This game was the end of the streaks. It was the end of five-game winning streak. It was the end of the 10-game streak of not having complained about Alvin Williams' field goal percentage. It was the end of the 22-game streak of holding opponents under 100 points. It was the end of defence altogether actually.

Tonight I witnessed first-hand the power of the media. Just three days ago I bitterly complained about the NBA trend toward the mind-numbing defensive brand of basketball now prevalent in the Eastern Conference right here on Rick Brunson .com. Obviously the Raptors have been reading my fine words as their defence tonight consisted of watching Paul Pierce drive to the hoop crossing their fingers in the hopes he might miss. Everyone knows Pierce is the only player on the Celtics that can kill you and the Raptors let him do it over and over again. I don't remember the guy getting double-teamed once during the game. Of course, by double-teaming Pierce you are putting the game in the hands of guys like Mark Blount and Mike James who just just killed the Raptors by combining for 34 points on 58.3% shooting.

The Raptors shot 13 for 21 from beyond the 3-point line. Considering the Raptors hit 17 3-pointers against these same Celtics last week I think it's safe to assume that Boston has a problem in defending the perimeter. The Raptors didn't do much better as the Celtics went 7 for 14 from downtown.

In contrast to the Raptors long-bombing accuracy, they shot just 38% from inside the line. Jalen Rose was 1 for 13. All Jalen has to do is improve his FG percentage from 8% to 23% and the Raptors win this game. The Alvinator and Michael Curry combined to shoot 2 for 10 as well. Wow, it feels like I lifted this paragraph straight out of a Rick Report from earlier in the season. For all the problems with shooting tonight, the team scored 111 points. Go figure that one out. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that these two teams combined for 225 points. At the start of the season that total would have been the points scored in a 7-game series combined for them.