After a disappointing loss to the Houston Rockets on Monday at home, the Celtics rebounded nicely with a classic throttling at the hands of the Sacramento Kings. From the onset, the Celtics' collective energy was evident. Doc Rivers said the practice the day before was a great one and was happy to see it carry over into the game. Make no mistake about how inept this current version of the Kings are, but the Celtics wasted no time dismissing them.
Rookie big man Semih Erden had probably his best game as a Celtic, filling in for the chronically injured Jermaine O'Neal. There were plenty of positives to take from this game, watch the GreenLights below for all the details.
Q1: We begin with an outdoor shot of the TD Garden and just how bad the weather was as well as Shaquille O'Neal's grizzly bear outfit. The scoring gets going with some lazy Sacramento defense on a basic inbounds play as Ray Allen breaks free for an easy lay-up via Paul Pierce. Other highlights include:
- Pierce stealing the DeMarcus Cousins pass
- Pierce then buries a three
- Pierce rebounding the Cousins miss, then out-letting it to Rajon Rondo who finds Ray for the three ball
- Shaq with the left-handed block on Jason Thompson's lay-up attempt
- Rondo kicking it out to Big Baby for the straight away jumper
- Shaq with the no-look pass to Ray
- Rondo with the fastball to Pierce, and 1… Pierce misses the free throw
- Pierce 'doin work in the post on Francisco Garcia
- Good team defense forcing a Thompson travel
- Rondo with a nice spin move on Pooh Jeter for two
- More good defense forcing a turnover, leading to Rondo's slick pass to Pierce for the lay-up
- Pierce driving and dishing to Semih for two and a foul… Semih misses the free throw but Luke Harangody gets the offensive rebound, eventually leading to a Marquis Daniels lay-up
- Pierce with a left wing three that rattles in
- Pierce getting to the basket with ease to end the first quarter
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_9vW3wJ0iQ&w=445&h=275]
Q2: The second quarter begins with some nice Harangody defense on a driving Jermaine Taylor who misses the lay-up. Other highlights include:
- Official Bob Delaney getting taken down after a jump ball
- Von Wafer finding the back-door cutting Quis for the slam
- Big Baby with the transitional steal on Taylor, then finding the trailing Nate Robinson who drains a three
- Quis finding the rolling Semih who gets fouled and makes both free throws
- Ray with the solid post defense, causing the turnover which leads to the loud one-handed Semih slam
- Semih with the strong rebound, outlets to Nate who drills a transition three
- Ray finding the rolling Big Baby who spins for two
- Rondo with another bullet pass to Quis who tips in his own miss
- Big Baby 'doin work in the post on Beno Udrih
- Big Baby with the nice spin move on Jeter
- Pierce with the nice drive to the basket with the left hand, and 1… He missed the free throw
- Big Baby drawing the charge on Carl Landry
- Rondo finding Ray for three off an inbounds play
- Pierce with another strong drive, this time making both free throws after drawing the foul on Thompson
- The Rondo Drill once again to end the half
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X8b5IaC8Cs&w=445&h=275]
Q3: The second half gets going with a solid 24 seconds of defense capitalized with a loud rebound from Rondo. Other highlights include:
- Shaq finding a back-door cutting Rondo for the lay-up
- Sahq rebounding his own miss and banking it home
- Rondo with the two-handed under hand pass to Big Baby for the baseline jumper
- Rondo with the same pass to Ray who is trailing on the break and drains a three right in front of Sacramento's bench
- Rondo just blowing by Jeter for the lay-up
- Shaq's debatable offensive foul
- Pierce 'doin more post work on Garcia for two
- Ray picking off the bad Cousins pass, then eventually getting rewarded for running the break and drilling another three this time from the right wing
- Rondo finding Big Baby again for the baseline jumper
- Rondo picking off the bad Garcia pass
- Ray to Pierce for the lay-up off the inbounds pass, the opposite of the first play of the game
- Semih with the quick hands causing the turnover in the post, then Rondo with the nice bounce pass to a trailing Pierce who lays it in
- Semih's loud put-back slam
- Semih follows it up with solid post defense
- Rondo buries the pull-up jumper
- Rondo with the steal from behind, breaking out alone in transition, then bouncing it to Quis for the slam
- Wafer drilling a straight away three
- Semih with more good defense in the lane, allowing Rondo to get out on the break with another fantastic bounce pass to Quis who lays it in
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrxFoscOr6A&w=445&h=275]
Q4: The final quarter, or as Marv Albert likes to call it, extended gar-bagge time, begins with Luke forcing the jump ball on a driving Taylor. Luke would win the tip. Other highlights include:
- Nate drilling another three, prompting Mike & Tommy to describe his wing flap as shenanigans
- Wafer with a sweeping hook for two
- Nate draining a jumper from the right wing
- Harangody drawing the charge on Landry
- Quis with the slick floater in the lane for two
- Quis finding Wafer on the baseline for the jumper
- Nate with the pull-up jumper in transition
- Nice transition defense by the bench, forcing the botched alley-oop and allowing Wafer to get out on the break and get fouled… He would make both free throws
- Even though Darnell Jackson eventually scores, Luke gets a nice initial block on him
- Luke earning Tommy Points with his hustle on the offensive glass
- Wafer drilling a right-wing three
- Harangody with the rebound, out-letting it to Nate who drains another transition three
- Quis stealing the bad outlet pass, misses the lay-up but Semih is there for the follow
- Nate finding Luke for the jumper
- Avery Bradley getting out on the break for the two handed slam
- Luke drawing another charge while the team is up huge
- Doc Rivers has now passed KC Jones with the third most victories as Celtics coach
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhUIUaW1IRw&w=445&h=275]
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