Despite the proclamations of some people around here, the Celtics are not dead yet. Neither team could hit a damn thing in the first quarter, but the Celtics went on a 17-3 run in the second quarter to take what amounted to an insurmountable lead. The C’s lead never dipped below single digits after the 4:00 mark in the 2nd… the Pacers never got their field goal percentage out of the 30’s… and C’s fans got Gino-Time at the Garden thanks to the 94-75 win.
The Green:
This is easily the Celtics best defensive effort of the season. And we started to get a glimpse of what guys can do in the roles they were supposed to play from the beginning of the year. I’m looking mostly at Courtney Lee, who played a fantastic game. 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists… aggressive moves to attack the basket… and very good defense. THIS is the guy the C’s traded for.
The Gross:
Kevin Garnett got ejected for a flagrant 2 on Tyler Hansbrough that I thought was barely a flagrant 1. I think he was going for the ball and caught Psycho T in the head on the way down. We’ll see how the league sees it later.
The Greenlights:
KG flips over the front row… yells “oh shit… goddammit” because he can’t find his way back onto the court… then he hops the media table.
Rondo blows by everyone for the layup
[youtube id=”aJ2jz573PNU” width=”620″ height=”360″]Courtney Lee steal and dunk
[youtube id=”FjVvADaGfsI” width=”620″ height=”360″]The Grid:
- Boston out-rebounded Indiana 49-47
- KG, Pierce, and Rondo combined to shoot 22-40
- Rondo: 18 pts, 7 asts, 5 reb
- KG: 18 pts, 7 reb
- Pierce: 13 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast
- Jared Sullinger had his second double-digit rebounding effort of the season with 10. His season high was 11 vs. Toronto on 11/17.
- No Celtic played more than 30 minutes
I’m going to proclaim this the best win of the year because this was the first “Celtics” win we’ve seen this year. This was the ugly-yet-pretty defensive mess that’s come to define this team over the past few years. I know the OKC win was more exciting and over a better opponent, but this is the way the Celtics are SUPPOSED to play. This is the way they’re supposed win…. by choking the life out of their opponents and letting their offense flow out of that.
What’s the difference? The Celtics finally have some defined roles….. and it helps to play the 29th ranked offense in the league.
It’s one game. I see people saying this is the “turning point” of the Celtics season. Just like I preached patience before killing the team off… I’m going to preach patience before declaring them resurrected. This was a fantastic win and finally a win indicative of what this team can do… but it’s one win.
This is only a turning point if the Celtics can string a bunch of wins together… and we’ll have to wait to see if that’ll happen. For tonight, though, it’s a hell of a win over a very good team. Enjoy this one. There’s a lot to be positive about after this.
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