Final: Celtics 119, Pistons 93. The highlight of the final minute is a ridiculous dunk by Nate Robinson, as Tony Allen bounces one off the backboard to feed a Robinson slam, dunk contest-style. That puts the exclamation point on a 26-point blowout win for the Celtics on their home court, a huge bounce-back victory after their setback in Cleveland on Sunday afternoon. The Celtics haven’t lost a step, and they proved it in this one. A decisive victory for the C’s.
Fourth quarter, 3:49, Celtics 111-83: With Shelden Williams getting an easy bucket inside off an assist from Nate Robinson, the Celtics have now gotten at least two points from everyone on the active roster. Gotta love nights like this, when everyone gets to have a hand in the victory. Good team bonding experience, or something like that. In any event, we’re just bleeding away the clock from now to the final buzzer. Garbage-time play at its finest.
Fourth quarter, 5:49, Celtics 105-79: And … there’s Gino. It was only a matter of time. The Celtics are ready to put a notch in the win column after a long Nate Robinson 3 pads the Boston lead and the Celtics call a full timeout with 5:49 left. This thing’s all but over, and Doc has Shelden Williams and Tony Allen out there getting their garbage-time minutes to prove it. The C’s have sufficiently proven that Sunday’s loss in Cleveland didn’t discourage them too much. Talk about bouncing back.
Fourth quarter, 8:19, Celtics 100-72: Another quarter, another scoring outburst from Michael Finley. A 3 from the wily veteran puts the Celtics up to a 26-point lead at 98-72, giving Finley 13 points now on 5-of-6 shooting. Marquis Daniels then connects on a mid-range jumper to bring the Celtics to the century mark — the C’s have gone on an 11-2 run to start the fourth quarter and put this game away for good.
End of third quarter, Celtics 89-70: Uh oh. The Celtics’ lead is down to 19. Anyone nervous? No? Good, because you shouldn’t be. Doc leaves the second unit on the floor for a good long stretch at the end of the third quarter, and a Rasheed turnover — coupled with a handful of bad shots from Nate Robinson — leads to a small push by the Pistons toward making this game look respectable. If the C’s put the starters back on the floor in the fourth quarter, they should have little trouble finishing this one off. Although even if they don’t, they’ll probably be just fine. A 19-point lead is usually pretty safe, right?
Third quarter, 3:21, Celtics 83-59: The Pistons are getting their butts kicked at the Garden tonight, but you still have to be impressed with the play of Jonas Jerebko, their rookie power forward out of Sweden. Jerebko has the potential to be a very good NBA player — he’s long, quick and athletic and can he a big difference-maker on both ends of the floor. He’s carrying the Pistons in this third quarter with eight points, most of them coming on high-percentage shots created by working hard inside. You’ve got to like a guy who makes hustle plays even when his team’s down 30.
Third quarter, 6:17, Celtics 80-49: This is just getting silly. After a nice-looking mid-range jumper from Kendrick Perkins, the Celtics’ lead has ballooned to a ridiculous 31 points midway through the third quarter. And apparently, the Celtics aren’t taking the foot off the gas pedal yet. After a full Detroit timeout, Doc sends his starting five back onto the floor, pushing them hard on the tail end of a back-to-back. With a 31-point lead. It seems unnecessary, but as KG says, this is the Doc Rivers show, and we’re all just guests.
Third quarter, 8:03, Celtics 74-46:The Celtics’ Big Three are sharing the ball beautifully in the third quarter. Pierce hits KG for an open mid-range jumper. KG feeds Ray Allen for an easy bucket inside. Ray gets it inside to KG for a layup. In transition, the C’s go Pierce-to-Rondo-to-Perk off a big steal from the captain. Things are really flowing for the C’s on offense. At this point, there’s no way they’re letting this lead slip away. Really. None.
Halftime, Celtics 64-35: The Celtics finish things off with a 5-0 run behind an Allen three and a KG short jumper. A dominating finish to a dominating first half — at the break, the C’s are paced by 12 points from Paul Pierce, 11 from Allen and nine from Glen Davis off the bench. A quiet six points and five boards from KG as well, as the Celtics head into the locker room with a just-plain-ridiculous 29-point advantage at the half. How early will we see Gino tonight?
Second quarter, 2:53, Celtics 55-31: Correct me if I’m wrong, but this doesn’t seem like a very good time for the Pistons to go three-plus minutes without scoring a point. They finally snap out of it with a short jumper from DaJuan Summers, but the 9-0 Boston run only buries Detroit even deeper. No amount of bench scoring can help them much at this point. It’s not even halftime yet, and the Celtics are making this one into a runaway.
Second quarter, 6:01, Celtics 48-29: What were the Spurs thinking letting Michael Finley go? The veteran shooting guard has done nothing but step up and hit shot after shot after shot off the bench for the Celtics, emerging as a huge contributor to this second unit. Who needs starters when you’ve got ‘Sheed and Daniels to get stops, and Finley to knock down the open jumper and carry the offense? Finley has eight points on 3-of-4 shooting, and the Celtics’ lead is pushing 20 here in the middle of the second quarter.
Second quarter, 9:16, Celtics 36-21: Doc is letting the second unit have plenty of time here as the second quarter gets underway, and it’s working just fine as the C’s backups keep the lead in double digits. One bright spot for the Celtics’ bench tonight is the improved play of Marquis Daniels — Daniels has shown more of a willingness to get inside, crash the boards and create high-percentage shots down low. Given the undersized nature of the second unit with Glen Davis next to Daniels playing the four, Daniels’ inside presence is a huge plus.
End of first quarter, Celtics 31-15: The Celtics show absolutely no signs of slowing once the second unit takes the floor. Everything’s clicking for the C’s tonight — they’re capitalizing on every Pistons turnover, they’re hitting every open shot. Even Rasheed Wallace is working hard to create good shots. This is the best the Celtics have executed as a team in a long time, and the scoreboard certainly reflects that.
First quarter, 3:01, Celtics 22-11: The Celtics make it a 16-1 run before Jason Maxiell gets inside and hammers one home to end Detroit’s long field-goal drought. In the meantime, though, the Pistons are witness to a scoring clinic put on by Paul Pierce, who has now poured in 12 points on 3-of-5 shooting and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Yes, that’s right: Pierce has more points than the entire Pistons team.
First quarter, 6:18, Celtics 11-6: A nice little 9-0 run for the Celtics here in the middle of the first quarter. The C’s are doing what they do best — moving well on defense, contesting shots, getting stops. On the offensive end, things are starting to flow, with Paul Pierce asserting himself offensively and getting into the lane to either score or draw a foul at every opportunity. The Celtics have firmly seized control of this game early.
First quarter, 9:21, Pistons 6-2: Simple problem for the Celtics so far in this game: The shots aren’t falling. Both teams are executing well — sharing the ball, making smart passes, taking high-percentage shots. Only difference is when the Pistons take them, they go in. Boston is 1-for-5 from the field so far in this game, with the lone bucket coming on a very long two from the corner by Ray Allen.
4:55 p.m.: The Celtics tried to make a big statement on Sunday afternoon in Cleveland. They couldn’t find the words to say it.
After a disappointing setback against the Cavaliers over the weekend, the Celtics return home Monday night for another nationally televised tilt, this one with a Detroit Pistons team that’s lost eight of its last 10 games. The C’s couldn’t get it done against the NBA-best Cavs; maybe now, they can pick on someone their own size. Or else, someone way, way smaller.
Boston will look for a solid bounce-back win against a Pistons team that’s coming off a decisive thumping in Atlanta on Saturday. Both teams will look for redemption after a disappointing weekend, and one will get it. Smart money’s on the Celtics.
