Celtics Central

The Boston Celtics, in their first home game of the pre-season, shredded a Knicks team that added high scoring power forward Zach Randolph this summer to bolster their offense.

The Celtics returned from Rome and London with 2 wins and continued their unbeaten string by ‘roaming’ through a porous Knicks defense while the Knicks looked like they were in a London fog.

Boston was led by Paul Pierce with 22 pts. on a near perfect 7-8 shooting night, including 3-4 from downtown. Pierce also led in assists with 5. He added 6 rebounds, a steal and 2 blocks to round out his night. Ray Allen shot an efficient 6-8 and had 14 points on an array of offensive moves including a nice off balance floater near the baseline.

But it was Kevin Garnett who was the catalyst for the team. He displayed many of his skills tonight including a sweet behind the back pass to Rajon Rondo for two points. Garnett finished with 13 points and 8 rebounds in 28 minutes, leading both teams in boards.

But Kevin Garnett’s defensive abilities and intensity makes as much a difference as his offensive ones for this Celtic team. Doc Rivers prophetically stated in his pre-game interview…

…when you have a guy like Garnett, he changes our defense completely. Everything we do is better. When you look at our schemes, you know, the first two games, our defense was terrific and it’s the same schemes we’ve run. All of a sudden, you put a guy who can do it, and he’s a veteran guy, and a terrific defender, and all of a sudden your defense is better.

Having Kevin Garnett, who can do the things defensively that he can, makes the other players want to play defense, too. It’s been a long time since this team has played solid defense for long periods of a game.

Boston was surgical in the first period. At one point they were shooting 11-12 from the field, including 4 lay-ups and a dunk. They finished at 72% (13-18) for the period. The offense featured a number of variations of motion sets, using picks and screens down low, with Garnett starting up top and Paul Pierce and Ray Allen popping out for open looks at the basket. Eddie House contributed 5 points in 7 minutes to the cause.

Like his partner in the middle, Eddie Curry, Zach is known for his offense, not defense. Tonight both showed little of either as the Celtics carved up the Knicks probable starting five for four lane penetration lay-ups and a dunk early on. That opened the floodgates and the Celtics continued to build on that lead throughout the game.

Perkins and Garnett held the two high scoring Knick big men to a combined 5 -18 and 16 points between them. Randolph, a strong rebounder, did chip in with 12 rebounds.

A 50-35 half time score blossomed into a 76-46 3rd quarter blow-out behind 8 more points by Pierce on 4-4 shooting for the period.

Rajon Rondo, with 4 turnovers, played a little erratically offensively, but was his usual solid self defensively with strong on ball coverage and 2 nice steals.

In a meaningless 4th quarter, Glen Davis had two nice passes for scores and Gabe Pruitt put up a nice stat line, once Doc Rivers ‘went flat’ with the offense, allowing Gabe time to operate one on one, for the most part against rookie point guard, and Hartford native, Jared Jordan. Pruitt finished with 13 points and 4 assists in 17 minutes on 6-9 shooting.

Jordan, the former Marist stand out guard, and 2nd round pick of the Clippers, is trying to make the Knick’s team.

Perkins and Garnett continued to show signs of being a formidable defensive unit in the middle. Things got a little hectic at times, particularly between Kendrick Perkins and Curry. Kendrick’s foul troubles continued, as well.

Tony Allen was not available for this game due to an eye injury suffered in pratice (scratched cornea). Doc says that he is expected to be ready to play in a day or two.

The Celtics next game is Friday night at the DCU Center in Worcester at 7:30 pm.

That is followed by a game Saturday night at 7:30 pm., in Connecticut at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasvillle.

T

Boston’s first pre-season home game is it’s first game since the Euro trip, where they played Toronto in Rome, and Minnesota in London. Both wins.

They should be recovered from jag lag and be ready for game three in the ‘new era’.

The Knicks big addition to their team in the off season is high scoring, former Portland Trailblazer, 6′ 9″, 251 lb., Zach Randolph. Zach, a 6 year pro, will also grab about 10 boards a game every year.

If both Eddie Curry and Zach play Wednesday, it will present a unique situation the Celtics to deal with – two high scoring big men. Most teams don’t have a combination like this.

Whether New York can use their talents to their advantage remains to be seen. Neither is known as a solid defender. Both are half court players. With Marbury leading the talented but dysfunctional team, I’m skeptical that anything meaningful happens with this team this year.

Isaiah has 2 solid role players in defensive stand out Renaldo Balkman, and rebound eater David Lee.

New York’s starting five for the season is expected to be Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph, Eddie Curry and either Jason Richardson or Balkman. I’m not sure if these are the guys who start Wednesday or not. Thomas says he likes David Lee coming off the bench.

They added first round (23rd pick) draft choice 6′ 8″ Wilson Chandler from DePaul, and sharp shooting Syracuse star, Demetrius Nichols, a 2nd round pick (23rd, from Portland) is trying to make the team.

Add in the ‘drama’ factor of Thomas’ recent court experiences, controversial quotes, and sexual harassment woes, and the Knicks still seem to be about more than the team itself. That is a shame – really.

The Knicks are still the highest paid, and one of the lowest lowest achieving teams in the league.

Former Knick Allan Houston is making a comeback attempt with the team this off season, as well.

Boston

It’s like night and day between the two long time east coast rivals.

Boston is coming off 2 wins and a ‘blue sky’ future.

Doc Rivers says that the 17 man roster might be down to 15 or 14 before the game. Most likely loser is Jackie Manual. Dahntay Jones is a more experienced version of Jackie and he might not make the team either. Doc says Jones is on the edge of making the team.

Both are insurance policies for Tony Allen. With Posey on board and if Allen can comeback, neither will be needed, IMO. But Esteban Batista and Brandon Wallace are also walking a fine line right now. My guess is Batista stays and Wallace gets cut loose, unless something unusual happens.

With Scot Pollard still nursing his foot injury, Batista fills a need for a big man. Especially in games against teams with size, someone competent is needed to come off the bench. I’m not impressed with Batista from the little I’ve seen of him. Others differ. I’ll watch a little more before making any definitive judgements.

The TDBankNorth Garden should be rocking in the first public exhibition there since Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were added to the team. I will be there.

I’ll give you the details on Thursday.

peace,
T

Ray Allen is back playing basketball on the east coast, as only he knows how.

Call it ‘the trade before The Trade.’

On draft night Danny Ainge sent fan favorite, Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak’s big contract and weak ankles, and the number 5 pick in a solid draft (Jeff Green) to Seattle for Ray Allen. At the time some said it was giving up too much. Others said, “What is Danny doing?”

I’m not sure that Danny knew it would accomplish what it eventually did – get Kevin Garnett to also come to Boston. I’d love to interview Danny and find out just what he knew and didn’t know that evening. But it was a move in the right direction, if you’re keeping Paul Pierce, and thinking about the play-offs.

Ray is the least heralded of the 3 new Ceatles, as Kevin Garnett calls himself, Paul Pierce and Ray, referring to the media explosion surrounding them that has him thinking about the Beatles. (“I’m Paul”, KG says.)

But Ray Allen is really the key to the Boston Celtics getting KG, thus leading to their overnight transformation. Ray says he is happy to be a Celtic. In fact, Ray was happy to become a Celtic when few other stars would say the same thing. The Cs weren’t Jermaine O’Neal’s first choice. Shawn Marion said he wouldn’t come to Boston. Most famously, Kevin Garnett voiced an emphatic, ‘no way’, too.

It was the trade for Ray Allen that changed everything. No Ray Allen? No Kevin Garnett. You say you’re ecstatic that Garnett is a Celtic? Thank Ray Allen.

Kevin openly admits it. After first making it known that he absolutely did not desire to play in Boston, the draft night acquisition of Ray Allen made him start to re-think things. Kevin knew that Danny was making a relentless effort to put him in a Boston uniform, as were a number of other teams.

While all the press has been about landing the big fish, the Big Ticket, it was the trade before the trade that was the catalyst that set the wheels in motion to the biggest trade in NBA history.

As far I know, the kitchen sink is just about the only thing Danny didn’t have to throw into the trading pot to get it done. Remember growing up and trading baseball cards with your friends?How many guys did you have to give up to get Ken Griffey Jr., or Mickey Mantle? Danny must have felt the same way. But it was the Ray Allen trade that made it all possible.

Ray was ready for a change after playing on a bad Seattle team, knowing that fellow star Rashard Lewis might be moving on and that Seattle would head into a rebuilding phase. Seattle had some promising youth already and ballyhooed Kevin Durant in their sights as the 2nd pick in the draft that night. They also got Jeff Green as the #5 pick from Boston, to give them a solid base of youth to develop over the next few years.

Ray was about to turn 32 himself (July 20) and knew it would take a while for the young players to become a contending unit.

2nd all time in the NBA in 3 point shots made, Ray has a made a nice living as an offensive specialist, and the 3 pointer has been the main weapon. But make no mistake that isn’t the only way that Ray can hurt opposing teams. In college, Ray had a mid range game and was a bit of a slasher, too. He found the angles to get to the hoop though he was considered an ‘avoider’ of contact. He still has those weapons in his arsenal. And he now plays well with contact. He gets to the line for about 5 FT attempts per game in recent years.

He demonstrated as much in the Minnesota pre-season game. Utilizing some very nice moves, he had a number of baskets around the hoop. Go Ray.

An added plus, is that Ray is considered one of the best ‘character’ guys in the league, as in having good character, not being one. The Celtics’ have their quota of characters in Scot Pollard and Glen Davis. Ray is a consumate professional on and off the court. So his presence helps in ways beyond the 48 minutes that each game takes to play. He has won 2 NBA Sportsmanship Awards in his career as evidence of his off court efforts.

His resume is filled with great individual success:

College:

University of Connecticut 1993-6

Ray Allen played for a UConn team that was getting closer to vying for the ultimate goal in college basketball – the NCAA Tournament Championship.

His freshman season (1993-4) he played with Donny and Donyell Marshall, Doron Sheffer, Kevin Ollie and Travis Knight. The team made the Sweet Sixteen.

His sophomore season (1994-5) he led much the same unit, minus Donyell, with 21 pts per game. This team became only the 2nd Jim Calhoun team to make it to the Elite Eight. They lost to UCLA 102-96, the eventual Tournament Champion that year.

His junior year (1995-6), his last before heading to the NBA draft, he again led with a lusty 23.4 pts per game. After leading UConn to a school record 32 win season, a 17-1 Big East record, and a dramatic comeback against Georgetown for the Conference Championship, the team had Final Four thoughts on their minds. But as happens to teams in the March Madness every year, they were tripped up by a lower seeded Mississippi State team in the Sweet Sixteen round. A tremendous season ended on disappointment, but Ray was feeling ready for the NBA.

He averaged 44.8% from 3 point land for his college career, giving a clear indication of what was to come.

The next year, Ray was drafted 5th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves and immediately traded to the Milwaukee Bucks along with the rights to a 1999 or 2000 first round selection, for the rights to Stephon Marbury. I think that is one of the many moves Minnesota would like to re-do.

His NBA career is full of accomplishments:

11 years in the NBA has produced:

21.5 pts per game on .446 FG% and .397 % from 3 pt. land

In 37 playoff games over 4 years Ray has upped his scoring to 24.9 pts per game and he increased his FG% to .476, and 3 pt shooting to .435 % under play-off pressure. That bodes well for the play-off bound (or bust) Celtics.

ALL NBA 2nd Team: once
ALL NBA 3rd Team: once

Ray is currently 7th all time in Free throw pct. at .889 %, just above Reggie Miller and Larry Bird. But his average over the last 5 years is in line with .90 %. That is all time leader Mark Price/Steve Nash territory.

But for all of the these accomplishments, what is missing is a league title.

The only thing missing from a Ray Allen game is a strong defensive component over the years.

The entire team is supposed to take defense seriously this year. In another good move, Tom Thibodeau, hailing from Berlin CT himself, and an NBA assistant coach known as a defensive specialist, joins the Celtics this as well.

If this team can make a few defensive stands each game, it will be difficult to beat. It’s pretty obvious that they will be able to score. Ray, Paul and Kevin will make sure of that.

Ray has already started to mentor Rajon Rondo, the team’s young point guard with the inconsistent jump shot.

If Kevin is ‘Paul’, I guess Ray Allen is ‘George’, the quiet one with all the instrumental talent. That would make Paul Pierce be ‘John’. That’s another article.

Who will be Ringo – Rajon?

Anyway…. Ray Allen, welcome back. Remember, “All You Need is Love” – and a sweet jump shot. As for the rest…. “We Can Work It Out.”

T

What have I learned from the first 2 preseason games?

1) Kevin Garnett is as intense as any player I’ve seen play since….you know who.

It’s preseason.He has already gotten a technical, is diving on the floor for loose balls, and wears a constant look that says “I’m dead serious about this game and you better be, too.”
I love it.

2) The big three’s willingness to share the ball. They look committed to each other and to feeding the hot hand – whoever that is.

3) Rajon Rondo looks like he will develop into the point guard the team needs him to be.

He is looking for his mates, finding the open man and getting it to the hot hand. Add the excellent defense and steals he has demonstrated already and we have a player. He has hit a couple of mid range shots, though I admit that area of his game is still a work in progress. Still, he looks very good out there.

4) 15 of the first 17 baskets in the Wolves games were assisted baskets. The whole team is concentrating on moving the ball, and reacting to the defense to find the open man.
Do you see a theme here?

5) The team’s defense has made a few defensive spurts already. I see an early commitment to this important part of the game.

6) Kendrick Perkins is getting some easy opportunities right at the hoop. We had all expected this to happen…..and it is.

7) Garnett and Perkins look good together on defense and could end up making a formidable presence in the middle.

Eddie House has looked good in limited minutes. Right now, he looks like he can handle minutes at point guard (a few nice passes already) and be that 3 point shooter the team signed him to be.

9) Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis has shown some quick moves, nice shooting and passing ability in short minutes. I hope this guy makes it. I think he will solve the freakish athleticism and size he will face every night in the NBA with his intelligence and superb skills for a big man.

10) Paul Pierce hasn’t even had a good game yet offensively. It appears that the team doesn’t need all three stars to play well every night.

Yeah, I know. It’s way too early to know too much about anything. But these are good early signs anyway you want to cut it.

The Celtics play the Knicks in Boston on Wednesday Oct. 17th.

The Boston Celtics beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 92-81 in London this afternoon.

Wins and losses don’t count for a darn thing yet.

Still, after so much losing the past few years, it is nice to see a team that is learning how to play together get a couple of Ws so quickly. I don’t care if they don’t count. It helps to build a winning attitude.

Four former Celtics started for Minnesota. Theo Ratliff at center and Sebastian Telfair at PG, and Ryan Gomes at SF. Juwan Howard and Ricky Davis rounded out the Wolves starting five.

The Celtics countered with the five they expect to be starting on opening day. Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Kendrick Perkins.

This time the three stars did not make 30 minutes each as Doc Rivers substituted for them all in the 4th quarter, with the game in hand by then.

Ricky Davis was red hot in the first quarter and put on a show hitting, 4-5 from down town and getting 16 points total. Many were difficult shots with defenders right on him. He finished with 18 pts.

Ray Allen was hot for Boston as he went 3-5 from downtown in the first half and was making wide open threes, a few drives and some little jumpers in the lane.

Brian Scalabrine also benefitted by all the defensive attention the three stars were getting and hit 2 open threes.

Paul Pierce was making contact, and drawing fouls, but was 4-9 in foul shooting and finished a woeful 1-6 from the field and 6-11 from the line for 8 points. He did have 5 boards and 4 assists in 28 minutes.

Rajon Rondo and James Posey demonstrated some defensive prowess with steals (Rondo ended up with 4) and some ball pressure.

One sweet play with a pass to Perkins underneath for the jam on the move. Perkins was the only Celtic in double figures besides Ray Allen. Perk had 11 points, 5 boards, and continued to hit his foul shots going 5-6. If he can just keep coming to the basket when Garnett gets doubled, he should get about 6 points a game on relatively open shots close in. I’m sure other teams will move to remedy that as things move forward, though.

Al Jefferson entered the game once Garnett exited. I don’t think it was accidental. Al had a nice move on the right side of the hoop backing down Batista for the quick ‘flip in’ that he makes like clockwork. He made one other shot in the game.

Batista did come back later and show a nice post move of his own. Esteban showed some decent numbers for his time, but doesn’t appear to play up to his size on the defensive end.

Half time score: 50-42

The second half saw the starting unit go out front with a commanding lead (15-5 run to go up 65 -48) led again by good defense leading to turnovers. Ray Allen was in front for lay-ups on 2 TO’s (one was goal tending by Theo). It was nice to see Paul Pierce go to the floor to try to get a fumbled ball by Davis. Davis called for travel. PP got up clapping like a kid.

By the end of the third quarter Ray Allen 28 points on 11-13, and 5-7 downtown.

It was an excellent shooting game for Ray after not shooting well in game one. Being in a shooting kind of mood, he only added one rebound and one assist. I said that Ricky and Ray should do well as neither are great defenders. That prediction came true, though R. Davis was quieted after the first period.

Garnett was mostly looking to get others involved when the double teams came, hence the 9 total points. He was called for traveling multiple times and finished with 6 TOs. His counter part, Al Jefferson had a difficult game. He was guarded by Scalabrine, Garnett, Batista, and Perkins at different times and only managed 5 points and 6 rebounds in 24 minutes, though he did get 2 blocks to help out.

It could be a tough year for Al Jefferson. He doesn’t have a player like Paul, Ray or Kevin to draw doubles and get him some open space to work with. Wittman will have to draw up offensive schemes to get Al some daylight.

Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis played in the 4th and showed a few nice offensive plays against the Wolves second unit.

Tony Allen played 21 minutes but couldn’t get any timing on his shooting, finishing with 1-8 but with 2 steals for his efforts..

Celtics win: 92 -81

I’ll take it.

Final observation:

While there wasn’t anything spectacular to report (except for Ray Allen’s performance), it was quite obvious that Kevin Garnett was taking this game seriously from the start. If he is this intense for the season, I see good things for the team. This, or any other highly successful team needs an on court leadership like that. Let the good times roll.

T

The initial match between the two teams involved in the biggest trade of the off season will be today in London at 2:30 pm our time. The game will be shown on ESPN2.

Word from the Minnesota camp is that 3 of the players involved in that trade are injured and questionable for today’s match.

This is from Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune….

Jefferson and Green both landed wrong on an ankle during Tuesday’s practice at the fancy, new O2 Arena. Telfair hurt an ankle in practice Monday.

The real disappointment is if Al Jefferson can’t suit up to go against Kevin Garnett, his counterpart on the Celtics. They were the keystones of that trade.

Gerald Green’s gifted leaping ability would be diminished if he does play, while Sebastian Telfair loses an opportunity to show Boston that he can really play.

Match ups could change, but I expect the following:

PG: Randy Foye vs Rajon Rondo – this should be a good one. Both of these are guys are young and loaded with potential.

SG: Ricky Davis vs Ray Allen – While Ray is the better shooter, Ricky is quite capable of holding his own here. Neither guy is known for his defense.

SF: Ryan Gomes vs. Paul Pierce – Versatile Ryan will have his hands full with ‘more versatile’ Paul.

PF: Juwan Howard vs. Kevin Garnett - If Al doesn’t start, I guess Juwan will take his place. If Al Jefferson plays, look for a great match up battle with Kevin Garnett showing Al why he was trade for 5 players including Al.

C: Mark Blount vs. Kendrick Perkins – ‘Hands of Stone’ versus the ‘Perk-o-lator’. Another good match -up between two totally opposite players. Blount has become offensive in more ways than one, while Perkins does the defensive dirty work that every team needs. Kendrick has to learn how to stay out of foul trouble, and still be effective.

Rashad McCants (hamstring) and Craig Smith (ankle) are also game time decisions due to minor injuries.

I hope to see #7 draft pick Cory Brewer in action today.

Scot Pollard is back in Boston with an ankle injury. The rest of the roster is available, but with 16 players total some will not see much time – if any at all. We will have to see who Doc Rivers is looking at today.

I’ll report more after the game.

regards,
T

Welcome everyone…. to Celtic Nation.

The new look Celtics wrapped up their first real competition with a win.

The Boston Celtics were in Rome all week to practice and to get ready to play the Toronto Raptors. The game went off today and the Celtics, led by their new triple threat…or triple treat depending on what side you’re watching from, put away last year’s Atlantic Division leader. The final score was 89-85.

This game was what seemed like a long awaited debut of the three headed Celtic monster named Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Just think. One of those guys was the 3rd option today. And one of them will always be that this year. What other team in the league has a 3rd option to compare with these guys? Not one.

Welcome to brand new hopes by Celtic fans everywhere, for a title run, driven by these three stars.

Once the dust finally settled on the two trades that purged Boston of much of it’s promising youth, Danny managed to bring 2 mature stars, in the sweet spot of their careers, into the fold. They will play along side resident Celtic ‘top dog’, Paul Pierce, and people everywhere realize this is going to be a very tough team to beat. Whatever doubts they might have had about the supporting cast, receded enough to put most skeptics into a ‘hmmmm’ mode. One well know site even had the Cs picked as the number 2 team in the entire league. That might be getting just a little ahead of things, I think. There is still work to do in Boston.

First acquiring 3 pt.specialist Eddie House, and then the former member of the Miami Heat’s championship team, defensive-minded SF James Posey was enough to make most prognosticators realize that there is possibly enough depth here to really make things happen – even this year. When you add them to Rajon Rondo, and Tony Allen, you have a very decent set of options beyond the 3 stars.

The speculation on what would actually happen once live action began, got a sneak preview with today’s game.

Lights, Camera, Action……

Let the star laden show begin.

Right on cue, Paul Pierce led the way in scoring with 21 points on a crisp 8-14 shooting, while the Big Ticket, Kevin Garnett did what he does best, rebound and score, contributing 19 points and 16 rebounds. The next highest rebounder was Toronto’s franchise player, Chris Bosh, with a distant 9 boards.

Ray Allen had difficulty finding the range and finished with 10 points on an inefficient 4-13 shooting (1-6 from downtown).

Entering just his second year, 21 year old point guard Rajon Rondo played 25 minutes and garnered 6 assists while shooting just 2-7. Reports were that he did a good job leading the team into its sets.

Well traveled ‘shooter for hire’, Eddie House came out firing and finished with 14 points in 22 minutes, in addition to some solid floor play for a nice debut.

What may surprise some is that Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen all played 30 minutes or more in their very first exhibition game. On more established teams, that wouldn’t happen until they neared the start of the actual season. But coach Doc Rivers said he would use the pre-season to get the three of them as much floor time together as he possibly could.

The starting 5 are all sporting the shaved head look, a la Kevin Garnett. A unified look doesn’ make a unified team, but it’s a start.

Starting center, 22 yr. old Kendrick Perkins got into early foul trouble and finished with 8 points, 7 rebounds, and one block in 23 plus minutes. In a nice surprise, he was 4-4 from the foul line.

Toronto was led in scoring by lightning quick point guard, TJ Ford, with 15 points. Last year there was definitely a little ‘chippiness’ between Ford and Rondo in their contests. I don’t know if any of that is carrying over or not. Rondo plays the kind of defense that can get under your skin after a while.

Italy’s own hometown favorite, 6′ 11″ Andrea Bargnani, was 2nd in scoring for the Raptors with 13 points in only 14 minutes on 4-6 shooting. He should continue his development as a player this season.

For the previously beleagured Celtic team (24 wins last year) beating last year’s division champion had to be satisfying.

I’ve learned never to put too much stock in preseason games, especially the first few. But this year is different. Every Celtic fan will be watching to see how our ‘triple treat’ mesh. It will certainly take a little time – even for stars like these.

The boxscore is here…

http://www.nba.com/games/20071006/TORBOS/boxscore.html

Next up for the Cs -

the Minnesota Celtics, I mean Timberwolves.

Where? ‘wolves’….in London. Owww-ooo!

After pina coladas at Trader Vics – (Apologies to the late Warren Zevon.)

The Celtics will play the Timberwolves in London, England in the 02, on Wednesday 10/10. It is the very first time the two teams will meet since the big trade.

The ‘Wolves received 5 Celtics last year in the Garnett trade – a league record. They are: rising star Al Jefferson, versatile Ryan Gomes, dunking Gerald Green, underperforming Sebastian Telfair, and the oft injured expiring contract of Theo Ratliff, plus 2 draft picks and a partridge in a pear tree. This is after trading for 4 other recent Celtics the previous year (2 remain from that group – Mark Blount and Ricky Davis). That has got to be another record. As far as I know, Danny did get to keep the statue of Red Auerbach near Fanueil Hall.

I hope that Doc doesn’t get totally confused and start barking plays at the Timberwolves. Or start to yell at Telfair, and try to yank him from the game. Similarly, these players might not know who to throw the ball to. This better be a ‘shirts and skins’ game, just to keep things straight. I might even forget who I’m rooting for.

I look forward to an interesting year as this ready made contender, or so it may seem, goes about the business of putting things together, finding chemistry and responding to whatever other teams may try to do to stop them.

It won’t be boring. I’m sure of that. Kevin Garnett, one of the most intense players in the league, will make sure of that. He has already received his first technical foul in the 3rd quarter of his very first pre-season game. Way to go Kevin.

Watching this team come together will be quite an experience. Hop on the bandwagon and enjoy the ride.

peace,

Tom

Raised on the mean streets of north Stratford, okay, so north Stratford doesn’t have mean streets, I’m pretty much a local guy. I graduated from the University of Connecticut in… let’s just say before Calhoun came to town (the Dom Perno years). I remember those insane games at the Field house.

So how does a short guy (5’ 10”) from Stratford, with no sign of a jump shot, and who has to attempt three jumps just to get over a sheet of paper get to write a blog on the Boston Celtics?

I think better than I write. I write better than I played. I played a lot growing up.

Good times. Shoveling snow off the court in the winter, sweating buckets in the heat of summer – we played. I wasn’t very good, but my friends were. A lot of them played some organized ball. A few were on the high school team. So the level of play was usually good – for white guys. I loved the game then. Still do.

I’ve followed the Celtics since childhood. I remember Bill Russell’s last few years. I have great memories from what seemed like the final years of a great civilization – The Celtic’s ‘Bill Russell’ Dynasty years. Even as a teenager, I think I knew, deep down in, that I would never see anything like it again.

As with music, girlfriends, disasters, and politics, you use certain sporting events to mark the years of your life. I marveled at the dominance of the Bill Russell led Celtics as much as I tried to make sense of the tumultuous times that were the latter part of the 60s’ decade.

Discovering the world of the hard core basketball blogger over three years ago, I’ve enjoyed sharing thoughts with kindred die hard Celtic fans for 3 plus years. Together we have experienced the ups and mostly the downs of the Danny Ainge Era – from the beginning. I write for a Celtics blog named Celtics 17 on the MVN.com network for over a year. Check it out when you get a chance. It’s a lot of fun.

If you’ve read this far, you’re probably a loyal Celtic fan – or you will be soon.

Why? If you have been vacationing on Mars for the summer, you might not have heard that the Celtics have landed one of the biggest stars in the game. Kevin Garnett, at a lean mean 6’ 11”, is an athletic freak. He is a top 5 player even now, at age 31. Danny Ainge mortgaged the future by sending 5 young players (including a promising young Al Jefferson) and two future #1 draft choices (an NBA record) to the Minnesota Timberwolves for him. It was the future for the present. The ‘present’ is Kevin Garnett.

As the commercial says….

But wait. There’s more!

Before what is now called ‘The Trade’, Danny traded for UConn’s own Ray Allen. Welcome back Ray. (Ray has a home in Connecticut.) One of the silkiest jump shots in the NBA was added to help resident Celtic star Paul Pierce move this club back above sea level.

So the Celtics now have 3 of the league’s top players all under the TDBankNorth Garden roof for the upcoming season. Tickets are already hard to get.

I’ll keep you posted on the latest Celtic news. I’ll have some interviews and game notes as we go forward. I guarantee that it won’t be boring.

So check in here when you want to learn the latest news on the new Celtics.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you around (and hear from you) during the season!

Tom Halzack (aka tenaciousT on Celtics 17)