Celtics Central

The Celtics won a game they appeared to have a hard time getting up for, and they did it with three 20 point scorers: Pierce, Garnett with 23 each and Allen with 20. No not that Allen. It was Tony this time.

The final score was 100-94, though the Celtics seemed to stay just far enough ahead for much of the 2nd half to not be in real danger. At 28-3 they are now among the top 5 fastest starts on record. Their home record is now 16-1, and they are now on 8-0 run since losing to Detroit.

While this never looked like a game Boston would lose, Memphis stayed in it and led from time to time. They were last tied with the team with the best record in the league at 49-49 at the 10:11 mark of the third quarter. The Celtics responded with 6 straight points on a Pierce pull up jumper, a Perkins dunk on a pass from a doubled Garnett, and a Kevin Garnett turnaround banker.

The Celtics slowly pulled away, but the game never seemed to get put away. The lead extended to as much as 14 at one point when House made a nice pass to Big Baby for a dunk that prompted a Memphis time out.

After that, Memphis pulled to within 5 (88-93) with 54 seconds left and again within 4 (94-98) with only 9 seconds left. The Celtics responded multiple times in the last few minutes with clutch foul shooting by Garnett, Pierce, Posey and Ray Allen to keep the lead to the end.

The 2nd half belonged to Paul Pierce (12pts.) and Kevin Garnett (13 pts.) who both finished with 23 points. Paul also had 10 boards to tie with James Posey for team honors in that category. Posey added 9 points important points. Eddie House scored all eight of his points in the ‘decisive’ 4th quarter. I use the term loosely.

Glen Davis played 11 plus minutes with reasonable results (5 pts, 2 bds. and a nice steal)

A Ray Allen Slump?

Ray Allen had one of the worst scoring games of his career (0-9, 0-3 from downtown) and only avoided getting shut out for the first time since his rookie season by a few foul shots with just a few seconds left in the game.

Before tonight’s game, Ray’s scoring has been down somewhat anyway. He is averaging just 16.4 in the last 5 games before tonight. But a look at his stats doesn’t suggest a shooting slump as he is averaging his season average of .43% and hitting .42% from 3 pt. land in that time. The only difference appears to be that he is not getting to the line. He had zero foul shot attempts in 3 of the last 4 games before tonight.

Of the three stars, he started the year on fire and looking like he would fit in the easiest. Now Paul looks most comfortable in the offense.

The first half?

Welcome to the Tony Allen Experience. The first half belonged to him as the other Allen went 0-7.

Tony Allen exploded for 18 first half points in just 14 plus minutes on a variety of shot making. Tony showed a bit of the past when he had that streak before his injury. He was doing everything on the court again tonight. The team needed it.

At the half, Tony was 7-9 and 2-3 from downtown, with 2 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. More important, Tony provided the energy and leadership to an uninspired Celtics team. Tony brought them back from a 4 point deficit to a 4 point lead that ended with the Celtics ahead by 2 points at half time.

Paul Pierce supported that with 11 point on 4-8 with 6 rebounds. Kevin Garnett added 10 points on 3-5 with 3 rebounds and 2 assists. By the 2nd quarter Boston decided they could score inside and ended the half with a 20-10 point difference in the paint and shot .440 overall.

In the 3rd quarter Paul Pierce and KG added 9 points each as they extended the 2 point halftime lead to 9 at 74-65. Rudy Gay who was 1-8 to start the game began to find the range and finished 10-21 for 21 points. His shot is looking more reliable now and his defense looked pretty good. Boston had 6 steals by the end of three and was successfully going to the paint for an 38-18 advantage (18-8 for the quarter).

Only in the first quarter did Memphis do a good job of closing off the middle with Darko getting 4 blocks. He added 7 boards to his effort. Mike Miller led the team offensively with 11 points on 5-6 shooting, but finished with only 16. Miller added 8 rebounds. Mike Conley finished his 2nd start with 4 assists and 10 points.

Juan Carlos Navarro did what Bonzi Wells did the last game and provided instant offense with 20 points in 17 minutes foe the Grizzlies. His buddy, Pau Gasol had a tough night, shooting 3-13 for a mere 12 points.

Rajon Rondo did not have a particularly good game offensively and finished 2-9 for 4 points and a single assist.

So, it was a game that the Celtics were clearly looking past to Detroit tomorrow night. They had enough talent and just enough focus and bench support to pull it out anyway. Good teams do that, don’t they?

Garnett played just 32 minutes tonight, I’m sure, in what was a deliberate attempt by Doc to keep him rested for the Pistons.

Well, people are saying that we’re 1/3rd into the season. I don’t know how you divide 82 by 3. I get 27.333333 to infinity. It’s like one of those false logic questions where time must stop right there due to that infinite dividing point.

Remember that mathematical philosophical theory that a dropped object never hits the table because for every distance it goes, you can divide that by 2 and it still has half way to go – no matter what? You should always be able to divide the distance, no matter how close it gets.

It is kind of like…When is Bob Dolan going to fire Isaiah Thomas? At what point does he do enough wrong to merit that? He is always halfway there, but never arrives.

Getting back to that 1/3rd of a season stuff…..

When does everybody get to the 1/3rd of a 48 minute game, too? Ah. That one is easier. Exactly 16 minutes in or at the 8:00 minute mark of the 2nd quarter. Now we are getting somewhere.

My main point here is that sometimes one plus one doesn’t equal two. It is either much more or much less.

Here are my NBA top 5 surprises so far…

1) The Boston Celtics – I can’t find a single pre-season prediction that said this club would gel instantly, nor one that said it would be 27-3 at the 30 game mark. Show me where, if it is there.

2) The Chicago Bulls – How can a team that is a 49 win team that, more importantly, swept Miami and lost 4-2 to Detroit in the play-offs with essentially the same, perhaps somewhat improved roster be 12-19 and into a new coach?

3) Miami Heat – I knew Shaq and the Heat were in decline. But the floor has dropped out of Shaq’s game. He is so slow that It is hard to just get him the ball now, and so goes the Heat. They let Jason Kapono, James Posey and Eddie Jones go. They didn’t sign a number of available competent free agent point guards, instead opting (late) for Smush Parker. The Heat’s payroll is $72.5 mil right behind the Celtics $74.6mil. The Heat are 8-24. Which brings me to….

4) New York Knicks – they are 8-22. Both teams are getting worse as they’re both 2-8 over the last 10 games. NY’s payroll is still the 2nd highest in the league at $88.9 mil, after a paring down over the last year or so. Is this a surprise after acquiring Zach Randolph? I say yes it is. They have a formidable front line now and should have moved a few steps forward. If the goings on here don’t constitute the biggest scab on the face of the NBA, I don’t know what does. It’s ugly and needs a top dermatologist to fix it. One day we will talk about the Dolan years with awe and shake our heads. Wait a minute. That day has arrived. New York fans deserve better.

5) Portland Trailblazers – I’ll start and end the list with good news. The Trailblazers are the only team that might relate to the ups and downs of the Celtics. They got lucky in the draft and took Oden. They promptly lost Oden in the preseason for the year to injury. The team recently had a league high 13 game winning streak. They are 20-13 and are virtually tied with Denver (19-12) for 1st place in the Northwest Division. I love it. After 5 years in Seattle, Nate McMillan created a 52 win team out of mediocrity and made it to the 2nd round of the play-offs. He is in year 3 in Portland and seems headed in the same direction there.

Honorable mention: Orlando, Atlanta, Utah, and Houston. Orlando and Atlanta are pleasant surprises. Houston and Utah have excellent coaches and disappointing records for the talent there.

All situations are subject to change before the year is out. I expect Houston, Utah, and Chicago to get better. Orlando still has some issues. There is no obvious reason why the rest won’t continue down their chosen paths.

Celtics

Tonight Boston takes on Memphis at home. This game could be a dangerous one as they might be looking ahead to Detroit tomorrow night. Mike Conley is back and has been given the starting job, much to the dismay of Damon Stoudamire’s agent. He had a great first game with 7 pts, 8 assts. and 6 bds.

Memphis is 9-22 and has its own issues. Mike Conley is the wild card tonight. It should be a good match up for Rondo. Other interesting match-ups are Gay on Pierce and Gasol on Garnett, if they go with the starting line-up they did last night. Milicic will probably see time against Garnett as well. It should open up some daylight with Ray Allen being guarded by Mike Miller.

This game more than other this year, showed what rhythm means to a game.

The Celtics won another hard fought game 97-93. They easily could have lost. It looked like they could have won handily. Was it just that they had finally run out of gas?

Kevin Garnett found enough in his reserve tank and willed his team to victory with a stunning clutch shooting display (5 straight jumpers) in the heart of the 4th quarter when Houston made its move and actually took the lead. Coming from a 20 point first half deficit, the Rockets first tied the game at 78-78. They kept fighting and went up 84-81 on 2 Bonzi Wells free throws and tied the game again at 87 on a Shane Battier three.

Rajon Rondo drove for a lay-up to give Boston a lead it would finally not give up. Garnett followed with his 3rd of 5 straight pressure jump shots as he kept Boston just out of Houston’s reach the rest of the way. KG scored 11 of the team’s last 16 points in total. On top of that, he had to guard Yao Ming in the final few minutes, after Perkins and Pollard fouled out trying to do the same.

During that key stretch, Rondo knocked a ball away underneath, Pierce picked it up and threw it to Ray Allen heading down court for two.

After KG made his 5th jumper of the quarter to ice the game , Paul Pierce jumped on his back in awe and celebration. KG had put literally put the Cs on his back to get this one.

You could tell that KG was not willing to except a loss. After he made his last shot, and was coming off the court, he grabbed the Celtics jersey and pointed to the word Celtics. He understands what that means. He wants to be a chapter in it’s history, a successful chapter.

Momentum is a funny thing.

With the Celtics holding onto a 16 point lead established in the 1st quarter, looking like they were playing a D-league team, not the Houston Rockets, Doc Rivers decided to remove the last remaining starter, Paul Pierce at the 9:32 mark of the 2nd quarter. I can’t remember the last time he played a unit without one of three on the court when it mattered. Feeling that the lead was safe, he wanted to give the starters a cushioned rest. I’m not sure he will do that again soon.

Houston had stopped the bleeding by then, but the game looked too locked up for it to matter. Yet, the rhythm had already started to change, slightly. By the time Glen Davis came in for Pierce, it was like the music stopped. Though the Celtics would extend the lead to 20, court dynamics had taken a turn in favor of Houston.

By the time Garnett and Ray Allen came back in (just a few short minutes later at 7:26 of the quarter) the tide had begun to turn. Bonzi Wells and Luis Scola were the major game changers. In fact, it was when Bonzi entered the game with 2:32 left in the first quarter that Houston started to show some life.

You could say Doc rested them all because the Celtics were playing a very fast pace, and they were. Part of the game plan appeared to be to beat Yao down court and tire him out. The Celtics created a number of fast break baskets that way. It was working better than planned.

Yao himself had a tough 1st half, finishing 2-11 after being pushed around by Perkins, and Pollard.

But once Bonzi entered, and Scola made a few hustle plays, Houston methodically regained their composure and began to climb back into a game that looked like a blow out just 10 minutes earlier.

Pierce completed the first half looking like he hadn’t missed a beat from his Player of the Week road performance. He finished the half with 14 points on 5-7 shooting with 4 rebounds, 1 asst., a rebound and a steal.

Bonzi ultimately became a scoring machine, finishing with a season high 25 points on 8-14, in 29 minutes with 9 rebounds, a block and a steal.

Once the Celtic starters returned, they had lost the energy that they started with. They looked tired. Boston finished the half up a healthy 53 -42, but were outscore 26-23 in the 2nd quarter.

Garnett made 2 nice passes to Pollard underneath for baskets when Yao came over to double KG. Eddie House was doing what he does best, putting in 7 points in 9 minutes. Garnett was an uber efficient 4-5 for 10 points with 4 boards and 3 assists by half time. Rondo contributed 6 points on 3-6 with 4 asists and 3 rebounds in 15 minutes.

The Celtic were shooting lights out at .595 FG% (68% in the 1st quarter). Except for Wells (5-10 for 13 total points), the Rockets couldn’t hit anything, going into the half with a .378 FG%

Yao Ming got going for Houston in the third (11 points) and the lead see sawed a bit, but Houston took back 3 more points (26-23 again) before heading into the 4th when they stormed back to lead.

The Boston Celtics (read that Kevin Garnett) showed their character once again, by refusing too lose. It was another dramatic comeback to win by the team with the best record in the NBA, now 27-3.

Scot Pollard played a gutsy game against Yao, scoring 10 points with 5 boards in 13 minutes before fouling out. James Posey had a rare off game (0-5, 1 point). Rondo finished with 9 big assists, 5 boards and 13 points. Kendrick Perkins defended well but fouled out in 26 minutes with 4 points, 2 boards and a block.

The Celtics meet their toughest opponent so far, in a rematch on Saturday in Detroit, as they play the Pistons. The Celtics are on a 7 game winning streak and 27-3. The Pistons are on a 10 game winning streak and are 25-7.

The Boston Celtics take their 6 game winning streak, and their 14-1 home record to the court against the Tracy McGrady-less (sore left knee) Houston Rockets tonight. Actually he is listed as a game time decision and may play.

Paul Pierce has been playing excellent ball for a while now and is coming off of his 2nd Player of the Week Award, after playing instrumental roles in all 4 victories on their west coast road trip. He has been dominating at times.

The entire Celtic team has been locked in for awhile now, and playing its best basketball of the year. Yet, the Houston Rockets are a very talented club.

This could be titled – What is Wrong with the Houston Rockets?

The answer is I don’t really know. They have had both Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming for most of their games, and they brought in Rick Adelman, an experienced coach who usually gets the most out of his players.

Rick is an offensive minded coach. The Rockets were a 52 win team last year under Jeff Van Gundy, a decidedly defensive minded coach. Maybe that’s part of the problem. But that belies the statistics as the Rockets remain a top defensive team. They are 3rd best in FG% (43.4) allowed, behind defensive juggernauts Boston and Detroit and 6th best in points allowed (94).
Ironically, it is their offense that needs work (94.9).

For whatever reason, this team has not gelled this season.

Yao Ming continues to be an enigma to me. With his size and skills this team should be so much better. He is slow up and down the court. There is no doubt about that.

Rafer Alston is having a disappointing year. Steve Francis is injured and Mike James hasn’t been an improvement either. So PG is part of the problem as well.

Shane Battier and Bonzi Wells are 2 very productive role players. Luis Scola has been getting more time and touches of late.

The Rockets aren’t to be taken lightly, as they have beaten the Spurs, Lakers, Suns, and Pistons. They have also lost to Sacramento, Memphis, Miami, and Golden State. Clearly a team without a set mindset when they hit the court.

Seeing things that way, they will probably come out fired up. Everyone wants to beat the Celtics now. It will make news.

Needless to say, the Celtics are tremendous at home and should be able to withstand a strong start from them. Rondo should play tonight, but perhaps not start, according to Doc Rivers on the Celtic website.

Let the game begin…