Results tagged “paulpierce”

Let's face it. That was uglier than Minnesota's starting power forward. But if the Celtics are going to make a run at 70+ wins this season (and while PTI and the Globe and others are speculating about the possibility, we say, let's can that talk and let things unfold), they have to win games like last night. Trap games, against young athletic teams, on the second night of back-to-backs. And somehow, finally, the Celtics did.

Superficially, it looked like the old rivalry again. The Sixers have brought back the old logo, the old floor from the Spectrum (more or less) and uniforms that hearken back to the days of Dr. J and Andrew Toney. But the team that Philly put on the floor last night was no match for the early 09-10 Celtics. The '83 Sixers might not have been.

The Celtics are beating good teams by double digits. They're ticking off All-Star opponents. They're 4-0 after dispatching the Hornets last night at the Garden. And most importantly, they seem to have locked up their point guard for a few more years.

When we last saw the Chicago Bulls, it was after the Celtics survived a seven-game street fight of a playoff series. Last night, the Bulls tapped out in about seven minutes. Perhaps that's an exaggeration on the part of Bostonist but the Celtics thoroughly outclassed the team, 118-90.

Maybe the results are a little skewed, since the Charlotte Bobcats clearly didn't belong on the same floor or in the same league as the Celtics last night. Or maybe the Bobcats just looked like that because the C's' defense locked them up so tight that Amnesty International was handing out flyers by the end of the game. Final score: 92-59.

So says Doc, and it's a little easier to say now, after the Celtics withstood an early barrage from the Cavaliers and came back to win their season opener, 95-89.

So, Boston, which do you think is worse? The sudden, unexpected fatal heart attack that killed the Bruins last week? Or the slow bleeding-to-death-on-the-sidewalk feeling that permated the Garden throughout the second half last night?

Act I, In Which We Are Rocked Like Hurricanes

The Bulls are the team that won't go away. The Celtics are the team that won't die. This is the series that won't end. The NBA is about an hour away from declaring this a "best 9 out of 17" series.

We check the ESPN SportsNation polls often. It's an addiction. Yesterday, the question "Who Will Win the Celtics/Bulls Series?" was red enough to almost double as the Reagan/Mondale election map. Not today, brother.

Salina Kosgei (Kenya) wins the women's Marathon, and Deriba Merga (Ethiopia) wins the men's race. Americans finish third in both divisions. [Boston Herald]

With the summer already seemingly down in flames (more on that later, if we can bear it), there was a bit of welcome news yesterday, as the NFL released its 2009 schedule, so we can now see what the Patriots' fall will look like. We already knew about the Monday Night opener with Buffalo and the trip to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of London in October, but it's here in all its glory.

"It's just a sad situation," said Tim Wakefield afterwards. He was talking, of course, about the pregame ceremonies in Anaheim last night to honor the late Nick Adenhart - the moment of silence, the emotional moment when Torii Hunter and John Lackey brought his jersey out to the mound, the looks of shock and despair still on the Angels' faces - and was not, we repeat NOT, referring to the Red Sox' sudden 3-game losing streak.

Garnett (Still.) Powe. Ray Allen. Out. (And that's not even counting Scalabrine and Tony Allen, who we've kind of written off.) How would the remnants of the Celtics beat the Heat and their clear silver medalist in the MVP race?

Who can blame Doc Rivers for blowing his top? The Celtics blew a 13-point lead, they're 4-6 in their last ten games, a few more guys got injured, and he finally got thrown out at the end of last night's 127-121 loss in Chicago.

Complaining about the refereeing after a loss is a little ungentlemanly. Complaining about the refs after a win, however, is allowed and in fact encouraged after a game like last night, when the Celtics were legitimately going 5-on-8 down the stretch, but still managed to outdefend and outhustle Cleveland for a 105-94 win that helped throw the top of the Eastern Conference standings into a tizzy.

Playing in New Jersey can suck the life out of even the best of teams. Even the vaunted '86 Celtics lost there twice. And last night, the vaunted '09 Celtics were minutes away from dropping their second straight game.

Doc Rivers insisted that last night's game was fraught with peril. Even though the Celtics were visiting the atrocious Clippers, it was the last game of a seven-month road trip (or so it seemed), and there's always danger of the players mentally checking out before the last 48 minutes of a trip are finished.

Scott Clemmensen. Scott, Scott, Scott-Scott, Scott. How quickly we forget. We were happy as you and your crop of BC Eagles took home that national title in 2001. And now, here we are, seeing what it's like when you're guarding that opposing net. You've gone and grown up on us. We'd be proud if we weren't so annoyed that the Bruins lost last night.

Last game before the All-Star break. Tough opponent on the road. Trailing by 15. Pack it in?

Maybe being at home got stagnant. After losing to two Western powers at the Garden, the Celtics hit the road and got themselves a win, beating the Hornets 89-77 in New Orleans. Paul Pierce led the show with 30 points, while KG chipped in 10 rebounds and Rondo added 11 assists. The only bad spot was for Ray Allen, who had to come out in the first half with a thumb injury and only got one point. He says he's going to try to play tonight in Dallas.

Lots to talk about today! (Especially since we had technical problems yesterday. Sorry.) Let's go chronologically, based on yesterday's action:

Admit it. There were moments in those dark dark days of a few weeks ago where we worried about the Celtics. The relentless Cavaliers and the upstart Magic were challenging our rightful spot at the top of the East.

"I do think we're turning in the right direction," said Doc Rivers after the game last night. Whether it's that the Celtics actually have shaken off the early-January stinkiness, or whether it was just the appearance of the godawful New Jersey Nets, the Celtics enjoyed their biggest blowout in a long time, cruising to a 118-86 win and bringing Gino out of mothballs for the first time in forever.

There will be time to discuss precisely why writers waited until not the eleventh hour, but 15-minutes-til-midnight to elect Jim Rice into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Writers seemed to feel that that time was during Rice's first post-announcement press conference (SI.com covers both sides of the debate), but we here at Bostonist say that the right time for such pondering will come further down the road. After this summer, when Rice is finally inducted into the Hall in Cooperstown, perhaps.

OK. It's oooookaaaaay. So maybe we thought that Doc Rivers' "stay the course" message meant something a little different. We all took it as sticking with a formula that has found success during much of this Celtics season-in-progress.

The Penguins are a good team. Eastern Conference champs last year, home team of the young superstar of the NHL...it's not a bad gig. But in the 2008-09 version of the league, they're nothing but a road bump for the red-hot Bruins, who exploded again for a 5-2 win and their ninth straight win.

Golden State's record (9-22 as of today) might not be much to look at, but those Warriors have, for whatever reason, figured out how to make the Celtics tick. Leading into Friday night's game in Oakland, the Warriors had beaten the Celts four times in a row at Oracle Arena. So while Friday night's (late) showdown on the West Coast might have seemed like a foregone conclusion, even up and into the first half, the Celtics were required to bring a full game of solid play to the table.

In a way, it's hard to believe that only one Bruins scored a hat trick last night. But in a game of shaky defense, multiple goalie changes, and an insane amount of offense, it was David Krejci who sent headgear flying, notching his first career hat trick as the Bruins outlasted Toronto 8-5.

There are some games the Celtics need to read the papers to get motivated for. Tonight is not one of them. The Atlanta Hawks, as you well know, improbably stretched the C's to the limit in the first round of the playoffs last year, taking every game in Atlanta, where they meet tonight. And it took some last minute heroics to dispatch them at the Garden last month. And the Hawks' website is calling this a rivalry, and bringing in Ludacris for halftime entertainment. And yet tickets are still available. Atlanta needs work on this rivalry stuff.