Paddies Day and the Celtics were hosting the Knickerbockers. Any doubt on the outcome? Nope, just another night of inebriated Irishmen dancing into the night to celebrate a game where their club shot better than 50% from the floor and dispatched the Knicks early on. Boston did little to diminish the knocks against them. Their old, frail, tired and beating up Detroit and New York in order does nothing to change those facts. But winning always feels nice. Even when you'r supposed to do it.

Losing to Lebron and the Cavs on Sunday was expected. Cleveland remains the class of the East and the Celtics, well, aren't. Through the game they lent credence to Lebron's claim that Boston was bored with the regular season. Not a good thing, Celtic fans. The regular season only feels half as long as the playoffs, where we can expect the Celtics to be twice as bored!

The back to back wins against Detroit and New York may signal the club has righted itself for the stretch run. That's what Doc Rivers is hoping.

Last night's matchup in Boston against the Knicks featured Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett healthy and productive - or at the least a reasonable facsimile. Early foul trouble sent Pierce to the bench for much of the first quarter. He bounced back to make 11 of 17 shots on the night, including three of six from beyond the arc. Garnett enjoyed even more accuracy making nine of his eleven shots and going a perfect four for four from the line.

Their good shooting offset a horrible 1-9 from the floor for Michael Finley and Glen Davis' oh-fer-five from the floor. Rivers did a good job of keeping the grumpy old men fresh, limiting Pierce, Garnett and Ray Allen to 24 minutes each. That meant plenty of minutes for bench stalwarts like Rasheed Wallace, Marquis Daniels and Nate Robinson.

For Boston the biggest benefit is they have all the pieces in place to establish a rotation for the playoffs. They may be bored with the regular season. And their struggles against the best Eastern teams suggest they'll get started on summer vacation early. But last night's solid pushed summer vacation a little further away.

Not actual Celtics bench players

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment