get dragged through picks as he chases Ray all over the court, and the Celtics should be able to penetrate inside and take advantage of Kurt Thomas, the second oldest man in the NBA, who is filling in for the injured Noah. I do not expect the Celtics to dominate the boards by any means, but if they can get rebounds from all their players the way they have the past couple of games, Boozer's dominance in the paint should not be enough to give Chicago a win. All eyes will be on the Rondo-Rose matchup which is always exciting and fun to watch, but ultimately Ray Allen and Boston's bench should be the difference makers in this one. I hope to see Harangody continue to play with confidence, box out, contest shots, make his jumpers, and do all the little things right as he became a legitimate scoring threat last night against Toronto. Also, I hope to see Scal get on the court against his old team, as nothing could be more entertaining than watching Scalabrine and Harangody go at it.