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?
