Posted By Lynn Worthy, Sun Staff
A close game and a home game. The Celtics never get those sorts of wins. That was until the Knicks came to town.
Here’s the quick and dirty:
The Celtics lead reached 20 points with 4:25 remaining in the first half and stayed that way going into the break. Three different players scored in double figures in, Paul Pierce being the low man of the trio with just 10 points.
Brian Scalabrine made 5 of 6 in the first half and 4 of 5 from behind the arc. He totaled up a team-high 14 point at halftime. Al Jefferson was right behind him with 13.
Somehow the Celtics managed to commit eight turnovers and have none of them lead to Knicks points.
New York trailed 57-37 after two quarters.
Every thing changed once Quentin Richardson caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 14 of his 24 points. By the 5:10 mark in the quarter the Knicks deficit was cut to five points.
Stephon Marbury’s three-pointer with 9:17 left to play hit nothing but net and gave the Knicks their first lead of the game.
Gerald Green moved to the forefront in the final quarter, netting 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. Jefferson continued with his monster game as the Celtics went to him repeatedly down the stretch. Big Al finished with a game-high 26 points and nine rebounds.
Hey Lynn, how are you? I am a long time reader of the Lowell Sun Blogs, but it is my first time posting. I have selected to pop my blog cherry today because I am a huge Boston Celtics fan. Big win for our guys tonight. It was a fast past game that was overflowing with action, and I really enjoyed watching it. Now Lynn, are you one of those folks in the media that believe the Celtics should be tanking it at this point? I, for one, am. Doc Rivers should be run out of town along with Danny Ainge. Ainge has filled this team with young "talent" and there is no veteran talent. yet his long term plans are depending on the draft. This man is insane. A good judge of college talent i must admit. I would like to see the Celtics tank it, get the first pick, and trade it away along with " The Tuth" for a real veteran superstar. You can even throw in Szerbiack, and whatever other piece of trash on this team. Then we can be real contenders. And screw Green and the dunk contest. The kid is a moron. But who can blame him with a jack ass like Peirce's showing you the way.
For blogging purposes, you should consider changing your name to Phat Professor.
As for your "evaluation," you might want to take a second look. Jefferson is a legit 20-10 guy right now, and he's in his 3rd year. By next year, he'll qualify as "veteran" talent...and much better than anything you'll find on the trade market except for Kevin Garnett. Green is still "young," but also growing up in front of our very eyes.
If you watched that game last night, you saw the birth of a Big Two (Pierce & Jefferson, with the Captain even deferring to the inside presence in crunch time) and the arrival of Green as a real threat when Pierce is there to take a lot of the pressure off him. He's only going to get better, and by next year might just become an "untouchable"...you see how smooth that shooting stroke is...mid-range and long-range? Within a year or two, Rondo will also be a consistent "presence" and Delonte West can go back to being a nice "complimentary" swing guard off the bench.
Now then, throw in Oden or Durant, and you have a contender for a long time. Those guys have already spent a year in the upper levels of college ball and will be much more advanced than Jefferson or Green were when they entered the league.
If you get the #3 pick or below, then you can look to trade it for veteran talent...as long as it's "real" veteran talent.
Forget what the record says...this team is inching closer to contention. If Pierce hadn't got hurt, you'd be looking at a playoff team right now.