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Yup. Ray Ray does it again. The Celtics post the first victory of the 2010-2011 series with a stunning late shot by Ray Allen. Like if you were to ask me which Celtic would bang the game winning shot late in the game against the NY Knicks, my obvious answer would be Ray Allen. Ray fucking Allen. Enough said. The guy is the definition of clutch. Off balance, hand in the face, no sweat. Just silky smooth twine music.

The Celtics came out sluggish. Down at half time. Not playing Celtic basketball. Don’t matter. We keep it close and close it out in the end. Big ups to Jermaine O’Neal. Finally showed up for a game this season. I think that was his first good game. Well at least he picked a good game to break out. Jermaine O’Neal made all six shots he took while chipping in 12 points, four rebounds and four blocked shots, over 22:34. He also drew two charges and almost single-handedly turned the game around for Boston in the second half.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the Celtics win. There was a questionable offensive foul called on Carmelo when guarded by Pierce. It was a nice acting job by Pierce but Melo is pretty physical and likes to use his arms to push off and gain separation from his defender. The foul turned the ball over to the C’s with less than 30 seconds left. And the above video shows what happens. KG got out to the top of the three point line and set up a nice ball screen for Ray to roll around and get open for a spot up 3 pointer. Douglas was defending Allen, he was caught up by the screen of KG and flopped to the floor trying to get a foul called. Hey Douglas, you will never get a foul drawn on you by a HOFer, well not at least until people know your first name. I know that I didn’t know who the fuck you were until I read up about your flopping, Mr. Toney Douglas. Who spells Toney that way? Oh well. You got a front row floor* seat to watching Ray Ray bang a game winning 3 pointer. Enjoy your 15 seconds of fame.

Billups went down on a kind of phantom injury in the fourth quarter. It was diagnosed as a knee sprain and his is ruled out for game 2, but is likely to get the start in game 3 in New York. Shaq is also out for game 2 and his return is questionable for the remainder of the series. Shaq told ESPNBoston earlier that he hopes to get into game action by the end of this series. Let’s just focus on Jermaine O’Neal for now. If he can continue to gather rebounds and be a presence down low, the C’s have everything they need for another late post season run. As long as he can stay outta foul trouble, I can see Jermaine being a serious X-factor for the C’s, and if the other O’Neal can return, watch out.