Celtics Central

13 Long Games – 10 Short Years
It was 13 games since Kevin Garnett last played for the Celtics. It was ten years since he last played with Stephon Marbury.

Return of the Big Intensity
Kevin Garnett returned and so did the lost Celtics’ defense. Though he only played 14 plus minutes, you could see what his presence means to the team’s defensive focus and spirit. Their leader had returned.

After a slow first quarter appearance, Kevin helped spark a 3rd quarter run with 5 of 5 shooting for 10 points, while adding 4 rebounds on the game.

The Celtics had been down as many as 5 rotation players recently, losing four of their last six games. In addition, the Spurs had beaten Boston in Boston behind a key takeaway of an inbounds pass by Manu Ginobili in the waning moments of that game. Perhaps Boston felt that they owed them one. Maybe the basketball gods agreed.

Manu did not play in this contest as he is recovering from injury (stress reaction – right ankle)himself.

Ray Allen, who had also been out with a hyperextended right elbow, did play, demonstrating the importance of this game to the Celtics. He played a gutsy game, finishing with a team high 19 points in almost 40 minutes of play.

Role Players Clutch Under Pressure
The final quarter was tightly played by both sides and the score was knotted five times.
Kendrick Perkins hit a big little jumpshot in the paint to break the fifth and final tie of the quarter at 74-74 tie with 2:11 left in the game.

The score remained unchanged until Davis hit an open jumper from the left side with 5 seconds left in the game. It would turn out to be the game winning jump shot, and came on a feed from a driving Paul Pierce. It made the score 78-74.

Spurs Miss Six Straight Foul Shots
‘Charity stripe’ took on a whole new meaning as the Spurs missed 6 consecutive free throws in the final two minutes. The chances of that happening are about as likely as Ray Allen throwing away an inbounds pass in the final seconds of a game.

In his post game podcap of CelticStuffLive with Jon Duke and myself, Justin Poulin said it right when he said it was ‘Ball Don’t Lie’ time. Micheal Finley, an 80% shooter, missed 2 straight foul shots. Then it looked like Glen Davis drew a charging foul on a driving Parker, only to be called for blocking. Parker, another 80% shooter, missed both of those free throws.

After Rondo missed a jump shot, Parker was fouled by Pierce on a drive and astonishingly, missed both of those, for 6 straight misses by the Spurs.

In the emotion of his match up against Rondo, Tony Parker got confused. He forgot that he was supposed to be the good foul shooter.

Though a well fought defensive struggle, it was quite an entertaining and somewhat chippy game. After a poor shooting (7-23) first quarter, the Celtics shot a respectable 46% for the rest of the game.

Dueling Point Guards
There was the game within the game, as Rajon Rondo and Tony Parker seemed to be sending messages to each other with their aggressive play. Parker was nearly unstoppable in his drives to the hoop, finishing with a game high 25 points on 12 of 23 shooting. He added 8 assists and a Rondo-like 7 rebounds.

Rajon countered with his own style of aggression, making 8 of 19 shots, many of them of drives with high degrees of difficulty, and a few jump shots thrown in. Rondo dished for 12 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals

As Mark Murphy pointed out in a recent column, the two guards have been compared to each other, yet they seem to only have a grudging respect for each other.

Parker seemed uncontainable in the open court, driving by everyone, and Rondo scored over good defense regularly.

Caught up in the moment, it did appear that Rondo forced a few shots in traffic that perhaps he shouldn’t have, reminiscent of a young, dueling Paul Pierce in earlier times.

Kendrick Perkins and Tim Duncan were going at each other pretty hard. Kendrick largely held Tim to 6 of 15 shooting, while adding 10 points of his own. KP blocked 5 shots and was a big defensive cog.

Paul Pierce was not hitting his shot (9 pts. on 3 of 16 shooting, and was blocked 5 times), but led the Celtics in rebounding with 12.

In addition to his big shot at the end, Davis had 7 rebounds and two steals. Mikki Moore added 8 rebounds in 20 minutes and had only one foul.

The Celtics get a well fought and badly needed win over a potential finals foe. More important, they got back Kevin Garnett.

Boxscore