Celtics Central

Game one of the new season brought forth a lot of emotion, especially from Paul Pierce and a hard fought win over a team that took them to the brink in the play-offs, not that long ago.

The Celtics won 90-85, behind Pierce’s 27 points, Rajon Rondo’s 14, and Leon Powe’s 13.

Paul Pierce shook off the pre-game effects and went out and delivered his normal array of shots from all over the court to lead the Celtics to victory once again. He went 2-4 from the arc, hit some quick mid rangers and went to the hoop and the line a number of times.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Though the Cavs trade for Mo Williams received a lot of attention, as did the James Posey departure from the Celtics to New Orleans, both teams are essentially the same. Consequently, the results were pretty much the same. Low scoring, low amount of field goal attempts by both teams (68-74).

Things were sloppy for both teams at times. The Celtics defense wasn’t that good in the first half, giving up 28 first quarter points and 50 at the half to a team that has trouble offensively. The Cavaliers had 21 turnovers for the game.

The Celtics turned it around in the 3rd quarter when they held the Cavs to 13 points. Still, the Cavaliers came back to regain the lead a few times before the Celtics managed to (barely) stay ahead. LeBron James missed a big free throw in the last ten seconds that would have brought Cleveland to within one point and missed one of two with 4 seconds left to give Boston a 3 point lead.

Ray Allen struggled with his shot (2-9), as did Kevin Garnett (5-15, 11 points). Rajon Rondo (4-5), Powe (5-7) and Tony Allen (4-9, 11 points) more than made up for the stars’ misfiring.

A much more confident Leon Powe is showing improved variation on his shot making around the hoop. If he keeps this up, no one will be asking for PJ Brown to unretire. A crowd pleasing, high rising, monster dunk over a leaping Delonte West was part of the Powe show.

Rajon Rondo had a Rondo type game with 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and went 6-10 from the line as he made an effort to attack the hoop tonight.

4 technicals were called, due to a bit of woofing between players, as these teams are becoming true rivals. After a split regular season (2-2) last year, the Cavs continued to play the new look Celtics tough in the play-offs. But, if we’re counting pre-season, this is the Celtics 4th straight win against the Cavs.

Mike Brown’s team still have trouble with their offense. Lebron James took 21 shots. The next closest was new PG Maurice ‘Mo’ Williams with 10 attempts. Cleveland ran the shot clock down too much, while the Celtics are still poised and confident enough to comeback from a slow start to regain the lead.

The ring ceremony and Banner 17 raising literally brought a teary eyed Paul Pierce to the center of the court to greet NBA Commissioner David Stern. He said he couldn’t control his emotions. Who knew that the Celtics’ star with a tough exterior was such a softy?

The whole team was drawn into the emotion of the moment as they accepted their rings and took part in raising Banner 17 to the rafters.

Cleveland took advantage of the situation and ran out to a quick 14-4 lead, as the Cs shot 2-8, only making 2 dunks (Pierce, Garnett). Heralded Mo Williams delivered the outside shot as they had hoped he would, going 3-5 from the arc. While he did have a +3 while he was in the game, he produced just 2 assists and had 4 turnovers in 31 minutes.

7′ 3″ Zydrunas Ilgauskas seems to present particular problems for Kendrick Perkins and the Celtic back-ups because of his skill and size. That was evidenced by his +7 and Perk’s -7 for the game. Kendrick appeared frustrated much of the evening and fouled out in 21 minutes, while Z scored 15 points on 3 of 5 shooting and 9-10 foul shooting.

So the reigning kings of the NBA start off with a home court win against a dangerous play-off contender. Just 81 more games to go.