Celtics Central

Just announced by the TV announcers. Glen Davis was on his way to the game against the New York Knicks when he was involved in a car accident.

He is in the hospital now with possible whiplash and concussion.

Call it a Holiday Extravaganza.

There was a snow storm outside and an avalanche of Green inside, constantly pushed onto the Bulls by Rajon Rondo.

‘Tis the season for a holiday classical symphony and the Celtics gave one, led by their conductor, Rajon Rondo.

The Celtics decided to pass the Bulls on this inclement evening by passing the ball for 40 assists, tieing the TDBanknorth record, according to Mike Gorman. This comes on the heels of a 14 assist (tied for season low) night against the Hawks two nights ago.

14,000 fans (again Mike Gorman) actually showed up at this exhibition of Rondo at his passing best, despite the weather outside. That may generate a yawn in Minnesota, but it says quite a bit in Boston.

Cs Beat Bulls by 126 -108
The Bulls’ defense looked about as good as the Thanksgiving Day turkey’s, as the Celtics scored 60 points in the paint and shot almost 60% (.595) from the floor, including 12 of 24 from the three point line.

Rajon Rondo did the carving with 15 assists. Ray Allen led both teams with 27 points, and Perkins scored his season high of 25 as they led the feasting, as the Celtics ate the Bulls for dinner for their 17th straight win.

Dish, Dunk, Drain
Rondo dished 10 assists, Perkins dunked 17 points, and Ray Allen drained 15 at the half. Yet, surprisingly, the Celtics were up only 57-55.

What the starters taketh, the bench giveth away. In just about 7 minutes, the Celtics second unit gave back most of a twelve point first quarter lead, and the starters returned to stop the bleeding yet again.

The 36 second quarter points might be the most the Celtics have allowed this season. So the starters came out and put up 41 points in the 3rd quarter, a season high, to push the lead up to 16, heading into the final quarter. They led by as many as 22 in the 4th period.

Rajon Rondo showed Derrick Rose, the number one pick of this year’s draft, what the 21st pick of the draft three years ago could teach him…and it was a lot.

Rondo was driving and dishing the ball out like it was Halloween (3rd different holiday reference in one article – an NBA record). He tricked the Bulls defense with his treats to share to his team mates all night. While Perkins and Ray were his favorite targets, everyone got a piece of the Bulls.

Another Rondo Gem
Every time I think Rajon has his best game of the year, he comes out gives you another game to consider. Rajon was magnificent last night as he completely controlled this game when he was on the floor, yet only scored 4 points. I can’t think of another player in the league who can do that, save maybe Jason Kidd.

In a form of hoop perfection. with 8 assists in just the first quarter, and feeding Perkins for 9 points, Rondo constantly found Perkins free near the basket for lay-ups or Kendrick would pick and roll to the hoop for some beautiful team play.

Ray Allen was the other major recipient, as he came off screens and picks for a team leading 10 first quarter points.

Kevin Garnett was busy making three steals, 2 blocks, and sharing the ball for 3 assists in just the first quarter, as well. It looked like it would be an early blow-out.

But that thought blew up when the second quarter started and Boston’s second unit gave most of it back.

The Numbers
Kevin Garnett finished with a strong set of board numbers himself, dropping 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks and a partridge in a pear tree.

Paul Pierce contributed 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and just 1 TO.

Ray Allen’s 27 points came on 10 of 18 shooting, including 5 of 9 from the arc, along with 5 assists, and 3 rebounds.

Rajon Rondo’s virtuoso performance added just 4 points on 2 of 3 shooting, but 15 assists, 5 rebounds (4 offensive), 4 steals and most impressive…just a single turnover, and that happened late in the third quarter.

Kendrick Perkins just keeps getting better offensively, finishing (double entendre) with
25 points on an uber efficient 12 of 15 shooting, 8 rebounds, one assist, a block, a steal

Unusual Stat of the Night
Kevin Garnett had one rebound

So….the Celtic starters twice destroyed the Bulls in this game, the second time for good, winning 126-108 in the highest point production of the year for the Green Machine.

Even with a generally lackluster bench performance, Doc was able to rest the starters, as, incredibly, they did all this damage in under 30 minutes each, except for Ray who played just 33 minutes.

Boston can tie the franchise’s 18 game record winning streak against New York on Sunday

With a major snow storm hitting New England, The 24-2 Celtics want to snow the 12-13 Bulls for their 17 straight victory. Their last loss was on Nov 14 against Denver at home.

The Celtics are 14-1 at home this season.

The Bulls
The Bulls were a hard team to predict in the preseason. They have talent up and down the line up, but their 33-49 meltdown last season, plus the injection of an untried head coach in Vinny Del Negro made things hard to foresee.

Some might see this team as underperforming considering they were a 49 win team just a few years ago. But they were also a 33 win team last season.

Boston saw Chicago in just their second game of the year, winning 96-80. Rookie sensation point guard Derrick Rose has lived up to his #1 overall draft status, averaging 17.6 points and 6.4 assists as he learns the ropes of the pro game since that night.

While the team hasn’t reached the 49 win capabilities of 2 years ago, they are on pace for a .500 season. There have been strange line-ups alongs the way. The team started the year with all three of the team’s three point shooters coming of the bench as solid defending, but poor shooting Thabo Sefolosha was strangely inserted into the starting line up. That would obviously lead to no outside shooters to start games. Spacing seems like it would be an issue, no?

Tyrus Thomas took way too many outside shots that in that first game, but Coach Del Negro refused to publicly criticize his enigmatic player. Since then, even the Bulls beat writers have said that is still a quirk in Vinny, to the point of eye rolling (by the reporter) when Del Negro gives some ‘blind eye’ responses to obvious player missteps.

While this team isn’t a world beater, they have the talent to be trouble if the Celtics are looking too far ahead to Chrstmas Day against the Lakers.

The Celtics
The starting five is playing as well or even better than can be expected. Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins have both improved this season, making that unit even harder to defend.

Rondo is elevating his play to All Star consideration. Perkins remains the defensive stalwart and has added a bit more offense this season.

The problem, if there is one with a team that 24-2 is the bench. Eventually they will have to perform better on a nightly basis or help will be needed.

Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers say they are interested in 7’2″ Dikembe Mutombo, if he wants to play in Boston for reduced dollars. He would shore up the back up position at center defensively, if he does come to Beantown. Remote chance, but stay tuned.

In the meantime, little used, 2nd year point guard Gabe Pruitt played his best game as a pro in the absence of Eddie House, who was away at a family funeral. He scored 8 points, but more important, played solid defense against league stud Deron Williams. That goes far in elevating his status in Doc River’s eyes.

Boston just has to be careful about focusing on each game, and not over looking their next few opponents. If they don’t, they could pick up an “L” they were not planning on. So far, Doc has them properly focused on each game at hand.

Tonight should be no difference, but we will get to see how the league’s number one pick does against the Celtics irrepressible Rajon Rondo, who is playing the best ball of his career right now.

Game time is 7:30

Add a new rivalry to the Celtics season.

The Hawks have played two straight tough, heartbreaking games against the league’s Champions, after giving them a seven game series in the play-offs, and this was after missing their first 11 shots of the game.

In a great game to watch, the Celtics nearly averted their 4th straight loss in Atlanta, dating back to the play-offs, and saved their now 16 game winning streak at the same time.

A big miss from the foul line by Joe Johnson with two seconds left prevented a likely overtime scenario, or at least needing a repeat of Paul Pierce’s last second heroics in Boston earlier in the year to beat them.

Kevin Garnett lit it up with a 5 for 5 fourth quarter to lead a comeback win in a tough game where both teams were making big shots all game, and particularly down the stretch,

Garnett was only 2-10 heading into the final stanza, but caught fire, including a hook shot with just 30 seconds left that put Boston ahead 85-84. His last three shots were all huge as they tied, then twice took the lead back for the Celtics.

Rajon Rondo hit one of two foul shots to give Boston an 86-84 lead when Joe Johnson was fouled while shooting. He made the first and was a perfect 7-7 at that point. He missed the all important 8th that would tie it up and Garnett grabbed the rebound, saving the team’s 16th straight win.

Tough Enough
Atlanta gave Boston all they could handle for the second straight game, but the results were the same. The Celtics had to come back from a 6 point Atalnta lead with 6:59 left in a game where 6 points were big, much like a play-off game.

After Joe Johnson made a three pointer, putting Atlanta up 72-66, KG went to work with a turnaround hook shot and a jump shot, sandwiched around a Mike Bibby miss. That made the score 70-72 Atlanta,

Paul Pierce, who was, strangely, often guarded by Mike Bibby, made a mid range jumper over him to tie it at 72.

Rajon Rondo then made a difficult lay-up to give Boston its first lead since the middle of the 2nd quarter.

It was play-off intensity from there on as the teams traded baskets most of the way. Josh Smith went for an emphatic running dunk over Perkins after Perkins had blocked him inside just a few plays before. It was Perks’ fourth block of the game. The dunk tied the game at 77.

Then Joe Johnson made two free throws putting the Hawks back in front by two. KG hit his jumper to tie, then Rondo fed Garnett an alley oop after Marvin Williams made 1 of 2 free throws.

Pierce made another mid range jumper, giving the Celtics an 83-82 lead with 48 seconds left.
But the Celtics were ready to play under this pressure, as Rondo fed KG for an alley oop, then Paul Pierce and Kevin made shots to get back the lead each time.

Johnson then missed his last foul shot as Garnett got the rebound.

The Celtics were led by Garnett and Pierce’s 18 points, followed by Ray Allen with 16 and Rondo with 15 points. Rondo had a very strong game with 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 turnovers. Kendrick Perkins led the Cs with 10 rebounds, while adding 8 points.

The Celtic bench did not have a good game, but the starters were able pull it out thanks to strong performances by Rondo and Perkins again.

The Celtics Big Three were all having subpar games offensively until Garnett started to heat up. They were just 11-37 combined with 9:54 left in the game. The athletic Hawks kept all three in check with solid defense, even blocking Pierce on drives 4 times.

The Celtics keyed on Joe Johnson for much of the game, often double and tripling up on him, holding him to just ten points through three quarters. Joe broke free for ten in the 4th, in a valiant, but futile effort to save the victory.

It was almost enough. And that is the difference between Boston and Atlanta right now. Boston kept their composure and played better when they had to. They use games like these as practice for later – play-off time.

Stats of the Night
a) The Celtics, uncharacteristically had only 14 assists on 34 baskets.
b) They also shot just 2 of 13 from the three point line, with Ray Allen leading the drought with 1 of 8 from the arc.
c) Celtics outscored the Hawks in the paint 52-30

At one point, during a time out, there was a rather obvious disagreement between Pierce, Garnett, and Perkins about defensive responsibilities. Perkins seemed upset. Garnett made it a point to go over to Perkins later, after Perkins made a difficult lay-up while getting fouled, and chest thump him with his fist a few times for encouragement.

The Celtics need two more wins to tie their all time best winning streak of 18 straight, set in the 1981-82 season.

Next up: Chicago Bulls Friday in Boston

The Boston Celtics just keep on winning. By beating the Utah Jazz last night and the New Orleans Hornets before that, they’ve downed two ‘play-off quality’ Western Conference teams.

Neither game was easy and both times a member of the opponents’ starting five was missing.

Tyson Chandler was out for the Hornets while Carlos Boozer did not play for the Jazz. You know they are good teams when they can play as well as both did when missing a key starter.

They head for 16 straight wins against another team that gives the Celtics problems, the Atlanta Hawks.

Paul Millsap exploded for a career high 32 points last night. Many times he was surprisingly open.

Understanding that the Celtics won and the Jazz scored just 91 points, I wanted to see what happened.

After replaying a number of plays to see why, it seems that the Celtic defense of the pick and roll left something to be desired on a number of plays.

The Jazz often start with Millsap picking Rondo off Deron Williams at the left top of the key. Too often both defenders went with Williams. Even if they tried to recover, it was already too late against a team whose bread and butter is the pick and roll.

Millsap was heading down the lane for the open pass and easy shot. Other help defenders near the lane like Pierce were far too late.

There were many offenders. Rajon, Kevin and Kendrick all were slow recovering on different plays. Rondo often switched from Williams to the big who screened (Millsap or Okur) only to try to switch back too late. There seemed to be some confusion as to who should be switching or covering on many plays that Millsap roamed free to the middle.

Jerry Sloan’s post game comments notwithstanding, the Jazz got into the middle for scores far too often (46 times). New Orleans also did well in the paint with 40 points.

That is somewhat of an abberation for the Celtics. The cause? I’d lay it partially on the fact that it happened against possibly the two very best point guards in the league. Both players require lots of attention right after half court. Both can get to the middle with great frequency and cause tremendous damage when they do.

Still Rajon more than countered any defensive deficiencies the Celtics exhibited with his offensive domination and high energy effort at both ends of the floor.

And how about Gabe Pruitt? Besides his two three pointers and 8 total points, he stole the ball from Deron on one play and the next trip down he stripped the ball right at the hoop from him and it went off Williams. Celtic ball. He stayed in front of Deron all night but couldn’t get a call to go his way.

The Green Machine keeps on rolling, and everyone is getting into the act.

Eddie House is always moving. Getting the ball up court. Getting to his spot at the three point line, working to stay in front of his man defensively, or until recently…. moving on to his next team.

They are all professional basketball players. But it doesn’t mean they are all professionals. And it doesn’t mean that they don’t still get advice from their fathers.

It says in Basketball Reference.com that Eddie House’s probability of making the Hall of Fame is about .000. Double that number and it still comes out…zero.

Known for his scoring prowess, Eddie has never even averaged double digits as a pro.

Honestly, I never noticed him much until he became Phoenix’s 4th quarter secret weapon a few years. Other than to give Antoine Wright more touches (a mistake), I’m not sure why the Nets didn’t bring him back. Teams have been hitting and missing on Eddie House his whole career.

All championship teams have players like Eddie House on them. Baseball has pinch hitters or bench players who wait their turn and just perform when you need them to. Football has situation players and special teams guys who do the same. Basketball has Eddie House and players like him.

You won’t see Eddie House breaking opponents down with a quick first step. He dials it in from long distance. A quick release and accuracy on his three point shot keeps him a wanted man in the highest level of basketball played – the NBA.

So it was just a little unusual to see him playing as good defense on Chris Paul the other night as defensive stud Rajon Rondo. According to Doc, maybe even better.

Rondo wasn’t Rondo tonight and Eddie had to step in…..the second unit was terrific.

Eddie has said before that he knows he must play defense to stay on the floor on this team. But getting the call for that reason, has got to be a first. Certainly no disrespect meant, Eddie. You will always be known for that 3 point dagger.

Yet, he is always a pest and putting out the effort when he is on the floor. He had three steals in the Bucks game I talked to him after.

When Eddie started the year going 6 for 27 from the arc, you knew it just a matter of time before House caught fire. (The perfect phrase for a shooter with that name.) The heat is on as Eddie is 10 for 15 from the three point line over the last three games.

Yet, who can forget last season’s highlight reel play with his all out sliding floor dive to knock a ball that was heading out of bounds to a trailing James Posey for a lay-up. Incredible play for a…. soccer player – let alone an NBA shooter? Hmmm…maybe not anymore.

I know what coach (Rivers) asks of me and that’s not just to shoot the basketball and make shots. It’s to do everything. Run the team and play defense. Our team prides itself on defense.

Eddie House is a well traveled baller and a professional. And he knows what it means to be a professional under trying circumstances.

In fact, Eddie has been ‘trying circumstances’ for seven team in five years and eight teams overall. He played for three different teams (Charlotte, Milwaukee, Sacramento) in 2004-5 alone. He was probably afraid to unpack his suitcase that season.

The years I’ve been bouncing around, I go with teams that want me. You know, a lot of times, the teams that want me, (like) the time I was in Sacramento, they wanted to go in another direction. I was with Phoenix, they wanted to go in another direction with Marcus Banks, not me. So, I ended up in New Jersey.

Next year New Jersey wanted to go in another direction and I ended up here in Boston which was a blessing. In the end of the day, it worked out for me perfectly.

Does that make a player feel wanted or unwanted?

Surprised a bit at the question and with the positive outlook that all successful people have…

It made me feel wanted. (emphasis on wanted). So long as somebody’s wanting me, I’ll have a job and I’ve always had a job in this league. I think I’ll continue to have a job in this league.

Last season’s late acquisition of Sam Cassell cut into Eddie’s minutes after spending the season establishing himself as the first point guard off the bench for the Celtics. A main reason was Sam’s ball handling abilities, post up and big shot making ability, and deep play-off experience.

Yet, there was no outcry or voice of dissatisfaction from Eddie House during this time.

I handle myself with professionalism. I don’t complain about not playing. I don’t complain about not touching the ball. I just go out and do my job day in and day out, night in and night out and that’s all you could ask for.

Eddie spoke those words with personal pride. We both know that a lot of players would have had big problems with that scenario. Especially a player without a contract for next season as Eddie was before he signed a new 2 year deal with Boston around July 19.

Key Shots
He eventually won back his playing time and contributed a key three pointer in game 4 of the Finals against the Lakers and scored 11 points in 25 minutes. House has sometimes taken criticism from fans for scoring a lot of his threes when the Celtics are already in the lead. Yet his baseline jumper gave the Celtics their first lead of the game at 84-83 in game 4 of the Finals.

Eddie’s 7 year old son (at the time) Jaelen was on the bench with his daddy at all of the games in the post season last year. You could see him body bumping Tony Allen and dancing out there before games and at half time. The Celtic players called him their lucky charm.

But every father is also a son. Not The Courtship of Eddie’s Father like that ’60s show. More like ‘The Advice of Eddie’s Father’. Yeah, that’s weak, but it’s the best I’ve got. Eddie talks to his dad regularly and still gets advice.

I observed that he had been getting the ball up the floor pretty quickly.

Yeah, my Pops tell me, “push the ball up the floor’ before every game, so that’s in the back of my mind every time. It’s just – Get it up the floor..

It doesn’t mean we have to score right away. It’s just – let’s get it up the floor and get it our offense. We’ll get in our offense early, like maybe with 20 seconds. We’ve got a lot of time….milk a bunch of different options.

First option, if that’s not there, (look for the) second option, if that’s not there,(look for the) third option. If that’s not there, then pick ‘n roll and see where we go from there.

You talk to your dad before the games?

All the time. Either before or after the games. He’ll tell me whether I’m pushing the ball enough or not, stuff like that.

So, Eddie’s become a baller with more game than just his shot, a family man, and a professional. Now the Celtics are his home for three years running with his new 2 year contract. That’s the longest Eddie will be with one team since he first came up with the Miami Heat.

He can unpack that suitcase now. All his moving will be on the court. And one of his best moves each night will taking that call from his dad.

Current Hornet and former Celtic James Posey finally got his ring in a ceremony before the game and received a nice intro by Doc Rivers.

The Celtic machine keeps on grinding out Ws and the team is now tied for 4th best start ever over 24 games in NBA history. They have won 14 straight and are 22-2 overall.

James Posey – to his former team mates: ‘See you in June.’

Posey shared, that at the beginning of the season, he text messaged his former mates saying, “I jokingly said, well, I wasn’t joking, but I said I’ll see you all in late June.”

Then the game started and the Celtics went to work on this year’s run to a second title.

After a tough and physical battle, the Celtics prevailed, even with Posey doing his thing for the otherside – like taking charges.

Tony Allen….

It felt different but like when he took that charge on me, I said there goes James Posey again. Then he got another charge on Leon. I was like…there goes James Posey again. It’s just the little intangibles that he do(es), and it just makes him.

After a sloppy 39 point first half (11 turnovers), the Celtics turned it up for 55 second half points witha decisive 30 point 3rd quarter (zero turnovers), led by Pierce’s 13, and Perkins 6 points, 4
rebounds and a block on David West.

Doc Rivers…

Tonight was one of those games you’re really happy with because you didn’t play well. You were sloppy. You turned the ball over. Foul Trouble. Frustration.

A 17-6 run at the start of the 3rd quarter gave Boston a 10 point lead 56-46 that they were able to extend to 14 in the 4th quarter on a Perkins hook at 87-73. Eddie House drilled two three pointers during the 4th quarter including one that upped the lead to 82-69.

The Hornets refused to give up and cut the lead to 7 on a 7-0 run with 2:37 left at 89-82 on a Chris Paul foul shot.

Rondo made good on both ends of a one and one, then Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett worked a beautiful fast break with Garnett scoring on an alley oop from Ray Allen after back passing it to him on the run and then heading on toward the hoop. Ray lifted a nice pass for KG to throw down in motion, effectively ending the Hornet run.

The Hornets were without their starting center Tyson Chandler, who was a late scratch with a stiff neck. Former University of Connecticut player Hilton Armstrong replaced Chandler and scored 8 points with 4 rebounds and a steal in 25 minutes.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 28 points and Kevin Garnett added 19 points and 10 rebounds. Kendrick Perkins produced 13 rebounds 3 blocked shots and 9 points.

The Celtic guards Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo were both held down. Ray could only muster 9 points on 2 of 8 shooting, while Rondo was held to two assists, his lowest total of the year.

Chris Paul required most of Rajon’s attention and it showed in the Celtic offense. The Celtics
assisted on only 14 of 33 made baskets, a low pct. for them. In fact, Eddie House actually was more effective on Paul at times.

Doc Rivers…

Rondo wasn’t Rondo tonight.

Chris Paul led the Hornets with 20 points and 14 assists, while David West added 23 points and 14 rebounds.

Both teams got into the paint for scores quite a bit in this game, but the Celtics out rebounded the Hornets when it mattered (48-42) and their twelve offensive boards led to twelve second chance points to the Hornets four.

The Hornets definitely got their fast break going scoring 19 points to only 6 for the Celtics.

Though the Celtic bench didn’t score much they played well.

By winning their 13th straight game last night, handily beating the Washington Wizards by a score of 122-88, the Boston Celtics are 21-2 to start the season, setting a new standard of excellence for the franchise.

No Celtic team in history has done that, separating this championship team from their legendary predecessors in at least that one respect.

Add to that, no previous Celtic team has started 20-2 two years in a row.

Hoop fans, we are watching basketball excellence as few can say they have, over the entire life of the NBA.

The next true franchise milestones to fall would be through extending the winning streak to 16, 17, and finally the franchise best 18 games in 1981-82. The starting five is playing so well right now, it could happen.

Call them the Wuzzards, because they ain’t what they wuz. The Washington club is performing so poorly, it caused the demise of it’s head coach Eddie Jordan about 2 weeks ago. New head coach Tapscott is doing just a bit better at 3-6, but could arouse his team for play well for a single quarter last night.

With defense largely an undefined word in the Wizard dictionary, the Celtics shot .557 % from the field and were 8 of 15 (.533) from the three point line. The Celtics dominated the boards with 41 to Washington’s 26, and had 31 assists to the Wizards 16. The Celtics won by their biggest margin of the year.

Boston had 6 players in double figures, led by Paul Pierce and Ray Allen with 22 each.

There’s a House on fire.
Eddie hit for a blistering 14 points in 18 minutes on 4 of 5 from downtown, most of them coming as he demonstrated that quick release with back breaking regularity. At one point he hit two quick ones to beat back a Wizards’ charge.

Ray Allen kept up his hot streak from downtown, drilling 4 of 7 from the hinterlands, but otherwise had a quiet line score.

Pierce rounded out his night with 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 turnovers. Rajon Rondo delivered 11 points, 6 assists and 3 steals. Kendrick Perkins added 12 points, just 3 boards, and a block in 25 minutes.

Kevin Garnett had a double double with 12 rebounds, 11 points, 7 assists, but added 5 turnovers including 2 travel calls.

87-18
Right now, there isn’t a team more dominant than the Celtics. Their regular season record since the start of last year until now is an astonishing 87-18. College basketball dynasties make runs like this, not pro teams.

I’m not sure even Michael Jordan’s best two consecutive years with the Bulls have started any better than this.

Wiz 3rd Quarter Wake Up Call
Washington must have had a triple shot expresso from Starbucks at half time as they came out with surprising energy to win the 3rd quarter by 35-26. The Wizards looked like they were drinking Sanka for the other three quarters as they scored just 21, 18, and 14.

The Celtics started strong, winning the first period by 36-21, led by firestarter Ray Allen with 13 points on 4 of 6 from the three point arc, Paul Pierce chipped in early with ten points, due mostly to 6 of 6 foul shooting. Kevin Garnett had eight first quarter rebounds and 3 assists.

Washington called time at the 8:28 mark with Boston up 20 points at 44-24. Boston was outrebounding gthe Wizards by 18-8 at that point as the second unit was increasing the lead. The time out did little good.

By half time, the score was a Celtic season best 63 points to just 39 for the Wizards. You could easily see the leftover problems of the Eddie Jordan firing.

In my pre-season assessment of this team, I couldn’t figure out why they were so successful last season. Here is what I said…

Riddle me this….

How do the Wizards, a play-off team, have the league’s worst assists differential (-4.3), the league’s worst defense against the three-pointer (38.6%), give up the most three pointers made (21.6) per game and still end up in the play-offs?

They allowed the third most assists (23.9) allowed while averaging a meager 19.6 assists themselves (fourth worst). That put them ahead of only the lowly Grizzlies, Kings, and Knicks (in that order)—believe it or not. And who wouldn’t want to shoot the three against against this team? Oh yeah, their paint defense (57 percent immediately around the hoop) wasn’t so great either, if you were thinking they were packing it in the middle.

So…what was holding them up with a plus .500 record and a play-off appearance? The answer? I don’t know either…..

It turns out to have been a house built of straw. They played surprisingly well last season without Arenas and without committing to defense. Caron Butler asserted himself to the point of all star level play. Jamison and he kept them over .500. It all caved in this season.

The lifelessness of the team that got Eddie Jordan fired a week ago was on display for 3 out of 4 quarters in this ‘contest’, and I use the phrase lightly. Understanding that 2/5th of Washington’s starting five are out with long term injuries, the Wizards are Wuzzards at this point.

Starters Falter, Davis Rebounds
Ironically, it was the Celtic starters that gave back much of lead during the Wizard 3rd quarter run. Glen Davis, who was visibly upset at Garnett’s now famous tongue lashing of the bench in the Portland game, played very well and had the best plus minus on the team at +32 points while he was in the game.

Davis hit two jumpers, was 4 of 5 shooting for 9 points, adding 7 rebounds in 25 active minutes of play. The TNT TV announcers said that Davis told them that Doc wanted him to look for his offense more.

Consequently, due to the 3rd quarter letdown by the starting five, the Celtics gave up about 12 points of that lead, largely due to turnovers and lackluster play. Garnett finished with a plus/minus of just +5 and had 3 of the 7 Celtic turnovers during that quarter.

For the most part, the Celtics got open looks from outside and far too many uncontested drives to the hoop for the game. With Brendan Haywood out, the Wizards have been an even poorer defensive team. The 2008 eighteenth pick from Nevada, 7′ Javale McGee has been starting, and blocked 3 shots, but the Celtics showed that he and Andray Blatche both have a long way to go on defense.

Juan Dixon started at guard, and was active with 17 points, 7 assists and embarassed the Celtics with 4 steals, stealing two inbound passes, though he also had 4 turnovers, and couldn’t handle the Celtic guards.

Deshawn Stevenson was shut out in 22 minutes of play. Caron Butler led Washington with 19 points and Antawn Jamison added 17 of his own.

Washington newcomers Mike James (from New Orleans) and Javaris Crittenton (from Memphis) both played but didn’t affect the outcome.

Every Celtic scored except Scalabrine. Tony Allen had 5 steals and finished with 10 points, while Leon Powe added 7 points and 5 rebounds in 13 minutes.

The Celtics look to extend their record breaking start tonight.

Next up: New Orleans tonight in Boston at 8:00pm