Saturday night, the Miami Heat showed how unstoppable they could be. Granted, it didn’t occur until the 4^th quarter, but it eventually happened. When the Heat are playing hard defensively, baskets on the offensive end come easier for them. Saturday’s 4^th quarter showed that. And thus, the Miami Heat will meet the Oklahoma City Thunder tomorrow night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

But this isn’t about the Miami Heat (at least yet). Saturday night’s Heat win likely put an end to the most exciting period in the last quarter century for the Boston Celtics.

At the end of the 2006-07 season, the Boston Celtics had the best odds to land University of Texas scorer Kevin Durant. The same Durant who will lead his OKC Thunder into the NBA Finals tomorrow. There was no luck of the Irish that night, and so the Celtics brass got creative. Rather than continuing to restock with middle-of-the-road young players, the Celtics went all in, acquiring veterans Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, pairing them with Paul Pierce and a young point guard named Rajon Rondo, and seeing what happened.

What happened was that the 2007-08 Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship. The Celtics would make another appearance in the finals (in 2009-10) and a trip to Game 7 of the 2011-12 Eastern Conference Finals.

Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett are now unrestricted free agents. It’s very unlikely that the Celtics will re-sign both players, especially given the rise in stock of 2^nd year guard Avery Bradley. Allen is the most likely to move elsewhere. We’ll have to wait and see with Garnett. Regardless, the Celtics aren’t young and they’re only getting older. Paul Pierce appeared, at times, to be about 3 steps slower than his competition in these playoffs. The Celtics have no real interior size. There’s a good amount of work to be done. Next year’s Boston Celtics will look a lot different. In fact, next year’s Celtics might look more similar to the 2006-07 version than the 2007-08 version. But maybe that’s not so bad. Because the last five years truly have been a blessing for Celtics fans.

Devils won Saturday. Game 6 tonight.

It took 3 matches for a shocker in the Euro 12 tournament. The Danes, thought by nearly everyone to be the weak link in the so-called Group of Death, (Group B) shocked the masses on Saturday with a  1-0 victory of Group (and for some, tournament) favorite the Netherlands.

If there was any good news for the Dutch it didn’t come on Saturday, as in the 76^th minute of the Germany/Portugal matchup, German striker Mario Gomez buried a header to give the Germans a 1-0 lead, which they would hold onto.  The German victory means that they and the Danes only need to draw in their next two matches to advance to the knockout stage of the tournament.

Elsewhere, many had written off the Italians coming into this tournament. Yesterday, they showed why that may have been a bad move, as they were able to draw 1-1 with the Spain. In the other Group C matchup, Croatia blew out Ireland 3-1, to take sole possession of first place in the Group.

The last time the Washington Nationals played a series at Fenway Park, their starting pitchers were Tony Armas Jr., Livan Hernandez, and Shawn Hill. Jose Guillen was in RF. The Nats logo was different. Their manager was different. Their management was different.  In short, everything was different. So much so that the Nats were swept in that June 2006 series by the Red Sox. Washington would finish that season 71-91, 26 games back of first place.

Today, in June 2012, the Washington Nationals are coming off of a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Their starting pitchers were Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, and Jordan Zimmermann. None would be confused for Tony Armas Jr. Instead of the volatile and inconsistent Jose Guillen in RF, the Nats were anchored by a 19 year old who is on his way to greatness at a much faster rate than anyone ever imagined.

The 2012 Washington Nationals are now on pace to finish the regular season 101-61. If the playoffs began today, they’d be hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates. There are at least 5 players who deserve mention for All-Star bids. My, how things have changed.

The Nats will begin a three-game series in Toronto tonight against the Blue Jays. They’ll send Edwin Jackson to the hill to oppose Brandon Morrow (himself having an All-Star season). Game time is 7:05 p.m. on MASN.

The LA Kings will look to avoid an historic embarrassment tonight as they try for a third time to win their first Stanley Cup. A Kings loss would set up a dramatic Game 7 on Wednesday in Newark. (8:00/NBC)

Euro 2012 continues with a marquee matchup, regardless of who’s playing. England v. France (12:00/ESPN). The other game will feature host’s Ukraine taking on Sweden at 2:45.