If The Celtics Were Your Girlfriend – You Wouldn’t Know What To Think
Wow. For those of you who turned your television off at the half out of frustration, the Celtics came back and won by 9 after being down by 15 at the half. If the Celtics were playing any team other than the 9-17 Pacers, such as the Magic, they could have been down by about 30 at the end of 2. It was that bad. Perkins couldn’t hold on to the ball, the team was making passes that just weren’t there, Pierce couldnt hit a shot if the gym were empty, and the defense as a unit just looked terrible. It looked like a western conference game (atleast from the Pacers side of the score board) in the beginning. The Pacers dropped 57 points in the first 2 quarters on the Celtics, something you will hardly ever see.
KG didn’t play tonight as the team had plans of resting his bruised thigh, in preperation for a bigger game in Orlando on Christmas. Ray said that this was plain and simple the reason for the Celtics lack of energy at the beginning of the game. He said KG is what brings that chatter on the defensive end, and has everything down so the flow of the team can go perfectly. For 26 games this year, the starting 5 came out together as one. Tonight, Sheed made the start at power forward, which apparently totally messed things up.
The first half was primarily led by Rajon Rondo and his giddy up, as well as Eddie House. Rondo was the only player on the floor during the first half who acted like he wanted it. This is a sharp transition to last year when he would be the only player on the court who wasn’t active. Eddie House came into the game and knocked down 2 quick three’s and two other jumpers, to keep the Celtics close. If it were not for these two, the Celtics would have been in big time trouble.
Enough about that crappy first half, what about the second half? Well the Celtics turned the game around by 24 points. They did so by playing team defense, and getting out to run. Paul Pierce who was once silenced, started attacking the rim and getting to the free throw line, winding up with 19 points. Perkins, who at first couldnt even hang onto the ball, hung on tight and put in some huge baskets that helped lead the chrage back. Then once the game got close enough, Mr. Ray Allen hit a huge 3 pointer that got the Jungle rocking and the Celtics never looked back.
The Celtics went from looking like deer in the headlights to the lonely Pacers, to the Celtics we saw in the game against the Timberwolves. It is a good thing they did, because what would it matter if we won in Orlando by resting KG, if we didn’t take this game? Anyway, the Celtics won and this game is over. Now it is time to break down every single thing possible about the upcoming matchup this Friday at 2:30 PM ET.
(Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)