The absence of Kevin Garnett was supposed to leave a hole in the middle of the Celtics’ defense.
Instead it was the Knicks soft middle that was a major factor in this game as the Celtics scored 50 points in the paint to the Knicks 34, even without KG patrolling the paint. The Celtics needed the defensively challenged Knicks to break out of their scoring doldrums and light them up for a season high 110 points. The Green Machine is now 10-2.
The Celtics started slow and had 6 of their 13 turnovers in the first period, while Wilson Chandler got the Knicks off fast with 10 first quarter points. Chandler led the Knicks with 23 points on the evening.
Paul Pierce started with 9 first quarter points and brought the Celtics home with another W with 9 points in the last 5 minutes. Paul got a big three point shot from an unexpected team mate to help seal the win. The Celtics also got a strong team effort from everyone to control this game.
Celtics/Knicks Woof Fest
Without KG’s constant on court chatter, it also should have made the game quieter. Did I mention it was a Knicks/Celtics game?
Whenever these two teams get together, I don’t know what it is, but the jaws get moving and they don’t stop until the game is over – if we’re lucky.
Leon Powe and Zach Randolph exchanges pushes, gardening tips, and technical fouls. When Eddie House tried to break it up, Zach pushed House aside, and other team mates and referees got between them.
Quentin Richardson seems to have an infatuation with Paul Pierce, as he always engages Pierce in a running dialogue. Tonight was no different, as he and Paul talked throughout the 4th quarter, with Paul smiling as he shot free throws. Q even admitted after the game that he does most of the talking.
In a preseason game, Eddie House had a long conversation from the bench with Stephon Marbury, who was on the bench in street clothes tonight.
The game had lots of great basketball, social entertainment and a new player was dusted off, taken off the shelf, and got into the act. The new player was Brian Scalabrine, starting for Kevin Garnett.
Brian Scalabrine – Pinch Hitter
With a baseball manager’s intuition, Doc Rivers’ substitution for KG was a brilliant one. Scal played a strong game right out of the box and he went to the bench with the Celtics up 4 points after 7 minutes.
Brian came back to play almost 13 minutes in the second half where he scored 8 points including a big three pointer with 1:14 left as the Knicks were closing to within 5 points after being down 15. It gave the Cs a 8 point cushion. It was an “exhale now” shot.
Brian was 2 of 3 from downtown and you could see his delight with being able to come in and knock down a few after a difficult offensive start to his season.
Suns East
D’Antoni has the Knicks running and gunning and defending like his Phoenix Suns did. The problem is the defending part. The Knicks lead the league in scoring, but they also lead in points allowed. They chuck up threes (league leading 28 attempts) like you remember your intra-mural league team did.
They outscored the Celtics in fast break points 23 to 11.
It is working. The Knicks are 6-5 after not seeing the .500 mark for a few years… at least. D’Antoni has Zach Randolph performing at a high level, Chris Duhon running the show, Wilson Chandler filling the mobile power forward position, Jamal Crawford filling it up from outside, and Nate Robinson and David Lee bringing the energy and points off the bench. Now if they would just play defense.
Team Effort and the Numbers
The Celtics surrounded Paul Pierce and Ray Allen with a solid team effort in Garnett’s absence. All nine players scored at least 6 points each.
As a team the Celtics shot .532% The bench players played the entire 2nd quarter and came back from a deficit to lead by nine at the half.
Rajon Rondo was aggressive in the first quarter with 6 points, 4 rebounds and an assist. He
finished strong with 15 points on 7 of 11 shooting, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals. He even hit a few jump shots, a rarity last year, and a missing event this year. Rondo needs to be more aggressive this year and he was tonight.
Kendrick did much the same with 5 points, 5 rebounds and a blocked shot in the opening quarter. He finished with 16 points on 7 of 9 shooting, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Ditto for Kendrick. He needs to step up his scoring a bit this season.
Ray Allen dropped 7 points in the second quarter and 6 in the third, but was 0-3 from the arc. He is shooting just 29% from downtown so far this season. Ray finished with 15 points, 4 assists, a rebound and a steal. Ray has now made 38 straight foul shots after going 5 for 5 last night.
Leon Powe had a season high 14 points, all in the first half. He added 7 rebounds and a blocked shot. He and Zach Randolph pushed each other and exchanged pleasantries and in the first half. They were both tagged with technicals.
Glen Davis played a solid game and showed some range with 3 outside jumpshots. He added 4 rebounds. The Knick defense left Davis open from the outside a la Rondo and Perkins. If that continues from opponents, he must demonstrate that he can hit the open jumper with consistency.
Eddie House added 8 points on 3 of 6 shooting, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in a solid 20 minute performance.
Tony Allen scored 6 points, and had 3 blocked shots, a steal, an assist, and a rebound, playing a good all around game.
But it was Paul Pierce who led the team with 22 points, providing the important 4th quarter points and leadership as they held off a Knicks run to get within 4 points after starting the quarter down as much as 15 points. Pierce finished with 8 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and 3 turnovers.
So the Celtics played with a few days rest for the first time in awhile and rose to the challenge of playing without their superstar.
Next up: Detroit Pistons in Boston on Thursday.
