Rasheed's Renaissance...

Well, ladies and gentlemen, guess who finally decided to show up?

That's right, this fackin' guy.

Last night Rasheed Wallace, after many months of mulling the decision over, finally decided that he wanted to play some basketball this season. Logging 18 minutes off the bench for the Celtics in their 104-86 trouncing of the Cavs in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, Sheed dropped 17 points, hit 7 of 8 shots from the field - three of which came from behind the arc - and even played what passes as inspired D, for Rasheed, at least.

Sheed carried the load for the Celts' bench last night and was a huge factor in helping secure a critical Game 2 win at the Q before KG, Paul Peirce and company head back to Boston for games 3 and 4. That said, it was one of the most frustrating Sheed performances I've watched all season.

Please, allow me to elaborate.

Rasheed's game last night proved what many have lamented all season long; the fact that Sheed can still play basketball at an elite level when, and this is the important part, he actually wants to put in the effort to try.

We have all seen plenty of evidence showcasing Sheed's laziness and general disinterest in anything but launching up bad 3s over the course of the season, but until last night there was a part of me that thought, "Maybe Sheed just isn't the player we think he is anymore, maybe age and multiple deep playoff runs have had more of an effect on him than we know." I knew his work ethic/reluctance to play the post was a large chunk of the problem, but a small part of me thought that maybe his game had declined more drastically than we imagined as a result of the extended time away he spent with injuries in 2008-2009. But, with last night's performance, that manufactured excuse for Sheed's lackluster season loses all credibility and it becomes completely apparent that he just hasn't been trying.

And the truly amazing thing about last night was how effortless Sheed made it all look.

It begs the question, had Sheed actually given a shit all year long, could the Celts have been in contention for the 1-seed in the East? Probably not, since there were issues other than Sheed's disinterest contributing to the Celts poor second half of the regular season, but it's definitely an interesting question to consider.

But, I suppose there's no use dwelling on the past. The short of it is, that in order for the Celtics to have a chance at winning any series from here on out, Sheed has to be able to sustain the level of play he displayed last night. If he can manage that, who knows what the ceiling for this squad is?

Sheed, it was nice to have you back. Here's to hoping you decide to stick around.