Celtics Central

Take down is the correct descriptive phrase. Bird and Laimbeer are long gone but new players are stepping up to deliver some hard fouls and keep the energy going between these two teams.

A technical foul, two flagrant fouls and an ejection made things interesting between two teams at different points in their evolution.

Kevin Garnett led the Celtics with 22 points/9 rebounds, Paul Pierce added 20 points, while Rajon Rondo dished out 12 assists to lead the Celtics past the Detroit Pistons.

Detroit was led by Allen Iverson and Rodney Stuckey with 19 points each. Antonio McDyess led both teams with 14 rebounds off the bench.

Seems like old times. Somewhat reminiscent of the old rivalry with the Pistons, defense was physical and a few bodies hit the ground hard with help from the other team. Only this time, fouls were called and flagrant fouls were issued.

In the first half, a fast breaking Glen Davis went down hard with a forearm and elbow across the face courtesy of Rip Hamilton, preventing a certain dunk. Rip was assessed a flagrant foul.

Turning Point
In the 4th quarter of a closely contested game, Kendrick Perkins stopped a lay-up or dunk when he threw down Jason Maxiell by the neck. Maxiell jumped up and pushed Perkins from behind. Players quickly got between them. Perkins was ejected with a flagrant two foul and Maxiell got a technical. The Celtics got energized and went on a game winning run right after that.

Maxiell was corralling offensive rebounds and had just scored 5 straight points leading up to that, bringing the Pistons back to within 3 points twice with his shots at 63-66 and 65-68.

Glen Davis came back in for Perkins and immediately made a tough lay-up around Maxiell, then got an offensive rebound from Maxiell that turned into a Eddie House three pointer on a pass from Rondo. Detroit coach Michael Curry then substituted MyDyess for Maxiell.

Kevin Garnett hit a long jumper on a pass from House making the score 78-67, the Celtics bigggest lead of the game with 3:15 left. The Pistons would get within 5 points twice more before fading and running out of time.

Garnett answers with two more shots on assists from Pierce and Rondo and makes two free throws to keep Detroit at bay the rest of the way.

After seeing the Celtics get out to another fast start of 18-8 to begin the first quarter, the Pistons fought back into the game in the second quarter, though they could never quite get the lead.

The Celtics first 10 baskets of the game were assisted. Rondo had 7 assists in the first quarter and the ball was moving well.

The Pistons came back with more energy and stronger defense in the 2nd quarter to get within 43-41 by half time.

The Celtics built the lead to as much as 8 points in the 3rd and 4th quarters, before the suspension of Kendrick renewed the Celtics to get an 11 point lead.

The Numbers
The Celtics shot .456% from the filed and .40% from the arc.
They outrebounded the Pistons by 44-36.
The Pistons shot only .405% and were 1 for 8 from the three point line.

Garnett added 3 assists, 2 blocks and a steal to his 22 points and 9 boards.
Paul Pierce added 5 assists, 4 rebounds and had 4 turnovers.
Rajon Rondo had 8 points and 4 reboundsto go with his 14 assists.
Kendrick Perkins contributed 9 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal.
Ray Allen produced 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and a blocked shot.

The Celtic bench scored only 13 points.

Summary
The Celtics needed a more competitive game and the Pistons gave them one. The Celtics need more games like this to become sharp for the post season.

Next up: Minnesota on Sunday in Boston

I bring you another inquisition of knowledgeable Celtic media for Celtic die hards everywhere.

But before I do….this year I’ve become a regular contributor to the CelticsStuffLive blog section on the ComCast SportsNet New England site and have appeared on the CelticsStuffLive Sunday evening show as well as helping out on CSL’s Justin Poulin’s post game podcaps.

For those who might not know, CelticsStuffLive is the longest running and best Celtics podcast on the internet. Jon Duke has been a part of it almost since the beginning. Previously, he wrote for Boston Sports Media Watch (BSMW).

He joined Justin Poulin and Jim “JB” Metz to form a troika of die hard Celtic talk. With JB leaving due to health issues, Jon “The Quiet Man” Duke and Justin Poulin carry on with insightful Celtic conversation and an interesting assortment of guests every week.

Jon is a huge fan of Rajon Rondo and like Rondo, a tenacious of the defender of his man. Don’t go messing with Rondo when Jon’s around. He swears on his mug of tap beer that he has seen Rondo walking on water.

All of the major Celtic media players have appeared on the show at one time or another. The Boston’s Globe’s Marc J. Spears, NESN’s Celtics TV play-by-play analyst Mike Gorman, Celtic radio voice Sean Grande and many others have all appeared with their own special insights on the NBA Champion Celtics.

Here is Jon Duke’s own take on a number of Celtic questions:

Q&A for CSL’s Jon Duke

1) Soaking it all up…..What is right about this Celtic team?
Where do you start? The most important thing is they are re-energized and focused on quieting the naysayers. Somebody must be the Rodney Harrison of the Celtics because it seems they are feeling an “us against them” mentality and feeding off of that.

2) This is going to be a standard question on a team with three players destined for the Hall of Fame. Who is the team MVP?
I’ll go with Rajon Rondo. I’m not a huge stat guy , but going by David Berri’s Wages of Wins, Rondo’s performance this year has been so statistically strong that it has offset what have been down years statistically from Pierce and Garnett. I suspect that won’t continue, but when Rondo plays well the team wins 95% of the time.

3) Rajon Rondo…how high is up?
He won’t be Chris Paul or Deron Williams because he will never be that type of scorer, but once people get their heads around the fact that one can be a great player without having an automatic jumpshot, they will appreciate him. Bill Russell was far from a marksman but his freakish skills in other areas made him one of, if not the greatest player in NBA history. If Rondo can gain more confidence in his jumper, and maintains that confidence despite missing a few, then he can be a top 2-3 PG in the league. The big question will be what happens to his career after the Big Three exit stage right.

4) Leon Powe…same question.
Leon is a fine player. The type of player championship teams need on their roster and I can see him playing 12 years in the NBA as a banger-rebounder with bit of offensive touch. Still, his height is a bit of a limiting factor for him and he would need a good situation around him to succeed. That’s fine by me if those 12 years are spent in Boston.

5) Doc Rivers….Currently, where do you put him in the Pantheon of coaches?
Next to Al Attles and behind Rudy T? Jeez. I don’t know. Doc is still quite young in his coaching career, and there is still a sense that Tom Thibodeau is the brains behind the operation. I don’t buy that, but I also want to see him complete several successful seasons before his place in history is considered. In terms of Celtics coaching history, I would put him behind all of the championship coaches including Fitch right now, but check back in June.

6) How many wins does this team finish with?
61. They have a lot of tough games left in the second half, including the big west coast trip around the All Star break, yet I see a lot more fire in their belly. Plus I am convinced they will add one or two pieces to the mix.

7) Let us say that no additions are made. Does this team repeat?
As constituted, yes. There are holes in the roster, but all teams have them. What all teams don’t have are three superstar players committed to winning basketball games by whatever means necessary. Cleveland does have Lebron, but I still see a similar result as last year.

Which need will the Celtics most likely fill? Who will that player be?
The need the Celtics will most likely fill will be that of a consistent scoring threat off the bench and the person to fill that role will be one Stephon Marbury. Unfortunately the team’s biggest need is that of a veteran big man, but those options are extremely limited.

9) If the Celtics allow Tom Thibodeau to leave for a head coaching position after this season, what changes?
In terms of scheme, very little, but Thibodeau is as good of an assistant coach as there is in the NBA. I don’t know if he has the chops to be head coach, but it seems crazy that he hasn’t had a head coaching gig yet. However, if Thibs goes then it is important Doc fills that slot with someone who can anchor the team’s defense and allow Doc to focus on offense. Might PJ Carlesimo be a good fit?

10) What will this team look like in 2 more years?
I see a team in 2 years that looks very similar to the one Celtics fans are watching today. I suspect Ray Allen will be the key to all of this. Will he take less money to return to Boston for more rings? Who can the team acquire with the money they aren’t paying Ray? Certainly Rondo will be deserving of a hefty raise as his contract expires in the near future, but the bigger question will be whether Leon Powe is capable of taking minutes from KG or if Bill Walker can do the same with Paul Pierce. I suspect the answer will be “no” in both cases and the team will be looking for a SF/PF like James Posey for the money Ray Allen isn’t making.

11) The NBA – What is its biggest issue? How do they fix it?
Officiating. Creating a true minor league system for the NBA could help this tremendously so that there isn’t nearly as much “on the job training” in the pro game as we see on a nightly basis, but the lack of transparency and accountability for NBA officials is troubling. I am not someone who blames officiating for lost games, but I do believe it can have significant impacts on the way a team is able to compete.

12) Who won’t be on this team next year?
That’s easy. Say goodbye to Glen Davis. Both Davis and Leon Powe have expiring contracts this summer, and I would have to believe that the Celtics will only be interested in signing one 6-8 power forward and look to add someone of legitimate size next to him on the roster. In my eyes, Powe is the man who should return.

12.5) If the Heat would buy out Mark Blount, the Celtics should…….?
Laugh.

There you have it. Thanks to Jon for taking the time to offer his thoughts to the Connecticut Post Celtic Central readers. Be sure to check out Jon and Justin’s show on Sunday nights on Comcastsportsnet.com

Every once in awhile, you get to see a truly great shooting performance.

If you didn’t see this game, you missed the very best three point shooting night ever of a career three point specialist.

You also missed yet another dismantling of a team in harm’s way. The revitalized Green Machine is rolling. 9 straight wins now, 6 of them blow outs…. and counting.

Rajon Rondo was dominating with 24 points and 9 assists in 28 minutes. Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were solid, if unspectacular with 26 points combined. The Celtic bench was so productive, they scored 61 points. It didn’t matter that Paul Pierce made just one basket, and Kendrick Perkins didn’t take a shot.

House Afire
Eddie House was explosive with near shooting perfection, raining down destruction from the sky with his own winter storm of 8 three pointers in 9 tries. Adding 24 points on fastbreaks, the Celtics literaly ran over the Sacramento Kings in Boston, 119-100.

House came off the bench with his amazing performance to lead both teams with 28 points in just 20 minutes. It was as unconscious of a shooting display as I’ve ever seen. He has been on fire for three of the last four games. Eddie has made 22 three pointers in those three games, going 7-11, 7-11, and then locking in for 8-9 from downtown in this game.

With his patented split second quick release, Eddie was ungaurdable. The ball barely touched his fingers at times and the ball never hit the rim. Ridiculously good shooting. Really.

Sometimes life isn’t fair. The lowly Kings were playing their 4th straight road game and came in losers of six straight. They had the unenviable luck of playing the Cavaliers the night before. The Celtics were rested as they hadn’t played since Sunday’s nationally televised blow out of Dallas.

The Beantown Ballers started slow and the Kings took adantage, leading by 23-13 on rookie forward Jason Thompson’s hook shot at the 5:06 mark. The Celtics then began to pick up steam and closed the first quarter on a 15-7 run.

The run was triggered by three Rajon Rondo driving lay-ups sandwiched around two Kevin Garnett jump shots. Neither King point guard Beno Udrih, nor the King inside defenders could stop Rajon.

Glen Davis entered the game late in the first quarter and immediately added an emphatic running baseline dunk to close within three at 26-29. He also got a technical foul for hanging on the rim, though he really was regaining his balance, not showboating.

The Celtics continued to pour it on, winning the second quarter by 40-19 for a 31 point turnaround by half time (68-49). Eddie House played the 2nd period and provided the fireworks with 16 points of 6 of 8 shooting and 4 of 4 from beyond the arc.

Rondo had 7 assists and 14 points of his own by the break as he did pretty much whatever he wanted to. Glen Davis continued his recent good shooting with 8 points on 3 of 4 attempts by half time.

The Kings closed a 20 point lead down to 12 points at 76-88 in the 3rd quarter on two Kevin Martin free throws. Rondo responded with a jump shot and his final points of the night. He finished with 24 points in 28 minutes, most of them dribble drive lay-ups. Once again Rondo did not play the 4th quarter.

With a John Salmons dunk, the Kings closed another large lead to within 12 for the last time at the 10 minutes mark of the final quarter. Eddie House continued his air assault by making 4 of 4 three pointers for 12 points in the quarter to hold off the Kings.

The crowd was chanting Ed-die! Ed-die! and he got a rousing ovation when he left the game for with 4 minutes left.

His team mates lobbied for him to get the call for the Three Point Shoot-Out at All Star Week-end. He would be a great addition.

Tony Allen perfect in first game back
After sitting out eleven games with a bad ankle, Tony Allen had one of his best games of the year. He scored 10 points on 5 of 5 shooting, while grabbing 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, a block and 4 turnovers in 23 plus minutes.

Glen Davis Stays Hot
Davis scored 14 points, just two games after his season high of 16 points. He is 15 of 20 shooting in his last four games. He contributed 3 rebounds, a great steal, and a block to the cause.

The Numbers
The Celtics shot .550% from the floor and .692 from the arc (9-13). With team play and solid ball movement, they had 30 assists on 44 made baskets.

Paul Pierce had 8 points, 8 assists, and 3 rebounds.
Kendrick Perkins had 4 rebounds and 2 blocks in 24 minutes.
John Salmons led Sacramento with 22 points.

Summary
The Celtics continue their recent dominance and do pretty much whatever they want to the Kings, finishing with 50 points in the paint. Tony Allen was great. Glen Davis continues his recent strong play, while Leon Powe continues to struggle.

The Celtics can’t play too much better than they are now.

Next up: Pistons in Detroit on Friday

I had to throw this anecdote on the board.

Call it Kid vs Kidd.

In someways the two players are alike. They are both known not to have a great outside shot, but are excellent rebounders for their position. Both like to fast break and distribute the ball with the best of them. The assist is far more important than personal scoring for both.

Jason Kidd’s stat line was 6 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, two blocks and one turnover.
Rajon Rondo had 13 points, 14 assists, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 turnovers.

In this recent run, Rajon Rondo has outplayed Devin Harris twice, Steve Nash, Jameer Nelson and now Jason Kidd. And outplayed them significantly. That is quite a list of elite point guards to dispense of consecutively and in short fashion. Certainly it is no coincidence that each game was a Celtic win.

Jason was approached by a small media contingent after the blow out and was asked about Rajon Rondo…

He’s grown as a player. He’s got great team mates and veterans who you could see are teaching him, and he has a great coach.

I’m not sure he meant this line to be funny….

So…He’s having one of those all star type of years. His numbers would be better if they had to play the fourth quarter.

But it brought laughter from those who were there. Rondo does average 32:17 minutes this year. Rajon played 34:24 in this game. But, in fact, he did not play the 4th quarter and hasn’t in other blow outs. The point was amusing and well taken.

Addressing a weak point in his game, Rajon has also been hitting the rare jumpshot with a bit more regularity lately.

Jason was asked about Rondo’s jumpshot and the success he had in this game. He said that Rondo doesn’t need to be Ray Allen, just be able to hit open jumpers.

He’s growing into making those shots. He’s comfortable taking those shots. He is going to get a lot of those shots. You could see he’s starting to grow confidence-wise. His ability is there. His confidence is high right now.

I asked Rondo if he was expecting to be this good this soon.

I come in every game defensive minded. I have three Hall of Fame great scorers, so I don’t come in the game trying to score. My job is to play defense, push it up the court and find the guys, get ‘em open looks so…I pride myself on defense.

I can’t give (all of the) credit to myself. I have a second line behind me. I have Kendrick Perkins, Kevin Garnett. When Scal was in he did a great job as well, shadow some of the guys, keep the ball out of their hands.

No doubt, that is part of his success. Having a cohesive team defense that cuts off passing lanes, disrupts the enemy point guard’s play making options, and helps on penetrations in invaluable. Still, Rondo’s pressure defense and constant harassment has disrupted a litany of top guards.

If these were gunslinger showdowns at high noon, Johnny Rondo would be calmly blowing smoke away from the barrels of his six guns, then adding notches to their handles. ‘Black Bart’ Harris, ‘Shotgun Steve’ Nash, ‘Butch’ Nelson, and now the Sundance Kidd have been left lying in the dust.

Johnny Rondo tips his hat in the noon day sun and moves on. Another game, another challenge.

But when Rajon, the new “Kid” took on Jason, the old Kidd, it had a bit more meaning.

When mentioned to Rajon about Kidds’ praise for him, Rajon responded…

That means a lot coming from a Hall of Famer and an All Star. He was out there trying to tell me, Im a good rebounder. I’m just trying to follow in his footsteps.

I’m a long way to go to be where he is. The most important thing is we are getting the wins.

Wins indeed. Also known as blow outs. And when that happens, Rondo gets the 4th quarter off. There go the stats.

I get the distinct feeling Rondo doesn’t mind a bit.

We are watching a special NBA point guard grow up before our very eyes.

The Celtics are making it look too simple. Those who say that you only have to watch the last four minutes of an NBA game to see the important part, hasn’t seen a recent Celtic game.

Maybe ‘stunning’ in the true sense of the word is the best description of what the Celtics have been doing lately. Teams are stunned by the total defensive effort and give up somewhere shortly after.

Erik Dampier of the Mavericks….

We missed rebounds, missed a lot of shots. They turned them into easy baskets. Open three pointers. When you go out and play a good team like that, you have to be solid defensively.

Have you experienced this kind of defense before this year?

They’re just a team that’s been together for awhile. They know how to play the game. They capitalize on every mistake we make. When they were scoring baskets, some our guys were getting down on ourselves defensively because we were not getting stops. They played well.

The Celtics have been getting a lot of teams down on themselves in this new eight game winning streak.

They are knocking teams out by half time. There is no “mercy rule” in the NBA, but second halves have largely been spent watching stunned teams remain neutralized against what appears to be unsolvable defense.

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle…

We haven’t really come across a team that plays at this level defensively.

They threw a game of shot making at us. You’re not going to see many nights like this out of NBA teams.

And don’t blink. It can happen quickly. The Celtics were up by one (15-14) with 4:44 left in the first quarter. 4:44 minutes later they were up fifteen points at 38-23. Kevin Garnett had 7 of those points and Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo all contributed. They barraged Dallas with 23 points in that short stretch.

When Brian Scalabrine made a three pointer to make the score 31-17 it was ‘time out time’ for the Mavericks. They came back in to score 6 points to the Celtics 7 to finish the quarter. Rondo ended the quarter with a 16′ jumpshot.

The Celtics continued to increased the lead in the second quarter as Eddie House joined Ray Allen in long range bombing with 11 points, on 4 of 5 shooting, including 3 of 4 from distance. The Celtics added 36 more points in the second quarter to essentially decide the game.

As opponents try to mount an attack, the Celtics are happy to trade baskets with them the rest of the way. 4th quarters are for the reserves.

“Tardy tuners-in” will be missing some tremendous team defense and team basketball in general. Surprisingly, today’s nationally televised game was more about offense for the defensive minded Men In Green.

The Celtics shot 59% from beyond the arc on 16 of 27 attempts and 53.8% from the field on 50 of 93 attempts. The ball was moving all day for 34 assists. Rajon Rondo led with 14 hand outs.

But Doc Rivers says that even the bench was moving the ball well…

I think our bench over this streak has played the best they’ve played all year. And I just think because there is no ball stoppage. The ball’s moving on offense. They are sharing the ball and cheering for each other.

Winning their 8th straight game, the Beantown Ballers went up by as many as 31 points in the first half and entered the break at 74-47.

Remember the Denver Blow Out?
The last time the Celtics scored 74 points by half time was November 11, 2007 against Denver. It was also the last time the Celtics scored 100 points by the end of the 3rd period. It was 103 both times.

Ray Allen had 20 points by half time on near perfect 8 of 9 shooting, with 3 for 3 from the arc. He was joined in long distance devastation by Eddie House. Eddie was 7 of 9 from three point land at one time and finished with 23 points in 27 minutes on 8 of 14 shooting.

Though the Celtics had 28 personal fouls called against them to only 14 for Dallas, the Mavericks were so frustrated by the Celtic onslaught, they were called for three technical fouls, two by Dallas assistant coaches (Dwayne Casey, Mario Elie).

The Celtic bench played extremely well when it counted. They were led by House, but had strong contributions by Glen Davis (7 points, 4 rebounds) and Brian Scalabrine (6 points and solid defense).

The Numbers
Ray Allen finished with 23 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds, a steal, a block and zero turnovers.
Kevin Garnett added 23 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds in just under 25 minutes.
Eddie House also had 23 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals
Rajon Rondo had a stellar game with 13 points, 14 assist, 7 rebounds, 4 steals and just 2 turnovers.
Paul Pierce played only 22 minutes, adding 8 points, 5 rebounds, and one assist.
Kendrick Perkins played 24 minutes contributing 8 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Unusual Stat of the Night
Paul Pierce’s 22 minutes, and took only two shots in the second half without scoring.
Dirk Nowitzki’s 4 for 17 shooting was his worst shooting pct. of the year and 3rd lowest field goals made.

Summary
The Celtics continued the recent pattern of starting fast and crushing their opponents’ will by half time. They have performed remarkably well as this streak has gathered speed. Ray Allen is 13 of 18 from the three point line over the last four games.

As mentioned before, when this team plays their best defense, they are impossible to stop. Giving up 100 points wasn’t their best defensive showing, but this was a very strong game offensively for the Green Machine, and the game was never in doubt.

Sidenotes: Former Red Sox player Nomar Garciaparra and WNBA Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault were seen courtside.

Next up: Sacramento, Wednesday night in Boston

Or should I say…..Celtics continue their own ‘magic’ win streak at 7?

The Orlando Magic’s time as the number one team in the NBA was brief. The Celtics ended the Magic’s 7 game winning streak, increasing their own to 7 straight in doing so.

In a game of pretty solid defense by both teams, the Celtics showed who the Jedi master is, when it comes to playing D.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics in scoring, rebounding and assists with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. Paul scored 19 of his points in the second half. Glen Davis scored twelve 4th quarter points (8 straight to start the quarter) and 16 total for his season high.

Kevin Garnett added 16 points and 5 rebounds, while keying the defense with Kendrick Perkins.

Kryptonite is Green
They got a boost from Davis, who played Dwight Howard well in 21 minutes. Howard was held to 11 points and 11 rebounds. Dwight averages 20 points a game but just 12.5 points against the Celtics in two games this year.

The Celtics held the high scoring Orlando Magic to their season low of 80 points. They had only 54 after three quarters. Both teams found assists to be rare occurences. Boston had a season low of 9 while, Orlando managed just 11 on the night. Often the shot clock was winding down as they took shots.

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said that the Celtic defense kept them from running their offense all night. They didn’t double Dwight Howard and stayed at home with the other players, thus making the point guard a primary scoring option.

We certainly know that Jameer Nelson doesn’t need much prompting to take a shot. I’m sure that Doc Rivers took that into consideration, when formulating the game plan.

It worked well for much the game as Jameer Nelson was 1 for 9 shooting in the first half. After building a 16 point lead, the Magic made a 4th quarter run to cut the lead to 7 points at 75-82 with 2:59 left on a Nelson fadeaway jumper. Nelson scored 13 second half points for a total of 17, but had only 3 assists on the evening.

Hedo Turkoglu led Orlando with 22 points and Rashard Lewis added 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Long Distance Disconnection – Can You Hear Me Now?
One of the league’s top three point shooting teams, Orlando was 1 for 8 from the arc in the first quarter, 3 for 14 at the half and finished the game 7 for 22 on long distance. Boston was even worse with a measley 0 for 6 from distance.

There wasn’t any ‘magic’ to it. Both teams are among the league’s best in defense and perimeter defense. They both showed why in this game, as most shots from the arc were contested all night. The Magic finished shooting just .381 from the floor.

Dwight Howard wasn’t going to venture too far from the paint, and played with foul trouble, eventually fouling out. He left Davis open outside all night and Glen made him pay by hitting jumper after jumper to finish at 6 of 8 from the floor. If you take out Glen’s shooting numbers, the rest of the Cs shot just 43% on the night.

The Magic were the highest scoring team (104.5 pts) in the Eastern Conference last season, and are second (102.3 pts.) only to the Flying D’Antonis of New York this year. But they have increased their defensive prowess by over 5 points (99 pts. allowed are down to 93.7 points allowed)

After getting killed on the boards in the first quarter (13-8) including offensive boards (8-5) the Celtics picked it up and finished with a 40-36 edge. By far, the Celtics have the best rebounding difference in the league at 5.6. and they pride themselves in stopping offensive rebounding.

Pierce and Garnett were the other multiple scorers in the 4th period who held off the Magic comeback attempt.

The Rest of the Numbers
Rajon Rondo scored 9 points, with 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal.
Ray Allen finished with 12 points on 6 of 12 shooting with 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals
Kendrick Perkins scored 7 points, adding 6 boards, and 2 blocks

Unusual Stat of the Night
Magic Rookie guard Courtney Lee was held scoreless for the first time since November 26th.
The total of just 20 assists combined must close to a season low for the NBA, I would think.

Summary
The Celtics beat one of the best home teams (16-3, now 16-4) in the NBA on their own floor. They played solid ball defensively, though their offense sputtered for much of the contest. The Magic are the best three point shooting team in the NBA, and were unable to get untracked against the Celtics. The Celtics also held them to just 68 attempts, ten below their norm.

The Magic played more like themselves in the second half, and having three days off since their last game might have hurt them. Still this was dominating performance by the Celtics and sends a good message to the Magic and everyone else who thinks they can knock off this Green Machine.

The last time the Celtics were behind by even one point in a game was exactly one week and four games ago.

The sleeper hold is a standard wrestling hold, but the Celtics are perfecting a basketball version of it.

Call them the Sominex Celtics, as their ever rotating defense and hot shooting offense just takes the life out of teams. Opponents are down double digits before late arrivers even sit down to sip their first beer or soda. By way of 20 second quarter leads, the games are over.

After Dwyane Wade’s jump shot tied it at 2-2, Paul Pierce made a three pointer, Ray Allen made his first three shots and the Celtics never looked back.

Continuing their complete game domination of late, the Cs jumped out 12-2 , then 16-4 and led after one period by 29-10. The lead got as high as 22 points in the second quarter.

They choked off the Heat offense to 34 first half points, while scoring 57 of their own. Even more amazing when you consider that the Celtics had 11 first half turnovers.

Heat Wilt Under Pressure
The Celtics shot .514 from the floor and tied a Heat record with 15 made three point shots for the game. They were 15 of 25 from beyond the arc. The Beantown Ballers out rebounded the Heat 48-30, while giving the Miami team an old fashion New England cold spell. The Heat shot 40% from the floor, and 7 of 25 from the arc.

House on Fire: Sets single quarter record
Eddie House brought the heat against Miami, his first NBA team, with a Heat franchise opponent record 6 three pointers in a single quarter. He scored 20 points including five straight threes and six of eight from the arc in the second quarter. Eddie finished 25 points, going 7 of 11 from downtown, for his season high.

Little did Bobby Simmons of the Nets know that his three pointer, giving the Nets a 13-11 lead with 6:19 left in the first quarter of the Wednesday night game, would be the last time a team would lead the Celtics. That was January 14th.

The Celtics have led (or tied) for 15 straight quarters. For three straight games, the Nets, Suns and now the Heat have never led, for even one second.

As has been the modus operandi, the Celtics have started quickly at both ends of the court, resulting in totally anesthetizing their opponents for surprisingly easy and early knock outs.

Ray Allen led the early scoring with 12 points and took game honors with 27 points, He finished by making 3 of 3 three pointers in the 4th quarter to go 5 of 6 from the arc.

Dwyane Wade led Miami with 25 points and Daequan Cook and Michael Beasley supported off the bench with 20 and 17 more. Beasley led the Heat with 11 rebounds.

The Numbers
Ray Allen added 5 rebounds, 5 assists, a steal and 3 turnovers to his 27 points.
Eddie House contributed 4 rebounds (2 TOs) to his white hot 25 points on 9 of 15 shooting.
Kevin Garnett dropped in 16 points on 6 of 12 shooting and had 13 rebounds, and 3 steals.
Paul Pierce drained 14 points on 6 of 14 shooting, while adding 8 rebounds.
Rajon Rondo delivered 10 assists, 7 points, another three pointer, 4 rebounds, and 5 turnovers.
Kendrick Perkins returned and played 22 minutes grabbing 7 rebounds and scoring 2 points

Unusual Stat of the Night
Has to be House’s 6 three pointers made in the second quarter.

Summary
In games like these, it is hard to judge the team. They start so dominantly, that the opponent folds too completely to make a good estimation of where they regarding competing for 48 minutes because the other team isn’t. Still, that is a good thing…I think.

Tonight we should find out more, as the Green Machine heads into Orlando to play the 33-8 Magic. The Magic are palying their best ball of the year after completing a four game west coast sweep with wins over the Spurs, Lakers and Nuggets.

The Celtics lead by as many as 35 points and trounced the Suns by 104-87 as one of a full slate of games on Martin Luther King Day.

Call it the redemption of Glen Davis. If not redemption, then maturation.

The TNT announcers mentioned and showed the now famous scene (Portland game) of Glen Davis getting a stern dressing down by Garnett and his highly emotional response the end of the Celtic bench – for all to see on national TV. Big Baby, indeed.

With Kendrick Perkins out with an injured shoulder, the Celtics needed Davis to step up big time against a rejuvenated league behemoth named Shaquille O’Neal. Glen finished with 9 points and 9 rebounds (2nd highest this season). But it was his defense on Shaq that was remarkable.

Celtics Destroy Suns
The Celtics rolled over the Suns for an incredible 30 point lead by half time. It got as high as 35 before the Suns whittled it down in the 4th quarter against the Celtics’ deep end of the bench.

Rajon Rondo took game honors with 23 points on 9 of 15 shooting including a three pointer and two other jumpshots, all the while making life difficult for Steve Nash, who finished with 12 points, 8 assists, and 5 turnovers. Rondo had 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 turnovers.

Rondo has seriously outplayed Devin Harris and Steve Nash, two of the NBA’s finest point guards, in his last three games.

There was plenty of love to go around. Paul Pierce finished close to triple double with 12 points, 8 rebounds, while tieing Nash for game honors with 8 assists. Ray Allen finished with 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting and 4 of 5 from the arc.

Kevin Garnett played more center than he would like to but less than he might have had to, thanks to Davis. KG finished with 16 points on just 7 of 10 shooting, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and a block with zero turnovers, while playing stellar defense against Shaq and Amare Stoudamire. Amare finished with 3 points, 0-7 shooting, a single rebound, and 4 turnovers.

Like the last game against the Nets, the Celtics began with a 6-0 run courtesy of Paul Pierce, as he opened with a jump shot, lay-up, and turnaround jumper. The Cs went up by 21-7 and finished the first quarter 30-15, as Ray Allen took over the scoring load with 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting. Pierce added 8 to the effort.

The Celtics defense was excellent and the Suns responded a bit like the Nets – stunned. the Celtics doubled Shaq and Amare with different people but primarily with Brian Scalabrine. Brian theoretically started at center again, but mostly played the PF on defense. While his shot was off, he defended solidly against the Sun big men.

The Celtics harassed the Suns into 9 turnovers in the opening period and 15 by half time. The game was over as the Celtics led by 64-34.

Davis was so effective against Shaq, that it freed up Garnett to play Amare Stoudamire, who was shut down completely. Along the way Shaq tattooed Davis twice, once with a well placed elbow to the head and again with a two hand push as Davis was attempting to shoot over him.

But Davis did his job and moreso, as he made life difficult for Shaq while he was on him. Davis also hit a few jump shots and had a power dunk around Louis Amundson. Amundson had13 points on 5 of 6 shots and 3 blocks in 23 minutes.

Shaq finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead Phoenix.

Unusual Stat of the Night
The Celtics shot 94 times, which is, I believe their season high.
The Celtics assisted 30 times on 45 made baskets.
The Suns had just 58 points heading into the fourth quarter.

That is largely a result of the 23 turnovers, 12 of which were steals, few time outs, and 15 fastbreak points. The game plan was to push the ball whenever possible. The Celtics had a number of ‘leak outs’ for easy baskets in the first half.

Summary
The Celtics looked crisp and did it against a talented team. Shaq was slow on transition defense (surprise) and the Celtics took full advantage of that. But the rest of the Sun’s defense was lacking as well. With solid ball movement, the Celtics had a number of open looks throughout the game.

Formerly, the highest example of a transition team, with Terry Porter and Shaq, the Suns are now a team in transition. The Celtics are finding themselves and are back to playing suffocating defense.

Next up: Wednesday at Miami