Maybe Ray had a different pre-game meal. Or broke out a new pair of sneakers. Better yet, maybe he bent the wife over a kitchen chair before leaving for the Garden. (Have you seen how hot she is?) Whatever happened, Celtics fans finally saw a different Ray Allen last night in the 100-90 win over Portland. He shook off some early shooting woes by actually driving to the hoop in the 3rd quarter, which eventually turned into some red-hot jump-shooting. He was nailing big shots from all over the place. Shots you knew were dropping, upon release. I have some advice for Doc Rivers. If you want to see more of this Ray Allen, stop him from handling the ball. He needs to come off picks, not set the offense. As painful as it is to see Eddie House, Tony Allen and Gabe Pruitt man the point when Rondo is out, you must keep Ray in the 2 spot. Or bring in a veteran point guard, but that's another blog for another time.

I must say that Portland is one helluva young team. The kind of young team Danny Ainge was trying to build in Boston before realizing that Gerald Green, Marcus Banks and Sebastian Telfair weren't that good. Fortunately Danny was smart enough to switch gears. Portland can enjoy their "potential" while we are collecting titles.

Chuck - RedsArmy.com