Celtics Central

The Celtics finished this West Coast trip by sending an emphatic message.

Hard elbows and rough play is not going to stop them. It will only make them madder.

They swept 4 straight including beating Utah and the Lakers, 2 very tough home teams (combined 21-6 until they played the Cs) and play-off contenders.

Lakers come up short.

The Celtics got out to an early 17 point lead with some fine play by Tony Allen at the point. He was replacing Rajon Rondo, who was out with a tight hamstring. Then he and Ray Allen got into foul trouble, and the Lakers defense tightened up and got some home cooking from the refs.

At the half, the Cs led 53-45. They were shooting .462 on 18-39 from the field with 2-7 from 3 pt land. The Lakers had a slight rebounding advantage 23-22. The Laker were being held to a suffocating .318 on 14-44 shooting and 3-12 from 3 pointland. Though the fouls seemed to be going in LA’s favor, the Celtics had more attempts and were 15-20 vs 14-18 for the Lakers.

Kobe Bryant was only 5-15 for 16 points and the only Laker in double figures. Pierce led the Cs with 16 on 4-8 with 7-8 FTs. Tony Allen followed with 13 points on 4-5, 1-1 from downtown and 4-4 FT. Tony looked good, loose, and aggressive most of the time.

Boston increased their lead to as much as 12 in the 3rd quarter before the Lakers cut it to 6. After getting clocked by a Bynum elbow, opening a blood dripping gash and not getting a foul call in the first half, Kevin Garnett came out inspired.

Kevin Garnett took over early in the quarter and scored 10 tough points, including an emphatic dunk with defenders right around him and a leaping spectacular one handed float-in with three defenders around him. Just amazing stuff for a 7 footer. Then he passed the baton to Pierce. Paul scored Boston’s last 10 points of the quarter and played game changing defense with 3 late steals to extend the lead to 12 and beyond the Lakers’ grasp.

The Celtics outscored the Lakers 29-21 in the third for a 16 point lead 82-66 while getting more rebounds (+8) and foul shots (+10) in the quarter

In the 4th quarter, Paul passed the baton to Ray Allen and he decimated what was left of Laker hopes with 2 tough jump shots, and a 3 pointer to give Boston a 21 point lead 89-68. From there on it got testier and Garnett and Ray Allen continued to respond with baskets and foul shots.

At the 2:57 mark of the game, Garnett rejected an Odom offering and Ray got the rebound near the sideline. Odom intentionally threw his body into him football style and they both went down out of bounds. Odom got up and glared down at Ray, while Kobe came over and pulled Lamar away. It was surprising that Allen didn’t respond back in a physical way. Odom received a flagrant 1, and they somehow gave Ray a technical. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was for not responding.

Anyway, this game was in the control of the Celtics most of the way and LA looked frustrated to be handled so easily even while pounding on the Celtics. It’s not the first time that’s happened. People can’t believe that this team is that good. They are proving they are that good indeed.

Each of the three stars took turns putting difficult points on the board. But the biggest surprise was the play of Tony Allen who had his finest offensive game of the year. Tony finished with 16 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal before fouling out.

Pierce finished with 33 and 8 rebounds in a third straight lead performance. Kevin Garnett finished 2nd in scoring with 22 points on 9-13 shooting, 12 rebounds, 6 assist, 3 blocks and 2 steals in an inspired performance of his own. Ray Allen was not to be overlooked with 19 points and 6 rebounds of his own.

The Beantown Ballers demolish another opponent and raise their record to 26-3 as they return home to face the Houston Rockets on Wednesday January 2.

On a day that NBA TV showed clips and games of this greatest of basketball rivalries,
you could say the rivalry is back.

You would be half right. The Celtics are back anyway.

Laker fans saw that with a resounding 4th quarter fireworks and exclamation point tonight.

Playing the 4th game in 5 nights a long way from home, against the team of rivals coached by the arch rival coach of Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, the 2008 Celtics sent a big time message.

You’re not getting that win tonight. Don’t even think about.

The Celtics won going away 110-91, having led by as many as 25 in the 4th quarter.

The Lakers started the game in throwback 1980’s era short shorts. By half time they changed back into their regular uniforms. It didn’t help.

Great “Scott”, the only “Magic” those brought back were a Celtic thrashing ‘Worthy” of their old rival. In the end, the Lakers got “Kareemed”, and ended up (A.C.) “Green” with envy. No one will say this game was “McAdoo” about nothing.

I’m sorry. I had to get that out of my system.

The Lakers must have gotten confused. They thought they were the old ‘bad boy’ Detroit Pistons.

It can be said that the refs let them play. The boxscore says it was pretty even – Lakers 31 fouls, Celtics 30 fouls. That’s why boxscores don’t tell the whole story.

If it wasn’t the quantity, it was the quality.

Remember ‘No blood, no foul’? Even that rule was missing tonight.

Kevin Garnett was hacked and bumped often, usually without a call. He shot just 4 foul shots all night. For his effort his received a technical foul and a bloody gash along side his eye that required 2 stitches. Kevin kept saying, “That’s not a foul?” and pointed to his head dripping blood.

Scot Pollard was creamed by Odom on a lay-up attempt. As Scot lay on the ground, you could hear him yell, “What the -expletive deleted-!” It wasn’t a question and he didn’t really say expletive deleted. He said the expletive. Even the NBATV announcers who favor the Lakers thought that particular foul by Odom was an ‘intentional foul’ to send Pollard to the line. No call whatsoever.

Ray Allen was body blocked to the ground, and out of bounds, by Lamar Odom simply for coming up with the ball after Garnett blocked Odom’s shot. Ray Allen too, received a technical, for doing nothing. Odom was called for a flagrant foul. He will probably be suspended upon further review.

Ray also received quick and early foul calls from defending Kobe for much less. For example, Tony Allen gets called for a forearm to his defender, Derek Fisher. Kobe did the exact same thing to his defender, Ray Allen, and Ray gets called for the foul.

In truth, there were missed calls on Celtics players, too. I can think of a few that Pierce got away with. But it didn’t seem evenly called. Though the foul shooting disparity doesn’t indicate it, it appears that the Celtics could have received far more foul calls than they actually did.

There were 7 technicals called in this game including one on Doc Rivers defending KG. Both teams were up for this game.

It seems that the new pattern of attack floating around the league to try to stop the Celtics is to get very physical with them. It hasn’t won any games yet for opponents, but it dented the Celtics shooting statistics for awhile.

The Cs have shot .462 – .462 – .395 – .408 (most recent to least) in their last 4 games against this type of treatment. It appears that they are learning to play through most anything now, even away on tough home courts with Rondo out and Ray Allen limited to 28 minutes due to foul trouble.

The teams responds well to adversity. Especially Paul Pierce.

Paul Pierce’s recent run.

He has been the biggest single reason why the Celtics have won the last three games. He has scored 37, 24, and 33 very big points in the last three games.

His defense against the Lakers was on the level of Tony Allen or Rajon Rondo when they are at their ball hawking best. Paul stole the ball 3 out of 4 possessions late in the 3rd quarter when the Lakers were trying to make a move. They had closed to within 6 points, the closest they had come since the first half. Paul becomes a one man wrecking crew, scoring 10 straight points to end the quarter. He converted the 3 steals for 5 of those points.

Paul is diving for balls and jumping for deflections as has have rarely been seen. He is doing it more and more regularly. Pierce once again led the team with a plus/minus of +21 (tied with Tony Allen of course).

He said he could do it. People laughed when he said he could be a great defender. They aren’t laughing anymore. Paul’s defense is heading north towards great as you read this. The funny thing is that he is sacrificing some but not much offense along the way.

So Paul, Ray, and Kevin are coming through in large ways every night, in the face of rougher and rougher play.

While they must learn to play without getting the calls in hostile arenas, and I believe it ultimately helps the team grow tougher, a few of the non calls might deserve a closer look by league officials.

What is happening at the moment, is that it is just getting the Celtics more focused. That is a good thing, because many of these contests had been over before half time. This team is becoming that good. But I would hate to see an unnecessary injury due to laissez faire refereeing.

Playing through this kind of contact will only help them come play-off time. Opponents are finding out that it doesn’t translate to wins for them now, either. Ask the Lakers. It only gets the Celtics madder and more motivated. I’m not sure you want to do that.

The Celtics might get ’short’ with you, and that’s not good.

In a hard fought contest, the Celtics beat the Jazz by holding them to 42 second half points while scoring 53 of their own. 24 of those belonged to Paul Pierce.

If this was a test, they passed. For while it looked like they wouldn’t.

It was Boston’s 3rd straight win on this road trip, 5 straight overall, and the Beantown Ballers are 14-1 since a loss to Cleveland on Nov. 27.

Paul Pierce put the Cs on his broad shoulders for much of the 2nd half as he scored all 24 of his points to lead the team in scoring and carry them now for 2 straight games. He had 37 against Seattle on Thursday. But note: Boston did not lead for good until 28 seconds were left when Pierce made a driving lay-up to give Boston a 100-98 lead. It was a difficult win that looked like a loss for much of the game.

There was a determined effort to go to Paul right from the start of the 2nd half. Paul scored 10 straight for Boston coming out from the break. The Truth delivered throughout on a variety of drives to the hoop, where he either made the shot, got fouled or both. He mixed things up with 2-4 from downtown and made 10-11 foul shots, many of them late, while under pressure. Most of the fouls were strong ones, courtesy of Matt Harpring as he tried to be physical with Pierce. This was simply a great performance by Paul, especially considering that he was scoreless (0-6) for the first half.

But it was a true team win as Ray Allen contributed 23 of his own, including a huge 3 pointer with the game tied at 95 with 2:18 left, and a man in his face, as the shot clock was winding down.

An Eddie House 3 pointer early in the 4th gave Boston its first lead since the 1st quarter. Tony Allen’s flurry of 3 consecutive steals accompanied by 4 straight points of his own, solidified the Boston lead 83-78, though that too would not be safe.

Boston closed to within two points (or less) 5 times in the 3rd quarter, but Utah refused to relinquish the lead, looking very much a like team that was 10-2 at home instead of a team that was 16-15 on the season.

Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins did their job by keeping the most successful points-in-the-paint team out of the paint. Instead, Utah shot like the Suns from outside to stay close, and then take the lead for much of the game.

Garnett contributed 15 points and 9 rebounds on the night, in one of his quieter games.

Perkins rebounded well with 9 total (5 offensive) in just 22 minutes, to tie KG for the team lead. He also added 11 points, though he had a couple of wild passes (3 TOs) on the night as well.

Yet, the Celtics James Posey had the best plus/minus (+11) and Kendrick the worse (-7), suggesting that Mehmet Okur, a perimeter player, was better guarded when Posey was on the floor. Not surprising really, as Posey is much quicker. Okur even hit a difficult three with Posey in his shirt, that banked in, while Utah was making yet another run to take the lead in the 4th.

Rajon Rondo had his hands full with Deron Williams (9-13, 22 points) for most of the night, but he played him well during the decisive 4th quarter and had a huge deflection on Williams that Posey picked up to send down court to help the Cs seal the win. Deron had 7 TOs on the night to go with 11 assists.

Paul Pierce started tentatively offensively as he let the game progress around him. Paul finished with 6 rebounds, 4 assists, one block, two steals and numerous deflections while playing notable solid man D, in addition to his offensive outburst.

The Utah Jazz put on a shooting clinic in the first half with .649 FG% on 24-37 attempts. They finished with their biggest lead of the game at 56-49 to that point. It was a balanced scoring attack led by Deron Williams 12, and C.J. Miles 11. Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap followed with 8 points apiece.

On the green side of things for the half, Kevin Garnett led with 12, followed by Ray Allen with 11. Kendrick Perkins followed with 8 and Eddie House added 6 on 2-3 from downtown. The Celtics stayed close throughout, weathering the blistering shooting by outrebounding the Jazz by 20-12.

Kendrick and Kevin led with 6 boards each, followed by Glen Davis with 5 (in 3 minutes, including an offensive board off of his own missed lay-up). Rajon Rondo made a fantastic drive in the first quarter after being harassed by 2 defenders in the left top corner of the offensive set.

The Jazz were fired up after last night’s convincing loss to the Lakers. The Celtics didn’t ever really take control of the game.

In the first half, the Jazz were running an intricate offense based on their usual motion and cutting. The Celtics couldn’t solved it.

By the end of 3rd, the Celtics led in rebounds 30-20. Jazz were still shooting .589 33-56. Celtics improved to 29-61 .475.

But it was the Celtics defense that held Utah to 7-17 shooting in the pivotal 4th quarter, while Boston’s offense made big play after big play.

This was a great road win against a tough home team that refused to quit. The Celtics can expect more of the same Sunday night at 10:00 pm against the 19-10 Los Angeles Lakers.

That game should be even tougher. The Lakers are 8-2 in their last ten and 11-4 at home, as Andrew Bynum is becoming a force in the middle for the Kobe Bryant led team. They also lost to the Celtics rather decisively in their only trip to Boston this year. I’m sure that is on their mind, as well.

A year ago, Brian Warner was filled with marital bliss. So was Heather Sweet. Ahh, loves lasts eternal, doesn’t it?

(The Celtics were in turmoil.)

Little Sweet/Warners danced in their heads. Just think, a second generation of Marilyn Mansons to entertain us was possible. Could life ever be so hopeful?

(Boston hoped for a new year.)

There would be swimming lessons, little league, flag football, music lessons, choir practice, maybe even band practice, scout meetings, dance classes, and bake sales for the elementary school book drive. These would be very talented off spring, I’m sure.

(The Celtics were getting lessons every game,too.)

Whew. It’s a busy thing to raise kids nowadays.

And now that dream is put asunder.

(Celtic dreams are just beginning.)

Marilyn’s (Brian Warner) marriage to Dita Von Teese (Heather Sweet is her real name. I love both names.) the model and burlesque dancer is ending.

According to Yahoo News…

Manson later told Spin magazine he was devastated over the breakup.

“She said she had tolerated the lifestyle because she hoped I would change and threatened to leave if I didn’t,” he said.

Isn’t that always the way? Sigh.

Some dreams end. Others begin.

Last year the Celtics won 24 games for the entire year. Tonight they try to break that record. (tense organ sound here) The drama heightens.

Some records are easier to break than others – especially when you trade in a bunch of young players, a few draft picks, and some journeymen players with big contracts for 2 all stars and a big baby.

It was The Lost Year (or two). It is now Paradise Found.

Doc Rivers and Paul Pierce wanted to change their dancing partners, too. They also couldn’t tolerate the lifestyle.

Last year 24-58. This year 24-3. Ridiculous, isn’t it?

It is a hard thing to raise baby NBA players….telling them where and when to shower, what to wear, when to go to bed, and where to go on the floor. “Daddy, what’s a ‘pick and roll’ ?”

Whew, again! What’s a coach and veteran all star to do?

The Boston Steamroller is orchestrating a new sound in Beantown. It is filled with wins. It is a sublime, trebled sound because there are many more high notes than low notes. There are different sections of stunning musical bliss by highly trained musicians. Solos, duets, and choruses of beautiful sound. There is even wonderful periods of improvisation by three of the league’s best improvisors.

The orchestration is musical, synchronized defense alternated with staccato like offensive rhythm that softens and crescendos each and every game. You don’t watch it. You bask in it like great cd on a superb music system – except it is a live performance each time.

There is also a prodigy. You can’t have a great orchestra without a child prodigy. His name is Rajon Rondo. He is receiving training from the very best. You can tell in his own recitals each night that he’s is learning. There are moments of staggering genius when he plays with the best. There are moments of disappointing ‘ahhs’ as when he has an off night. Heads nod. We knowingly acknowledge that this will happen to youth.

Tonight the Boston Steamroller Philharmonic Orchestra of Basketball will play in the backwaters of Utah. They have a team in that state idiosyncratically called the Utah Jazz. Their conductor is a crotchety, old school former defensive specialist, NBA guard named Sloan. Jerry Sloan. He never tolerated rookies much either.

He likes to hear music from his own team – not yours. His musicians know their parts well. He wouldn’t tolerate anything less. In years past, they may have sounded like an oom-pah band. But they were always the best oom-pah band in the land. Lately, they get a little frenetic, like a classic rock band. They still don’t improvise like a great jazz band would. That’s not the Jerry Sloan way. But they have a great PG named Deron Williams who may, one day, be allowed a chance to improvise some great solos.

Don’t get in the way of a talented Jerry Sloan club when they’re going well. Right now this Jazz team is down. They will give it everything they have to break their recent bad luck. They are 3-7 over the last 10 games.

Every team is gunning to say that they beat the Celtics now. It is a bragging point that gets respect from their peers. Only three teams can actually say that they did. Three.

Beating the Jazz in Utah will be no easy feat. They are only 16-15, but 10-2 at home.

This will be an excellent game for the new Cs. It’s the third game of 4 in 5 days on the road.

Will a Steamroller Orchestra beat a classic rock band misnomered as a Jazz band?

Tune in tonight at 9:00 PM to find out.

This just in: The Jazz just today traded Gordon Giricek and a # 1 draft pick to the Philadelphia 76ers for sharpshooting Kyle Korver. I’m not sure if Kyle will make tonight’s game, but he will be a definite upgrade for the Jazz going forward. Whoever ends up being that draft choice will determine how good the trade was.

This too: Andre Kirilenko is doubtful for the Jazz this evening.

Kevin Durant. Kevin Garnett. Ray Allen. Delonte West. Wally Szczerbiak. Familiar names in unfamiliar places.

If I showed you that list before the NBA Draft, you would never have guessed the connection between them.

Lo, these many months later, it was that draft night trade of Ray Allen for Szczerbiak, West and the Celtics # 5 pick (Jeff Green) that started the gears moving in the machinations that brought this Boston team together and has it sitting atop the league with a record of 24-3, one game less than they won all of last year. The trade came out of the blue as far I knew. There were no pre-trade rumors on this one.

Tonight it was a homecoming for Ray Allen. It was a meeting between 2 Kevins, one a current top 5 player, and the other, possibly a future one. It was a chance for 2 previous Celtics to show their former employer what they are missing.

The night did not disappoint. Boston was up 24-16 when West entered the game. By the end of the first half he and Wally led a Sonics surge to see them outscore the Celtics 30-23 to close the half down by one 47-46. Seattle played aggressive defense and the Celtics looked a wee bit tired from last night’s tough defensive struggle against Sacramento.

They will be playing 4 west coast road games in 5 nights. They will get no sympathy from any of their hosts. Everyone wants to be giant killers. In this case it is a green giant that teams take aim at.

West had 8 points and 6 assists, Wally had 12 first half points coming off the bench in a superb effort against a sluggish Celtic team in the first half. Delonte finished with a sparkling 19 points (6 of 8 shooting) and 8 assists in 25 minutes, 2nd to Durant’s 25 points (10 of 23 shooting)

I learned one thing. Kurt Thomas’ defense is every bit as good as advertised. Seattle opted to play him against Garnett in single coverage for most of the night and he did an excellent job of keeping Garnett in check. KG finished with 23 points and 14 boards but shot just 8 for 22 as Thomas stayed too close for comfort most of the night.

Paul Pierce led the scoring with 37 points that was well needed as Ray Allen could only contribute 10 points on the evening. It was Pierce and Eddie House (11 second half points) that led the 4th quarter charge to distance themselves from the Sonics.

Actually, Doc installed a special motion offense to start that 4th quarter that got the adrenaline flowing in his team and kept the Seattle defense from keeping up with them. I don’t remember seeing this offense very much, and not at all in this game until then. Instead of the usual back door screens and pop outs, the team went into somewhat of a weave at the top of the key, along with some reverse motion and that got the team some wide open looks. Seattle looked confused.

House made 4 shots and scored 11 points in the period. Pierce made 4 shots and scored 14 points to close things out in a clutch performance in the 4th. Posey played well and added 10 points to the cause.

Rondo had only one point but 5 assists in 30:32 minutes. Perkins added 8 points and 8 rebounds in 23 minutes.

Seattle was actually playing .500 ball (6-6) in 12 games leading up to this one.

Boston did not shoot well from inside the arc but was damaging the Sonics from downtown in a replay of last night’s game.

The Celtics pulled away when they dug in and showed some energy offensively to open the 4th quarter.

Next up is Utah on Saturday.

The Boston Stranglers are still at it. They beat the Sacramento Kings 89-69. They did it in a very physical game.

This time they did it to Sacramento in their own house, and they did it convincingly. Boston hasn’t won there since 1996. That would be 11 straight losses for those who are counting.

In 1996, Seinfeld was in it’s 6th season, Hanging with Mr Cooper was on, and some other green clad team of heroes with famous artists’ names were kicking butt. The Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtles were making their final go round on prime time TV.

I would tell you the price of gas, but why ruin a good mood.

Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo and Michelangelo are not their names, but tonight, the current version of green clad heroes with the hard defensive shell, karate chopped their way to another defensive masterpiece.

They simply played high and brought the Kings low. The Kings experienced their lowest point total of the season. Their previous low was delivered courtesy of these same Celtics. You’re welcome.

Actually, it was the Kings who did a little chopping as things got testy on the court more than once in this game. Maybe they were frustrated. Maybe it was planned. If you can’t beat them at basketball, maybe you can throw them off their game.

Sacramento held the Cs to .391 shooting in their last meeting. The Kings tried to make things difficult once again and succeeded, at least, with that same stat. The Celtics scored better from the outside (11-22, .500) than from inside the arc (20-54, .370) as Sacramento tried to beat the Celtics by closing off the middle. The Kings, even with Brad Miller as their center, outscored the Cs in the paint by 34-22.

Sacramento held Boston to only .408 shooting tonight, giving the Kings the best combined defensive FG % (.400) of any team Boston has played thus far. Yet, Boston won each game by 12 and 20 points. How do you stop these guys? If you can’t beat them at basketball, just beat ‘em. Boston rose to the challenge and still prevailed.

Kevin Garnett was roughed up and poked in the eye. The Celtics took some hard fouls and there was plenty of jawing. Yet, you would expect a team that has 2 assists at the half (Sacramento) to be be losing. They were.

Speaking of basketball….Boston’s biggest lead of the night was 24, but the Kings made a few runs and even closed the gap to within 5 early in the 4th.

The Kings started slow as they only had 6 points until the 2:54 mark of the 1st quarter. They managed to hold Boston to 12 points at the same time. After Rondo went out, Tony Allen turned the ball over 3 times. Maybe Sacramento had watched the Detroit game. The Celtics exhibited difficulty bringing the ball up when Rajon went out. The same thing happened at the end of the first quarter and the start of the 2nd, resulting in 3 quick TOs.

Defensively, Boston buckled down even more in the second quarter, holding the Kings to 13 points, a number that is no longer rare for this Celtic squad. It seems that at least one quarter per game they lock down the opposing team to a 13-14 point quarter. Tonight they did it twice. (13 point 4th quarter as well) The Kings managed only 29 total points by half time to Boston’s 53. Boston was catapulted into a solid lead when previously scoreless Paul Pierce unleashed a barrage of 14 points in the last half of the period. They closed the last 9 minutes with a 32 to 5 run.

As poor of a record as Sacramento has, they haven’t been manhandled like that since San Antonio, according to the Sacramento announcers. Embarassed so easily, maybe that is why they started to get testy late in the 2nd quarter. Ron Artest even started walking towards the Celtics on one time out, only to be restrained by Dahntay Jones before he could get in trouble with his mouth.

Kendrick Perkins played tough right back tonight and he was walking towards Artest as he approached the bench. I liked seeing Perkins playing tough right back.

The 3rd quarter belonged to Sacramento as they returned the favor by giving the Cs a 13 point quarter of their very own, while the Kings scored 27 to make a game of it.

Boston went to win handily after Ron Artest’s lay-up closed the Kings to within 5 at 66-61. House and Posey answered with big three pointers and Ray Allen made a driving lay-up for 2 more to extend the gap back to 74-61.

Boston was led by Ray’s 17 points (he added 3 steals). Paul Pierce added 16 points, 6 assists, and surprisingly, had the best plus/minus (+20) on the team. Pierce has been far more defensive minded this year, as the whole team has bought into that mind set like a band of brothers. They are in it together and they know that it is defense that will win games for them. They’ve found that to be true 23 times against a mere 3 times it didn’t. It is amazing what team work will do for talent.

Rondo led the team with 4 steals and played Beno Udrih much better this time, holding him to 6 points versus 16 last time. Kevin Garnett had another double double with a modest 14 and 10, to go with 2 steals and a block. Kendrick Perkins pulled down 8 boards with 2 nice blocks in 19 minutes.

Posey and House contributed 11 and 9 big points (respectively) to the cause. Posey added 6 boards, a steal and a block to his efforts.

But this team doesn’t want to reminisce about 1996. About 10 years earlier than that is the time they would like to think about, or really 11 years later. They are all about – ‘right now’. It is still too early to know what might be the end result to this season. But it is sure starting out better than anyone expected. Chalk up another W and another mark of futility is knocked off of the list.

And the unit continues to grow as a team. Glen Davis could be the new Seinfeld, everyone wants to be Hanging with Mr. Garnett, and Ninja Turtles, meet the new Green heros. They can take the karate chops pretty well themselves. Cowabunga! I feel like having pizza, don’t you?

How about the Big Four?

Rajon Rondo tied his career high with 23 points including 2 three pointers tonight, to give the Celtics four 20 point scorers in the same game. He shot 8-10, including 2 of 2 from a part of the floor he has rarely shot from this year, the 3 point line. He added 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals in 38 minutes. Though he still has many things to work on, his improvement is rapid and eye opening. Consistency is the main goal now.

In the last game, Jameer Nelson got his way in the first half as Orlando built a nice lead, before holding off a strong Celtic run to hand Boston it’s very first loss. Tonight, Nelson played 21 minutes, scored 4 points and had 4 assists.

Rajon keeps punishing teams when they leave him open.

Ray Allen continues to hit big ‘run stopping’ baskets, as he hit 3 pointers twice when Orlando got the lead under 10 points in the fourth quarter.

The Celtics took this game very seriously as the starters all played heavy minutes, even Perkins (with 36 min.)

The Celtics shot .521 for the game and .421 from downtown. 4 of the 5 bench players showed negatives on the plus/minus stat. Only Davis was plus, ever so slightly, in short minutes. The starters were drastically on the plus side of the plus/minus statistic.

Paul Pierce led the scoring for the Cs with 24, and tied with Rondo with 6 assists. Kevin Garnett added 21 to go with 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks.

The Celtics went up by 20 in the 3rd quarter, before Orlando made its runs in the 4th.

So the Celtics get even with a foe they may possibly meet again in the play-offs. Orlando started very strong and is slumping now.

The Celtics are now 22-3 and face a 4 game road trip, starting the day after Christmas, against the Sacramento Kings. They play Seattle, Utah and the Lakers after that. Then they return home to face Houston.

The Celtics won only 24 games all of last season. They could come home and end 2007 with at least that many. What a difference a year and 2 stars make.

The biggest question was answered rather quickly.

Would Wednesday night’s loss to Detroit effect the team tonight? It didn’t – at all.

In fact, it gave them some motivation to get right quickly. The Celtics have yet to lose back-to-back games after 24 games and wanted to re-establish that home loses will be rare.

Jimmy Golen of Yahoo sports…

Kevin Garnett….”When we lose, we want it to be very, very, very, very few, and we want to learn from what mistakes we made in the loss and apply it in the next game. I thought we did a good job of that.”

That’s 4 ‘verys’ and only 3 losses so far.

The Celtics went back to their now well established pattern of going up big (20 points at one point) in the first half (56-41 at halftime) and holding on for the rest of game. The lead got as high as 29 before all was said and done. The Bulls did not challenge and did not lead the entire game. They looked lifeless at times. They hardly looked like a Scott Skiles coached team.

Unlike the last game, the Celtic bench contributed in abundance offensively, led by James Posey’s 11 first half points largely due to 3-3 from downtown. It gave the team a lift and helped deflate the Chicago Bulls. Glen Davis played well after a poor outing against Detroit. He was quite active, especially on defense, leading the Celtics with 3 blocks and adding 2 steals.

The team’s 12 steals were led by 7 footer Kevin Garnett’s 4.

Tony Allen played a good all around floor game and was one of 6 Celtics in double figures with 12 points to go with 5 rebounds, and 3 steals.

Eddie House was active defensively and added 4 assists in a much better showing than he had against Detroit. Kendrick Perkins was 4-5 with 4 rebounds and a block in 20 minutes.

Ray Allen looked sharp shooting once again, finishing with 18 points on 6-14 attempts.

Rajon Rondo, the tough rebounding PG, tied with Pierce and Garnett for team high with 7 rebounds. He added 4 assists and 7 points, while keeping captain Kirk in check all night.

Kevin Garnett finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in a well rounded performance of only 25 minutes. Only Ray Allen played big minutes with 37. Pierce got his 22 points in 27 minutes.

In fairness, the Bulls outrebounded the Celtics 27-16 in the 2nd half, thanks in large part to Tyrus Thomas’ 9 boards in only 16 minutes

The Celtics held the Bulls to only 41 points again in the 2nd half and won going away, in spite of the rebounding disparity. The second unit played most of the 4th quarter and did very well, especially defensively, as they won the quarter 20-15.

Though the Bulls record is terrible (9-14 coming in), they were 7-4 over the last eleven games before facing the Beantown Ballers. They left the arena looking more the 2-10 team that started the season than the 7-4 team of late.

The Ben Wallace-less Bulls were out rebounded by 30-13 in the first half, as Paul Pierce led the way with 7. Aaron Gray had a second consecutive career high game point-wise (14) but he is not a solid rebounder. Nor are the rest of the Bulls apparently, save for Tyrus Thomas tonight.

The Celtics held Detroit to .355 FG% from the field to the Cs .443.

Paul Pierce is normally locked up by Luol Deng and is usually held to season lows when they meet. Tonight Paul led the team with 22 points on 6-11 shooting, and blew up in the 3rd quarter with 15 points and was 4-4 from three point land. Instead, Luol Deng could only add 8 points and Heinrich was manage only 2 points for the evening. The Celtics defense was again dominant.

So it looks like the team has taken the Detroit loss to heart but it have used it correctly. They rebounded well from it and ran over a regrouping play-off team from last year. Boston did run as they had 19 fastbreak points to the Bulls 8.

The Bulls outscored the Celtics 34-26 in the paint, but it didn’t matter as the Celtics had the game well in hand for most of the night.

Next up for the Celtics are the Orlando Magic at home on Sunday at 6:30pm. This is another measuring stick as they play one of three teams to beat them in a rematch. It is also a chance to see how well they regroup.

In many ways a game like that is much better for the team than a blow out like tonight among other games. The pressure and adversity are good things to help this team grow into a play-off contender.