Saturday sports page

"He gets it out deep and Havlicek steals it! Over to Sam Jones! Havlicek stole the ball! It's all over! Johnny Havlicek is being mobbed by the fans. It's all over! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball! Oh, boy, what a play by Havlicek at the end of this ballgame! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball on the pass-in!"
- Johnny Most

Outstanding Bob Ryan piece in the Globe this morning, talking about the 1965 Boston/Philadelphia series that ended when John Havlicek deflected Hal Greer's inbound pass, Johnny Most's call of same, and the NBA in general.

The Celtics are now 3 up on Philadelphia with 3 to play, needing only 1 more win or 1 Philly loss to clinch the Atlantic Division and the 3rd seed in the East. But they're a lot further away from a home court advantage in the first round. They are currently even with Washington (though holding the tie-breaker vs. the Wizards) and 1 game ahead of Indiana (who would have the tie-breaker advantage against them). If they maintain that position, they'll have the home court advantage in their first series. But if Washington finishes 6th with a better record, or Indiana finishes 6th with the same or better record, the Celtics would be the 3rd seed, but the 6th seed would have the home court.

The Red Sox bombed former Red Sox pitcher Hideo Nomo last night for 8 runs in 2+ innings. But former Red Sox pitcher Casey Fossum, one of the keys to the Curt Schilling trade, was very effective for four scoreless innings in the 10-0 Boston win.

The big story, however, was the 7 scoreless innings from David Wells. In the 3rd inning on Sunday in Toronto, Wells gave up back-to-back-to-back home runs with 2 outs. Since then, he's thrown 10 2/3 innings, allowing 5 singles, 3 doubles, no walks and only 1 run, which scored after he'd left the game. In other words, he's been David Wells. He's going to be effective, and we've now seen what that looks like.