Celtics Central

Boston plays at San Antonio tonight in a game of what could be called the league’s two most dangerous ‘non-conference leading’ teams.

A Road Win Runs Though It
Niether team will win their conference titles. An NBA title for either team will mean winning at least a few games on hostile territory. If Boston is to repeat as champions, this is the team they most must emulate, regarding preparedness and focused toughness.

Both teams have won before. Both teams have aging stars. Tim Duncan just returned from a tendinitis type injury in his right quad and has troubled knees that act up from time to time. Tim Duncan is going to be 33 on April 25th. Manu Ginobili is going to be 32 on July 28th. Both teams have that ‘old stars’ thing hanging over their heads each year for as long as each teams’ stars remain.

Yet, this is a team that will invoke respect and could be feared come play-off time. They didn’t have a healthy Ginobili nor Roger Mason nor George Hill last year and lost to the Lakers 4-1 after upending the Suns (4-1) and Hornets (4-3) to get there.

Coach Gregg Popovich has always maintained that the regular season isn’t nearly as important as having your team healthy and, just as important, playing its best ball heading into the play-offs.

Pop has been a leader, if not innovator, in policing the minutes played for his key players throughout a long 82 game marathon called the NBA regular season. It’s not uncommon for him to poo-poo individual wins and losses as well.

In pre and post game interviews, you will often hear him say things like, “I’m more interested in how we win or lose. I look more to see if we are playing the right way. Then the wins will come.”

Coach Popovich says that the Spurs defense isn’t up to his standards this season, due largely to incorporating three new players (George Hill, Roger Mason, Matt Bonner) into the Spurs defensive system.

When it was mentioned that the Spurs are only slightly behind last season in points allowed – 93 pts. and 2nd in the league TY vs. 90.6 pts. allowed and 3rd in the league LY – Gregg quickly says, “That’s not the important stat. We are in the middle of the pack in field goal percentage this season.”

Points allowed aren’t that important? Whatever you say Gregg. You’ve won the championships.

At the time that conversation was had, he was close,(I think they were around 10th best) but perhaps a bit hard on his team. Since then they have improved slightly and are 8th at 45.1%. They finished 5th best at 44.4% LY.

In fact, Doc Rivers sounds like Popovich at times, especially about playing the right way. And he is big on monitoring the stars’ minutes, when all are healthy.

The other area of commonality is the mental toughness factor. Of all the teams in this year’s up coming play-offs, these are the two teams that have exhibited, by far, a mental toughness that can carry the team a long way towards its goal.

Even Jon Barry, not known as a Celtic fan, says that Boston’s mental toughness makes them a favorite to win the title in a repeat showing, regular season records notwithstanding.

The Celtics may have Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen for tonight’s game – or not. It will be a game time decision. The Spurs will be without Manu Ginobili.

The Celtics are without Leon Powe, Brian Scalabrine, and Tony Allen. If Garnett and Ray Allen do not play, it will be a tough game to win. Even with them, because Garnett is just coming back from a 13 game rest due to injury to his knee, it won’t be an easy win to get in San Antonio.

Neither team is playing that well over the last 10 games. The Celtics are 5-5 and the Spurs are 6-4.

Nonetheless, I expect a scrappy game from two tough teams who are big on playing ‘their systems’.

Game Time: 8:30pm

The depleted Boston Celtics outlasted the Wade-less Miami Heat in overtime by 112-108.

The injury riddled Celtics needed a few good men to come forward.

Paul Pierce answered the call. It is one call he actually doesn’t relish anymore. Wasn’t it just a short time ago when he said those big scoring days are over?

Sorry Paul. Your country, I mean…your team…. and Celtic fans need you. You’ve been recalled to frontline duty. Paul Pierce had a vintage Paul Pierce game for the second game in a row. This time the Celtics managed to come out on top.

Pierce Big, Turnovers Low
Pierce finished with 36 points, including a 21 point barrage in the 4th quarter and overtime. On top of that, Pierce had just 2 turnovers and the team had just ten. Yeah, I know. This was against the same team they had 25 turnovers against a week ago. The parade starts at two. Dwyane Wade gets to sit up front with Paul due to his absence from this game.

Rajon Rondo also answered the call with 27 points on 11 of 20 shooting, and 10 assists.

Kendrick Perkins stepped up with another solid, if unspectacular game. He had 4 blocks for the second game in a row, 9 rebounds and 13 points as he stabilized the defense as much as he could under the circumstances. He had a huge block of a Beasley lay-up attempt to start the overtime. It was a game turner, IMO. It sparked an 8-0 Celtic run from there.

Michael Beasley’s clutch shooting (8 pts.) to start the 4th, followed by Mario Chalmers, Fred Jones and Jermaine O’Neal kept this from being over in regulation. If rookie Chalmers, a 77% free throw shooter, hit both free throws (1-2) with 20 seconds left, Miami wins.

Pierce Wills Team to Win
Pierce hit seven straight Celtic points in just over a minute on three straight jumpers around the top of the key with about a minute left, but just misses one at the buzzer. He then hit a big three pointer after House started OT with a three. House hits a jumper to make it eight straight points to start the OT. The Heat would never recover. Pierce added 5 points total in OT to clinch the win.

Eddie House is Clutch
Eddie House was Eddie House. There is talk in some corners that Eddie House isn’t a clutch shooter. He is best when the team is up 8-10 points or down the same amount, it is said. He pours gas on a started fire, but isn’t the guy to make the big shots to climb back into a game, or tie, or take the lead. That may have been true last season.

I don’t have the exact stats, but this year he has been ‘shooting’ holes in that story. There are at least 3-4 games that I can recall that he was making important shots at important times in the games. He won a few games almost single handedly. He is not just a ‘pile-on’ guy. E-House is not A-Rod.

He made the three point shot that tied the game at 93 with 3:42 left in regulation, while adding a three pointer to take the lead in overtime, 103-100, and then poured gas on with a jump shot to pump the lead to 108-100.

Once you get familiar with a niche player and his pluses and minuses, the tendency is to start to dwell on the minuses, instead of what he can do. Eddie House can shoot. This season, he is making more big shots that he did last season. Of this I’m confident, though I don’t have the specifics to prove it.

The Celtics were again without Kevin Garnett, the heart of the defense. Missing also was Ray Allen, the Celtic’s other hand in the Celtic’s devastating one-two combo. Ray is listed day-to-day with a hyperextended elbow.

Big Baby Returns
Glen Davis returned and not a day too soon. With Leon Powe and Brian Scalabrine out, the team needs every big of height and weight it can get. Glen contributes both and believe it or not – stability.

Did I read that right? The Celtics were a ridiculous +27 in Glen Davis’ 41 minutes? That must be a typo. That means the Celtics were -23 in the 13 minutes he was off the floor? Way to go Glen. A recount may be in order. He played solid, but not flashy with 7 rebounds and 8 points. The play (a supposed moving pick) he fouled out on was just a terrible call.

The Celtics needed Paul Pierce on that wall tonight. Why? Like Colonel Jessup said… You can’t handle the Truth.

The Celtics never say die. But it’s getting pretty easy to say,”We lost”.

The tumble continues as the Beantown Ballers lost, in a shoot out, to the Chicago Bulls, 127-121, for their 4th loss in 5 games.

Pierce/Salmons Slash and Burn
Paul Pierce and John Salmons slashed their way to big nights, burning defenders all night long. Add in some long range bombing from both and you have two players that were pretty much unstoppable. Porous defenses by both teams didn’t hurt either.

Chicago’s John Salmons finished with a game high 38 points on 14 of 20 shooting, including a number of moves I’ve never seen Salmons make. I’m not sure anyone has. After a slow first half, Paul Pierce asserted himself with 37 points of his own, as he carved up the Bulls.

Big Extinction
If starting the game without Kevin Garnett, Glen Davis, and Brian Scalabrine wasn’t bad enough, the Green Team lost Leon Powe for the game after colliding knees with Ben Gordon after just 4 minutes of play.

Then Mikki Moore (10 rebounds, 6 points) fouled out with 11 minutes left in the game, making Kendrick Perkins the Lone Ranger. Kendrick did his best, finishing with 4 blocks, but he couldn’t be everywhere.

The injuries mounted as Rajon Rondo left with 7:45 left in the 3rd with a twisted ankle after stepping on Perkins foot, but returned with about 4:47 left in the quarter.

Pierce Big Second Half
I’ve been wanting a somewhat passive, but turnover prone Paul Pierce to take a more agressive role offensively. He did just that in this game and tried to carry the team with 29 second half points on a variety of moves and shots, busting out his full repertoire. It just wasn’t enough.

Offensive support came from Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Kendrick Perkins and Eddie House as they contributed 70 points on the game. The problem was that their defense. It was often non-existent with a small ball line up for long periods of the second half.

Rajon Rondo, too, was offensive minded with 26 points, on 9 of 16 shooting, including at least three jumpshots to go with 10 assists. He was asked to guard whatever small was starting to heat up and defended his own man rather well. Along with most of the rest of the team, his help defense was another story.

Hitting back-to-back long balls, followed by two Perkins foul shots, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce worked in tandem to get a 13 point lead in the 3rd quarter at 75-62. Salmons and Gordon responded quickly, closing to within 89-90 by quarter’s end.

Big Bad Brad
Brad Miller had a big game after the Celtics went to small ball in the 4th quarter. He scored thirteen fourth quarter points, many of them wide open, and added 6 rebounds in the quarter. Why? Perkins would have to leave Miller to defend penetrating guards and no one would pick Miller up as he cut to the hoop.

The Celtics used Paul Pierce as the center for part of the 4th, with Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, Eddie House, and Stephon Marbury, At other times, Bill Walker was part of the unit. Miller had a field day.

The smalls and Walker often did not know where on defense to go or who to guard. A simple pass was enough to confuse player rotation if you want to call it that. Unguarded Bulls (Free Range Bulls?) were a common sight in the second half.

Walker got in foul trouble early. Then he was easily faked out on a number of plays and left in the dust. Rondo, Allen and House simply did not pick cutters up. After contesting him a bit for for a rebound, Rondo was even beaten baseline by slow footed Brad Miller for a huge two points at a critical point near the end of the game. It was that ugly.

Ray was beaten off the dribble too many times to count, primarily by John Salmons, but also Derrick Rose went by everyone with ease on his way to the hoop. Suffice to say, the team was unable to recover from the loss of Powe and Moore.

The team is now 6-6 since Kevin Garnett went out, and 1-3 since Glen Davis went out.

The Celtics played well offensively, but were completely inept defensively with so many bigs out. The Bulls scored 58 points in the paint, many of them in transition, the rest with good interior passing, and poorly defended drives. 38 fourth quarter points was just too much to overcome.

As a Bulls’ announcer said, it was like “a wet paper towel”. Once you bust through, it was clear sailing to the hoop.

The Celtic defense is being held together by scotch tape at this point.

Yet….the Celtics were in the game until Salmons made a lay-up with 29 seconds left to make it 124-119. Really.

All the team can do at this point is hold together as best they can until Garnett gets back. Chemistry is a fragile thing.

Summary
This season started much too well, and is close to ending with the type of difficulties that should help meld them for a dog fight mentality once the play-offs arrive. It is not the way anyone envisioned it, but all players should be back (save possibly Brian Scalabrine) in time for the start of the play-offs.

Certainly not the well-oiled juggernaut of last year, but I still like this team’s chances.

Boxscore

Next up: Miami Heat tonight in Miami at 7:00pm

From Kendrick Perkins, according to Yahoo Sports…

“With 25 turnovers, we gave up 21 offensive rebounds, we held them to 32 percent shooting and we lost the game,” Perkins said. “We just can’t win like that.”

Hardly. It has been the Celtics bugaboo all season, and they weren’t that great last year at taking care of the ball either. The difference is that the margin for error right now is…. nil.

I didn’t get to see this one, so I can only interject a few thoughts based on other recaps and the boxscore.

It is hard to kick a team when its down, so I won’t. But should this quote from Doc Rivers, also in the Yahoo recap, concern me?…

“I thought Milwaukee played harder.”

One thing this group of Celtics is known for is working hard.

Kudos to Scott Skiles for a bang up job of coaching a banged up team. I’m sure the fact that Leon Powe fouled out in the third period with 5 minutes left didn’t help. It sounds like Milwaukee just wanted it more and they shut down Ray and Paul. That should do it.

Edit – Monday night 7:45pm

OK. I’ve had time to absorb everything and I’ve read the frustration throughout Celtic Nation. It has all been said and said well.

Problems? There are problems.
The turnovers are a continuing problem.

Twenty more attempts by the Bucks are a problem.

Getting outplayed by a lesser team, with just as many excuses to fold, is a problem.

Getting outplayed in the 4th quarter….again…. is a problem.

Paul Pierce and Ray Allen having zero assists in 76 minutes combined, is a problem.

Paul Pierce averaging 4.75 turnovers a game over the last 4 games is a problem.

Scott Skiles’ guys are going exactly nowhere and were more ready to play. That is a problem.

There is still not working in door plumbing and hot and cold running water in parts of Russia and China and 3/4ths of the rest of the world. That’s a problem.

Other countries get their first taste of American ‘cuisine’ by eating at… McDonald’s. That’s a problem.

But before you jump off that cliff…..

The Celtics held the Bucks to .326 shooting.

The Celtics are asking a guy (Moore) who would be the 9th guy off the bench to be the 6th guy off the bench.

The Celtics are asking a guy (Marbury) who hasn’t played in a year, to play like he’s had a month of training in 2 weeks.

Rondo is probably playing somewhat hurt.

There’s an economic recession going on. These players have probably seen their stock holdings cut in half. I’m sorry. That’s a reason for poor play. Oh yes it is. I’m sorry you can’t see that.

They miss Patrick O’Bryant. And Allen Ray. And Kevin Pittsnogle.

Paul and Ray said, “Zero assists? I should pass the ball to….who?” or….

They did pass the ball, but with a shooting percentage of .377% as a team, no one made any shots. That is required to get an assist. Oh yes, it is. I checked the rule book.

The team hasn’t played well on Sundays for a while. Look it up.

Oh yeah. One last thing. The team was wearing new orange head bands.

I think that pretty much explains things. Don’t you?

That is my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Leading all scorers with a career high 30 points on a superb 10 for 14 shooting, Leon Powe gave the Celtics just what they needed – a big all around game. He and the bench gave them something else – rest for their other starters.

Big shots by Ray and relentless inside scoring by Powe had the two players tied with 20 points each at the end of three periods.

All of that big time scoring overshadowed the return of Rajon Rondo, who played a scrappy game with 4 points, but grabbed 8 rebounds, 8 assists and an ‘Only Rondo’ highlight film play.

The Rondo Play
Rajon had the ball stolen by Mayo, then went down court and stole the ball right back from Mike Conley. Rajon reached around in front and tipped the ball away as Conley attempted to put a move on Rondo and get past him. As Rondo turned it into a fast break, he got to the rim with a defender on him, he pump faked a behind-the-back pass before he did a real behind-the-back pass to Leon Powe, trailing the play, for a dunk. That will be a ‘youtuber’ for sure.

The Bench Comes Through
From there, Powe, and new comers Stephon Marbury, and Mikki Moore took over. Powe scored 10, Marbury 7, Moore 4, and House 3 of Boston’s final 26 points in the last period. Powe, Marbury, Moore, Walker and House played most of the 4th quarter and held off the talented, but unfocused young Grizzlies.

Powe started and played 41 big minutes. No other player came close as even Paul Pierce played just 32 minutes.

In what is a glimpse of what Leon might look like as a starter, the Leon Powe Show was clicking in all gears. A stellar stat sheet included 11 rebounds, 5 blocks, 3 assists, and zero turnovers for the long, tough power forward.

That it occured against the lowly Memphis Grizzlies and that he received numerous feeds in the middle when opponents went to double Paul, Ray, and Rondo does not detract from a truly solid game by the up and coming role player for the Celtics.

He supplemented his signature post game with a number of off balance put ins, one sweet alley oop, to go with his strong moves. When he wasn’t scoring from the field, he was getting fouled and making foul shots, going 10 of 14 from the free throw line. Leon was a major reason the Celtics scored 46 points in the paint. His interior defense was equally good with 5 blocks, while the Griz had just 28 points in the paint.

Paul PIerce was once again happy being a facilitator, taking but 12 shots, making 6, for 17 points, while adding 5 assists.

Marbury and Moore’s Best Games
Also showing flashes of what the Celtics can expect from Marbury, Stephon looked sharper than before, hitting 4 shots including a big three pointer. On top of that. he added 5 assists and played fairly good defense in his 17 minutes.

Mikki Moore continued to have foul problems but was 3-3 with his jumper, coming up big with 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block.

Rookie Bill Walker continued to play well in 18 minutes with 6 points, a rebound, an assist and a steal.

In a quiet game, Kendrick Perkins patrolled the middle effectively and added just 2 points, 5 boards, a steal and a block.

New Memphis head coach Lionel Hollins was brought in to get the point guard issue settled and to get better balance in scoring. He has given Mike Conley freedom and Conley has played his best ball of his short NBA career. Mike had 9 assists, 12 points and 3 steals in this game.

But it appears to be a tougher job getting scoring balance out of the rest of the roster. Rudy Gay had 26 points but no assists in 44 minutes, while O.J. Mayo took 23 shots to score 21 points in another inefficient game. If Hollins job is based on better scoring distribution, it may be an other short stint for the good guy coach.

The Celtics shot .500 from the floor while holding Memphis to .423

Boxscore is here

Summary
Understanding that it was against a league doormat, the Celtics support players stepped up huge and hopefully we saw signs of what might be coming from Marbury, Moore, and even Walker. This game was a nice step forward for Celtic good guy Leon Powe, who did it all.

Getting Rondo back helped stabilize the team at both ends of the floor, but helped the most offensively.

The short-handed Boston Celtics once again rallied late and fell just short of tieing the game in the final minutes. The Miami Heat regrouped under ‘one man wrecking crew’ Dwyane Wade and won 107-99.

This was the story of two teams that play very different ways. The Heat are Dwyane Wade’s team and everyone in this solar system knows it. He won the game behind 32 points including the big shots to hold off the Celtics in the fourth quarter.

The Celtics still have two of the game’s top scorers in Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. You would think that might offset the Wade Factor. The Celtics never really explored that possibility.

This is open to debate, but the Celtics play a team oriented game, stars notwithstanding.
Tonight, one could wonder why Paul Pierce didn’t join Ray Allen as a one-two scoring punch. It would be a fair question. In fact, Pierce looked kind of lethargic in the fourth quarter.

Boston’s Minutes Men
There is much talk about minutes. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen both played 40 plus minutes again. How much does that factor in?

Tunrovers again played a role as Pierce was picked twice at crucial times. Together, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce split responsibility for eight turnovers. Boston had 17 on the night.

Wade and Chalmers are the best guard tandem in the league at stealing the ball. They must have drooled coming in, knowing that Rondo was out. Coincidentally (probably not), they each had 4 and Paul and Ray looked like easy pickings.

Leon Powe and Eddie House made solid contributions, while Stephon Marbury was scoreless on 0-6 shooting and Mikki Moore could have sneezed loudly and they would have called a foul on him. He had 4 fouls in the first period…and wasn’t a starter.

Ray Allen took the lead offensively and had 24 points by half time. He was 10-18 from the field and 5 of 8 from the three point line. On the other hand, Paul Pierce was rather quiet all night and took just ten shots making five while getting to the line for 7 free throws (making five) for a very ordinary 16 points.

You can argue with this, but under the circumstances, I would have no trouble with Paul going ‘alpha male’ in a game like this, along with Ray.

Eclipsed By the Moon
Jamario Moon has given Paul trouble when he guarded him with Toronto. Moon carried that over with a solid game again tonight. Moon plays a harassing man defense and with his length (6’8″) and long arms, he apparently presents a challenge for Pierce. Moon added some offensive problems as well with 13 points with 3 of 5 from the arc.

Paul also missed 2 of 3 free throws when fouled by Chalmers on a three point attempt. it left the score at 104-99 with 56 seconds left.

Powe Shines in Defeat
We know that the Celtics would need other players to step up and Leon Powe answered the bell. Leon finished the game with season high 23 points and 13 rebounds while playing 43 minutes. Playing his usual aggressive game, Leon is one of the best at getting to the line. He went 9 for 12 from the charity stripe for his efforts.

Kendrick Perkins was fed in the post in the second half and added 13 points, 8 rebounds to go with 3 blocks.

Bill Walker got 14 minutes and produce 8 points, 2 steals, 2 assists, and a rebound. The Celtics were ‘plus twelve’ points while he was in the game (best on the team).

Eddie House provided a spark in the Celtics surge to take back the lead. House twice hit big three pointers to get within a single point of Miami, the last at 95-96 with about 4 minutes left. Dwyane Wade rebuffed each time, first with driving lay-up between both Pierce and Allen, the second time with a jump shot.

I understand the situation with all of the players out. I still thought that this was a winnable game if they took better care of the ball and there were perhaps a few more shots by Paul Pierce along the way.

I’ll rewatch some of the game, but those are my thoughts right now.

Next up: Memphis at home on Friday

The short-handed Boston Celtics visit Miami tonight and will run into the league’s hottest player.

The Human Stimulus Package
You think Obama’s stimulus numbers are big? Try these…..

League scoring leader Dwyane Wade is averaging 38.2 points over the last five games, on 59% shooting with 11.4 assists, 6.6 rebounds, 3.4 steals, and 1.2 blocks. Coming off a 48 point double OT win aginst the Bulls last night, Dwyane Wade has gone nuclear in the last 5 games.

The Celtics can hope that he’s tired after all that. Or they can lay better defense than the Bulls did.

Wade has been bailing out the Miami Heat all season. They are a surprising 5th in the east with a 34-29 record. But they are only 6-5 since the trade for Jermaine O’Neal.

One thing to look out for: the Heat have the best turnover differential in the league (-3) and cause the 4th most turnovers (15.1) in total. The Celtics can be a turnover machine at times.

Celtics Are Down Five Players
Then there where ten.

Rajon Rondo and Glen Davis will most likely both be on the sidelines for the next two Boston games, we are told. Both incurred ankle sprains in the last few games.

That means the Celtics will dress ten players. Kevin Garnett will remain out until the end of next week, while Tony Allen’s thumb continues to heal. Brian Scalabrine remains out with Post Concussion Syndrome.

Guarding the league’s leading scorer and one of its most dominant players in Dwyane Wade will fall to Ray Allen and ……your guess is as good as mine.

After the first half debacle (season low 33 points) against the Magic on Sunday, the Celtics will most likely start Eddie House in this contest. I’m guessing that Doc Rivers and Tom Thibodeau will devise something similar to a ‘LeBron James type’ defense to deal with Mr Wade.

Though Wade went 5 for 6 from the three point line in yesterday’s game and is 12 for 18 from the arc over the last four games, he is just a 31% shooter from downtown for the season. You would rather him hurt you from there than on the way to the rim. Boston should defend the perimeter better than the Bulls, as well.

Ray Allen has regularly taken the top offensive guard for his assignments this year and has done a credible job. But Wade is simply a handful when he is playing like this.

Doc Rivers has called this a time for the team to grow and for other players to get meaningful minutes. I’m assuming that Bill Walker, and more remotely possible, J.R. Giddens will see court time.

Paul Pierce and Ray Allen will both have to carry the offense again, while Kendrick Perkins and Leon Powe will have to have strong games defending the post to keep the Heat at bay.

The next few games will be ‘character check’ games. Opportunities will abound for someone to step up and help the team.

Stephon Marbury and Mikki Moore are still learning the Celtics’ style of play. Keeping play calling simple will help for both, but most of all for Marbury, who must direct the offense. I suspect, like last game, most of the offense will run through Paul and Ray. That should always open up some things for others to contribute to the cause.

Gabe Pruitt, who was expected to be banished to the Forbidden Zone with Zod upon the arrival of Marbury, will probably see some action. If he looks at this correctly, it is a good chance to redeem himself in a number of ways.

Don’t feel sorry for, or be disappointed in these Celtics with this loss. It was worse than it looked and closer than you think.

On a day they desperately needed it, Ray Allen almost singlehanded brought the team back to have a chance to win in the final minute. Call it ‘Retro Ray’. Call him Sugar Ray. He continually pummeled the Magic defense in the second half, as he looked for and found openings like a boxer using jabs, crosses, uppercuts and body punches.

Before the Celtics lost the final decision, Ray laid 17 fourth quarter points on the jaw of the back peddling Magic.

Leon Powe hit two foul shots after taking a nice pass underneath from a driving Paul Pierce to get the Celtics within 9 points at 79-70. Hedo Turkolglu hit a three pointer to open it back up to 82-70.

Ray Allen Delivers Furious Flurry to Lift Celtics off the Mat
Then Ray Allen went to work. Ray almost knocked out Orlando with nine straight points that began with two consecutive jumpers (including his only three pointer), followed by a driving lay-up and two foul shots.

The score was now 82-79 with 1:22 left. It got a quiet Boston crowd back into the game along with the Celtics themselves.

With a chance to tie, they had the ball in the hands of the guy that got them back in the game and he had a decent look, though Dwight Howard was closing in on him. You can’t ask for more than that.

The Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo-less Celtics were down as much as twenty two points and fought back to within a missed Ray Allen three pointer of tieing it with just 40 seconds left to play.

They also lost Glen Davis with a twisted ankle in the third quarter, leaving them 5 players short.

That they found a way back into the game for the second time in a row against a top division rival, was a sign of the team’s never-say-die make up. That starts with Doc Rivers and ends with the Big Three. Today Ray Allen did his Cedric Maxwell impression as he said, ‘Climb on my back boys.’

After being down 51-33 at the half, Ray Allen scored 23 second half points to lead a charge that almost pulled a win out of a sure loss for the undermanned and sputtering Green Machine. With Rajon out, the Celtics managed just 10 assists on the game.

Versatile Ray Allen
Ray Allen showed a different side of his game today as he scored a game high 32 points on 12 of 25 shooting. It is reminiscent of his pre-Celtic days. Only one of his 12 made shots was a three pointer. With Rondo out, Ray and Paul more directly facilitated the offense. Ray did far more dribbling a la his previous teams, but he showed that he is far more versatile than a three point specialist.

Ray worked off curls, picks, back picks and screens, and drove straight for the rim when he knew he could. He often lost up his defender with changes of direction and effective use of his team mates picks as he circled and probed the front court looking for an opening. His used a stutter for short mid range jumpers in the paint over 6’10″ Rashard Lewis and shot swatting monster Dwight Howard.

His quick release on a baseline move got his shot up and in for a lay-up over a waiting Howard, who already blocked 5 shots in dramatic fashion.

The Celtics were far more aggressive in the second half as they figured out that they must try to create some offense before Orlando got truly set up. Without Rondo, their attack was stagnating in the half court sets in the first half. Paul and Ray started to attack as they entered the front court, things started to happen, and they were able to put points on the board.

A Game of Two Halves
Boston was held to 33 first half points with a mere 4 assists. They shot only 40% while allowing the Magic to shoot 56.4% and gave up 51 points. The Celtics held Orlando to 35 second half points on a mere 11 for 36 shooting at 30% while managing to score 46 of their own.

The Celtics also had 11 first half turnovers and were outrebounded 20-17 with a single offensive rebound. They had only 6 more turnovers and hit the boards for a 27-16 second half advantage, including 6 on the offensive end, led by Kendrick Perkins and Ray Allen with 3 (offensive) each.

Paul Pierce scored 16 points on 5 of 15 shooting with 8 rebounds, but 6 turnovers. Paul and Ray Allen each played over 45 minutes as Doc tries to achieve home court advantage.

Stephon Marbury started but showed some rust, playing 20 minutes without an assist and but 4 points and 3 turnovers.

Leon Powe played yet another strong game with 12 points, 7 rebounds, while drawing 4 charges in 30 minutes.

The Magic were led by Dwight Howard’s 18 points and 16 rebounds. Rashard Lewis showed his versatility with a number of made shots below the three point line himself. He also played good defense, while blocking two shots. He scored 15 points while Turkoglu added 16 points.

While Rafer Alston has replaced Jameer Nelson, and done a decent job, his shot selection and shoot first approach in the final minutes helped the Celtics close the gap, and nearly cost the Magic the game. He drove with 4 Celtics right there and missed a lay-up attempt, and took a three pointer with Rashard Lewis, arguably the league’s best three point shooter standing open near by and one short pass away. It would be hard to believe that he didn’t see him.

The complete boxscore is here.

Summary
It was a loss that almost turned into a win while being undermanned again. The offense did not have any semblence of movement as it does with Rajon in there. The defense without Garnett got it together in the second half. Their drive to close a 22 point deficit to almost tie or win shows the heart of the Boston Celtic team.

Even before this game, that fact was being noted by beat writers from La-La-land. This headline is from Mark Heisler of the LATimes…

Celtics Aren’t Going Away – Boston showed its heart against Cleveland, giving the Lakers something more to think about.

Never underestimate the heart of a Celtic

I couldn’t have said it better myself.