Rajon dished and Stephon swished. (Walt Frazier imitation)
Wait a minute. This is Boston.
(Tommy Heinsohn voice)
Marbury is an all star playing against teams’ bench guards. He is going to eat them up!
That’s more like it.
Marbury scored three baskets as part of a Celtic 9-0 run to make it 92-79 to open the 4th quarter, breaking open a close game.
The long anticipated return of Marbury happened last night at the TDBanknorth Garden. Along the way, the Celtics won their 47th game. However, it wasn’t a perfect game by a long shot. Thank goodness for Ray Allen’s 30 points to lead both teams.
About Ray Allen, from Jimmy Golen AP…
“You give him six inches and he puts it down,” Pacers coach Jim O’Brien said. “Most of his shots were well-guarded and he put them down.”
Doc Rivers said recently that there will be times when he will have to play players and will “just have to take it” if they are getting beat on the court. This was one of those games.
With Kevin Garnett and Brian Scalabrine out and two new players in Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury needing to start to work themselves into the line up, it will take some time to fit in.
After signing Stephon Marbury this morning, Doc Rivers played him over 12 minutes without even having a practice with the team. Marbury performed rather well and showed what he can add to this team with 8 points on 4 of 6 shooting and 2 assists. He even played some decent defense.
The Celtics were out of rhythm for portions of the game, but they still managed to escape with a win against the always scrappy O’Brien Pacers, who were missing their star, Danny Granger (torn tendon right foot).
After starting 7 for 22 (.318) the Pacers shot 22-43 (51%) in the middle two quarters. The Celtics shot .527 on the evening, and .526 from downtown thanks to Ray Allen.
The Pacers clogged the middle, and tried to chase people off the three point line, but Ray Allen was the defense buster all night for the Celtics. Finishing with 30 points, on 11 of 16 shooting, he drained 6 of 10 three point shots to keep the Celtics afloat.
Powe Plays Big
Leon Powe scored 14 points on an efficient 5 of 7 shooting, with 7 points coming in the 3rd quarter, as he added the only low post threat for the Celtics all night. Powe was the only bench player with a positive plus/minus (+7) on the night.
Paul Pierce wasn’t himself with a bad thumb, but scored 16 points on 6 of 13 shooting anyway.
Ray and Glen Finish Off The Pacers
Ray and Glen Davis delivered the kill in the fourth quarter with 9 and 7 points respectively. Davis finished with a season high 18 points on 6 of 12 shooting and a few nice hustle plays along the way. In 24 minutes Davis grabbed only 2 rebounds, but otherwise played well.
The Pacers gave Davis, Rondo and Perkins the mid range shot all night. Davis missed three open jumpers early, but scored well later, mostly around the hoop.
Rajon Ties Career High
Rajon Rondo tied his career high for assists with 17, but was unable to get untracked offensively himself, finishing with 3 points on 1 of 7 shooting. His made basket was a three pointer with just three seconds left in the half. He turned up a number of open looks to try to find other shooters over the course of the night.
While the Pacers didn’t parade through the paint like the Jazz and the Clippers were able to, they kept Kendrick Perkins busy all night. Kendrick played a fine defensive game and blocked 5 shots on the evening. But I bet he misses Kevin Garnett the most.
Perkins block sparks team
Kendrick sparked a run in the third quarter with a blocked shot of ultra quick point guard TJ Ford. After picking Ford up at three point line, Perkins clapped his hands like Garnett does, as if to say, ‘come on’. Ford took the challenge and drove right by Perkins for what looked like a lay-up. But Perkins was right behind him and made a sensational block from behind. The Celtics got the rebound and converted at the other end for a 74-69 lead.
The Celtics were unable to break away until early in the 4th quarter. Later, two straight Ray Allen three pointers helped regain a decent spread against a closing Pacer team.
Marbury Gets Cheered
Stephon Marbury entered the game with 19 seconds left in the first period to a standing ovation. Stephon broke into a grin. I’m sure it was the first cheers he has heard in a while. It has been 13 months since he has played in an NBA game.
With less than two minutes gone in the second quarter, Marbury made his first shot attempt. It was a mid range jumper from the right side, and the crowd broke into cheers again.
The Celtic were outrebounded by 46-35, and gave up a whopping 17 offensive rebounds, 10 in the first half.
Mikki Moore played over 26 minutes and scored 6 points on 2 of 5 shooting. There were a number of clearly bad calls against the Celtics, especially on charging/blocking calls. The Celtics are among the best in the league in that regard, but didn’t get at least 3-4 calls they should have.
The Numbers
Ray Allen – 30 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal.
Glen Davis – 18 points, 2 rebounds, 2 bassists, a steal and a block
Paul Pierce – 16 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, one block
Rajon Rondo – 3 points, 17 assists, 4 rebounds, and a steal
Kendrick Perkins – 6 points, 11 rebounds, an assist, 5 blocks
Leon Powe – 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block
Stephon Marbury – 8 points, 2 assists, and a steal
next up: Detroit at home on Sunday
