First things first, you absolutely have to read this article/interview by Delonte West. It’s his ridiculous take on the perfect date including Popeye’s Chicken, shark attacks, and skinny dipping. If it weren’t for basketball it’s pretty clear that Delonte would be single…forever.

Last night I actually watched almost an entire Celtics game straight through, and even more shockingly I enjoyed it. The C’s ended up dropping the game to the Cavs in double overtime, but the match up of Paul Pierce against Lebron James was worth the investment. Pierce was absolutely in on fire for most of the second half, setting his own regular season scoring record with 50, including several crucial buckets down the stretch in regulation. King James, not to be outdone, put up 43 of his own and added 11 assists and 12 rebounds for his fourth triple double.

All along the Celtics had very little business hanging with the Cavaliers. They were without two of their most effective interior players (Perkins and Jefferson) and had no one capable of stopping the Cav’s goonish Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Drew Gooden. Not to mention that the C’s don’t have anyone who can even imagine (in some alternate universe) stopping Lebron. Regardless they stayed even with the Cavs on the boards and actually blocked more shots than their much larger opponents.

About halfway through the 3rd quarter it dawned on me that there was something going on in this game that was different from the usual Celtics debauchery. Star power. Lebron and Pierce were going at each other like Bird and Johnson in the ’80’s. The best part of the match up was that they primarily guarded each other. Most teams have a defensive stopper that they use on the other team’s best player; neither the Cavs nor the Celtics have a Gary Payton-esqe defender that they can use in that capacity so the two super stars faced each other on both ends. James is unquestionably a great player on the offensive end but Pierce abused him defensively for the majority of the game, so much so that the Cavs started making defensive switches on crucial possessions. The Celtics and Pierce on the other hand we able to contain James’ penetrations and forced him to shoot the jumper. Unfortunately Lebron had a hot night from the outside and burned their strategy repeatedly.

It was a classic match up between stars whose teams do not have a legitimate shot to win anything this year but who still play at an incredibly high level regardless. For Pierce this game was a chance to show what he can do head to head with one of the best in the league. He proved throughout that he is still on par with the class of the NBA and that on any given night he can out-duel even the most challenging opponent.

This game also highlighted one of the biggest problems I see in the NBA, skewed officiating. The super star culture is so strong in the league that the referees call each individual play based on who has the ball in his hands. While I was rooting for the Celtics, it was clear that Pierce was getting calls because he was playing so well and vice versa for James. The highlight off this unbalanced officiating came on the last play of regulation when Pierce got Lebron in air and then clearly leaned in and initiated contact before throwing up a wild shot that had no chance of going in. James had stopped himself far short of hitting Pierce and the foul was clearly forced by the shooter. Pierce got the call and hit two free throws to send the game into overtime. On James’ side there were several occasions where he took the ball to the basket with the intent of getting fouled and got the call primarily because of that intent. It would not have mattered if the Celtics defenders laid down on the floor, he was getting the call because he’s Lebron James and the super stars in the NBA (Pierce included) always get those calls. Had it been Delonte West or some red head like Scalabrine taking the ball to the hoop he would have had to actually be fouled for the call to be made. What a concept!

That point is a far reaching problem in the NBA and certainly pertains to the league as a whole and not just this game.

Overall what I’m trying to say here is that the NBA does sometimes provide a viable product to the casual viewer. If you flipped to last night’s game at any point you were going to be entertained. I don’t know if the conflux of stars allowed for that excitement or if the intensity of the game enhanced the experience but the contest at the Garden last night did not resemble the watered down “walk it up” NBA that I have been witnessing in the past. Maybe it just takes two scoring studs going back and forth to make an intriguing flow. How about changing the format to full court 1 on 1?