5 days remaining; the countdown has begun. To what you ask? To the biggest showdown in the NBA so far this season. And like a NASA space shuttle scheduled for blast off with a thunderstorm approaching, this is a countdown which could very well end prematurely.

On March 18, 2008 at 9:30pm EDT the Celtics, riding a 13 game winning streak, will take on the Houston Rockets and their fate defying 22 game victory parade. Boston will have yet another chance to show that they are the team to beat in the NBA if they succeed where nearly two dozen predecessors have failed and knock off the Yao Ming-less Rockets.  The  TNT network will hype their Tuesday night broadcast to no end.  ESPN will inform us that this is the first time in god knows how long where teams with combined 35 straight wins have met. This will be a must watch game, whether you are an avid follower of the Celts or not.

Standing in the way of this death match are three tough games for Boston (Utah, Milwaukee, and San Antonio) and two home games for Houston (Chicago and the Lakers) which will be no cake walk.  Should both teams make it through this stretch unscathed, the Rockets, who have Monday off, have a clear advantage given that the Celts play in San Antonio the previous night.  Because of that I say Houston will be the favorite to win this matchup, although I would not be surprised at all to see Paul Pierce, KG and Ray Allen pull it off.  We don’t know for sure if the game will happen; what we do know is that, by the early hours of March 19th, somethings got to give.