Recap: C's find shooting touch against Knicks

If you’re like me and you are a… ahem… “seasoned” Celtics fan you remember the old days when the Celtics would play a game a year out at the old Hartford Civic Center. The way the Celtics shot against the Knicks, though, they might want to go back to playing in Hartford more often. The Celtics were on fire, especially from long-range, as they dispatched the Knicks 106-86. If you care about such things (which you shouldn’t), it’s the Celtics second straight 20-point win to start the season. Before you get too excited about that, the Spurs lost to some team from Berlin… and we know how much that means. Still, it’s nice. Winning is fun to watch any time of the year.

The Knicks looked every bit the team learning a new system under a new coach.

The Green

The shooting is clearly the big story for the C’s tonight. Take away the scrub time at the end when all the guys who’ll be cut in a couple of weeks dragged the percentages down, and the C’s shot over 50% for the game. At one point in the third quarter they were shooting in the low 60% range. The C’s shot 50% from 3 (again, it was much better before guys came in and missed a bunch in the last few minutes), fueled by Jared Sullinger (3-3), Kelly Olynyk (3-5), and Marcus Smart (2-4). I’ll put my money against those guys combining to shoot 8-12 from deep every game of the season, and I’ll probably win 79 times. Still, it’s nice to see these guys have it in them.

Sully had a big game to lead the C’s. Yes, he was perfect from deep, but he was also 6-9 from inside the arc, using his strength to get deep in the paint and finish. He and Marcus Thorton also combined on a nice no-look pass/Sully dunk highlight.

Evan Turner cooled off from his first game, but he still did a little of everything with 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Marcus Smart hit a shot! Actually, he hit 4 of them en route to a line that would THRILL me if it turned out to be his season averages: 11 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals. He shot 50% across the board (4-8 fg, 2-4 3pt, 1-2 ft)

Marcus Thornton is going to frazzle some nerves, but 12 points on 5-10 shooting is something I think we’ll all take if he can do that this year.

The Gross

Gerald Wallace is pretty much unwatchable at this point. I know he’s not 100%, and I know he’s at the end of his career. But man, it’s tough to justify him getting any minutes.

If you didn’t see the first game of the preseason, you’d look at Tyler Zeller and say “oh, I see why he was available.” But compare tonight to his first game, and there’s marginal improvement. I’m still not going to pass judgment on the kid because this is all very new and he does look very lost. I think the lesson with Zeller right now is that he’s going to need some time, and we should give it to him. If Thanksgiving rolls around and he still looks like this… then I’ll start to worry. I hope he can show any signs of being more comfortable a month into the season. All I’m asking for is a sign of improvement… something to hang my hat on.

The Grid