In a contest that had all the feel of a sparsely attended exhibition game, the Pierce-less Celtics, trailing at the half to potentially the league’s worst team ever, turned up the second half D to win 96-87.
It was a game that was much closer than it should have been, and you really couldn’t blame the Boston fans’ lack of verbalocity. They were either a bit stunned or lulled to sleep by the lackluster play of the Celtics as the Green Team trailed the Nets at the half 55-51, while allowing the moribund Nets to shoot a precision .633
The second half was correction time, but even then the Celtics let the Nets hang around within striking distance until Kevin Garnett made an 18 foot jump shot, making the score 95-87 with 59 seconds left. It was yet another example of a Celtic team that has been lacking a killer instinct, and even stumbling in the fourth quarter for much of the season.
The Cs returned to a more committed defense and held the Nets to 11 for 38 shooting (29%) and 32 second half points.
Even winning was a bit inept.
The Cs did everything in their power to keep the Nets in the game at the end, including a 24 second call without even a shot attempt with the score 93-87, and 1:28 left in the game.
Shortly after, Rajon Rondo was harassed into an 8 second call for not getting the ball over half court with 43:9 seconds left.
Then Eddie House gets whistled for an offensive foul for running into his defender on an in bounds play with 31:3 seconds left.
Who’s Zooming Who?
But these are the New Jersey Nets we’re talking about. Even with three gift turnovers, there is no way these guys are going to be tricked into winning a game against the Boston Celtics. They missed 6 straight three point shot attempts (7 straight shots starting with 1:16 left) in the final minute to top any Celtic misadventures that they endured.
Ray Allen led the Celtics with 26 points and Eddie House provided a big lift with all 10 of his points in the 4th quarter.
Eddie even had a three pointer taken away after a video review was judged that the ball was still in his hands when the 24 second clock expired. For the record, after replaying the shot on the Nets TV station, the Nets announcers thought the shot had left his hands before the red light went on.
(An aside: Net announcer Mike Fratello doesn’t seem like he is having much fun at all doing the Nets’ games. It is hard to put a positive spin on what they are doing out there every night. )
Irreplaceable Rajon Rondo played 44 minutes, contributing 17 points on 6-8 shooting, with 11 assists, 3 steals, a block and just 2 turnovers. His plus/minus was +17, meaning the Celtics were –8 in just the four minutes he rested.
Rondo had a beautiful over-the-shoulder pass to Rasheed Wallace, who was coming up behind him, for a short jumper in the second quarter to make the score 33-28
Glen Davis played probably his finest game of the season, scoring 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 21 minutes.
Kevin Garnett played just 26 plus minutes, scoring 10 points with 7 rebounds. 3 assists and 2 steals in his limited time.
In somewhat of a change of pace, Rasheed Wallace dished off for a season high 5 assists, while scoring 7 points on 3 of 7 shooting with 3 rebounds. In the third quarter, ‘Sheed showed off a nice touch pass, by instantly re-directing a pass from Rondo to a cutting Davis for two points. Wallace down low is something we need to see more of, I think.
Kendrick Perkins had 7 points and 6 rebounds in 25 plus minutes. Tony Allen, starting for Pierce, was quiet offensively with 4 points on 2 of 7 shooting with 2 rebounds and 2 assists in 27 plus minutes.
‘Open’ House
It does not take much space for Eddie House to get a shot off and a cool Eddie was 0-4 until he heated up quickly with three makes in a row early in the fourth quarter.
He got going with a left side mid range bank shot to regain a Celtic lead at 74-73. He followed that with a three pointer after giving the ball to Davis, then getting it right back and coming back up behind a Davis screen at the arc to drain his first three.
Less than two minutes layer, Eddie came around front court screens to square up on the left corner for three more, making the score 88-77 for the Celtics.
He hit another jump shot with 6 minutes left to make it 84-77. House score 10 of the Celtics’ 12 points in a 4 minute span. Eddie added a steal during that flurry for good measure.
After that, Ray Allen hit a jumper and a three pointer sandwiched around a Glen Davis jump shot and a Kendrick Perkins lay up off a Rondo dish. It would be nice if Davis could get that elusive jumper going again.
Then Garnett hit his big jump shot to move the lead up to 8 points and the Nets were done. A team whose confidence is completely shot, the Nets missed 6 straight three point attempts over the last 59 seconds of the game.
Bill Walker played 9 minutes in the game, by far the most time he’s been given this season. He scored 2 points with a rebound and 2 turnovers in his appearance.
The Nets were led by Brook Lopez’ 19 points, followed by Devin Harris’ 17 points.
Numbers
The Celtics shot .500 after starting slow and out rebounded the hapless Nets 36-33.
The Celtics took big advantage of turnovers with 25 points on 15 Net TOs. The Nets only had 14 points off 12 Celtic turnovers.
Fast break points: 17-6 (Celtics)
Points in the Paint: 32-34 (Nets)
Second Chance Points: 11-4 (Celtics)
It wasn’t a masterpiece by any stretch. More like paint-by-numbers, but we will take the Celtics’ third win a row.
Paul Pierce may play on Sunday.
Next up: the Orlando Magic come to Boston on Sunday for a 2:30 game
