Boston Sports Then and Now

Courtesy of North Station Sports

Kevin Garnett saved his best for last.

If you follow your sports through the ESPN-hype machine only, then you maybe just fine with the Celtics sneak-away win today at Madison Square Garden. Fact is, today’s performance was more of the same from the Celtics. erratic play, poor shooting, and veterans just looking plain old.

Our worst fears came true Sunday afternoon as the C’s recent offensive woes had spilled over to the defensive end of the court. Zero communication had translated to bad help defense, on some plays– no help defense. Again, our guys made a down right poor team look decent.

The C’s jumped out to an early first quarter lead and closed the period up by 8 points. I had started to exhale from holding my breath all weekend as the Celtics FINALLY jumped out to a decent start. Again, the Celtics struggling to put together a full 48 minute game of decent basketball, entered the half only up by three points.

The second half started with another Celtics run, going up 14 points. In the same quarter, the switch was flipped again as they fell back into a stagnant offense. before the third quarter ended, the Knicks closed the gap and ended the period with a 5 point lead.  The Fourth quarter was more of the same.

Most glaring was Kevin Garnett’s lack of defensive mobility when guarding Al Harrington (30 points, 5-10 from downtown). Time and time again, Harrington beat Garnett off the dribble, testing his mobility on every play. Garnett’s perimeter defense was so deficient that I began to hone in on that recovering knee again. Clearly Kevin is not nearly 90 percent and it has not been more obvious then Sunday afternoon against the athletic Harrington. KG (10 points, 4-15 shooting), did not fare better on the offensive end of the court and he went 1-10 in the first half. Ray Allen (13 points, 3-13 field goals) didn’t help the matter as he and Rasheed Wallace (0 points, 0-6 shooting) couldn’t throw it in the Hudson.

The Knicks got another solid performance from David Lee with 22 points and 15 boards. At the end of regulation, Lee hit the game tying DUNK(?) on another defensive break down by the Celtics.  Looks of bewildered shock consumed the Celtics players as they headed towards the bench with 4 seconds on the clock.

Pierce helped the Celtics to survive agains the Knicks.

As the players set up for the final play of the game, all eyes at MSG were fixed on Paul Pierce (33 points, 9 rebound, 6 assists). I expected the always effective play– Paul Pierce at the top of the key, KG sets a pick while Ray fades off a back screen (from Perk) towards the baseline. You’ve seen it before. It’s a winner every time. The options are endless. Paul rolls off the screen and tries to draw contact, OR KG pops out for a 17 footer (it even worked for Big Baby vs Orlando in the Semifinals), OR the doozy (my personal favorite)– Ray Allen with the dagger three-ball from the corner. Any of these options can be executed with limited time on the clock. We have seen it over and over again since 2007 and team’s still cannot defend it because of the many options the Celtics have.

So, here we go…

The official handed the ball over for inbounding and… nothing happened. No one moved. The ball ended up in RONDO’S hands and i knew the game was going to overtime before Rajon even caught the ball. Rondo (14 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists) played a good game in spurts, nearly mounting a triple double but, as good as he is, I don’t want the ball anywhere near him with the clock running down in crunch time.

Overtime was handled by Paul Pierce who scored all but two points for the Celtics in the extra period. So, as the game again winded down, Pierce again took control. This time, Pierce would use the assist to win the game. A pass to KG, at the top of the key, ended the game. Celtics took the win.

“He’s that type of player,” Pierce said. “You’re talking about a Hall of Fame player. He’s missed millions of shots. He’s going to keep playing, going to keep taking shots when he gets an opportunity. He really stepped up big for our team when we needed it.”

Something good always comes out of a W… right?

“We played better today. Not the way we’d like to, of course, but better. We’re going to build on that. We’re still a work in progress.”

–Paul Pierce, following the game

Just what we wanted to hear Paul! Great!

The Celtics played well in stretches. Very well.  This proves that they still have what it takes (ouch– I just heard Derrick Rose in that annoying League Pass commercial). The C’s swatted 8 shots, reconnected from the foul line (77 percent), showed moments of offensive brilliance in moving the ball. Rondo nearly notched a triple double and most of the brilliant offensive sequences seemed to have Rajons (large) hands on them at some point.

Pierce was light’s out through 48 minutes. Proving why he is the captain, he showed that trust in teammates will pay off– even when that teammate is struggling. Rasheed Wallace’s offensive struggles continued but he showed up on D once again with 4 steals and 4 boards.

Perk continues to garner some (over-due) attention. He notched 16 points, 6-7 from the field, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks.

And then KG. Garnett struggled in every aspect of the game. He looked but a shell of his former self. He didn’t whine about calls. He didn’t grunt at teammates. He didn’t even snarl at Harrington (I kinda wish he did) while being embarrassed several times off the dribble. He just kept working. Silently trying to emerge from his poor day. It took him 52 minutes and 55 seconds to do it. All that matters is he did and the C’s walked away with a bewildered W.

Nick Gelso covers the Boston Celtics and NBA for Boston Sports Then and Now. You can check out more of his great work on his blog: North Station Sports.