In anticipation of a St. Patrick's Day celebration, the Celtics did not disappoint their fans by bouncing back from a brutal loss to the New Jersey Nets. Jeff Green came off the bench to light up the scoreboard in the second quarter with 17 of his 19 points, while Troy Murphy had an eye-rubbing reverse dunk in the fourth quarter.
Maybe it was just natural that a guy named "Murphy" had a surprising play wearing a Celtic uniform on the eve of St. Patty's Day. Maybe he wanted to show his old team that he still had some hops. Either way, that play, as well as Delonte West's huge rejection on Paul George displayed some of the potential the bench has with this team. Delonte returned and looked solid, helping to give the starters another game of rest.
Check out the GreenLights below for some of the better plays:
Q1: After we see Paul Pierce walking into the area with Mike Gorman, Pierce gets the offense going by adding Roy Hibbert to his 2011 hit list by posterizing him with a baseline slam. Other highlights include:
- Nenad Krstic grabbing the offensive board and laying it in for two
- Pierce driving to the basket for a lefty lay-up
- Good defense, finishing with Pierce forcing a jump ball with Granger
- Pierce driving and finding Krstic who gets fouled and makes 1 of 2 free throws
- Pierce blocking Granger, then playing more good defense, with Hibbert shoving Pierce
- Ray Allen with good transition defense, forcing Darren Collison to miss a lay-up
- Kevin Garnett with the beautiful post move on Jeff Foster for two
- Pierce with the bullet pass to Green for two
- Great lane clogging defense, forcing Tyler Hansbrough to a bad miss
- Rondo finding Big Baby for the jumper
- Green with the jump hook oer Granger
- Big Baby and Murphy combining for the rebound
Q2: The second quarter gets underway with solid team lane clogging defense, followed up with a Glen Davis lay-up for two. Other highlights include:
- More solid team defense by the second unit on consecutive sets
- Rondo finding a cutting Green for the lay-up
- Another great 24 seconds of defense, leading to Delonte finding Green underneath who gets fouled and makes both free throws
- Two more swarming sets of defense, highlighted by Green rejecting Hansbrough
- Rondo finding Green in the corner for three
- Rondo finding Green for another lay-up
- Rondo lofting it to Green who is ahead of the break, gets fouled (clear path foul) and makes both free throws
- Ray and Pierce matching each other, both hitting a pair of threes the close the half
Q3: The second half begins with KG's extra effort on defense in the post, creating the turnover. Other highlights include:
- Krstic with a nice post move on Granger, scoring just before the 24 second buzzer goes off
- Rondo with the quick outlet pass to Pierce who is ahead on the break, gets fouled and makes 1 of 2 free throws
- Rondo blowing by Collison and dishing to Krstic for the slam
- Krstic bobbles the ball, but Pierce is there to pick it up and lay it in for two
- Krstic blocking Collison's lay-up attempt
- Rondo lobbing it to KG who slams it
- Great team defense allowing Rondo to get in the passing lane for the steal… then Rondo finds Krstic on a beautiful bounce pass, Krstic gets fouled and makes both free throws
- More great lane clogging defense on Granger, leading to Ray getting an old fashioned three point play
- Pierce working Granger to the basket for two and a foul… Pierce would make the free throw
- Good second effort on defense, forcing the 3-second violation on Hibbert
- KG simply toying with Jeff Foster in the post
- Rondo with the fantastic recovery block on Granger
- Pierce with the pump-fake on Granger, drawing the foul and making both free throws
- Pierce fighting over the top of the pick and sneaking in for the steal
- Carlos Arroyo drilling the three at the end of the quarter buzzer
Q4: The final quarter begins with Delonte and Murphy working the pick-and-roll quite well as Murphy gets fouled and makes both free throws. Other highlights include:
- Delonte making a tough turn-around jumper to beat the shot clock buzzer
- Murphy's unreal reverse slam
- Davis working Hibbert in the post
- Davis then with some solid post defense on Hibbert in the post
- Delonte finding Murphy for the wide open jumper that he knocks down
- Green with the turn-around, off the glass bank shot from the post
- Delonte's monster block on Paul George
- Delonte with a sneaky block on Collison
- Green's rejection on Granger
- Delonte and Krstic working the pick-and-roll, resulting in a Krstic lay-up
- Great team defense by the bench, highlighted by another Green rejection on Granger, leading to Granger's technical foul… Ray would make the technical free throw
- Ray knocking down the jumper in the lane off a curl
- Davis on the second and third efforts against all five Pacers, getting fouled and making one of two free throws
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