The Boston Celtics utterly forgettable past (Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak) and glorious present (Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen) were both on display last night in Seattle and after the Celtics beat the Supersonics, 104-96, it was clear that fortune was clearly on the Boston's side last June when they didn't get the No. 1 or No. 2 pick.
Kevin Durant will be a star in the NBA, the same is probably true with Greg Oden once he comes back next year healthy. However, getting one of those guys wouldn't have changed much around here for the next couple seasons. It was a blessing in disguise for the C's to get the No. 5 pick which they promptly traded to Seattle with Wally and D-West for Allen and Glen Davis. That move was trumped by the monster move to get Garnett from the Timberwolves.
Did I think the Celtics would be good? Certainly. But this much, so soon? Who could have dreamed of a 24-3 start. Granted it's been somewhat deceiving given the cake schedule but when you talk about the best teams in the league at this instant, Boston has to be on the short list.
In Allen's big return to Seattle, he struggled. He shot only 4 of 13 for 10 points. He was forcing shots left and right, something that he's never prone to do. It didn't matter since Paul Pierce went off with a game-high (and season-high) 37 points, six rebounds and four assists while KG had 23 points, 14 boards, two assists, two blocks and two steals. Kendrick Perkins had eight points and eight rebounds while Eddie House (13 points) and James Posey (10 points) provided timely hoops and defense off the bench. House hit a couple of long twos including one where he got fouled that was straight out of a video game.
In a TNT contest, Rajon Rondo was invisible (1 point, 5 assists, 4 rebounds) prompting the national commentators who haven't seen him that much this season to rip him. What do you expect? It's his second year and he can't put up 15+ points every night.
Durant led the Sonics (8-21) with 25 points and five boards and Chris Wilcox had 13 points and eight rebounds. Off the bench, D-West (19 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds) and Wally (14 points) played inspired ball. They obviously wanted to beat their old team. Watching Delonte fearlessly drive to the hoop and hit shot-clock beating shots, I was quickly reminded how fun he was to watch the last few seasons. He's a guy that is always giving his team everything he's got-which is sadly why he's usually battling injuries-and he could be valuable on the C's this year. Unfortunately, you gotta give up something (Al Jefferson?) to get something.
Boston shot 39.5% for the game while Seattle was 45.7%. The reason that the Celtics could have such an off-shooting night and bad performance on the glass (Seattle had 50 rebounds to Boston's 42) was solely because they had four turnovers. Four. That's unbelievable in an NBA game. They had one in the first half. Boston also was 27 of 36 at the line while Seattle was 18 of 23. It was an uneven performance from the C's but enough to beat the Sonics, one of the worst teams in the league.
Playing the second night of back to back games, Boston looked tired so they'll need today to rest before their game in Utah tomorrow night. The Jazz have played terribly lately but with Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams and Andrei Kirolenko among others, Utah is a formidable opponent which should make for an exciting game to flip to during the Pats-Giants game Saturday night.
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