Boston Sports Fan Blog

Too slow? Too old?

Indeed, the Boston Celtics look like they saved their best this season for when it mattered most.

“I know,” Boston’s Paul Pierce said. “It’s starting to look that way.”

Pierce scored 28 points, Rajon Rondo had 25 and the revived Celtics again avoided a late collapse to take a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference finals with a 95-92 victory over the Orlando Magic in Game 2 on Tuesday night.

Boston bullied and bruised its way to a 2-0 series lead on the road against a Magic team that had won 14 straight until this series.

After being hampered by injuries for much of the season, often showing their age, the Celtics are now just two wins away from their second finals appearance in three seasons.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPNBoston.com

The Boston Celtics sent LeBron James and the Cavaliers back to Cleveland to admire all of their regular-season accomplishments and ponder their future.

It’s the Celtics who are still in the chase for an NBA title.

Kevin Garnett scored 22 points and added 12 rebounds, and Rajon Rondo had 21 points and 12 assists to beat Cleveland 94-85 in Game 6 on Thursday night and advance to the Eastern Conference finals. They’ll play the Orlando Magic, who are undefeated in the playoffs.

“Winning is gratifying,” Garnett said. “You’re playing the best team in basketball; the challenge is there; you don’t have to dress it up. One thing we don’t lack is confidence. We’re a veteran team and we understand when it’s time to lock in as a group. I think we did just that. I think the experience is taking over.”

Despite his sixth career playoff triple-double, James is headed for another early offseason after winning a second MVP award and leading the Cavs to an NBA-best 61 wins and a home-court advantage they never got to use.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPNBoston.com

Boston Celtics captain Paul Pierce understands it’s only natural for some to question whether he’s completely healthy given his offensive struggles against the Cleveland Cavaliers so far this series, but he stressed Monday he’s in good condition and reaffirmed that his production doesn’t matter so long as his team wins.

Averaging 11.8 points per game on 32 percent shooting through four games, Pierce is under the microscope for a dip in his typical offensive production. On Monday, repeating what he said after Game 4, Pierce stressed that his focus in this Eastern Conference semifinal series is more on the defensive end.

“I do whatever I gotta do to help this team win,” said Pierce. “Guarding LeBron [James] is no easy task. He’s the two-time MVP and a lot of their offense goes through him — pretty much all of it. I know I have to focus on that end, more so than the offense. I knew that coming into the series.”

Celtics coach Doc Rivers echoed everything Pierce stated, suggesting he’s healthy and doing his part defensively.

Click here to read the full article – By Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com

The Boston Celtics have a few days off to prepare for the second round of the NBA playoffs and a matchup with LeBron James.

Dwyane Wade has all summer to recruit him.
Ray Allen scored 24 points, making five 3-pointers in the second half to help Boston beat Miami 96-86 on Tuesday night and eliminate the Heat in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series. The Celtics will play James and the Cavaliers in a seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal series that will open Saturday in Cleveland.
“I think it’s a great matchup. It’s great for basketball — such a classic series,” said Paul Pierce, who scored 21 points on Tuesday. “They’re the team to beat right now. They showed it through the course of the season the way they played. We know this is going to be a tough series, another really, really tough series.”

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPNBoston.com

Even without Kevin Garnett, the Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat.

Easily.

With the good-humored but hard-playing Glen Davis filling in while the Celtics’ emotional leader served a one-game suspension, Boston rolled to a 106-77 victory Tuesday night that Miami coach Erik Spoelstra called “embarrassing.”

It gave the Celtics a 2-0 lead in their playoff series and Davis a chance to reprise the nickname he hung on himself last year when he replaced the injured Garnett — known as the “Big Ticket” — in all 14 playoff games.
“The ‘Ticket Stub’ came,” Davis said. “Whenever they need the ‘Ticket Stub,’ he’ll be there.”
Davis had 23 points and eight rebounds, and Ray Allen heated up in the third quarter and scored 25 points. Dwyane Wade led the Heat with 29.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Celtics forward Kevin Garnett has been suspended for Game 2 of Boston’s first-round playoff series against the Heat for landing an elbow to the face of Miami’s Quentin Richardson in a fourth-quarter fracas during Game 1 on Saturday.

The announcement was made Sunday by Stu Jackson, NBA executive vice president of basketball operations.

Richardson was fined $25,000 for his role in the altercation.

Garnett earned a double technical and ejection in the melee that unfolded after Paul Pierce tumbled to the ground near the Miami bench with 40 seconds left in Boston’s victory at the TD Garden.

Click here to read the full article – By Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com

Every so often, the scar that runs down Doc Rivers’s right thumb reminds him about the importance of games at the end of the season.

He got the wound on the last day of the 1992-93 season, in a game that was more or less meaningless aside from the fact that the two best teams in the Eastern Conference — his Knicks and Michael Jordan’s Bulls — were playing on national TV.

The Knicks had wrapped up home-court advantage in the playoffs and were sitting on 59 wins. It wasn’t getting to 60 as much as league pressure that led coach Pat Riley to play his regular rotation.

“They basically threatened that back then you had to play,’’ Rivers said. “Everybody had to play. Jordan had to play in the game that was completely meaningless.’’

Click here to read the full article – By Julian Benbow of The Boston Globe

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The struggling Boston Celtics just got Kevin Garnett back from injury. They’ll hope he doesn’t trade places with Paul Pierce.

Pierce injured his left foot in the first quarter of Boston’s 99-88 win over the Washington Wizards on Monday. He sat out part of that quarter and all of the fourth even though the win was not certain. The Celtics outscored the Wizards 25-10 without their captain to beat the Wizards.

“I’ll get some X-rays tomorrow, but I think it’s not going to be too bad,” Pierce told reporters after the game, adding that he thought it was a sprain. “I would have known by now [if it was broken]. I think I’ll be all right.”

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said the injury was nothing serious, but he didn’t want to risk aggravating it by pushing Pierce.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett returned to practice Tuesday, engaging in full activity for the first time since hyperextending his surgically repaired right knee late last month.


By all accounts, Garnett looked fluid and he even expressed a desire to return to game action as soon as possible, though Celtics coach Doc Rivers indicated it will come no sooner than Friday night against the Portland Trail Blazers. Boston is waiting to see how the knee responds in the next few days before making a decision on that contest.

“Felt good to be back with the guys today, [my] first real practice, it felt good,” Garnett said.

Asked if he would push Rivers to put him in the lineup Wednesday night on the road against the Detroit Pistons, Garnett joked, “It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t … [But I'm] being smart about injuries, so they don’t get worse. I think I learned that last year the hard way. I’m trying to be patient and actually listen.”

Click here to read the full article – By Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com

Rajon Rondo’s brilliance for 47 minutes and 58 seconds Sunday night was overshadowed by his inability to even come close on two free throws that would have given the Celtics the lead against the Los Angeles Clippers.


Rondo’s 20-point, 6-assist, 2-steal performance is forgotten because he was unable to convert the last-second freebies, which, along with perimeter shooting, is his biggest weakness.

Rondo appeared unfazed after the Celtics’ 92-90 loss, but not only did he miss the free throws with the score 90-90, his counterpart, Baron Davis, drained a 22-foot, buzzer-beating shot with Rondo looking on helplessly.

Rondo’s success at the line has been an issue most of the season, but, entering last night’s game at Golden State, he improved to 60 percent in December after shooting 38 percent in November. Yet, even after a 7-of-9 showing in a 103-99 loss to the Warriors last night, he’s last on the team at 55.4 percent.

Click here to read the full article – By Gary Washburn of Boston Globe

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