Celtics magical against Wizards.

Thanks to covering at Aliso Viejo, I missed out on posting a couple of things. I wanted to write about Newcastle and Celtic's weekends and I wanted to cover the UCSB 2 point loss to Oregon. But, you know, they are paying me to work, not blog. So, now that I'm back to my usual low-work worksite, I'll try and cover a couple of things today.

How about those Celtics? A 114-83 victory over the Wizards at home sure was nice. The funny thing was that our early lead was mostly thanks to Shaq just not being stopped by the Wiz Kids. In fact, O'Neal finished with 13 points in 22 minutes, as the C's bench found a way to lead the squad yet again. At one point, the "B" squad expanded a 20 point lead into a 37 point lead. You know how much I loved that.

This blowout had it all. The return of Delonte West was really enjoyable for me, as D-Dub put up 12 points with 5 rebounds and 4 assists (and a block). Hopefully he'll continue to fit in during his return campaign in Green & White. Rajon Rondo was his usual self (12 points and 13 assists), showing that he has reached another level this year. It's called "consistency," people. They were joined in the double digit scoring world by KG (18), the aforementioned Shaq (13), Pierce (23), and Ray Ray (11). Even more impressive is that we shot 66% from the floor, 62% from beyond the arc, and led with 40 boards. I know it's just Washington (3-7), but it was nice to see us firing on all cylinders.

At 9-2, we lead the division by 5 games over New Jersey (4-7), and are now also first place in the Eastern Conference (1 game up on the 8-3 Magic). Domination is spelled C-E-L-T-I-C-S. Meanwhile, our most hated rivals from Los Angeles are somehow 1-12. I don't even feel like making fun of them. It'll just make me sad.

When we signed Shaq, we all knew we were getting a big dude who was way past his prime. However, outside of his injury, I feel like he's been doing really well this season. It made me wonder if maybe we're getting Shaq's best season in recent memory. We'll compare total points, field goal percentage, and WS/48 over his last 5 years to see if we got a steal when we signed him for the veteran's minimum (we'll adjust all points for 82 games played per season).

2006: 1,414 PTSa, .591 FG%, 0.119 WS/48

2007: 1,118 PTSa, .593 FG%, 0.078 WS/48

2008: 1,457 PTSa, .609 FG%, 0.166 WS/48

2009: 984 PTSa, .566 FG%, 0.119 WS/48

2010: 847 PTSa, .641 FG%, 0.154 WS/48

In my opinion, it's kind of a toss up. While his '10/'11 numbers see a serious decline in total adjusted points when compared to the last five years, his choice of shot (FG%) is significantly better (in fact, a .641 FG% mark is the best in his entire career), and his win shares per 48 minutes played is right up there with 2008 (and the highest, outside of 2008, since he won the title with the Miami Heat). While we may not be getting a 100% better Shaq than at any point over the last 5 years (although, I still think that's debatable), we are clearly getting more from Shaq than we (or ESPN) imagined when we signed him. Keep it up, Diesel. 

Tonight we put the 5-0 home start to the test in a rematch with Durant at the OKC Thunder. We busted them earlier this season, despite Durant having a solid game, and hopes are high for a repeat performance.

Let's silence the storm.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē