Ten Thoughts following a Game 3 while wondering how many fans in attendance on Tuesday night would have accepted a Celtics loss if it guaranteed an appearance on the JumboTron. A really good crowd for Game 3, but I see the way some people look at the 'Tron. They crave their .5 seconds of fame ...

1. The Celtics needed Ray Allen to just have a lousy shooting night. A 4-of-13 kind of effort might have been enough to steal Game 3. But what they could not survive was the historic level of brickery (I checked, it's a word now) Allen put together on Tuesday night. I don't think of us would have needed arm twisting to believe that an Allen that plays for the Celtics might miss 13 straight shots at some point in this series. But Ray? No wonder Rosario Dawson left him and shacked up with that slimy agent. She must've known.  A mere 48 hours after the single greatest shooting display in NBA playoff history Allen finished one short of tying Hall of Famer Dennis Johnson (five sweet words) and Chick Beiser for most misses without a make in a finals contest. The first-quarter knee to the thigh courtesy of Ron Artest might have played a factor -- Doc Rivers sure seemed to think so --- and it'll be worth watching to see if this an injury that might linger over the rest of the series. But Allen will -- and should -- keep shooting, of course. Even in Game 3 you can't blame the Celtics for going to Allen time and time again. He had terrific looks, including the wide-open 3-pointer he missed with 20 seconds left. The Celtics will happily take their chances if Allen gets those kind of looks the rest of the series.

2.  Ray Allen in the first half of Game 2: 8-11 FG, 27 points

     Ray Allen in the rest of the series: 6-30 FG, 19 points

Has a player ever had a more bizarre three games? All over the map.

3. Doc Rivers made a point in the Cleveland series that stuck with me. You can tell, he said, when Paul Pierce is playing well by the number of rebounds he has in a game. When he's active on the boards it probably means that he's going to score. And it's true, at least it has been in this postseason. When he reaches double-digits in rebounds he has averaged 28 points. And when he has had less than five rebounds he has averaged 13.2 points. Well, Pierce had two rebounds (tied for his 2010 playoff low) in Game 3. The fouls were no doubt a factor in his struggles, but he did play 34 minutes. Like Allen, Pierce (now 13-of-36 in the series) had plenty of good looks. He just couldn't convert. Pierce told the fans in the Staples Center in the waning moments of Game 2 that "We ain't coming back to LA." If Pierce plays Games 4 and 5 as poorly as he played Game 2 he may very well turn out to be right.

4. The best player on the floor in Game 3 was Kevin Garnett, and it wasn't even close. Pretty close to vintage KG, hitting 11-of-16 from the floor. How about the up-and-under move on Gasol to start the game? Head coach in waiting (kidding, sort of) Kevin McHale, in the Garden for Game 3, surely liked that one. A couple of dunks, a few jumpers and some runners in the lane added up to 25 points for the guy that a lot of people (me included) kicked the dirt on after the two games in LA. Here's hoping, at least for Celtics fans, that this kind of game doesn't turn out to be an orphan for the Big Ticket in this series. Again, they can't expect 25 a night the rest of the way, but a 15-7 type of performance would go a long way in keeping the Celtics in this thing. 

5. The problem isn't that the referees are biased toward either the Lakers or Celtics, it's that they have allowed themselves to be THE story of what should be a finals that focuses on the best rivalry in the history of professional sports, starring guys like Kobe Bryant and Rajon Rondo and Garnett and Allen and Pau Gasol and Pierce and even Phil Jackson and Doc Rivers. Bill Kennedy should not be taking headlines away. William Devane said it better than me, guys. Let Them Play. Enough of 50+ fouls a game. Swallow the whistle. Does Bennett Salvatore think that America is tuning in to see Rondo, Pierce and Kobe on the bench with foul trouble? And how many instant replays do we need to have in the last two minutes of a game to establish a crew is over their heads? To be fair, I don't think a single blown call has determined the outcome of any of the first three games, but don't you get the feeling that is going to happen before this series is done? 

6. If Ray Allen and Pierce just have average shooting nights Rajon Rondo probably winds up with 11-12 assists (he finished with eight). The life of a point guard-- at the mercy of others. Sure, he didn't play at a Game 2 level, but an 8:0 assist-to-turnover ratio is something Doc will sign for at the start of every contest. It was his first game of the playoffs without a turnover. Thursday is Back Against The Wall Game No. 3 for the Celtics in the 2010 postseason. Rondo had a triple-double in each of the first two (Game 4 vs. Cleveland, Game 2 of this series) and I have a sneaking feeling he's going three-for-three. 

7. Does anyone play Kobe Bryant one-on-one better than Tony Allen? We all know that TA brings some weaknesses to the table, but give him his due. He is one of the few guys in the NBA that can stay in front of Kobe, doesn't fall for most of his ball fakes and is strong enough to move him away from the spots in the post where he feels most comfortable. Kobe was 10-of-29 on Tuesday and was at times clearly frustrated by the work done by Allen. Haven't we seen enough Kobe over the years to know the trademarks of when a defender has made his way into his head? If not, a hint: It involves not passing the ball to his teammates at all or passing the ball and making some kind of gesture or grimace when a teammate misses a shot. We saw some of both in the second-half of Game 3.

8. We all thought heading into this series that Kobe would have one 45-point game in him, right? Just a dominant, I'm The Best Player in the World and watch me carry these guys tonight kind of deal. And we are through three games and it hasn't happened yet. Remember all the talk about Kobe putting the ghosts of 2008 behind him? Uh, let's hold off on the Stuart Scott power ballad for just a minute ....

2008 finals: 25.7 points per game, 4.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 40.5 FG%

2010 finals: 26.7 points per game, 5.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 39.4 FG%

A little better, I guess. Not the kind of stuff that nets him any new electoral votes in the "Kobe vs. Jordan" debate, though. 

9. Derek Fisher is Kevin Faulk, isn't he? Not just the receding hairline part, either. Does all the little things, always in the right place, has watched a host of would-be folks come in and try to take his spot over the years but has the full confidence of his Hall of Fame coach. Fisher officially assumed the "Old guy that you just know is going to win a game at some point in the series with a couple of huge fourth-quarter shots" title from Robert Horry on Tuesday, bailing out Kobe and Gasol to carry the Lakers to a Game 3 victory.

10. Game 4? The Celtics have had two must wins in this postseason, and found a way to get it done in both. I can't go against them in that kind of spot until they actually lose one of them.

Celtics 94, Lakers 88.