After a 22 year dearth of championship level play, the Boston Celtics are on the way to the NBA’s most successful 2 year combined run in its history.
If you don’t get NBA League Pass and are missing these games, you are missing something very special. Three or four times a week you could be watching a ‘Team First’ team led by three of the most talented players in a ‘Me First’ league.
The Celtics handily beat the Elton Brand-less (shoulder separation) 76ers 110-91, with the starters resting most of the 4th quarter, to begin the season 27-2, winning their 19th straight game, a franchise record.
They eclipsed the Larry Bird led 1980-81 team’s 18 straight wins in this contest.
Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo paced the Cs with 18 points each, leading six Celtics in double figures. The Celtic bench played very well and extended the lead. Leon Powe led the reserves with 15 points in 16 minutes, his best performance in weeks.
Chants of Beat LA
On top of that, this win sets up a perfect showdown with the arch enemy, 23-5 Lakers on Christmas Day. If the Celtics win that contest, they will have won 20 straight, tieing for the 3rd most consecutive wins in NBA history, at the same time extending the league’s fastest start ever with two losses. More important, the Green Machine could plant a seed, make that a boulder, of doubt into the minds of the team they beat so handily in last year’s Finals.
Near the end of the game, the Boston crowd began a spontaneous chant of “Beat LA!” There could be no better Christmas present than that for Celtic fans with long memories.
Can the Celtics come close to last year’s phenomenal pace (66 wins) and win another title?
It sure looks that way. If so, they will have attained a performance level reserved for discussion of only the very best teams in the league – ever.
Unlike Bill Russell, Dave Cowens, and Larry Bird, who were Celtics from their rookie year on, this version of dominance in green is led by transplanted (by trade) Kevin Garnett, a player every bit as unselfish as his predecessors.
The Good of the Team
KG is averaging 16.3 points a game, his lowest since his rookie season, and 6 points and 3.5 shots less than his last season in Minnesota. Previously a perennial league rebound leader, he is averaging almost 4 rebounds less than he did in Minnesota, as he is asked to concentrate more on defending the high pick and roll and let Kendrick Perkins and others concentrate on rebounding.
He had just 4 rebounds in this contest and just one single board a few games ago. He is averaging just 4.75 rebounds in the last four games. What better example than that, that he is the team’s leader in everyway you can be? Let there be no doubt.
All three stars have sacrificed their games to make this team become the undefendable monster it is still transforming into. Ray Allen stepped back the most last season and Paul Pierce moreso this season. But it is KG leading the “blind to the numbers” attitude that embodies this basketball team.
We can only imagine what Paul Pierce and Ray Allen would be truly willing to sacrifice to win without Kevin Garnett aboard. His presence both buoys and anchors the selfless approach that has come to embody this team.
His intensity demands no less from every other player on the team. He leads by example, stating right from his Celtic entrance a year ago, that this is Paul Pierce’s team.
The Champion Boston Celtics encore season is proving to be even better than their first amazing run to the NBA title so far.
It’s kind of like Babe Ruth hitting 59 home runs one year, then starting out on a pace to beat that. It is that kind of two year run we are watching thus far.
No matter what they say publicly, they are, to a man, aware of what they are accomplishing. It is a Doc Rivers driven mind set to play it all down. Doc and the key Celtics know that you don’t get a trophy for winning streaks. You don’t get a trophy for best record. But you do get home court advantage throughout the play-offs, and that has more meaning now than ever.
All eyes will be on the Christmas Day game to see if the Lakers can slow down the team that
outplayed them in six games, and demolished them in game #6 for the title last summer.
The Celtics have three Hall of Famers, are unselfish, and consistently play some of the best defense the league has seen in years.
The Numbers
After Rondo and Garnett’s 18, Ray Allen added 16 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Paul Pierce supported with 10 points and led with 7 assists.
Kendrick Perkins led with 11 rebounds, while adding 8 points, and 2 steals.
Eddie House was 3 for 6 from Eddie’s house, netting 13 points, with 2 assists and a steal.
Gabe Pruitt played well again on both sides of the floor with 4 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in just 10 minutes.
Not So Unusual Stat of the Game
Poor shooting Philly shot 0-11 from the arc, and had 54 points in the paint as a result of returning to their fastbreaking ways (20 fastbreak points to the Celtics’ 
That style of ball, which the roster is better suited for, will again take precedent with Elton Brand out.
I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday!
I know where I’ll be at 5pm on Christmas Day. Watching a prelude of the potential NBA Finals opponents size each other up once again. I hope you will be, too.
