Boston 101, Milwaukee 89

I missed the first six-and-a-half minutes of this one, and while Boston was down 21-10 when I joined the broadcast (the first of the season for Tommy and Mike on League Pass!) and we didn't really blow this one open until the fourth quarter, it never really seemed like we were in trouble.

[recap] [box score]

-The second unit really changed the course of this one, as a 30-23 first-quarter deficit became a 55-47 halftime lead, with a lot of the work done against Milwaukee's starters. One thing that I really like about our bench is how well they get to the line. Leon Powe and Tony Allen combined to shoot 14 free throws, and while Powe had an off-night from the stripe -- he made just four of nine attempts tonight -- getting those freebies makes up for whatever limitations the two might have offensively.

-Kendrick Perkins tonight showed what close watchers of the Celtics have insisted on for a while, to much scoffing around the league: When he applies himself, Perk can be a serious defensive force. He had a career-high seven blocked shots tonight, and there was a stretch at the end of the first quarter where he disrupted three or four consecutive Milwaukee possessions. He lacks the consistency and the ability to stay out of foul trouble to be a truly elite post defender, and he may never get there, given that this is his sixth year in the league. Then again, he's only 23, so there's hope.

-Powe plays bigger guys pretty well, but we need to give him help when he's guarding guys like Andrew Bogut. Powe can play someone like Bogut perfectly and still give up buckets because Bogut is simply too tall for him.

-Milwaukee's point guards, Luke Ridnour and Ramon Sessions, were pretty awful tonight, combining for nine turnovers, many of which were live-ball and led to open-court layups. Tony Allen, Eddie House, and Rajon Rondo did a nice job shooting the gaps when those two tried to drive and kick, but the fact is that Ridnour and Sessions simply weren't drawing the defense before giving up the rock.

-House had 11 points of five-for-seven, but four of his buckets were layups in the open floor, several off the aforementioned turnovers. He still hasn't hit two jumpers in the same game this year.

-We got our first look of the season at Billy Sky. His first two touches were pretty big failures, as he drove recklessly into traffic, getting his shot blocked the first time and getting whistled for an offensive foul on the second occasion. Still, he hit a nice 15-footer from the right baseline, displaying good form and a much quicker release than I expected.

-Minute allocation for the Big Three was pretty good tonight, although Pierce still played 38 minutes as he continued his work with the second team. But Ray Allen played 31 minutes, Kevin Garnett only 30, and all three were on the bench with four minutes to go.

Next game is Sunday night at 6 p.m. Eastern in Detroit, which kicks off a ridiculous five-games-in-seven-days stretch where we face three likely Eastern conference playoff teams -- Detroit, Toronto, and Atlanta -- by Wednesday. I had planned on doing some scouting tonight, thanks to the archives on League Pass broadband -- Allen Iverson's Piston debut and the Hawks blowing out the Raps in the dirty dirty -- but I think I'm going to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno, my first trip to the movies since I saw Thank You For Smoking in 2005. If time allows, I'll post some thoughts on these three upcoming opponents later in the weekend, then get ready for a tough week.