Well, now we have a series, and everybody can take a deep breath and enjoy it.

Other work kept This Blog busy during Games One and Two, but I had only one question about Game One anyway -- What in hell was wrong with you people? Seriously, people had their fee-fees tied in a knot because the Lakers managed to pull away late in a game at home? This was the End Of All Things? This made it time to put Pau Gasol on a wall in Springfield and Kevin Garnett on a wall in the MFA, next to the rest of the mummies? There's even been a bit of a hangover in the aftermath of Game Two, which was every bit as convincing a case for the Celtics as Game One was for the Lakers. In each game, one team made every important play down the stretch. (Did Los Angeles get a rebound in the fourth quarter last night?) And maybe it's time we all decide that Glen Davis is a pretty good big game player.

And, while all the flowers tossed at the Celtics for their teamwork are richly deserved, the only reason they won that game was Rajon Rondo. As has been pointed out before, he's the only matchup that the Lakers clearly lose. They have no answers for him -- not if they want Kobe Bryant alive in the fourth quarter. Last night, he was a step ahead of everyone when it counted -- and, no, Van Gundy, that poke-check steal from Bryant late in the game was not a "risky" play. It was a championship play. -- and he changed the game every second he was in there.

I said it before -- well, not here, but I said it -- this is going seven, and it's going to be epic.