Celtics Central

The film industry in Caly-for-ne-ah (as Arnold would say) knows the importance of role players. They can make or break a production.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, a film star himself and current Governor of California, was in the Garden last night to watch some Celtic role players provide great performances in support of the team’s stars.

What a difference a year makes.

This time, the Celtics were the ‘Predators’.

The last time the Lakers came to town, Boston had lost Paul Pierce to injury and was in the midst of what would turn out to be an franchise record 18 game losing streak. The Kobe-led Lakers would beat the Celtics 111-98 that night for loss number 13 in that streak and make their overall record a catastrophic 12-33. With little to cheer about their own team, many ‘Boston’ fans in attendance shocked L.A. itself and made news there when they chanted “Kobe!” and “MVP!” for the Laker star.

Last night, every time Kobe touched the ball in the first half he received a round of boos.

More important, the Celtics held the Lakers to 35 first half points, L.A.s lowest half of the year, while putting up 53 points of their own. They stopped a solid Laker 3 game winning streak in the process.

Rajon Rondo (6 points, 10 assists) and Kendrick Perkins (21 points on 8-10 shooting, 9 boards) both had, arguably, their best games of the year – on the same night. With Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett all playing well, the Celtics were only threatened once late (4:53 mark) in the 4th quarter when the Lakers whittled a 20 point lead down to 9, before the Cs pulled away again.

Rondo’s offensive management was quite good. He often drove the lane, drew defenders and dumped it off for easy shots for his team mates. He distributed his assists among all 4 starters and 5 players total (Scalabrine) with Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett on the receiving end of three passes each, for scores. He seems to be slowly assuming better control of the offense.

He also had one of his fantastic ‘fake behind the back passes’ while driving, to fake Derek Fisher and the rest of the Lakers out completely, as he scored the lay-up.

The Boston frontline destroyed the Lakers starting frontline statistically and every other way. Pierce, Garnett, and Perkins outscored Odom, Bynum, and Turiaf by 62-12 and out rebounded them 26-18.

Bynum could not contain Perkins (yes, I did say that), yet was pretty much shutdown himself, scoring just 4 points with 9 boards while being in foul trouble for most of the game. KP started quickly with 2 of his little jump hooks over Andrew Bynum. After that, Kendrick was the regular recipient of great passes that he constantly delivered 2 points on. I couldn’t figure out whether he was that good or Bynum was that bad defensively. Either way, Kendrick delivered tonight and looked good doing it.

The Lakers have one of the best benches in the league regarding scoring contribution and Farmer (13 pts.) and Radmanovic (18 pts.) provided the only real support to Kobe’s quiet 28 points, and Derek Fisher’s 13.

Yet, the Boston stars set the framework from which everything else happens and all three had their moments tonights. Mostly, it was Garnett’s defense in the middle that was the back bone of the Celtic game. He had 2 nice blocks including one that was unexpected and Bill Russell-like.

Paul Pierce had 21 points, 9 assists, 6 boards, and 3 steals in a well rounded game. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention his pass to Garnett for a perfect alley-oop dunk in the first quarter when the Cs broke out on top.

Ray Allen expended a lot of his energy while holding Kobe in check, especially in the first half, while scoring 18 points with 4 assists for the game.

The Celtic team shot 50.6% against the league 2nd best FG% defense, while holding L.A. to 42%.

The Celtics passed the ball extremely well and it showed as they had 31 assists on 39 makes
last night. When they are moving the ball like that, they are difficult to stop and defenses get worn out.

James Posey, Eddie House, and Brian Scalabrine all played well and added to the team effort. Posey knocked down 2 big threes in the 4th and added 6 boards to go with his solid defense.

So this game was played more like an ensemble and the supporting cast should be nominated for an award for their performances.

This team is ‘acting’ more like real contenders every game. They are now 10-1.

Tonight they travel to Charlotte for a 7:00 pm game against the 6-6 Bobcats.