Singular glory and re-writing the record book is one Celtic win away.
Their next win puts this roster of the Boston Celtics in a class of their own.
The 2008-9 version of the Boston Celtics continues to make its case for greatness as it assaults long standing team and NBA records, pummeling the defenseless New York Knickerbockers for its 18th straight win.
The Celtics shot .658 for the game, the highest allowed by the Knicks in 28 years according to Knick announcer Al Trautwig.
It stretches the mind to think that just two years ago that this same franchise endured an 18 game losing streak.
Boston ties the ’66-67 Philadelphia 76ers and the ’69-70 Knicks for the fastest starts ever in the history of the league at 26-2. Ironically, a win Tuesday against Philly would break that tie, meaning they would have lept past those two teams by beating each of them.
When I rhetorically asked in a preseason prediction, “What do the Celtics have to do for an encore…go undefeated?” I was being sarcastic.
Yet, they are close to just that with just two miscues in a season that gave Boston the league’s heaviest front loaded schedule in terms of games played in November.
If they are in deed becoming the Fantastic Four, Rajon Rondo is making his case to be…
Mr. Fantastic
Rajon Rondo notched a career high 26 points on 12 of 14 shooting, to go with 5 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 steals. He did it with astonishing finishing ability.
Rajon Rondo exploded for 18 points on a perfect 9-9 shooting 3rd quarter. He was a one man wrecking crew and a lay-up clinic, at one point scoring 12 straight Boston points – all of them on aggressive, relentless drives to the hoop. Chris Duhon, Nate Robinson with non-existent Knick team help, were powerless to stop him. He was simply spectacular. It keyed a Boston 12 to 4 spurt to move Boston up 81-67.
The Knicks would continue to make runs and got as close as six points with 2:22 of third period at 89-83 on a Tim Thomas lay-up.
Where the Game Was Won
While it will appear that Rajon Rondo was the difference in the game, it was really the disparity between the bigs on the two teams that was the difference.
The Celtics starting guards were actually outscored by their counterparts, Chris Duhon and Quentin Richardson by 49 to 44.
Richardson was on fire from the arc early, going 4-6 on many open looks before cooling down to 5 for 9 for the game. Quentin led all scorers with 29 points. Chris Duhon, averaging 11 points on the year, added 20 points on 6 of 9 shooting, with a game high 10 assists, but turned the ball over 6 times.
The Celtic trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Kendrick Perkins combined for 41 points to 29 for David Lee, Al Harrington, and Wilson Chandler. The difference was also in shooting efficiency among the bigs.
Lee (8-13), Harrington (2-15), Chandler (1-7), and Tim Thomas (2-8) combined for 13 for 44 (.295). Pierce (5-11), Perkins (6-7), Garnett (5-8), Powe (4-8), and Scalabrine (3-4) combined for 23-38 (.605).
The Celtics outrebounded the Knicks 47 to 23, with Perkins leading both teams with 12 boards in 29 minutes. They also outscored the Knicks in the paint by 60-34, though the Celtics 22 turnovers kept hope alive for New York.
O-Yes and D-Light
The Celtics have scored 250 points in their last two games. But they have allowed 213. Both are anomalies for sure. The two games against NY this season against the D’Antoni run and gun Knicks have been triple digit scoring affairs.
The Celtics made 12 of 20 three point shots in this game, with Eddie House making 3 of 5, Pierce 3 of 6, and Ray 2 of 5.
The Celtics never trailed as they started out 6-0, 13-3 and 24-8. They finished with a 40-21 first quarter lead. But New York nearly duplicated that with a 37 point second quarter and gaining back 11 points, largely against the Celtic reserves again.
David Lee opened the 3rd quarter with a driving lay-up to get the Knicks within 6 at 66-60, before Ray Allen hit a three and Richardson scored on a lay up and made the foul shot.
At that point, Rajon went into Tasmanian Devil mode and whirled and buzzed around the Knick defenders at will for his ten straight Celtic points.
Similar to the last game, the Celtic bench gave up much of the lead in the first half, but played much better in their second half appearance. They combined for 39 points with Tony Allen leading the way with 11 and 5 assists.
Tony Allen Eating Bob Cousy Cereal?
5 assists was Tony’s season high and it comes on the heels of a 4 assist game, combining for 9 and that is more than Tony had in his previous 9 games total.
The Numbers
Ray Allen was second on the team with 18 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steals.
Paul Pierce added 17 points, 5 assists and had 3 turnovers. Kevin Garnett contributed 12 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 1 steal and had 4 turnovers. Kendrick Perkins bulled his way to a 12 point, 12 rebound night with 4 blocks and 5 turnovers.
From the bench, besides Tony Allen, Leon Powe cleared space for 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks in 17 minutes. Eddie House drilled 3 from long distance for 9 points in almost 18 minutes. Brian Scalabrine added 7 points in 14 plus minutes.
Some consideration must be made for New York’s porous defense, much like any D’Antoni team must marked on a curve, as it were, regarding offense and defense. Yet Boston came out strong again, took control and never relinquished it. To their credit, the short-handed Knicks made a few strong comeback attempts against a much better and longer team.
The Celtics are driving for history and next face a confused and now hurting Philly team as Elton Brand is out with a dislocated shoulder. Philly has been known to play the Celtics tough in the past.
Unusual Stat of the Night
Eddie House had 6 rebounds on the evening.
Except for one other game this year when he had 5, Eddie has not had more than 3 in a game. That other game with 5? Yep. The Knicks.
The Celtics are shooting .500 from the arc over the last two games making 22 of 44.
