Re: the 2 story lines of game 2

Rajon Rondo took center stage in the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals last night.

As Celtic Nation continues to digest last night's thrilling and ultimately heartbreaking 115-111 overtime loss to the Miami Heat, two dominant story lines have emerged.  Let's take a look.

Story line no. 1:  How about that Rajon Pierre Rondo??

In this morning's Boston Herald, Steve Bulpett described it as "the best performance of a young career now littered with triple-doubles and other such statistical finery."  Today on Twitter, self-styled franchise historian Bill Simmons upped the ante, anointing it "one of the greatest Celtic performances ever."  But none other than Earvin "Magic" Johnson gave higher praise than Bulpett or Simmons during last night's post-game analysis on ESPN, calling Rondo's 44-10-8 one of the greatest performances he'd ever seen.  Period.  And he reiterated that opinion via tweet.

Excuse me for being a bit of a Debbie Downer, but I think we all need to take a deep breath here.

Ray Allen is getting awfully hard to watch.

For most of the last five years, watching Ray Allen has been a treat for Celtic Nation.

I never felt any inclination to see Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.  Jesus suffered; I get it.  Over the course of 13 years in Catholic school, I was invited to contemplate that fact plenty.  Seeing Jesus's suffering unfold in graphic detail on the big screen held no appeal.  I couldn't imagine it would lead to any new spiritual epiphanies and, more to the point, it just sounded like a miserable movie-going experience.  After all, who wants to watch a good guy suffer?

Eight years later, watching The Passion of Jesus Shuttlesworth, the answer is clearer than ever: no one.  Even die-hard Heat fans (assuming they exist) couldn't have relished watching Ray Allen struggle like he did last night.  But for Celtic fans who've soaked in highlight after highlight after highlight after highlight from Sugar Ray over these last five years, it was especially brutal.

Search "Ray Allen + sad" on Twitter and let the endless lamentations wash over you.  Has the Ray Allen of these 2012 playoffs become one of the hardest-to-watch Celtics in recent history?