Celtics Drop Back-to-Back Road Games

Friday: Kings 120, Celtics 95
Saturday: Nuggets 98, Celtics 91

I didn't watch either of these games because of the NCAA tournament, but I was sort of following the Gamecasts.

In Sacramento, the Kings blew open a one-point game at halftime by scoring something like the first 15 points of the third quarter. Marcus Thornton got hot in the third and spent much of the fourth padding his stats against the Boston bench, finishing with 36 points. Ray Allen and Brandon Bass shot well for the Celtics, but giving up 41 points in the third quarter means that it wasn't a good night for everybody.

In Denver, the Nuggets got out to a double-digit lead in the second quarter and maintained it through much of the third. It appeared that Boston made a run in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to two at one point. But they couldn't get over the hump, seemingly due to some untimely turnovers. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce paced the Celtics with 22 points each, and Rajon R-ndo had 12 to go with 16 assists -- but also six turnovers, at least a couple of which I seem to recall were of the momentum-killing variety.

The loss to Sacramento put the success of the road trip in jeopardy. The Celtics are now 2-3 on the eight-game trip, with games in Atlanta on Monday, Milwaukee on Thursday, and Philadelphia on Friday. All three of these remaining games are huge: Boston is just two games back of Atlanta for the six seed in the East, a coveted spot this year because it means avoiding Chicago or Miami in the first round. At the same time, the Cs are just two and a half games clear of the eighth-place Knicks and the Bucks loom just a half-game back of again resurgent New York. On the bright side, Boston is only a game and a half behind Philly for the Atlantic title, which would give us the four.

If we can get hot, then, we can make some real progress this week. Anything less than two wins, though, and the road trip is a failure.

Boston 95, Sacramento 90

Ray Allen does a lot of things I wish I could do. After last night, you can add tearing into Boston's second unit to that list.

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The Celtics starters had played a sloppy but effective first quarter, turning the ball over too much but keeping the clamps on the Kings for a 27-20 lead at the end of the period. The second unit promptly squandered that lead, and Boston went into the locker room down down by nine. Among the biggest transgressions: Surrendering 13 points to backup forward Donte' Greene in the quarter; Nate Robinson blowing the simplest play in basketball by not giving the ball back to Marquis Daniels on a two-on-one break, charging into Pooh Jeter instead; and Glen Davis getting blocked by DeMarcus Cousins, retrieving the ball, then trying a fadeaway 10-footer in traffic that was blocked by Omar Casspi. I certainly would have had a few choice words for the guys myself after that type of performance.

Actually, I have no idea what, exactly, set Ray off, but something did, and it kept Boston from dropping an obvious "trap" game at the end of a road trip. Robinson struggled with his offense in the second half, but was huge on defense, diving for loose balls and accumulating five steals. He played well enough to earn the nod over Rajon Rondo in crunch time, Doc Rivers electing continuity rather than bringing Rondo back in the fourth quarter as the Celtics put the game away. And Davis responded with ten points in the period.

Lest Allen's rare appearance as a vocal leader outshine his play, I should point out that he backed up his words with another outstanding game. He's been dialed in all year, now shooting nearly 51 percent from the floor overall and nearly 46 percent from behind the arc. Watching him play, Allen looks more like he's got shooting down to a science than anyone I've ever seen, and it's most noticeable when he puts the ball on the floor and then takes a pullup in the lane. Allen hangs on the air on these shots, calibrating himself and seemingly calculating the exact arc and power his shot needs. He's been the most fun Celtic to watch this season, and given that two of his teammates are having perhaps career years and a third has resurrected a career that seemed headed downward due to a knee injury, that's saying something.

Rondo had a strong game, too, going into attack mode early and supplementing Allen's scoring in the first half. Kendrick Perkins was solid inside off the bench, and I imagine it won't be terribly long before Doc Rivers installs him as the starter. After the All-Star break, perhaps?

Phoenix 88, Boston 71

Friday was one of those nights in the NBA.

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It was somewhat predictable, really. The second night of a road back-to-back is always tough, and Phoenix' up-tempo style is particularly difficult to deal with. In addition, Boston's got a huge game coming up on Sunday against the Lakers. And the Celtics had struggled in Thursday night's win against Portland.

Some quick bullets:

• Doc Rivers got thrown out in the second quarter after Steve Javie hit him with two quick Ts. The first was probably justified -- the second came awfully quick thereafter.
• The AP wire story linked above focuses quite a bit on an allegedly low blow that Kevin Garnett laid on Channing Frye. It wasn't nearly as bad as the story makes it sound. Earlier in the game, Garnett had closed out on a Frye jumper and gotten a little too close, and Frye landed on KG's foot and tweaked his ankle a bit. Late in the game, the same sort of thing happened, with KG subtly trying to jab Frye in the stomach, a fairly common tactic to distract a shooter. He missed, but the contact to Frye's groin area wasn't what set Frye off. The ensuing melee -- for which Garnett was thrown out merely, it appeared, for talking -- was caused by Frye's belief that KG was purposely getting underneath him and endangering his knee and ankle.
• Boston was actually in the game at that point, having been energized by a flagrant foul on Phoenix's Mickael Pietrus. Pietrus ran through a Garnett screen with his arms up, catching KG in the neck and jaw area. It was a much bigger cheap shot than what Garnett did to Frye, unless you believe that KG was actually trying to hurt Frye by sticking his foot out for Frye to land on. I don't.
• Basketball-wise, there isn't much to talk about. Boston couldn't shoot and couldn't hang on to the ball. No one played well offensively. Defensively, they weren't horrible, but the bigs got pushed around by Robin Lopez and Marcin Gortat, and that kind of set the tone.
• Glen Davis didn't play in the second half after straining his hamstring in the first. I hear it's not serious, but I'm unsure if he'll play Sunday against the Lakers.
• Speaking of the Lakers, as bad as we were on Friday, at least we didn't lose to the Kings at home.

Boston 119, Sacramento 95

It took a whole half, but a game that should have been an easy win finally became an easy win.

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The Kings aren't very good to begin with, didn't have Tyreke Evans, had lost to the Wizards in overtime the night before, and arrived in Boston around 4 a.m. thanks to the winter storm in the Northeast. Even so, despite a quick 8-0 Boston start, Sacramento hung around during the first 24 minutes.

The Celtics shot well, plain and simple, which they should do against a bad team like the Kings. They hit 12 of 20 three-point attempts, shot 52 percent overall, and with the exception of Glen Davis (who wasn't horrible, at 6 of 14), knocked down more or less every open jumper they got. All eleven Celtics who played scored, and with the starters resting the entire forth quarter, eight Celtics reached double figures. (The ones who didn't were Luke Harangody, Avery Bradley, and Shaquille O'Neal, who, according to Mike Gorman, predicted before the game that he'd get into foul trouble, which he did. Apparently, Bob Delaney has it out for him.)

Jermaine O'Neal didn't play because his knee swelled up right before the game. This is a concern; as well as Semih Erden played in extended minutes last night, we'd rather have JON ot there.

Boston 94, Sacramento 86

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This was a strong performance for about 30 minutes, before the bench came in and let the lead slowly slip away. By the time the starters returned, they were a little out of synch. The team never really seemed in danger of losing this game, but a more consistent effort would have been nice.

Return of the bullets:

• Kendrick Perkins missed this game with tendinitis in his left knee. (Why is tendinitis spelled that way and not "tendonitis"? It is, after all, itis of the tendon.) We don't know exactly how long Perk's going to be out, but word is that he'll miss the San Antonio game.
• Rasheed Wallace, starting in Perkins' place, played the most energetic game we've seen from him in a while. At one point, he jumped on the floor to tie up Carl Landry, earning a Tommy Point in the process -- the first one I can remember him receiving this year. (To be fair, Heinsohn hasn't given as many of these rewards for hustle plays this season.)
• Rajon Rondo was at his apothecarial best on Friday, dishing out a regular season career-high 18 assists. He was masterful, particularly in the first half, whipping the ball through the narrowest openings and playing with his usual flair. Too much flair, perhaps, but a lot of fun to watch -- and effective, against the hapless Kings, at least.
• Rondo's strip of Sean May in the second quarter gave him the Celtics single-season record for thefts. His 168th steal eclipsed the mark of Rick Fox. Whatever we can do to erase Fox's name from the team record books is a positive thing, in my opinion.
• Marquis Daniels got the DNP-CD in the first half, and didn't enter the game until the third quarter, when the game seemed well in hand. I think I heard Greg Dickerson say in a sideline report that Daniels is in some ways still learning how to fit in with the team, since he missed all that time with the hand injury. Sitting him for the whole first half is a funny way to get him comfortable.
• Nate Robinson sprained his ankle in the first half and didn't return to the game. I don't have any word as to how much more time he'll miss, if any.

San Antonio is in town on Sunday (8 p.m. Eastern, ESPN). The Spurs are missing their point guard, Tony Parker, but as they seem to do when they are missing one of their big three (Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Parker), they have been playing well of late. They knocked off the Cavs on Friday after beating Oklahoma City earlier in the week, alternating those wins with losses to Atlanta and the Lakers. Sunday's game is the last in a five-in-eight stretch, as difficult a series of games as you'll see in the NBA. Maybe we can catch them tired, though we shouldn't need to to beat them.

Boston 95, Sacramento 92

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A close win against the 18-35 Kings, even in Sacramento, is nothing for an elite team to get excited about, but this game is a positive for the Celts, and not just because of the win. Boston reversed a recent trend of blowing decent-sized leads in the fourth quarter. Sort of. The Celtics led by 10 points in the first half and held an 82-75 lead in the fourth before giving up 12 of the next 16 points to go down one with 2:42 remaining. But they got a big stop after a Ray Allen miss, and then Paul Pierce -- the league's newest three-point champion -- nailed a triple from the top of the key to grab a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Sacramento helped Boston out by missing, I believe, eight fourth quarter free throws, but given our team's fourth quarter struggles over the past month and a half, we'll take the win.

Full marks to the bench in this one, which picked up a sluggish starting unit. Led by Rasheed Wallace's 17 points and Eddie House's 12, the second unit contributed 44 points, nearly half the team's total.

This was a chippy, physical game in which the two teams combined for 18 blocked shots, most of them around the basket. It's a tough way to start what will be a challenging week. Boston's got three more road tests this week, against some very difficult Western Conference opponents: In Los Angeles to face the Lakers on Thursday, at Portland on Friday, and at Denver on Sunday. Looking ahead to Thursday's contest with the defending champs, Kobe Bryant has missed the last four games, as well as the All-Star game, with a sore left ankle. Bryant, who is also battling a finger injury and possibly a bad back, didn't play in Tuesday's game against Golden State, but knowing him, he'll play Thursday.

VIEWING ALERT: Probably the only positive thing about playing three elite teams in four days is the opportunity for fans without League Pass to see the team -- if they're willing to stay up to do it. All three of the Cs' remaining games this week will be on national television: Thursday at 10:30 p.m. Eastern on TNT (Lakers); Friday at 10:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN (Blazers); and Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC (Nuggets). Be sure to tune in!

Boston 119, Sacramento 100

Seriously, it's getting difficult to write when every game is a blowout. Not that I'm complaining.

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Sluggish start, followed by a 40-19 second quarter that put the game effectively out of reach.

Quick notes:

-Eddie House is shooting the hell out of the basketball right now. In three of his last four games, he has gone over 20 points, doing most of his damage -- as he is wont to do -- from behind the arc. A then-career high seven threes (out of 11 attempts) against Miami on January 21; an identical deep shooting performance against Dallas on Sunday; and then eight-for-nine from downtown last night. Throw in his zero-for-one from Orlando, and over the last four, he's hit 22 of his last 32 triples -- 68.8 percent. I remember hearing (unsubstantiated) rumors a few weeks back that Danny Ainge was after Orlando's J.J. Redick because we needed a shooter off the bench; so much for that. (I can't quite put my finger on it, but the thought of Kevin Garnett

-Leon Powe got some run tonight, but Brian Scalabrine was out after suffering two concussions in three days. He got one against Dallas, apparently, and then was fragged by Patrick O'Bryant during Tuesday's practice. I feel bad for Scal, because they showed an interview with him on last night's broadcast, and he looked really disappointed. I don't blame him; the guy finally gets some real playing time and sheds his victory-cigar role (though the fans still implore him to shoot every time he touches the ball0, and then he gets knocked out of the lineup for a week or 10 days. It's only a few games, but when Doc Rivers is your coach, a lot can happen in those few games. He could lose minutes back to Powe, or Doc could forget his name or that he's on the team, or could decide that Patrick O'Bryant needs more PT, or that Sam Cassell would make a good power forward.

Leon missed two dunks tonight. I told you he was out of rhythm.

-Tony Allen returned to the lineup tonight, and played very well. driving, dishing, playing under control. Tony plays well just often enough that I can't bring myself to say, "Screw it, let's trade this guy for whatever we can get," but is generally so inconsistent and dumb on the court that I can't bring myself to like him, either. In truth, we can't really get rid of him, because he's our main backup on the wing and he's the guy on the second team who can create his own shot (I know, I've said this all a million times), but man, does he drive me crazy. Here's hoping that he wasn't really injured during his 11-game hiatus, but was at some basketball IQ camp with Gerald Green for three weeks, learning how to play the game.

-Paul Pierce picked up three fouls in the first quarter and had a blah scoring night, which is awesome for one of my fantasy teams. I'm playing the best team in the league and should win in rebounds and blocks (I have Shaq and Samuel Dalembert), while he's good in assists and steals (he has Chris Paul, and my guards are of the scoring type). Points will be the deciding category. Pierce's off-night is added to an off-night from Vince Carter to begin the week (though VC bounced back nicely last night) has him slightly off the projected pace, while I'm bolstered by Mo Williams' 43 two nights ago against Sacto. I just might be able to squeeze out a 3-2 win, giving me the all-important psychological edge as we look ahead to the playoffs.

Not that you care.

You might care, though, that the Celtics' next game is Friday night in Detroit, on ESPN at 7 p.m. Eastern. The Pistons seem to really be struggling this year, and have recently moved Rip Hamilton to the bench to make room for Rodney Stuckey in their lineup alongside Allen Iverson. Still should be a good game, as these teams are rivals, it's always fun to watch Iverson, and Stuckey's an intriguing young player. And there's always a strong possibility that Rasheed Wallace will pick up a technical foul -- he leads the league with 12 and is well on his way to the suspension threshhold of 16.

Plus, there's always a chance that Hamilton will kill somebody on the court, then turn to the ref and complain that he was fouled.

Boston 108, Sacramento 63

Not a whole lot to say substantively on a night when the Kings couldn't hit Mexico if they fell out of Texas.

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I don't take much joy in embarassing hapless Sacto on its homecourt, not when two of my favorite non-Celtic NBA players, Beno Udrih and Donte' Greene, play for them. They are without Kevin Martin, who is clearly their best player, and his backup, Francisco Garcia, didn't play the second half because of an injury. Neither guy is likely to have mattered tonight, but still, as blowouts go, given that we had just lost two in a row, this one could have been expected.

However, I will note the following: With 3:12 to go in the game and the score 104-58, Kings rookie Jason Thompson went to the line for a couple of free throws. At that moment, it occurred to me that Sacramento had not yet scored the number of points that Boston had scored in the first half (it was 59-34 at the break). When Thompson missed both freebies, I allowed myself the thought that perhaps the Kings would go scoreless the rest of the way, and we'd have scored all the points we needed to score in the first half. Alas, 34 seconds later, Quincy Douby knocked down a couple from the line, and there went that.

Still, it got me thinking a little bit about this, and whether it's ever happened in NBA history, or, say, the shot-clock era, to make it easier. More specifically, I noted that when Kevin Garnett knocked down a 22-footer to make it 64-34 with 10:38 left in the third quarter, Boston had scored every point it needed to score the rest of the game. The Cs could have gone scoreless for more than 22 and a half minutes and still theoretically have won.

I'm keenly interested in this stat for some reason, at least for the time being. Preliminarily, let's call it Time To Winning Points (TTWP). The Celtics' TTWP against the Kings was 25:22. Because I have no way of going back and figuring it out myself, I'm calling it a record and will be monitoring it via NBA boxscores for the rest of the season, and, perhaps, eternity. If someone with access to the Stats, Inc., database wants to check to see where Boston's accomplishment ranks all-time, or wants to email John Hollinger and bug him to do it, I'd be very interested in the results.

Note: After I wrote this, I went back and read some old posts, and realized that last year's 104-59 win over the Knicks was a good candidate for a game with a better TTWP than this one. However, a Ray Allen triple with 10:04 left in the third quarter gave us a 60-31 lead, making our TTWP for that game 25:56, 34 seconds longer than tonight against Sacto. The record stands!

-I want to take a moment to reflect on the Golden State loss, which came as a disappiontment, though not necessarily a surprise, when I saw the score in my grandmother's living room on Saturday morning. I was worried about that one, because I figured we'd have a big letdown after the Lakers game and maybe wouldn't be all that "up" for the Warriors, who like to go up and down and whose arena can be a nightmare for visiting teams. I figured we might get behind early and never really challenge, or maybe keep it close (Golden State's defense is horrible, so it's hard to fall too far behind) but not have anything left for a big push.

I was not expecting, however, to lose an eight-point fourth-quarter lead that had been as big as 14 in the second half.

Everyone seemed to chalk it up to being tired, but I just don't know. It's hard to say for sure without having watched the game, but it seems just as likely to me that this was just one of those days, one of those games that happens over the course of an 82-game season. And I know Perk didn't play (he aggravated his shoulder injury against LA), but you don't need a lot of size against Golden State, and it seems that it wasn't their inside guys who hurt us; the damage was done on the perimeter.

I said at the beginning of the season and have reiterated throughout that I don't mind losing to teams we won't have to worry about during the playoffs. I was taking for granted, however, that we'd earn home court advantage. After all, we just set the record for best 29-game start in NBA history; who'd have thought that Cleveland would match us nearly win-for-win and we'd gain all of one game on the Cavs during our 19-game winning streak? The bottom line is that these losses against the Woyas and the Pacers and the Nuggets become increasingly important now that the Cavs, who stand at 26-4 to our 28-4, seem poised to make their own run at history. The Cavs are good enough this year that home court advantage could well decide a playoff series with them, so every game matters.

To that end, then, it would be nice, rest of the NBA, if you'd stop giving away games to the Cavs at home. Cleveland beat Miami Sunday night to move to 16-0 at the Q; the Heat had a nine-point lead heading into the fourth quarter and lost by seven. And this came on the heels of the Christmas Day game with Washington, when the lowly Wizards couldn't hold on to a seven-point lead with 1:39 to go, surrendering the game's final 11 points in a 93-89 loss. Watching that one after seeing Boston lose to LA was pretty sick.

-Speaking of the Warriors, which I was a few paragraphs ago, I'm sure there are some Lakers fans who would like to point out that those Warriors got crushed at Staples Center tonight, 130-113. Lest they get too excited, however, I'd like to remind them that LA's third loss of the season was to...the Kings, 113-101, and Sacto didn't have Martin in that one, either.

Next game is Tuesday, December 30, at Portland (10 pm Eastern, no national TV). I'll be in Atlanta for a wedding, but should be able to watch the game and post about it at some point on the 31st.