Well, Celtics fans who are worried about their team's chances facing a 2-1 deficit against Miami got good news on several fronts on the off day yesterday.

For one, the MRI on Rajon Rondo's dislocated/hyperextended/Theisman'd elbow came back negative and Doc thinks he'll be able to play tonight. How much or how well he can play is another story. Then again, it's not like Miami can sag off him any more than they already do to let him shoot jumpers. And Rondo's hands are so big that continuing to catch passes one-handed as he did in the 4th quarter of Game 3 shouldn't be much of an issue.

The main questions now are: 1.Can he dribble with his left hand? (Which would keep the Heat from overplaying him to the right and forcing him to go left.) 2. Will he be able to confidently take the ball to the rim without fear of being knocked to the floor and having to brace himself with his injured elbow? 3. How much more pain is he in now than Saturday night and can he play through it? Only Rondo knows.

On the second front, Delonte West also passed his MRI yesterday (Sounds like he aced an accounting exam or something.) and Doc Rivers says he should be able to play tonight in spite of aggravating his already bruised shoulder in Game 3. Delonte's availability is even more critical given Rondo's situation. 

On front #3, Shaq is still walking after playing almost 9 minutes in Game 3, which means he may be available tonight as well. 

If the whole team is healthy enough to play tonight, that would be huge for the Green. The Celtics never lost a series when KG, Paul, Ray, Rondo and Perk were healthy. And when this newly-configured team is completely healthy, they're undefeated. Sure it's only 1-0, but Celtics fans have been waiting since September for this team to get fully healthy (or at least playing on the floor together) so it'd be nice to get a run with the Top 10 players all good to go and see how they do. Because if they win tonight, it's a new series and the pressure mounts on Miami -- just think what that'll do to Chris Bosh's already-frazzled nerves.

And that's not all the good news in Boston. On front #4, the Lakers lost Game 4 to the Dallas Mavericks yesterday to get swept out of the playoffs by the Mavs. The only thing better than that for Celtics fans is that the Lakers lost Game 4 by 36 points (122-86). Sounds like Game 6 in the 2008 NBA Finals when the Celtics won the championship by beating LA  by 39 points (131-92) in Boston, no? The only thing better than that for Celtics fans is seeing Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum both getting ejected in the 4th quarter for throwing cheap shots with the game already out of hand. The only thing better than that for Celtics fans is that it could be the end of Phil Jackson's tenure in LA-LA Land. And knowing that a key contributor in the Mavs victory was Jose Juan Barea, the pride of Northeastern University, makes it better still. So now, whether the Celtics go to the NBA Finals or don't win another playoff game this season, Celtics fans don't have to fret about watching Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant three-peating and hoisting another championship trophy.

Now the only question out west is whether Barea will play against Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson or Tony Allen and Leon Powe in the Western Conference Finals. 

In the meantime, here's hoping we get to watch a fully healthy Celtics team at the Garden tonight. Anyone for 2-0?

 Thoughts? Comments? Questions? I'd love to hear from you. E-mail me at RamblingDude@gmail.com.