Paul Pierce, for the win. On his birthday. And Jermaine O'Neal's birthday. And Doc Rivers'. (Weirdish, right?)
Actually, as Red's Army points out, it was Pierce for the lead, and Rondo for the win. But Rondo was apparently the only Celtic not celebrating a birthday yesterday, so the lede goes to the Captain and the Truth.
Looking at the box score, one thing jumps out: 40 minutes for Rondo? 39-plus for Ray? 36 for Pierce?
Apparently, Pierce convinced Doc to play the starters the whole way. And since I pointed out the other night that our bench hung with Philly, I should point out that the Knicks bench hung with our first unit, or at least part of it. (30 points from Amare Stoudemire certainly helped).
I don't mind too much, just because these guys will need to be able to play those type of minutes at some point this year, and because they had all sat the night before, and because KG only got 11 minutes before getting ejected.
Only other thing worth noting from the box score is 16 and 12 from Luke Harangody.
Glen Davis, Shaquille O'Neal, and Delonte West sat out with nagging injuries.
Let's get to the regular season already.
2 comments:
I saw someone mention this on twitter last night, but I was thinking it myself when I saw the game winner, and that is that Pierce looks noticeably slimmer this year. Anyone else feel the same way.
I also sort of feel like getting into the new emphasis on player reaction and stuff, but don't quite have the energy. I'll simply say that even if in the short-term it hurts the C's and the Association, I sort of wish the refs would stick with it, because I really find all the bitching that NBA players do to be incredibly aggravating.
While I generally agree that NBA players (our beloved Celtics included) are a bit ridiculous with the referees, I tend to agree with much of the outrage this preseason.
Hidden amid a tangle of overwrought language and irrelevant character attacks of David Stern, Adrian Wojnarowski, in a column on Yahoo!, makes the point that "referees should give techs to players who overreact. But now you get a technical for reacting." I think this sums it up well. The new guidelines are too strict.
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