No Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, or Michael Pietrus. No problem. Paul Pierce and Avery Bradley led the Celtics to a 102-98 win over the Orlando Magic to clinch their fifth straight Atlantic Division title. Pierce scored four of his game-high 29 points in the final 7.6 seconds to clinch the win. Pierce also dished out a career-high 14 assists.

Pierce got most of the postgame attention. Dan Duggan has how Pierce stepped up in Rondo’s absence. Frank Dell’Apa in his Celtics notebook says the rest paid off for the Celtics captain.

Paul Pierce dishes out The Truth- Chris Forsberg has how despite being banged up, Pierce single-handedly led the Celtics to the win.

Appreciating Paul Pierce’s season- Paul Flannery takes a look at the Celtics’ captain’s entire season.

Division title no thrill, but sign of progress- Mark Murphy in his Celtics notebook says winning the title is just step one for this Celtics team.

Emotional Doc salutes Pat Summitt- A. Sherrod Blakely has how Doc got emotional in his postgame press conference when asked a question about Pat Summitt, who stepped down as Tennessee’s women’s basketball coach on Wednesday.

The Red Sox dropped their third straight game, and were swept in a brief two-game series by the Texas Rangers. Josh Beckett delivered his second consecutive quality start, but it was not enough as the Red Sox fell 6-3. Once again, the bullpen struggled as Franklin Morrales gave up three runs in the eighth inning, only recording one out.

Offseason choices bring Red Sox no relief- Michael Silverman has how the Red Sox’ offseason moves for the bullpen are not working out after 12 games.

Besides Aceves as closer, bullpen still work in progress- Tim Britton says Bobby Valentine and the Red Sox are still trying to figure out what they have in the bullpen.

Bullpen woes plague Red Sox- Didler Morais has just how much the bullpen has struggled this week, and there should be concern with the Yankees coming to town.

A tick up, then down for Josh Beckett- Michael Silverman also looks at Josh Beckett’s start. While pitching well once again, he’d like to take back a pitch in the fourth inning.

Red Sox are sorely lacking because of injuries- Nick Cafardo looks at the 4-8 start for the Red Sox and says how injuries have played a major role.

The renovations that did not reshape Fenway Park- Alex Speier looks some renovation ideas at Fenway Park that were discussed, but never actually happened.

The Bruins and Capitals were off on Wednesday and will face off in Game 4 tonight where the Bruins will look to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Capitals coach Dale Hunter accused the Bruins of head hunting on Tuesday. Yesterday Claude Julien strongly refuted those claims.

Bruins-Capitals have been warned- DJ Bean has that with the suspension of Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom, and what has happened across the league, Brendan Shanahan has made it clear that he will not tolerate anything this postseason.

Bruins need Tyler Seguin to breakout- Ron Borges says that now is the time for the 20-year-old to make his presence known in the playoffs.

Looks like a cakewalk for Patriots- Tony Massarotti takes a look at the 2012 Patriots schedule and says 14-2 or 13-3 is what he is thinking at this point, a week before the NFL Draft.

On Patriots Day, a day in which the Red Sox held their annual 11 a.m. game, the Bruins played Game 3 of their playoff series with the Capitals and there was the running of the 116th Boston Marathon, the biggest Boston sports story occurred off the field when Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine called out third baseman Kevin Youkilis.

On Sunday night’s “Sports Xtra” on Ch. 7 WHDH, Valentine gave this quote regarding Youkilis:

“I don’t think he’s as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past for some reason. But [on Saturday] it seemed, you know, he’s seeing the ball well, got those two walks, got his on-base percentage up higher than his batting average, which is always a good thing, and he’ll move on from there.”

Of course, plenty was made of the comments, including responses from Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, GM Ben Cherrington, and Bobby V himself.

A Sign that Maybe the Red Sox are a Team- Steve Buckley says that this could bring the team together and could use it as motivation, but also warns that they shouldn’t voice their displeasure too publicly.

Negative Response to Manager in Clubhouse- John Tomase has how Valentine has already taken the first step in losing the clubhouse.

For Red Sox a Matter of Trust- Gordon Edes has how the Valentine-Youkilis flap could weaken the seemingly fragile clubhouse.

What was Bobby Valentine Thinking?- Kirk Minihane calls this Valentine’s first real miss as Red Sox manager.

Valentine’s Criticism of Youkilis is no big deal- Jim Donaldson has a different take on things, and says it isn’t that big of a deal and is just Valentine’s style, which players aren’t used to.

It’s Business as Usual for Bobby Valentine- Dan Shaughnessy has his take on Valentine’s comments and then the teams’ reaction.

Strange Days: For Kevin Youkilis, 2012 off to a Perplexing Start- Alex Speier takes an in-depth look at the start of the 2012 season for the Red Sox third baseman.

As for the game itself, the Red Sox fell 1-0 in Daniel Bard’s second career major league start. The team had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, with the tying, and game-winning runs on base, but Cody Ross struck out to end the game in a questionable at bat, with pitches that were seemingly a foot outside called strikes.

For Daniel Bard, a disappointing decision and outcome, but a bigger picture- Alex Speier takes a look at Bard’s start and a decision to keep him in the game which ended up by hurting the team.

The Bruins and Capitals series picked up with a combined seven goals being scored, as well as some tension developing between the teams. Zdeno Chara’s goal with just under two minutes remaining gave the Bruins a 4-3 win and a 2-1 series lead. After struggling for offense in Games 1 and 2 Bruins coach Claude Julien mixed up the teams’ first two lines, separating Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.

Early on the Bruins played like Games 1 and 2, but as the game progressed the team picked up their intensity and started crashing the net. Kevin Paul Dupont has how just going to the net by lesser-known offensive players led to goals from Brian Rolston and Daniel Paille. Stephen Harris says good things happen when you put the puck on net.

Things got physical and testy for the first time in this series. The Capitals Nicklas Backstrom could face a suspension for receiving a match penalty after the final buzzer when he cross-checked Rich Peverley, and following the game Milan Lucic called out Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner.

Marchand and Lucic bring emotion to table in lieu of offense- Joe Haggerty has how even though these two players aren’t scoring they are still contributing in other ways.

Better late than never: Hits, words, hate for Bruins-Capitals- DJ Bean takes a look at how Game 3 brought out the best in the two teams and how in playoff hockey, the teams just don’t like each other.

Fiesty Fits Them- Ron Borges says the Bruins got back to playing like the Bruins that fans are used to seeing.

Seidenberg Makes Early Case for Conn Smythe- Matt Kalman takes a look at Dennis Seidenberg’s first three games of the series and says he is just continuing where he left off from last year’s Stanley Cup run.

 Joshua Cassidy turns in ride for the ages- Bob Ryan takes a look at the Boston Marathon’s men wheelchair winner Joshua Cassidy from Canada, and how he blew away the field.