Celtics Central

Apologies to Meatloaf, but the Celtics only needed 2 of its three stars and great contributions from the rest of the team to beat Dallas in Boston last night.

The Celtics passed another huge test as they prove they can beat one of the NBA’s top teams with Kevin Garnett in street clothes. This game will again send the naysayers scurrying for cover.

While Kevin Garnett rested his abdominal injury for another night, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce tag teamed the Celtics to victory.

In spite of missing numerous lay-ups through out the game, the Cs managed to continue their inside attack last night, scoring 44 points in the paint. They really should have had 5-7 more baskets from point blank range that were just flat out missed.

Ray put on a 22 point first half scoring exhibition, showing us what a Ray Allen who gets the ball soon and often, looks like. He was coming off picks and curls, he was making threes, pull up jump shots and getting to the rim. It was a quintessential Ray Allen shooting display. He is so much fun to watch when he is on.

The second half belonged to Paul Pierce as he scored 22 points and got it done the old fashioned Paul Pierce way – in the trenches. Paul rocked and jerked his way to the rim with multiple spin moves with degrees of difficulty of 9 or 10. He was drawing contact and getting to the line. He was making his foul shots count, going 9-10, and had 6 boards of his own.

These were 2 vintage, prototypical performances from two great players.

But through it all, the Celtics role players, especially Rajon Rondo, James Posey and Leon Powe came up big in support. You cannot underestimate the significance of any of their performances towards this satisfying victory.

Rajon Rondo was busy rebounding and playing a fine floor game. He played tough defense on the Devin Harris-less Mavericks point guards. Jason Terry went 4-12 and Jose Juan Barea was 0-3. The 6′ 1″ Celtic point guard decided to help where needed and led both teams with 12 rebounds. He grabbed an impressive 6 offensive rebounds, including the biggest rebound of the night, pulling it away from 7 foot Dirk Nowitzki, and scored the winning basket right around him, with 42 seconds left on a put back of a Paul Pierce miss. That gave Boston a 92-90 lead. Dallas would not score again.

James Posey followed up Rondo’s great play with a few game savers of his own. He got a tough defensive rebound, made 4 straight clutch free throws and had a huge steal off of Jason Terry to ice the game with 6 seconds left. Posey knocked the ball away and with tremendous effort, threw himself after the ball, corralling it as he went to the ground. Dave Cowens would have been proud.

James also hit a few very big shots along the way, scoring 13 points including 3 big threes and had 3 steals to go along with solid defense.

While Dirk Nowitski had a very good game with 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks and led all scorers with 31 points, the Celtics did a decent job of making him uncomfortable with multiple players taking turns guarding him. He made only two 4th quarter baskets.

You just have to love this team. They are answering questions that doubters have been asking from the very start. In the midst of a mid season let down (or let up), the ‘no depth’ critics are sticking their heads out of their holes for a few yaps of “See. I told you so.” The last two games will be sending them back into hibernation.

The Celtic took care of the ball with only 8 TOs (season low? – I have to look it up.) and force 13 Maverick TOs. It was also a season low in assists for the Celtics with only 13.

The Celtics kept up in foul shooting with the league’s top free throw pct. team, making 25 of 29 to Dallas’ 24 of 28, and held Dallas to 4 of 22 from beyond the arc.

Rajon Rondo looked very comfortable out there and went to the hoop with the abandon he is known for. He missed at least 3 lay-ups, including 2 of that ‘fake behind-the-back pass’ variety that would have given him 20 points and the Celtics a more solid lead at the end. Yet, I liked what I was seeing. He knew he had to step it up and he used the whole floor better to get his shot and to distribute. Rondo is slowly getting his whole game going and when we fail to take remarkable note that he went 4-4 from the foul line, he will have made a huge step forward.

Kendrick Perkins played his usual solid, but unsung game with 6 boards, 5 points and solid defense in 18 minutes of play. Both teams went small quite a bit.

Leon didn’t do very much stat-wise, but he played a solid game and credibly guarded Dirk often. For the time being, he has taken Glen Davis’s minutes and has done enough to earn more time going forward.

So this was a great win for the team as it solidifies its identity and other players continue to step up when they are needed. Dallas had won 13 of the previous 14 games they have played against each other.

Next up for Boston: At Cleveland on Tuesday