The Celtics didn't play a particularly great game, but their defense just flat out smothered the Charlotte.
The result… a slow, painful, 31 point death.
Just look at the quarter by quarter breakdown: 20-16 C's in the first. 22-16 in the second. 22-15 in the third. 29-15 in the fourth. Final score: 93-62.
The C's didn't even shoot 44%. They turned it over 18 times (6 by Rondo… but he had 5 steals). BUT they forced Charlotte to shoot 33.8% (1 of 11 from 3), they forced 21 turovers, and they blocked 10 shots. The C's outrebounded Charlotte by 10 and out-assisted them 21-17. They held Gerald Wallace to 2-15 shooting. They held DJ Augestin scoreless in 32 minutes (he only had 1 assist and 4 turnovers).
Ray and Baby had 16 each to lead the C's. Pierce (8 pts, 1-9 shooting) was off. Rondo didn't play all that great. It was generally a blah game that saw the C's just hold steady while slowly putting more and more distance between them and their opponents.
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