Boston 100, Charlotte 89

Six in a row now for the Celtics, who never trailed in this one. It was a bit closer than one would have liked, as Boston coughed up all of an 18-point lead before pulling away again in the second half. Still, considering Paul Pierce was 6 for 16 (including 2 of 8 from downtown) and Kevin Garnett was 2 for 11, this was a good win.

Rajon Rondo led the way with his third triple double of the year, a 17-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist effort that is actually relatively modest given the way he started: he amassed nine points, six boards, and five assists in the first quarter as he scored or assisted on each of Boston's first 19 point. For what I believe is the fourth straight game, at least, the Celtic bench had a major hand in this one. Jeff Green led the reserves with 11 points, most of them coming in the second quarter; Courtney Lee had nine points and Jared Sullinger eight. Jason Collins played well in a first-half stretch after both Brandon Bass and Sullinger went to the bench with foul trouble.

This marks Boston's longest winning streak in a couple of years, and there's reason to believe it can continue. The Cs host New Orleans on Wednesday and Chicago on Friday, before traveling to Detroit on Sunday and Cleveland on Tuesday. The Bulls are the toughest opponent in that stretch, but the Celtics could easily be riding a 10-game winning streak heading into a tough three-games-in-four-nights stretch towards the end of next week that sees them hosting the Knicks, traveling to Atlanta to face the Hawks, then returning to Boston for their first showdown with the Heat since opening night.

Celts Finish Up the Back-to-Back-to-Back the Right Way

Order restored. After the debacle in Toronto, wins in Jersey and Charlotte -- the latter with Kevin Garnett (rest) and Paul Pierce (sore foot) hanging back in New York to get ready for the Knicks on Tuesday. We're up three-and-a-half on Philly and four on New York with five to play, but Indiana has played well recently and so we're pretty much locked in to the fourth seed. With Dwight Howard resting a herniated disk over the next 10-14 days, it looks like Atlanta will beat out Orlando for the five; that means it's very likely we'll get the Hawks in the first round.

Some stats from the last two games, which I couldn't watch:

* Avery Bradley averaged 20 points in the two games, making 5-of-7 three-pointers along the way (he hit three in a row from the exact same spot against Jersey);

* Rajon R-ndo had 4 points and 15 assists on Saturday, but with KG and Pierce out, he needed to pick up more of the scoring load against the Bobcats, and he did with 20, the most points he's scored since dropping 24 on the Lakers on March 11. But he didn't let it affect his playmaking for others: he had another 16 assists on Sunday, making 22 straight games with double-digit helpers.

* Greg Stiemsma had six blocked shots against the Bobcats.

* Brandon Bass had 18 points and 11 rebounds against the Nets -- his third double-double in four games -- then matched a season-high with 22 points (to go along with nine boards) against the Bobcats.

* Charlotte has now lost 16 consecutive games -- for the second time this season.

The next four Boston games are on national TV: Tuesday at New York (8 Eastern, TNT); Wednesday vs. Orlando (8 Eastern, ESPN); Friday at Atlanta (7 Eastern, ESPN); and next Wednesday vs. Miami (8 Eastern, TNT).

Celts Tie Sixers Atop the Atlantic

Since I last posted:

Philadelphia 99, Boston 86
Boston 88, Washington 76
Boston 102, Charlotte 95

A lot's happened in those three games, but what's most important is really what hasn't happened: Ray Allen hasn't played. The veteran shooting guard has a sore right ankle, which he reportedly injured back on March 12, even though he didn't sit out til last Friday. I haven't seen any sort of timetable for Allen's return, but I take the fact that he was able to play with the injury for a while as a good sign, though there is of course the chance that in doing so, he injured it more seriously. Hopefully, the team and Allen are just being cautious.

Allen's absence from the lineup got even more serious in the second quarter of the Philly game, as his replacement, Mickael Pietrus, took a nasty spill and banged his head on the court, eventually being carried off on a stretcher as a precaution. (Side note: I was watching the NCAAs at the time and flipped over to ESPN to check on the Celtics game at pretty much the exact second that ESPN went to commercial. Because the medical personnel tending to Pietrus blocked much of the view, all I saw before the cameras cut away was an unidentifiable Celtic wearing a jersey with a last name that started "P-I-E". I'll cop to being a bit relieved when I found out that it was Pietrus, not Paul Pierce -- and then guilty, and then relieved -- both for Pietrus and for myself, for karma purposes -- when I learned that Pietrus had escaped serious injury and should return to action soon.)

All of this sets the stage as to why Avery Bradley has been in the starting lineup the last two games, playing 40 minutes a night. The second-year guard announced his presence in a big way against the Wizards, hitting his first seven shots on the way to a career-high 23 points. (Weird fact: the Celtics were up 19 at halftime against the Wizards, and Bradley and Greg Stiemsma were the team's leading scorers.) Bradley added 11 points against the Bobcats on Monday, and he's developed into a decent rotation player. His jumper still needs a lot of work, but one thing he's done well all year is move well without the basketball. I first noticed it when played in place of Rajon R-ndo for a few games in late January, and Pierce seemed to find him a lot on cuts to the basket. Bradley knocked down a couple of jumpers against the Wizards, but a lot of his points in the last couple of games have come on layups.

What else? Center Ryan Hollins made his Celtics debut in one of the weirdest ways I can imagine: as the bench player elected by Philly coach Doug Collins to take the free throws in place of Pietrus, who was fouled on the play he was injured. (Hollins missed the first and made the second.) The long, athletic Hollins hasn't contributed much in limited court time over his first three games, but while Stiemsma has been playing his best ball of the season of late, I expect he'll have a larger role as the season wears on, now that Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Wilcox are both done for the season.

Finally, Monday in Charlotte, Pierce put the team on his back, leading all scorers with 36 points and helping the Cs hold off the Bobcats after blowing most of yet another big first-quarter lead. The Captain is now averaging 25.5 ppg and nine boards over the last four games.

Thanks to Philly's loss to Tim Duncan-less San Antonio on Sunday, Monday's win over Charlotte puts Boston into a tie atop the Atlantic Division. Whichever team can break the tie will be rewarded with the fourth seed in the East and a likely playoff matchup with Indiana or Atlanta, rather than the seventh and a first-round battle with Miami or Chicago. While it's true that the path to the Finals will probably run through the Heat or Bulls anyway, you never know when a big upset or an untimely injury might change the playoff landscape. (Last year, for instance, #8 Memphis beat #1 San Antonio in the first round of the West playoffs.) So Boston would like to earn the Atlantic title, if possible.

So how likely is it that the Celtics can capture their fifth straight division crown? I wish I had some scientific, math-based approach that could spit out a probability, but I don't. But as the brief analysis below shows, the reality is that Boston probably is an underdog, at this point, to beat out Philadelphia.

Let's start, though, with the things that do line up in Boston's favor. First, the game on April 8th between the two teams (the third and final meeting of the season), will be played in Boston. Philly won the first two matchups, which gives them the tiebreaker, so this opportunity to pick up a full game on them will be very important. Second, while both teams have 17 games remaining, Philly has just six home games, while Boston has eight. And the Sixers (10-12 away from home so far this season), like the Celts (10-14), haven't been that great on the road.

When you dig a little deeper, though, you find things starting to swing in Philly's favor. Both teams have four back-to-backs as well as one back-to-back-to-back. Each team will be on the second night of a back-to-back when they play each other on the 8th, so advantage Boston there. But the Celtics have three tough games on the second night of their other back-to-backs -- at Chicago, vs. Atlanta, and vs. Orlando. The Sixers get Atlanta in Philly and then Toronto twice (one home, one road) on the second night of their other back-to-backs, a significantly easier configuration than Boston's. And the Cs' back-to-back-to-back also puts them at a disadvantage, I think, even though traveling to Toronto, New Jersey, and Charlotte is less daunting than at Orlando, vs. Indiana, then at Cleveland; having three of your most winnable games in a back-to-back-to-back increases the probability of a "bad" loss, something the Celtics can't afford.


The teams have six games in common: they both host Atlanta and Orlando and travel to Indiana, Miami, Toronto, and New Jersey. The teams share a seventh common opponent, Milwaukee, though Boston gets the Bucks at home and Philly has them on the road. Subtract those seven games and the one between Boston and Philadelphia, and you have nine remaining games.

Boston: Home against Utah, Miami (twice), and San Antonio; at Minnesota, Chicago, Charlotte, New York, and Atlanta.
Philadelphia: Home against Cleveland, Toronto, New Jersey, and Indiana; at Washington, Orlando, Cleveland, New Jersey, and Detroit.

To put a point on it, the combined win-loss record of the nine teams in Boston's list is currently 256-185, a winning percentage of .580. Philly's list is a combined 171-269, a winning percentage of .389. Two of the Sixers' nine opponents have a winning record; two of Boston's have a losing record.

Finally, these two teams are about to play 17 basketball games in 31 days, one final push at the end of an already grueling season. Deep and youthful, less injury prone and more able to survive injuries, Philadelphia is built far better than Boston for a a run like the one that's upcoming. Indeed, should the teams remain close, Doc Rivers may have to decide between going all-out for the division and resting the veterans, with the second alternative quite possibly being the correct one. The Celtics are still in the running, but it's going to take something remarkable -- a remarkable stretch of basketball for Boston, or a remarkable choke job by Philly -- for it to happen.

Charlotte 94, Boston 89

Excuses, anyone?

[recap] [box score]

The most obvious excuse for the loss is that Monday's contest was a classic "trap" game, the day after a big game with Orlando, with the Lakers and Heat on the horizon. Throw in the fact that this was a road game on the second night of a back-to-back -- CelticsBlog reports that the Cs are now 2-7 in such situations this season -- and yeah, we should have seen it coming.

Another possible excuse is that five Boston bench players -- fully one-third of the roster -- were out with injuries. Sure, we've gotten used to life without Delonte West and Jermaine O'Neal, but this was the first game since Marquis Daniels' freak neck injury, and the team was missing a couple other centers, too (Shaquille O'Neal and Semih Erden -- by the way, is there another NBA team that has four centers?). We can't expect to win games at the same rate we were winning -- even against the Bobcats -- with such limited personnel. Right?

The thing is, Boston's bench was okay tonight. Not great; just okay, and admittedly, we'll need better than "okay" from the second unit now and in the playoffs if we're going to reach our goals of another chip. But it was the Celtics starters that lost this game, not the bench. What's even more interesting is that Boston's starting five -- a group that includes four Eastern Conference All-Stars -- was outplayed down the stretch by Charlotte's reserves.

Gerald Wallace was the only Charlotte starter to play meaningful minutes in the fourth quarter. Running the point was 6-7 Shaun Livingston, whose size made him a much tougher matchup than the man he backs up, D.J. Augustin. Livingston finished with 18 points. At the shooting guard spot, Gerald Henderson -- yes, the son of that Gerald Henderson -- replaced Stephen Jackson (abruptly ejected in the second quarter for protesting too much) and used his size and fresh legs to repeatedly burn Ray Allen on his way to 15 points on a variety of pull-ups and drives to the basket. Eduardo Najera came in for Boris Diaw (who was having one of those inconsistent, nearly invisible nights that make him Boris Diaw) and in addition to providing his trademark toughness, hit a huge three-pointer that pushed the lead from three to six in the closing minutes. And Nazr Mohammed manned the pivot in place of Kwame Brown. Mohammed didn't do a whole lot, but one of the things he didn't do was shoot one-for-nine, which Brown did do. At one point in the second half, Brown airballed an unconsted ten-foot jumper, missing left by at least a foot; at another point, he managed to leave a one-foot jump hook short. It's called addition by subtraction. (To his credit, Brown did grab 12 rebounds -- though this isn't much of an accomplishment for someone 6-11 who played in a basketball game in which 91 shots were missed.)

So, you know, all credit to the Bobcats. They responded well to the Jackson ejection, even though Captain Jack had carried the scoring load in the first quarter. Henderson and Livingston were mighty impressive. And credit coach Paul Silas, too. Under Silas, the Bobcats have gone 13-10 after a 9-19 start doomed the fate of Larry Brown. I like Silas, in part because he's a former Celtic (albeit a former Celtic I'm not old enough to have seen play), but mostly (and relatedly) because he's a fairly random basketball person that my mother recognizes when she sees him on TV. It's always unexpected when Mom pulls out an "Is that Paul Silas?"

From Boston's perspective, they lost this game because they weren't aggressive on offense. Rajon Rondo looked to be picking up where he left off against Orlando, scoring ten points in the first period, but then didn't score again. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen settled for too many jump shots. For whatever reason, it was a lazy offensive performance.

At any rate, the Celtics should be well-rested by the time the Lakers take to the parquet on Thursday, though they'll still be undermanned. (Of the sidelined Celtics, Erden is the only one about whom I have not heard anything that suggests that he won't be available on Thursday (or Sunday against the Heat, for that matter.) It's safe to say that the Lakers will be fired up and looking for a measure of revenge for Boston's win at their barn last month. Yes, Boston will need a stronger performance from its bench for that game. But it will also need a better, more focused performance from the starters, as well.

Celts Win Two, Sign Corpse of Michael Finley

Boston swept a Tuesday-Wednesday back-to-back against two teams not currently among the top eight in the Eastern Conference. First came a shaky win in Detroit, then another comfortable victory over Charlotte in Boston. Two big stories emerged:

1) The return of Paul Pierce. The captain was quiet against Detroit (nine points on just six field goal attempts) but exploded against Charlotte, shooting 9-for-13 (including four-for-six from three-point range). Pierce finished with 27 points in 26:30 of playing time, his first 20-plus-point game since he scored 35 in a losing effort at Atlanta on January 29. Pierce has missed five games since then with injuries and has been banged up the whole time, but still, more than a month without a 20-point game isn't the Truth we know.

2) The emergence of Nate Robinson. Nate broke into double figures for the first time as a Celtic in the loss to New Jersey, but had an impact in a Boston win for the first time against Detroit. He scored 14 points and played well enough that Doc didn't bring Rajon Rondo back in the fourth until the three-minute mark of a tight game. Robinson then scored 16 points against Charlotte. Doc's comment after the Detroit game was spot on: "That's exactly what we need from Nate. We want to wind him up and let him go."

By the way, Kendrick Perkins' return Wednesday from an illness marked the first time all season that the Celtics have had a completely healthy roster. Take notice, NBA: When we're at full strength, we're 1-0 and have an average margin of victory of 24 points!

In other news, we're apparently about to sign Michael Finley. On the face of things, I don't really mind: We're not paying him much of anything, and I don't know of any players who are likely to be bought out so that we can sign them for the stretch run like we have in years past. Even with Finley, we've got an extra roster spot.

What's interesting is that most reports stated that Finley asked for his release from the Spurs do to a lack of playing time. If true, that would suggest that Finley thinks he'll get more playing time in Boston, and that I do mind. Finley can't play worth a damn anymore. I saw him when the Spurs came to L.A. to face the Clippers, and I said to my companions at the game: "Finley should just retire. He doesn't look like he belongs on an NBA court." Any burn that Finley gets that takes playing time away from Robinson and Marquis Daniels and even Tony Allen (who, I must admit, has played well this year) is bad for Boston.

Now, it's also been speculated that Finley was looking for a better shot at a title, as San Antonio has been disappointing this year. If that's the case, fine, although I'm skeptical: I think I read somewhere that the Lakers were interested in Finley, and especially with Boston's recent struggles, if Finley was just ring-hunting, it stands to reason that he would go join the defending champs.

Lastly, I want to point out that Bill Walker has back-to-back 20-plus-point games for the Knicks. Walker was part of the Robinson deal. I was disappointed to see Billy Sky go, but not terribly upset, because it was clear Doc wasn't going to give him much of an opportunity. Whether Walker's recent good stretch will continue and whether it indicates a mistake Doc made I don't know, but I personally feel vindicated that the kid has shown he can play in this league, as I have thought all along.

Boston 108, Charlotte 90

[recap] [box score]

I watched this game on League Pass Broadband in the basement of the law school, where the connection isn't great. The feed kept freezing and I never got a great feel for the rhythm of what was going on. We jumped on 'em early, though, and didn't really let up.

I did manage to catch Rasheed Wallace's antics, which included picking up a technical foul while walking to the bench, then yelling his trademark "Ball don't lie!" when Charlotte's Flip Murray missed the ensuing free throw. This was the third straight game that 'sheed's picked up a T, and its his eighth on the year after going his first four games in Boston without one. I believe he is now halfway to the 16-tech threshold, after which you start getting docked a game for each infraction.

As much as I like what Wallace brings to this team, I'm already tired of his act vis-a-vis the referees. He doesn't just argue with them; he actively antagonizes him. When he got rung up against Charlotte, it was after a play on which not he, but Marquis Daniels, was whistled for a foul. Though I didn't catch what he was saying at that particular moment, I earlier had heard him chastise an offical with a comment along the lines of "Wait for me to foul him before you blow that whistle." In other words, 'sheed was not arguing that he didn't foul the guy; rather, he was arguing that the call came too early.

There's only so much of this the refs can and will put up with. Even without 'sheed last year, we got a rep for woofing to our opponents and barking at the refs, and Wallace's behavior exacerbates that. To their credit, I haven't noticed the officials treating us more harshly because of all this, but it's not absurd to think that might happen. Moreover, we really don't want Wallace suspended when push comes to shove in the spring.

Boston 92, Charlotte 59

Looks like the Bobcats might need some work.

[recap] [box score]

Some statistical indicators of how bad Charlotte was: Gerald Wallace led them in scoring with ten points; they had ten- and thirteen-point quarters; Rajon Rondo out-assisted the entire team 11-10 despite playing just 30 minutes (and being just one guy); Wallace, their best player, was a -33.

Something about the look on the face of Charlotte coach Larry Brown -- known as much for bouncing around as for his excellent basketball mind -- made me think he wasn't going to be the coach there by the end of the season unless things changed. He looked utterly fed up with second-year backup point guard D.J. Augustin, and disgusted by the play and attitude of new center Tyson Chandler.

More bullet points (this should be brief):

• Doc was pretty good about managing most of the starters' minutes, with one glaring exception: Ray Allen played 38 minutes despite the game being out of hand midway through the third quarter. Don't forget, Ray played 42 minutes last night against Cleveland. Paul Pierce and Marquis Daniels were in a bit of foul trouble and Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine were out with injuries, so perhaps Doc felt he had little choice. Or perhaps Doc was using a game well in hand to experiment with different lineups. Still, I don't like the idea of running our 34-year-old shooting guard into the ground this early in the season.
• After two games of Shelden Williams, I'm comfortable in saying that he's going to be far more effective than Mikki Moore was. Twelve points and nine boards in an extended role tonight, though most of his scoring came from the free throw line, where he was eight-for-eleven. He has pretty awful hands, but he works hard and showed a decent amount of court awareness.
• Really nice game on both ends from Kendrick Perkins, though I wish he hadn't gotten caught up in jawing with Chandler, which resulted in a technical foul. He and Garnett defended the rim as though they were personally insulted that a Bobcat would dare try to score. That kind of defensive swagger is what helped us win a championship two years ago, and is what will help us win again this year.
• Mike and Tommy were on the guys for shooting too many three-pointers, but they made a bunch of them and they were almost all good looks. We have enough good deep shooters that if the shot is there, they should take it.
• J.R. Giddens was unspectacular in eight minutes, grabbing three rebounds and one steal. His most memorable sequence was airmailing a three-pointer from the corner, then over-aggressively trying to block a jumper on the other end and committing a foul.
• Lester Hudson played about nine and a half minutes and did nothing spectacular. Hudson is a scorer auditioning for minutes at point guard, and so he naturally isn't going to impress; he's trying to show that he can handle the ball, initiate the offense, and get others involved, while his strengh is putting the ball in the hole. You can tell he knows what he's doing on the court, but I'm not sure we're going to see the real Lester Hudson this year.

Boston 111, Charlotte 109 (2OT)

Strange game.

[recap] [box score] [I'm no longer linking highlights because the Yahoo! stories now have a highlights link]

I've been trying to come up with a real-life analogy for this victory, something I could point to help those who didn't see the game relate to it, but all I could come up with is "Have you ever won a basketball game you had no business winning?" and I'm not sure that's very applicable to the RwH audience.

The Celtics did almost nothing right against the Bobcats. They essentially mailed in the first and third quarters. They committed 24 turnovers, a big chunk of those coming in regulation. They allowed 20 offensive rebounds, including three in a row in the first overtime, which resulted in an 85-second possession and three-point lead for the Bobcats. I don't know how Boston won this game.

I really don't, actually, because I was watching online, and my Internet connection kicked out for a bit with us down 93-87 with around two minutes to go. By the time I got it back, Rajon Rondo was headed to the line with 27 seconds left down 93-91. The 64 percent free throw shooter drained them both.

Overtime belonged to Ray Allen, who hit three three-pointers in the two extra periods, including one that tied it up at the end of the first OT after that long Charlotte possession, and the game-winner with two seconds left in the second OT. Both those shots came right in the eyes of Charlotte's Gerald Wallace, a player I generally like but who was getting on my nerves last night because of his acting on the defensive end, drawing offensive fouls away from the ball.

Even to the very end, Boston tried to lose this game. Charlotte's Raja Bell had a great look at the game-winner, mainly because Allen, who was guarding Bell, the inbounder, turned his head to look at the pass, then got his clock cleaned by a screen as the ball was kicked back out to Bell. Every basketball fan knows that the most dangerous guy on the floor in those spots is the inbounder, and Allen temporarily forgot that.

Anyway, a win is a win, and there are a couple of additional good things to take out of this win in particular. For starters, it did not come on the back of Paul Pierce, as so many of Boston's comeback wins do. Pierce was oustanding through three quarters, scoring 28 points, and made a great pass on Allen's game-winner, but he only had four points in the final 22 minutes of game time. Kevin Garnett is fond of referring to Pierce as Superman, but this game was won by a bunch of Robins in green-and-white.

I know that Robin is Batman's sidekick, but Superman, as far as I can remember, didn't have one.

The second good thing to come out of yesterday is that Boston's back in second place in the East, thanks to Orlando's 99-95 home loss to Toronto, and therefore back to homecourt advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

On to more pressing matters. You've probably heard this, but Garnett didn't play last night, and won't for the rest of the homestand. His knee is still sore and isn't responding the way they thought it would. Doc Rivers has spoken of "shutting him down," causing all Celtics' fans hearts to skip a beat, but it's just unfortunate word choice and they expect him to be back and healthy for the first game of the playoffs.

At one point during last night's telecast, they interviewed Danny Ainge, and Ainge made the point that when Garnett came back briefly, he played well, and that resting him now is more about making sure Garnett is healthy than it is about Garnett being able to contribute. The implication, it seems, is that if this were the playoffs, KG would be out there.

Still, this makes me uneasy. I'm getting tired of Adrian Wojnarowski's constant pot-stirring (he's been in the news recently for alleging recruiting violations at UConn and the general tenor of many columns this season seems designed to drum up controversy), but this, minus the overly dramatic language, sums up how I feel. I'm very nervous.

Viewing Alert

Huge game tonight, as Boston travels to Cleveland to take on the East-leading Cavs. It's on ESPN at 8 p.m. Eastern. This has major implications for our mindset, as well as the Eastern Conference in general.

I didn't watch Tuesday's overtime loss at Charlotte. I had been out with some old co-workers and when I got back, I couldn't bear the thought of two-and-a-half hours of us losing to the Bobcats. I did catch Tuesday's 89-85 defeat at home against Tracy McGrady-less Houston.

I'm stumped as to why we're losing suddenly, six of eight after such an incredible start. I haven't been watching as much or as closely over the past few weeks because of all the running around I've done on winter break, but I'm coming up empty trying to think of reasons why we aren't scoring and aren't stopping people. I really thought we had the Rockets after Garnett made that great dish to Rajon Rondo (you can see it at the end of the highlight reel in the game link, above) and then blocked a shot on the other end. But we couldn't take advantage on the other end, and Houston's Von Wafer hit the game-winning three.

I was disappointed in our effort down the stretch in that one, partially because we failed to protect homecourt, and partially because we got outplayed by an inferior team down the stretch (for the last few minutes, the Rockets were without McGrady and Ron Artest, who fouled out). It's especially concerning because the game was an intense one; a couple typically hard Artest fouls on Paul Pierce made sure of that.

I really don't know what to expect tonight out of the Cs. I want to say they'll come out and play a great game, but there's something going on besides mindset. They can't still be in a funk from the loss to the Lakers. They've had plenty of opportunity over these last eight games to rebound, and they haven't done it. It's not a matter of just showing up and willing themselves to play well. It's more than that. And they're going to have to bring their very best tonight if they want to win in Cleveland.

Boston 89, Charlotte 84

The Celtics followed a familiar pattern Saturday night, squeaking by a lesser opponent after blowing out Philadelphia the night before.

[recap] [box score]

Quick thoughts, since I'm in the middle of my contracts outline.

-League Pass Broadband cut out the first nine or so minutes of this one, so I didn't see Paul Pierce's quick six points in the first quarter. I did, however, see him score only five in the second and third quarters combined, only to notch eight in the final period. Even on a night where the offense wasn't coming easily to him, the fourth quarter is still his domain.

-Tony Allen played really well tonight. He was unselfish and made good decisions all night long. I was particularly pleased with his play at the start off the fourth. After Charlotte cut it to 68-67, Tony protected the lead by driving for a layup, and then, after a Raymond Felton turnover, kicked it to Eddie House for the three-pointer that made it a six-point game. It's always important to protect the lead like that. The starters would eventually lose that lead, but Tony really stepped up at the right time.

-I kind of like these Bobcats. The level of intensity and athleticism that Gerald Wallace plays with makes him a joy to watch; he's the kind of guy, like Detroit's Allen Iverson and Miami's Dwyane Wade, whose mix of talent and almost reckless effort makes basketball fun. This loss puts them at 5-11, but they've had a number of close losses this year. While they aren't constructed well enough to be a team about which you'd say that they are "almost there" and there problems go beyond needing to "learn how to win," they play hard and have some talented guys. If Felton had scored the ball better -- he had just four points on 2-of-15 from the field -- they might well have picked up win number six.

Three home games for the Celtics next week, starting with Orlando on Monday. The game is at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBATV, which means I won't be able to watch. That's probably good, since I have a lot of studying to do, but I'll peruse the box score and weigh in with a thought or two. Then comes the rematch with Indiana on Wednesday night, and then the fascinating Portland Trailblazers come to town on Friday. That one's on ESPN, so make sure you clear some time to watch.

Boston 102, Philadelphia 78

An outstanding performance on both ends from the defending champs. The Celtics held the Sixers to 28 points in the first half -- our best defensive half of the season, and Philly's worst offensively -- and the 76ers final total is only somewhat respectable thanks to the work of Louis Williams and Marreese Speights in a 31-point fourth quarter against our second- and third-stringers.

[recap] [box score]

Scoring in the NBA really doesn't get any more balanced than this. We scored 102 points tonight despite having just four guys in double figures, and no one had more than Ray Allen's 23. But all 11 guys who played scored -- Patrick O'Bryant's sweet jump hook on the second-to-last possession took care of that. Four guys off the bench had at least eight points: ten each for Leon Powe and Tony Allen; nine for Glen Davis, and eight for Eddie House.

Rajon Rondo again played great; he set the tone with three quick steals and finished with 12 assists. Kendrick Perkins also got off to a fast start, and had four blocks. Ray continued his torrid shooting, and Pierce didn't force anything (he shot just 1-for-6 in 27 minutes).

A few quick thoughts:

-Doc used a new substitution pattern in the first quarter tonight -- at least, I don't remember seeing it before. The first sub off the bench was Glen Davis, and he came in for Garnett. Usually, Doc removes Perk from the lineup with a few minutes remaining in the first, leaving KG out there to finish the quarter. That very well could be because Perkins is often in foul trouble, but I like the idea of resting Garnett in the first quarter if possible. It manages his minutes a bit better and gives us the option to go to him earlier in the second if the bench gets in trouble.

-Brian Scalabrine looks like he's made his way into the regular rotation. He's been playing pretty well, and I commend him for playing within himself despite the fact that every time he touches the ball the crowd yells for him to shoot. Still, if he's going to play meaningful minutes, he needs to be a little more aggressive, a little more like an NBA player. Too often, he's playing without conviction offensively. (On the defensive end, he's always playing hard).

-Tommy Heinsohn was back on the broadcast tonight, and late in the game, he mentioned the importance of the Celtics not being complacent when they play in Philly, because the Sixers were bound to be steamed about this blowout. He made reference to the next game being in Philadelphia, but it's actually back in Boston on December 23rd (look for me in section 312!). I think Speights' bush-league flagrant-two on Scalabrine in the waning moments took care of any concerns about complacency. Scalabrine was driving to the bucket for a reverse layup when Speights just reached out and shoved him in the back. It led to an ejection for Speights and a jawing match between Powe and Reggie Evans (this incident reminded of how much I hate Evans, by the way). I'm sure Boston will be plenty fired up on the 23rd.

-Tony played well tonight, but again he made the boneheaded play of the game. With time winding down in the third quarter, Boston was holding for one shot, though the shot and game clocks weren't quite synched; there was maybe a second and a half difference between the two. Tony drove for a layup and missed, and as the ball was coming off the rim, the shot clock buzzer -- which is quite discernible from the game clock horn -- sounded. Tony, who was in a great position to grab the rebound and lay it back in, apparently heard the buzzer and thought the quarter had ended, as he grabbed the ball and sort of tossed it over his head while walking backward. No harm, no foul, but it still bugs me to see stuff like that.

-Next game is Saturday night in Charlotte (7 p.m. Eastern, no national TV). Despite the fact that Friday's 115-108 overtime win at Indiana moved them to just 5-10 on the year, the Bobcats should have our attention. Though we went 3-1 against them last year, the one loss was in Boston in January, and we needed that miraculous House steal and Ray three at the horn to beat them in Charlotte in November. Of the other two wins, one was closeish and the other wasn't. And the Bobcats only had Gerald Wallace for one of those games due to various injuries.

In addition to Wallace, there are two Bobcats who are most concerning. The first is point guard Raymond Felton. Rondo has some trouble against quicker point guards, and Felton is one of the quickest. He averaged 17 points and nine assists in the four games against us last year, a few ticks above his season averages in each category.

The other is Jason Richardson, who averaged nearly 30 points per game in the first three contests with Boston last year (he was held to nine in the final game in April). Richardson is the brand of two-guard (think the Hawks' Joe Johnson) that Ray Allen has trouble with: a decent shooter with a good mid-range game who can get to the rim. That's the key matchup.

With Sean May and Adam Morrison continuing to disappoint, Bobcats coach Larry Brown has been going to some small lineups, with rookie D.J. Augustin joining Felton and Richardson on the perimeter. The selection of Augustin in this summer's draft left many scratching their heads, as Augustin and Felton are similar players and there aren't too many NBA teams who have been successful playing two guys who are each six feet tall, if that, alongside each other. I'm looking forward to seeing this lineup, and not a little bit because I have something of a financial interest in Augustin's development (I need him to average 24 mpg or more in a full NBA season after his fourth year in the league).

Perhaps the best news for the Cs is that while Ray Allen was the only starter to play more than 30 minutes against Philly, the Bobcats' big guns logged heavy mileage in the overtime win at Indiana. Felton played about 48 minutes; Richardson and Wallace each played around 42.