Harding

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH

•OK, here’s a theory on the Celtics.

Throughout the regular season they brought a high degree of both energy and commitment, certainly higher than many teams do. Whether it was because of Kevin Garnett’s intensity or the Big Three’s commitment to make this new team work, who really knows? But it gave them 66 wins, the best record in the NBA.

And the downside?

Where other teams can take it up another level in the playoffs, the Celtics really can’t. They are what they’ve been all year, the reason they’ve not been as impressive in the playoffs as we expected them to be.

•Can Matt Walsh just go away now?

•There are few scarier things than seeing our political leaders up close and personal, and Sen. Arlen Specter is just the latest example.

•You would hope he would have better things to concern himself with, like maybe the fact that it cost me half a C-note to fill up the other day — and that’s with a supposed economy car.

•Maybe he should ask for an investigation of the Yankees next: Like, how a team can spend so much and be so flawed.

•Then he can move on to the Mets, another huge-payroll team that’s started very mediocre.

•Quiz of the Week: Only two people have ever scored more than 60 points against the Celtics in a regular-season game. One was Wilt Chamberlain. The other? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)

•Line of the Week comes from LeBron after Game Five in Boston: “A LeBron James team is never desperate.”

Oh.

•Line of the Week II comes from Chris Ballard in Sports Illustrated: “I want the NFL’s ad campaign to be PRO FOOTBALL: BET ON IT.”

•What Happens in Vegas is such a dog that you feel like you’re going to get bitten watching it.

•Did you see where Manny said he’s the best left fielder in Sox history? The real question is whether he can name three.

•The word is URI assistant basketball coach Pat Skerry, who is very good, is on his way to join Keno Davis’ staff at PC.

•If you didn’t know any better, you would think the American League standings have been put through the looking glass, what with Tampa Bay in first in the A.L. East and Detroit in the bottom of the A.L. Central.

•Speaking of the Rays, outside of Carl Crawford and Scott Kazmir, how many can you name?

•Buddy has been pounding Providence police chief Dean Esserman so hard this week that if it were a prizefight, it would have already been stopped.

•If Hank Steinbrenner didn’t exist, we would have had to make him up.

•This week Hammerin’ Hank said that the Yankees are making a lot of money and “they better decide for themselves to earn that money.” Or what, Hank?

•Memo to Hank: Players don’t pay themselves, buddy.

•There’s no truth to the rumor that the Ethics Truck couldn’t get to the State House because the price of gas is too high.

•Or that it now feels like it’s been forever since the Blue Jays started the year as the sexy pick to make the playoffs.

•One of the schools ex-Friar Dwain Williams is looking to jump to is Oregon State with new coach Craig Robinson.

•Paul Pierce is still a big-time scorer, but he’s lost some of the explosion he used to have.

•They used to be called “used cars.” Now they’re “pre-owned,” right?

•You know your college-basketball recruiting history, Bunky, if you remember that Rajon Rondo coming out of high school in Kentucky wanted to go to Louisville, but Rick Pitino opted for Sebastian Telfair instead.

•What’s going to last longer, the Brian Cashman era in New York or the Clinton campaign?

•David Mamet writes movie dialogue as well as anyone, and his new movie, Redbelt, is worth it.

•The T-Mobile ads featuring Charles Barkley and Dwayne Wade are excellent.

•There are a lot of books to get to in this world before Tonya Harding’s new one.

•Or as the old line says, before you can write one, you should have read one

•If you looked up “dirt dog” in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Kevin Youkilis, the ultimate baseball compliment.

•The successful broadcasting career of former PC women’s basketball star Doris Burke continues to rise, as she’s now one of ABC’s top analysts for the playoffs.

•Made of Honor is so much fluff it almost disappears before it hits the screen.

•Quiz answer: Elgin Baylor, who had 64 in 1959.

•Leigh Montville, the former Boston Globe columnist, could rewrite the phone book and make it sound interesting, and his new The Mysterious Montague is a golf story for the ages.

•No sophomore slump for Dustin Pedroia. Not yet, anyway.

•If you are surprised with the allegations that O.J. Mayo had been given money both in high school and at USC, you probably still believe in the Easter Bunny, too.

•Going into last night, the Giambino was hitting .181.

•Ah, Rhode Island — the “Don’t You Know Who I Am?” state.

breynold@projo.com