Celtics Clip Baron Davis’ Clippers

Boston Celtics 95 L.A Clippers 89

TD Garden – Boston, MA

January 25, 2010

With three games coming up in the next week against the Magic, Hawks, and Lakers it would have been very easy to over look tonight’s game against the Clippers. The Celtics took it one game at a time and did exactly what they needed to do tonight in Boston defeating the Clippers by the score of 95-89.

The atmosphere at the Garden is definitely beginning to shape back into form with the return of Kevin Garnett. Right from the tip of the ball when the noise meter reached “Garden Level” you could tell the crowd wasn’t going to let their team down tonight. From Kevin Garnett’s chest bumping and head banging routine to start the game until the final horn the Garden crowd reminded me why they call this place “The Jungle”.

Early in the game the Celtics seemed to be struggling once again with this very underrated Clippers roster. As soon as 3 of the 4 Celtics bench players hit the floor you could tell it was going to be trouble, in fact the Clippers bench outscored the Celtics bench 31-16.

With Kevin Garnett back in the starting lineup you had to figure that the Celtics were not going to go down with a fight. After being down by as many as nine points in the first half the Celtics climbed back into it and went into the locker room down only one point.

Contrary to what they have been known to do recently the Celtics really came out ready to play in the third quarter. The C’s quickly got on a 6-0 run and distanced themselves from the Clippers for the time being. From that point on the Clippers never seemed to have what it took to get over the four point hump. They got withing four or five points on multiple occasions but the intensity and energy the Celtics had tonight would not allow them to get any closer.

Paul Pierce led the charge for the Celtics tonight scoring 22 points, including going 11 of 11 from the charity stripe. Being at the game tonight I really noticed, and liked, how Pierce was finally hiting that mid range jumper consistently. This was something I have been waiting to see and was glad to see it tonight.

Rajon Rondo scored another triple double on the night with 16 points and 12 assists. Not only did he succeed on the defensive end but he also did a good job defending Baron Davis. Davis, when healthy, is one of the best scoring point guards in the league. Rondo stayed in his role, didn’t gamble, and ultimately held Davis to only 16 points.

A win is a win and that is what the Celtics take from tonight’s game. What some people forget to realize is that all these games count the same whether it is against the Lakers or the New Jersey Nets. It is good to see the C’s not forgetting about this game and doing what they should do in a game that they easily could have over looked. They now get set to go on the road Thursdays and Friday against Orlando and Atlanta, then close out the week against the Lakers on Sunday. This will be a good stretch to see what this team is really made of.

Photos Via Getty Images