Shaq-tastic

Shaquille O' Neal's spirited performance Wednesday night gave the Celtics a spark when they desperately needed it. The Big Shamrock finished with 12 points and 12 boards to lead Boston to a 86-82 victory over Detroit.

In the world of sports, one of the oldest adages states that the mark of a great team is one that finds a way to win even when they don't play their best game. The Boston Celtics did exactly that Wednesday night, coming from behind to upend the Detroit Pistons 86-82. After trailing much of the game and looking lethargic, uninspired and disjointed along the way, the Celtics finally turned it on in the fourth quarter and escaped with a win before a sell-out crowd of 18,624 at the TD Garden.

"This basketball game was a perfect illustration of the January doldrums," lamented Boston living legend Tommy Heinsohn during his post-game analysis. "When you have elder players like the Celtics do, and not that many young players who revitalize this team, you're going to have some games like this I think."

From the opening tip until midway through the fourth quarter, the Celtics looked awful. None of their shots were falling, every pass seemed to be a second too late and they were committing careless turnover after careless turnover. The usually electric Garden was zapped of its energy as the young-gun Pistons outhustled the Celtics to every loose ball and beat them up and down the court on every possession. To make matters worse, Marquis Daniels appeared to roll his ankle after driving for a lay-up early in the second quarter and did not return. Detroit took advantage of Daniel's departure (a player known for his smothering defense), shooting 58% for the quarter and entering halftime with a 45-42 lead.

The Celtics continued to struggle in the third quarter, committing nine turnovers while scoring just 16 points. With just over seven minutes remaining in the game, the Pistons held a 75-67 lead and it looked more and more like Wednesday just wasn't the Celtics' night.

Not so.

On a team full of first-ballot Hall of Famers, the one veteran who stepped up when the Celtics needed it most was none other than the 38-year-old Shaquille O' Neal. Igniting the comeback, O'Neal caught an alley-oop pass from Rajon Rondo and slammed it home with thunderous force, the first of three straight buckets for the Celts. For the first time all night, the crowd rose to their feet and finally became a factor. The Celtics responded on the defensive end, forcing a shot clock violation and then coming up with a key turnover.

Then, with just over five minutes remaining and Boston trailing 76-73, the Big Shamrock pounced on a Rondo missed shot and layed it home despite getting fouled by Tracy McGrady. Continuing his stellar performance, O'Neal, known for his historically awful free throw shooting, sank the foul shot and just like that the game was tied 76-76. After the pivotal three-point play, Heinsohn shouted "That looks like the Shaq of ten years ago!"

From there on out, the Celts Big Three stepped up as well, with Garnett nailing a baseline jumper and Pierce rattling home a shot from the elbow to tie it 82-82. Then, with just under a minute left and the shot clock running out, KG missed a deep two-point attempt but Rondo corralled the rebound to give Boston a fresh 24 seconds. After calling a timeout, the Celts drew up a familiar play and found Ray Allen off a screen. Despite struggling all night and scoring just five points up until that point, Allen added yet another huge shot to his star-studded resume, nailing what appeared to be a three-pointer with just 24.4 seconds left (video replay determined that his foot was on the line). Nevertheless, Allen's deep jumper was the eventual game winner as the Celtics held on in the final seconds to escape with a 86-82 win.

With the victory, the Celtics have now won four in a row and officially wrap up the first half of the season with a 32-9 record. The victory also improved their record to an astounding 20-3 at home.

While Pierce led Boston with 22 points, the real star of the game was O' Neal. Turning in arguably his best performance of the season, the Big Fella recorded his third double-double of the season, finishing with 12 points on 5-9 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds (a season high), three steals and two blocks. He was also an absolute monster on the glass, finishing with five offensive boards. Still, much of O'Neal's contributions cannot be defined by a stat sheet. When the Celtics seemed left for dead and desperately needed a lift, O'Neal was there to go the extra mile.

In what may come to be Shaq's signature play of the season thus far, O'Neal picked the pocket of point guard Will Bynum with just over two minutes remaining before halftime, dove for the loose ball, got back up to his feet with the help of KG and then proceeded to run the length of the court and lay in a lob from Allen. The quintessential Tommy Point.

And thus, the Celtics proved the old adage true. They found a way to win when they didn't play their best. Lucky for them the Big Diesel had enough room on his back for the whole team to jump on when they needed it most.