Celtics Visit the Circus and Come Home with a Win

As long as Isiah Thomas is still coaching up the Knicks and the team is filled with overpaid bums, they are a national joke. What negative thing hasn't happened to the Knicks in recent memory? Brawls, front office lawsuits, dogged play, coach-player disputes. In the 90's, they used to be one of the best teams in the NBA year in and year out.

The Celtics traveled to the Big Apple yesterday afternoon for an early game thanks to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Boston (33-6) came away with a 109-93 win in a game filled with trash-talking.

The offensive star for the C's, especially in the first half was Kendrick Perkins. He had 24 points (22 in the first half) which is a new career-high and eight rebounds. Kevin Garnett had 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists while Ray Allen (17 points, 8 boards) and Rajon Rondo (14 points, 4 steals) were some other notables.

Down 59-45 at the half, New York (13-28) resorted to some pretty bush league tactics in the second half to try and get under Boston's skin. Quentin Richardson (0 points) has had a long running feud with Paul Pierce (10 points, 7 assists) and things boiled over as they both got two technicals in the third quarter and were subsequently tossed. Pierce was having a great game distributing the ball, it was a shame to see him get caught up jawing with a scrub that had only one motive: get Pierce out.

The Knicks have some great numbers guys. Players that put up good statistics but never seem to be on good teams with any chemistry. Zach Randolph had a double-double with 24 points, 15 boards and four steals and Jamal Crawford had 22 points and five assists. Eddy Curry posted 19 points and six boards while Nate Robinson had 15 points off the bench.

Eddie House added nine points and Leon Powe built off his last game by scoring six and pulling down four rebounds.

Boston outshot New York, 54.7-43.2%. The Knicks made only 1 of their 15 3-point attempts and both teams were solid on the line (New York was 28 of 33, Boston was 23 of 29). Finally, the C's grabbed six more rebounds (42-26).

The Toronto Raptors come to the Garden tomorrow night in what should be a good contest. When healthy, the Raptors have a quality team. Chris Bosh has been lighting it up of late so no doubt, the Celts main priority will to be stop him.