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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 13, 2008 8:56:22 GMT -5
www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1066253&format=textCeltics far from magical Run out of gas vs. Wizards By Steve Bulpett | Sunday, January 13, 2008 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics WASHINGTON - The Celtics [team stats] have now lost five times this season, but last night wasn’t just an ordinary defeat. The team with the best record in the NBA got kicked in the glass. Washington went for 26 second-chance points and outrebounded the Celts, 49-30, to hand them a nasty 85-78 loss. The Bostonians are still a league-best 30-5, but they didn’t leave town with the same swagger they had on the way in. The same team that won 29 of its first 32 games has now lost two of its last three. “I just thought they outworked us for the most part all night,” coach Doc Rivers said. “It was a scrum. That’s what the game looked like. It looked more like rugby. Every loose ball, every long rebound, they got to.” The Wizards got to 20 offensive rebounds, with Antawn Jamison getting nine of his 16 on that end. As a result, they attempted 13 more field goals than the Celts. And while the visitors’ 21 turnovers were just one more than Washington’s, the Wizards extracted 10 more points from those miscues than the C’s (28-18). Rivers looked at all the numbers and said, “The fact that you were in that game was a miracle. It really was.” In that game? The Celtics were actually leading it by four with less than 3 minutes to go. They seemed destined to steal another one in the late going before their offense suddenly seized up on them. Leading 74-70, the C’s squandered their next five possessions while Caron Butler hit two free throws to start a 9-0 Wizards run. Following Butler’s pair from the line, Antonio Daniels then ignored the fact his team had hit just one of 16 3-pointers to that point and drilled one from beyond the arc. After the Celtics’ 20th turnover of the night, DeShawn Stevenson was fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three freebies. When Brendan Haywood made one of two foul shots, the C’s were down five with 34 seconds left. Paul Pierce [stats] hit a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left to get the C’s within three, but Stevenson answered with two more free throws, putting Washington ahead, 83-78. And once Ray Allen missed a trey and Stevenson dunked on a fast break, it was over, and all the Celts could do was look ahead to tomorrow night’s rematch at TD Banknorth Garden. And look behind at a beating. “I thought we just weren’t aggressive like we usually are down the stretch,” said Pierce, who committed a team-high six turnovers. “Then we turned the ball over and gave them extra chances. You can’t do that.” The Celts also hurt themselves when the Wizards turned up the pressure on defense. Tony Allen filled in at the point for Rajon Rondo [stats] (bruised back) and gave the ball up four times (with no assists) in 25 minutes. “They took our players out by trapping the ball,” said Pierce. “They were able to turn us over and crash the boards.” But Rivers wasn’t about to blame the loss on Rondo’s absence. “We pay them all,” he said. “We don’t pay like three or four of them. So we don’t make excuses. They didn’t have Gilbert (Arenas, their injured star).” The C’s simply seem to have hit a patch of ice in their heretofore luxurious ride. “The season’s still going great,” said Ray Allen. “I’m not going to judge what we’ve done thus far by (last night’s) loss or a couple of nights ago. It’s just disappointing.”
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 13, 2008 8:59:55 GMT -5
www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1066254&format=textBack issue may keep Rondo on shelf By Steve Bulpett / Celtics Notebook | Sunday, January 13, 2008 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics WASHINGTON - Rajon Rondo [stats] knew the moment he opened his eyes yesterday morning that his chances of playing last night were nil. The Celtics [team stats] point guard’s back was not going to cooperate. “My back was tight,” said Rondo, who bruised it when he fouled Richard Jefferson in the third quarter of Friday’s win at New Jersey. “Real tight. I got out of bed stiff. I know I can’t run.” He could be out a while, though no one was certain last night. “It’s a bruise, so you just don’t know how those things heal,” coach Doc Rivers said. “Right now he couldn’t play. This is not one of those precaution games. This is a game that he just couldn’t play in. And if he couldn’t play (last night), (tomorrow against Washington) is probably doubtful. But we’ll see. He’s young. He heals faster than all of us.” Rondo suffered the injury when he hit his back hard on the edge of the court. The fact he’s reed-thin was also a factor. “He has no booty,” Rivers said. “I mean, literally he’s so thin. When he hits it, he feels the impact. When Glen Davis hits it, whatever he hits feels the impact. That’s the difference.” After last night’s 85-78 loss to the Wizards, Rondo said his back was feeling a bit looser. “I took a couple of muscle relaxers, so we’ll see,” he said.cw2cw2 Tony Allen started in his place and had eight points, six rebounds, no assists and four turnovers in 24:54. Take the C-train Considering the three railroad cars were chartered and well-catered, the Celtics’ train ride here from New Jersey didn’t exactly conjure up romantic images of the past. But Tommy Heinsohn had to feel some familiarity on the trip. “Yeah, but the last time trains were a real part of our travel, (Bob) Cousy was throwing me behind-the-back passes,” the C’s legend said with a laugh. The Celts have made one or two train trips in the last couple of years, but nowadays it’s done out of convenience, not necessity. When factoring in the flight logistics, the club decided to take the shorter route following Friday’s win over the Nets. “I like it because it’s more efficient,” Rivers said. “It gets us to D.C. quicker. In Jersey, they hang you out to dry at the airport for an hour every time we go to check in.” Without chartered planes, the old Celtics had different issues. “It’s not like taking trains is all we did before,” Heinsohn said. “We’d try to fly wherever we could, but we did take trains all over the East Coast. “My favorite story is if you were playing in Rochester (N.Y.), and the next game was in Fort Wayne (Ind.), there was no way to get there except to take a train at 11:30 at night. “It would go by about 40 miles from Fort Wayne and you’d get off at 5:30 in the morning in the middle of a cornfield. You had to walk a mile to this town and wait for the high school kids to come out and pick you up. You’d pay them to drive you into Fort Wayne. “The Green Parrot Inn. Everybody knew the Green Parrot Inn.” Heinsohn rather enjoyed riding the rails. “I’d feel even better if Bill Russell was sitting on the train,” he said. “Then I’d know we were going to win the next game.” Old man Rivers Rivers was pleased to watch son Jeremiah and Georgetown beat UConn on a Roy Hibbert 3-pointer in the waning seconds here yesterday afternoon. Huskies product Ray Allen was not so happy with the result, but he went into the UConn dressing room afterward to let them know “they played hard and we’re proud of them.” Rivers planned to stay here last night to visit with his son. . . . With the Wizards on the schedule again tomorrow night at the TD Banknorth Garden, the Celts will take today off.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 13, 2008 9:02:31 GMT -5
For ex-Celt Vincent, Africa remains a growing concern By Mark Murphy | Sunday, January 13, 2008 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics Time has finally evened out for Sam Vincent. Though he still puts in as much time as the next guy, the Charlotte coach was once the hardest working man in basketball, thanks to his association with a wide range of national programs in Africa. At one stage the former Celtics [team stats] draft pick (20th overall, 1985) coached both the South African men’s and women’s national teams. He coached the Nigerian women when they qualified for a berth in the 2004 Olympics, and took over the Nigerian men’s team a year later. All the while, he coached in the NBDL, and prior to taking the Bobcats job last spring was a Dallas assistant for three seasons. There weren’t exactly a lot of cracks in Vincent’s schedule. As such, he never paid a lot of attention to the political situation in Africa. He was too busy. But now, with post-election strife raging in Kenya, and ongoing turmoil evident in a host of other countries from Sudan to Nigeria, the situation on “the continent,” as he calls it, suddenly seems more pronounced. “I spent eight years there, and I was never all that concerned,” he said. “There’s always danger. But I was pretty busy, always getting back to the States. “But when I look now, when you read and hear the news, it makes you not want to go over there. It just seems that there’s so much crime and violence there right now. But when you’re there, and you’re trying to help a family get through something, or coaching a group of kids, you just don’t think about it.” As a first-year NBA coach, Vincent doesn’t have much time to reflect on Africa now, either. His days on the continent are finished, at least for the time being. “I’m just too busy now to think about going back there,” he said. “But I’m sure that when I get some time I’ll be able to contribute something again.” Article URL: www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1066242
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 13, 2008 9:04:02 GMT -5
www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/01/13/celtics_thrown_for_loss?mode=PFCeltics thrown for loss Road win streak halted by Wizards By Marc J. Spears, Globe Staff | January 13, 2008 WASHINGTON - After a long and comfortable ride, the Celtics hit a big bump in the road. Boston's road winning streak was snapped at 10 with an 85-78 loss to the Wizards at the Verizon Center last night. The Celtics (30-5) lost for the second time in three games for the first time this season. Boston is 14-3 on the road after sustaining its first road loss since Nov. 27 at Cleveland. "We've just got to learn from our mistakes," Celtics forward Paul Pierce said. "We're not going to win every game. We definitely know we can play better basketball than we did [last night]. The key about winning, the key about losing is learning from mistakes and building on them." When asked if a bad pattern was beginning to appear with the Celtics, Kevin Garnett firmly said no. "Not at all," said the forward. "It's not a pattern." Boston had a season low in points after shooting 41.3 percent (26 of 63) and making 17 of 23 free throws. The Celtics' star trio of Garnett (19), Pierce (15), and Ray Allen (8, 3-of-13 shooting) combined for 42 points on 15-of-40 shooting and took only 11 free throws. The Wizards shot 36.8 percent (28 of 76) and missed 16 of 18 3-point attempts. Even so, Washington won the game by outrebounding Boston, 49-30, including 20 offensive boards for 26 second-chance points, causing 19 turnovers, and scoring 30 points in the paint. The 20 offensive rebounds are a season high for a Celtics opponent. Washington's Antawn Jamison had 16 rebounds (nine offensive) while teammate Caron Butler had 10. "They beat us on the boards tonight, especially offensively," Allen said. "We were turning the ball over and giving them extra possessions. We didn't give ourselves a great chance to win." Washington coach Eddie Jordan cited his team's rugged play as having a big in fluence in the victory. "It was a hard game to explain and describe other than it was very, very physical," he said. "[The Celtics] are a very good team. They are an extremely good offensive team. All that being said, we forced [19] turnovers. We only had 13 assists, but we outrebounded them." Celtics starting point guard Rajon Rondo missed the game with a bruised back suffered Friday night at New Jersey. Tony Allen started in Rondo's place and had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 0 assists, and 5 fouls in 24 minutes. Backup point guard Eddie House added 11 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds. "It's tough watching," Rondo said. "You want to help your teammates." Pierce said: "[Rondo's] a guy that gets us off to good starts. But that's no excuse." The Wizards were also without star guard Gilbert Arenas, who has been out since having left knee surgery Nov. 21. Washington, however, has a 16-11 record without Arenas. "They've been playing very good basketball of late," Garnett said. "They've probably been playing a little bit better without Arenas." The Wizards held a 41-40 halftime lead despite shooting just 33.3 percent from the field and missing 7 of 8 3-point attempts. The Celtics outscored Washington, 25-19, in the third quarter to take a 65-60 lead. A James Posey alley-oop dunk gave Boston its biggest lead of the fourth quarter, 67-60, with 11:31 remaining. But Washington took the lead back, 75-74, after an Antonio Daniels 3-pointer with 1:51 remaining. The Wizards outscored the Celtics, 10-4, the rest of the game and DeShawn Stevenson's dunk with 3.2 seconds remaining sealed the outcome. Boston was outscored, 25-13, in the fourth, missed 11 of 15 field goal attempts, and had six turnovers. "To play focused against the best team in the league says a lot about the character of our team," said Jamison. "A lot of teams believe we wouldn't have a chance from the get-go. But we play well with our backs against the wall. We hit buckets when they counted." Pierce cited the Washington defense as a determining factor. "They took us out of our plays," he said. "They trapped the ball. We just weren't aggressive like we usually are down the stretch. And that's the story of the game." The Celtics don't have to wait long to try to get revenge as they host the Wizards (19-16) at TD Banknorth Garden tomorrow night. Several Celtics made sure to mention that the Wizards were coming up next in the schedule. Boston is 4-0 in games following losses. "We have them again on Monday," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I like it when you play a back-to-back. It's like a mini-playoff series. It should be a fun game."
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 13, 2008 9:07:56 GMT -5
www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/01/13/rondo_back_out_of_the_lineup?mode=PFRondo (back) out of the lineup By Marc J. Spears, Globe Staff | January 13, 2008 WASHINGTON - While Celtics guard Rajon Rondo slept well, his bruised back didn't feel well when he woke up yesterday morning. Rondo missed last night's 85-78 loss to the Wizards, and it's uncertain whether he will play in tomorrow night's rematch in Boston. Rondo injured himself taking a hard fall in Friday night's win at New Jersey. He is receiving electrical stimulation, icing his back, and taking pain medication. Rondo expects to see Celtics doctor Brian McKeon today but wasn't certain whether he would have an MRI. The second-year Celtic said he hasn't had any previous back problems, but he wasn't able to run or cut yesterday. "I'm hitting the floor a lot," Rondo said. "It's starting to catch up to me. I fell pretty hard. I was going full speed." Rondo missed the game against the Lakers in Los Angeles Dec. 30 with a sore right hamstring. Combo guard Tony Allen started in Rondo's place last night and had 8 points but no assists. Rookie point guard Gabe Pruitt was activated, but did not play. When asked about the seriousness of Rondo's injury, coach Doc Rivers said, "I don't know, actually. It's a bruise, so you just don't know how these things heal. Right now he couldn't play. It's not one of those precaution games. It's just a game he couldn't play in. "Monday's probably doubtful. But we'll see. He's young and he heals faster than all of us." Interested observers When Georgetown's 7-foot-2-inch center, Roy Hibbert, surprisingly nailed the winning 3-pointer in a 72-69 victory over Connecticut at the Verizon Center yesterday, Rivers was all smiles. But Ray Allen was disappointed. With the Celtics and Wizards playing at the same venue, Rivers and Allen were able to attend the game. Rivers's son, Jeremiah, is a sophomore guard for the Hoyas and scored 2 points in 15 minutes. Allen, who starred in college for the Huskies, sat behind their bench with another ex-UConn star, Caron Butler of the Wizards. "The play was definitely not run for Roy Hibbert to shoot a three," Allen said. "He shot it like he had done it all [season]. It was clear that he shoots threes. But it's unfortunate because I thought [the Huskies] played hard and they did everything they could to win that game." Rivers thought the game was going into overtime when Hibbert put up his shot. Asked if he would have called a play for Hibbert to shoot a 3-pointer, Rivers said, "It worked. It's an excellent coaching job there." Rivers has also seen his son play against Michigan this season. With the Celtics off today, Rivers stayed overnight to spend time with his son. "It's always great to see my father come to a game of mine, especially with the restrictions of his schedule and everything," Jeremiah Rivers said. "When we're on the road, they're on the road, so it's a rare opportunity when both of our schedules match at the same time. "To see him here, and to even see one of his players, Ray Allen and UConn, I know they've been talking trash to each other all week, my dad said. It was great." No jump for Big Baby Celtics rookie Glen Davis said he's still bothered by a sore right knee. The 6-foot-9-inch, 289-pound forward missed Wednesday's loss to Charlotte with the injury. He scored 7 points and grabbed four rebounds in 13 minutes in a win at New Jersey Friday, but was scoreless with one rebound in 10 minutes against the Wizards last night. "It's hard to jump," Davis said. "I ain't going to sit. I don't feel like [myself]." . . . The Celtics have used several players at point guard this season, including Rondo, Pruitt, Tony Allen, Ray Allen, and Eddie House. But they have another player with experience in James Posey. The versatile 6-foot-8-inch, 217-pounder actually played some time there with the Nuggets and Grizzlies during the first six seasons of his nine-year career. Posey has played small forward, shooting guard, and small forward this season. "I wouldn't have any problems with him at all," said Hall of Famer Dan Issel, who coached Posey with the Nuggets. "He's confident enough in his ballhandling. One of the things I loved about Pose when we drafted him was that he's very coachable and wants to win. He's not into individual stats and he'll do whatever you want him to do, and defensively he wouldn't have any problems guarding point guards." Posey said he would have no problems playing point guard if needed, and there is one current offensive set in which he runs the point. He said he wouldn't be surprised if he played the position at times during the second half of the season.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 13, 2008 9:11:19 GMT -5
Gino night fever A mysterious man is conquering the Garden, one booty at a time By Wesley Morris | January 13, 2008 SOMEBODY HAS BROUGHT sexy back to the Garden - and it's not Justin Timberlake or that guy the Celtics imported from the Timberwolves. Look up. There is hotness on the Jumbotron. When things are going irreversibly great for the Celtics, which is to say frequently, here comes "Shake Your Booty" on the sound system along with a clip from disco-era "American Bandstand." The clip has lots of dancers. But amid the Afros and the flamboyance and the groups doing the Hustle, the bearded white guy dancing with himself in the snug Gino Vannelli top stands out. He looks like he cut Mr. Kotter's class to boogie at (censored) Clark's. His shirt is too tight. But his moves are just right. At Celtics games, this moment has been christened Gino Time. When it arrives, dudes (and dames) rise up from their chairs, beer in one hand, pumped fist in the other, upper teeth gently pressing down on lower lip, and begin to do the Gino. A small sample suggests this dance is undoable. Gino's hips undulate. His arms swing gracefully from near his head down to his waist and into a soft clap. He's committing a roller-rink seduction with no skates. These moves are from a simpler time. No one who learned to dance after 1980 knows how to flow like that. At the Garden, the Gino is basically whatever happens to your body when music plays. It is often "wave your hands in the air, wave 'em like you just don't care." It's often as unsightly as the home victories are glorious. The team began playing the "Bandstand" moment a few years ago. But in a winning season, the clip has become an infectious phenomenon. There are T-shirts. There are rumors (maybe KG does the Gino, too). There is the magical, unprecedented sight of people surnamed McNulty and Callinan dancing at a Boston Celtics basketball game - from good seats and bad. One of the pleasures of this craze has been watching the main show shift from the parquet floor to the stands. You can see the players on the bench turn into astonished spectators of the unsafe-looking, borderline disinhibition erupting in the stands. The Celtics look on in much the same way the nation watched Jonathan Papelbon's Riverdance - in cringing amusement. Someday, Gino might also give the Celtics its "Sweet Caroline," a stupid ritual that turns collectively cathartic - a holy necessity. But the "Bandstand" clip is still at the novelty stage. For one thing, the featured groover's name is unknown (the Celtics are trying to find him in order to make a documentary about him). His shirt says "Gino," as in Gino Vannelli, the curiously irresistible Italian-Canadian singer whose 1978 hit "I Just Wanna Stop" remains a velour-padded slow jam. For another, Gino was plucked, YouTube-style, from a kitsch graveyard (the screen shows a VH-1 logo) and who's to say some other viral-video craze won't replace it? In the meantime, someone very real and very gymnastic must be worried: the Celtics' Lucky the Leprechaun. His obsolescence could be imminent. Who needs a live mascot when you can download one from YouTube? That any of this is happening at Celtics games is richly ironic, since it's the sort of distraction Red Auerbach disdained for his team. He was a purist. The T-shirt cannons, the Jumbotron, the acrobatic mascot, the cheerleaders: it's all noisy pizzazz. What about the basketball? (Doc Rivers doesn't seem all that crazy about the frippery, either.) People who miss the austerity of the Auerbach era might want to cover their ears. Not that it will do any good. Your heart might long for no-frills Celtics, but when it's Gino Time your heinie might beg to differ.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 13, 2008 9:13:25 GMT -5
www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/01/13/no_longer_a_pall_over_pierce?mode=PFNo longer a pall over Pierce Now you'll see him with a winning smile By Peter May | January 13, 2008 On many an NBA coach's "to-do" list this month is placing calls to fellow coaches to lobby for a certain player to get All-Star consideration. In the past, Doc Rivers, Jim O'Brien, and Rick Pitino all did it for Paul Pierce, and it usually paid off. Pierce played in five straight All-Star Games from 2002-06. Last year? No chance. He was hurt. The team stunk. This year? Rivers can save the dime and the time. While Pierce has already come to grips with the fact that he has no chance of starting (two lads named Kevin Garnett and LeBron James will do that), his play merits what should be an automatic berth as an alternate on the Eastern Conference team. To quote Rivers, "Paul Pierce having an All-Star season? There's a news bulletin." At 30, Pierce may well be playing the best basketball of his career. That's because for the first time, we are seeing Paul Pierce 360, a guy who still is a dangerous scorer, but also a guy who has amped up his defense, ratcheted up the assists, and is trusting of his teammates, all the while looking like, in the words of one NBA scout, "the happiest guy I've ever seen from one year to the next." With the Celtics winning at a mind-boggling pace, you can make a case that no one is more deserving of this good fortune, given everything Pierce endured in his first nine years here. Last year was abject misery, from a personal and professional standpoint. He missed 35 games with injuries, or 11 more than the team won. The year before (33 wins) wasn't much better - and he had to watch chum Antoine Walker win a ring with Miami. Pierce's teams haven't won a playoff series since 2003. Now he has a slew of new teammates, led by the estimable Garnett, and has a chance for something much more rewarding than a sixth All-Star berth, something that would involve winning more than a playoff series. "The All-Star Game is fun," Pierce said. "If I do go, that'd be great. But I have a bigger goal with this team that I'm playing on right now - and that's bigger than making any All-Star team." You get the feeling Pierce checks the calendar every morning to make sure he hasn't been transported in time to some parallel universe? Last year, he got to work and saw Al Jefferson and Sebastian Telfair and knew he'd have to score 30 points for his team to have any chance of winning. This year, it's Garnett and Ray Allen, along with James Posey, Eddie House, and former Jayhawk teammate Scot Pollard. His kind of guys. He can talk their talk. I mean, what kind of meaningful two-way conversation could Pierce ever have had with Gerald Green? That was one of the joyous byproducts of Danny Ainge's magical summer, not just the arrival of the aforementioned players, but also the look on Pierce's face. He didn't just get help. He got the cavalry, infantry, and air force, all in one summer. "A lot of people around the league come up to me before or after a game and say how happy they are for me, for having gone through the bad times and sticking it out," said Pierce. "And now, 'Look at the opportunity you have.' A lot of them wish they were in my position." Bet he didn't get much of that last year. Or the year before. Or the year before that. And the arrival of Garnett and Allen has been particularly liberating. Those are his contemporaries. He's seen them at All-Star Games. But it's a whole different game when you see these guys every day. "It's a lot of fun," said Pierce. "You get excited about these opportunities. It's not every day you get a chance to play with these type of guys, and I cherish it each and every day I walk into the gym for practice. "Every opportunity I have for this game, I treat it as my last. Just to have the opportunity to play with these guys is all worth it. These next three, four, or five years, however long I play, I'll have the opportunity to be on the same court with these guys. I'm going to cherish it regardless of the outcome." Celebrity endorsements Gerald Wallace may be toiling in relative anonymity (although not financial insecurity) in Charlotte, but he received the ultimate compliment last week from none other than Kevin Garnett. "Defensively is where he stands out," Garnett said. "He's one of the best one-on-one defenders in this league." Coming from Garnett, perhaps the best defensive player in the league, that stands as an endorsement worth framing. "He's one of the very few players who plays both ends in this game," Garnett went on. "When Charlotte wins, it's because he plays well at both ends." Wallace played well enough in the win over Boston, collecting 15 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He was somewhat overshadowed by teammates Jason Richardson (34 points) and Raymond Felton (16 points, 8 assists, 0 turnovers). But even before the game, Paul Pierce was echoing Garnett's comments. "Gerald Wallace is getting a lot of respect around the league," Pierce said. "I saw him in Boston when he was in the McDonald's [All-Star] Game and I said he was going to be a pro back then. "He can play multiple positions, guard multiple positions, and do all the little things that you need for a team to win. I wouldn't be surprised if he made the All-Star team this year." That may be a little far-fetched, although Wallace's January numbers are pretty impressive (21.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 5 assists). And according to the Celtics, Wallace is second in the NBA in fast-break points, which, as we know, is the way things go in an All-Star Game. No. 1? The Nets' Richard Jefferson. Too small for the big screen Glen Davis is a pretty big fellow. He's listed as 6 feet 9 inches (only in his dreams) and 289 pounds (more to the point). While in college at LSU, Davis majored in arts and theater. So it didn't come as a bolt out of the blue when he received a call from his agent, John Hamilton, to see whether he would be interested in auditioning for a role in the movie adaptation of Michael Lewis's recent best-selling book, "The Blind Side." (Fox bought the movie rights, a screenplay has been accepted, Julia Roberts is interested, but nothing has been finalized.) Davis read for the role of the protagonist, Michael Oher, a homeless African-American who emerges as the prototype left offensive tackle after he is taken off the mean streets of Memphis to live with Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, an affluent white couple. Oher went on to Ole Miss, was first-team All-Southeastern Conference, and will decide by tomorrow whether to enter the NFL draft this year. (It appears he will.) As for the audition, Davis said, "It involved a reading and a videotape. It was fun. I did it in Boston. But I haven't heard anything since then." Sean Tuohy works as the television analyst for the Grizzlies. He was a crackerjack point guard at Ole Miss and was taken by the Nets in the 10th round of the 1982 draft (218th overall). Tuohy revealed that Davis won't get the role, not because of a poor audition, but because - get this - he isn't big enough! Well, that's technically true. Oher is listed at 6-5, 325 pounds. Tuohy also said he understands that George Clooney and Brad Pitt are fighting to play his role. Etc. Blowing the whistle on the NBA Even though the game was eight days ago, one overlooked aspect of the Pistons-Celtics epic at The Palace bears revisiting. This was one of the biggest games of the regular season, certainly one of the biggest in the Eastern Conference. So why on earth did the NBA send out the equivalent of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod to referee? You would have expected to see Steve Javie, Joey Crawford, Danny Crawford, or (censored) Bavetta as the crew chief. Instead, we had the triumvirate of Scott Foster, David Jones, and Benny Adams. According to the referees' guide distributed by the NBA, Foster has refereed 33 playoff games in 13 years while Jones has done 28 playoff games in 18 years and Adams, who gave Doc Rivers a technical, has worked four playoff games in 12 years. In other words, all three of these guys can make plans for May. Neither team was happy with the officiating, which resulted in 51 personal fouls and four technicals. Developing situation If you are an incorrigible basketball junkie, then Boise, Idaho, is the place to be this week. Starting tomorrow and running through Thursday is the annual D-League Showcase, in which all 14 D-League teams will be in attendance, each playing twice. This is prime hunting ground for the NBA; more than 50 league personnel men are scheduled to be in attendance. Last year, former Northeastern point guard Jose Juan Barea made his D-League debut at the Showcase, held in Sioux Falls, and had 21 points and eight assists in his first game. The Celtics have had both Gabe Pruitt and Brandon Wallace in the D-League this year. Wallace was waived last month, and the Utah Flash have been trying, without success, to get him back on their roster. Pruitt has made two trips to the D-League, but has been with the Celtics for the last few weeks. It was so unlike them The Celtics' 95-83 loss to the Bobcats was noteworthy in many respects. It marked the first time this season they lost a game after holding a lead of 11 points. And it took 33 games for them to be out of a game in the regulation 48 minutes. In fact, it was their first loss by more than 5 points this season, a stunning factoid. A recent check revealed that - surprise - San Antonio, Dallas, Phoenix, Detroit, and the Lakers are next, and they all have seven losses of more than 5 points. (The Spurs, Suns, and Pistons all picked up No. 7 this past week.) The interesting team in that group is the Lakers. Two of their seven losses came against the Celtics, who pummeled them in each game. But LA continues to do well against almost everyone else. It has won five straight and nine of 10, with the only loss being to the Celtics. The Lakers could run their streak to seven straight with games against Memphis and Seattle tonight and tomorrow. But their final seven games of January are against the Suns, Nuggets, Spurs, Mavericks, Cavs, Pistons and, ahem, Knicks. Technical difficulty Kendrick Perkins is leading the league in something: technical fouls. Perk got his seventh Friday night, one more than notorious hotheads Rasheed Wallace of the Pistons and Stephen Jackson of the Warriors. That still is a ways away from the 16 technicals that, if collected, result in a one-game suspension. (It's known internally as the Sheed Line.) "Sometimes I let my emotions get the best of me," said Perkins, who added that he wasn't surprised to be where was on the Tech List. "I just gotta settle down and everything will be all right." Kevin Garnett has five technicals, Paul Pierce has four, same as Doc Rivers. Indiana coach Jim O'Brien, however, is ahead of everyone. He has eight. Rockets staying on course Keep an eye on those up-and-down Houston Rockets. They opened a five-game homestand Friday night with a victory over Minnesota and have the Hornets and Spurs passing through the Toyota Center this week. Houston seems to be weathering the latest absence of Tracy McGrady, who has taken over for Kobe Bryant in the "Superstar Going to Be Traded" sweepstakes. The victory over the Timberwolves gave the Rockets a 7-2 record in games McGrady has missed this season. It's his neck on the line After seeing a third specialist, T.J. Ford went to Houston to continue his rehab from his frightening neck injury last month in Atlanta. Ford also has seen doctors in Los Angeles and New York. The Raptors are planning on having Ford back, but no date has been set for his return. He hasn't played since Dec. 11. Play it again In upholding the Heat's protest and agreeing to replay the final 51.9 seconds of a Dec. 19 game they lost to Atlanta, commissioner David Stern broke new ground in his nearly quarter-century of overseeing the league. The last time a protest was upheld was in 1982 by Stern's predecessor, the late Larry O'Brien. Stern also fined the Hawks $50,000 for incorrectly giving Shaquille O'Neal an extra foul, resulting in him having to leave the game. (That was when Shaq was in his string of five straight foul-outs.) The final 51.9 seconds will be replayed March 8. Wonder if Shaq will even be back in uniform - or care - by then. He hasn't played since the day after Christmas, and the Heat have been a train wreck.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 13, 2008 9:15:24 GMT -5
www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/01/13/conley_had_twice_as_much_fun?mode=PFConley had twice as much fun By Stan Grossfeld, Globe Staff | January 13, 2008 ORLANDO, Fla. - He struck out Teddy Ballgame in the All-Star Game, broke Billy Martin's jaw in a brawl, and, nursing a hangover, held Wilt Chamberlain to fewer than 20 points. Forget Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, and Michael Jordan. Gene Conley is the only athlete to win world championships in basketball and baseball, and nobody played two major professional sports longer. For six years, he played both sports continually - that's 12 seasons without a vacation. "I didn't stop," he says with a boyish grin. "I had to wear a jockstrap year-round." His athletic feats aside, Conley is also known for bolting from the Red Sox team bus with teammate Pumpsie Green in New York in an aborted attempt to fly to Israel in 1962. And he knows that's going to be in his obituary. "I don't care, probably because I played with some of the best ballplayers in the history of the game," says Conley. "In baseball I was with [Warren] Spahn and [Henry] Aaron and [Eddie] Mathews. In basketball, I'd come over with [Bill] Russell, [Bob] Cousy, and [Tom] Heinsohn. [Red] Auerbach was the coach." He's 77 now, and for the New Year he got a pacemaker. He drives a Lincoln Continental with the front seat extended on rails into the backseat so he can stretch out his 6-foot-8-inch body. He can't wear his championship rings because his fingers are bent and arthritic from hoops and hardball. But he still has some spring in his size 16 shoes, plenty of heart, and a smile that never seems to fade. Conley lives in Clermont, Fla., with his wife of 56 years, Kathryn. Recently she wrote a biography about him titled, "One of A Kind," which is how statistician Bill James categorized Conley's career. Conley played center and forward on three consecutive Celtic world championship teams (1958-61) and he pitched for the 1957 world champion Milwaukee Braves. He also was the winning pitcher in the 1955 All-Star Game. And he is the only man to play for three professional teams in the same city: Boston Braves, Red Sox, and Celtics. Danny Ainge, who played second base for the Toronto Blue Jays before becoming a Celtics guard, says Conley's feat won't be duplicated. "It's a different era now, so it's hard to put it in perspective in today's day and age, when the seasons overlap so much more than they did in his day and age," says the Celtics executive director of basketball operations. "He was a complete player and a great player. He had to be a great athlete." Just how great is difficult to fathom. NBA his spring training Conley won an NBA title with the Celtics, beating the St. Louis Hawks in Game 5 April 11, 1961, and two weeks later threw eight scoreless innings to beat the Washington Senators, 6-1, at Fenway Park. He even knocked in a run. But there were only 2,748 fans in attendance. "It was ice cold," Conley remembers. "I looked up in the stands and do you know who was sitting there? K.C. [Jones] and Bill Russell. They were sitting there freezing to death. Now when I hear these guys say I have to train for 3-4 months to get my arm in shape, I laugh." He doesn't begrudge today's players the money - he made just $55,000 a year for playing both sports - but he wishes the players were tougher. "Josh Beckett - I don't buy the blisters," Conley says. "Get out there and suck it up. Earn your money." He also would gladly trade Red Sox rookie phenom Jacoby Ellsbury to obtain pitcher Johan Santana from Minnesota. "You get 3-4 good pitchers, you can win," he says. "You can put Joe Blow in the field and still win." He also follows the Celtics closely, and when they play Orlando, Boston management leaves him tickets. "The Celtics are very interesting, but they better not count themselves as champs yet," says Conley. "I think they still have to get by San Antonio, that's the team they've got to beat." Could the old Russell Celtics beat the Garnett-led Celtics? "Oh, I don't know how we'd match up," Conley says. "But there were seven Hall of Famers on our team. Tommy would always say we had the smaaaahts." Heinsohn was Conley's roommate, and he remembers the two-sport star fondly. "He was a gifted pitcher and a gifted basketball player," Heinsohn says. "To play two sports, it not only wore you down physically but emotionally. It'd be a grind for everybody. "Had he concentrated on basketball earlier, he would have been a really big-time, great player. He was a significant backup player who was strong and would rebound and could run, which is what we wanted to do." Conley ended his NBA career in 1964 as a New York Knick, for whom he was the starting center. During an offday in San Francisco before meeting Chamberlain's Warriors, he asked Knicks coach Eddie Donovan for permission to return to his hometown of Richland, Wash., to see his family. Donovan agreed. Conley saw his family but also saw his old drinking buddies. He bet them all $5 that the Knicks would hold the Big Dipper, who averaged 44.8 points in 1962-63, to fewer than 20. "Wilt was the strongest man in the world," says Conley. "I got home so sick, but we just pounded him and pushed and shoved. We won and he only got 19 points." But none of his friends ever paid up. "They were probably as tied on as I was," he says. "They didn't know what they'd done." Great company Conley was a rookie with the 1954 Braves, as was a skinny outfielder named Henry Aaron. They remain friends. "I was talking to Aaron about how he was keeping his health up," says Conley. "He said, 'You know what I do? I take [apple cider], vinegar, garlic, and honey. I make it in a big jar. I take a big spoonful every morning.' "Who's the real home run champ? Henry Aaron." No opponent was too big or too small for Conley. While pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1960, he decked the hot-headed Martin - then a Cincinnati Red - and broke his jaw. "I was pitching a game in Cincinnati," Conley says. "This pitcher on the other team threw a couple of pitches inside to me and then he hit me. We had a fiery manager, Gene Mauch. I started down first base. All of a sudden, I saw Mauch running by me as fast as he could. He was going after the pitcher for hitting me. I run out there and here comes Billy Martin racing in there." Conley didn't like Martin. "Boy, I let him have it," he says. "I smacked him a good one. He did a full gainer, everything got real quiet. He turned around and said, 'Conley, I'm going to get a stepladder and get you next time.' " Conley pitched for the Boston and Milwaukee Braves, Phillies, and Red Sox in 11 seasons. He compiled a 91-96 record with an ERA of 3.82. He was chosen to three All-Star teams. In his first, in 1954, he was routed after just a third of an inning and took the loss. He wept in the locker room. In 1955 at Milwaukee's County Stadium, Conley struck out Hall of Famer Al Kaline, two-time batting champion Mickey Vernon, and two-time RBI champ Al Rosen in the top of the 12th inning. In the bottom half, Stan Musial hit the first pitch into the right-field bleachers and Conley got the win. "I was thrilled," he says. In the 1959 game in Los Angeles, he struck out Ted Williams on an overhand curveball. "He missed it by this wide," says the righthander, holding his arms 2 feet apart. "I saw him 25 years later at a Jimmy Fund tournament. And I said to him, 'I'm Gene Conley.' He said, 'I know who you are, for crying out loud, Conley. And I also remember that dinky curveball you threw to strike me out with.' I said, 'Dinky curveball?' You missed it by that far." After retirement, Conley started the Foxboro Paper Company, which he ran for 36 years before moving to Florida. He has enough sports memories to last a lifetime. "We won championships in both sports and I was part of it," he says before pausing to show a kid how to throw a curveball and flashing that overgrown kid smile. "I had too much fun. I really had fun."
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 13, 2008 9:17:26 GMT -5
www.metrowestdailynews.com/sports/x2134483680Courtside View: Doc doing good job pacing the vets -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Scott Souza/Daily News staff GHS Sat Jan 12, 2008, 10:30 PM EST -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Story Tools: Email This | Print This The pace has been remarkable. A little more than two months into the season, the Celtics have won 30 of their first 34 games. They built a whopping 12-game lead in the Atlantic Division heading into last night's game in Washington and have yet to lose to a division foe. They even had a four-game lead over Detroit in the race for homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs. Having beaten all comers this season - they avenged their first three losses (Orlando, Cleveland and Detroit) and topped Charlotte earlier in the year - there is no longer any question about whether the Celtics are legitimate NBA title contenders. The only concern for some that has come out of the amazing start is been whether the veteran group has been going too hard, too early for their own good. "You want to win as much as you can," said New Big Three elder statesman Ray Allen of any potential balancing act between now and the future. "I don't think you ever slow yourself down and think about winning too much. "How do you back down? How do you back away from it? You play every day like you are capable of playing. If you are not winning, then you are not meant to win it. But you have to play every day like you are trying to win." With Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce savoring every victory after years of collective mediocrity, it's up to Celtics coach Doc Rivers to protect them from themselves, and by and large he's shown restraint in recent weeks. In November, the coach admitted the minutes for all three soared in his attempt to "establish the starters" - specifically Allen's role in the offense. But over the past six weeks, the playing time has been tempered for all three even as the victories have continued to pile up. Pierce leads the team in minutes played at 38.4 per game heading into last night's contest. While on the high side, it's only about a minute over his career average (37.4) and ranks him a modest 18th in the NBA. Sixteen times the youngest member of the triumvirate (at age 30) has gone over the 40-minute mark. "I actually feel great," insisted the captain late this week. "Other than the little nicks and bruises we get over the course of a game, I feel as good as I've felt in a couple of years. "I get a lot of rest when I am not playing. Outside of the games, there's not a lot of activity. I think Doc does a good job with our practices and not overdoing those, then giving us the days off so we can get the necessary rest." While Rivers has said most of the days off were planned at the beginning of the season, there is little doubt he has been more generous with the down time this year. Twice after recent trips, he gave the team two days off - when players often work out but there is no team practice - and last week following the Houston game he gave it a highly unusual day off between two midweek home games. Most of the full workouts have run barely an hour. He's also cut down Allen and Garnett's minutes significantly since the beginning of the year. While Allen's 37.9 minutes per game rank him 21st in the league, only four of his nine games over 40 minutes played have come since Dec. 1. Rivers has also forced him to the bench for three games with injuries (sore ankle, pinched nerve in neck) that Allen had wanted to play before being overruled. Garnett has gotten even more rest. His 34.9 minutes per game rank him 57th in the league, and the average is the least he's played since his rookie year by nearly three minutes. He's only topped the 40-minute mark four times and has played less than 35 minutes (with the help of some lopsided home games) on 13 occasions. Rivers has stuck to his rotation - whereas lacking one was among his critics' favorite topics the past two years - with laudable consistency given the temptation that comes with having Garnett on the bench when things start to go sour. On most nights, Garnett gets an extended rest late in the first quarter through half of the second as Allen and Pierce trade off anchoring the floor unit. In the second half, Garnett typically comes out late in the third quarter - when Pierce carries the load and has had some of his best moments of the season - and then stays on the bench through at least the first three or four minutes of the fourth. While Rivers has shown impressive resolve in keeping the minutes in check, that resolve will be tested a few weeks from now when the Celtics play the remaining Western Conference powers, starting with a Jan. 31 game against the Dallas Mavericks on TNT. "If we're going to be successful, it's going to be more than just me, Kevin and Ray," Pierce said. "It's a grinding sport. Injuries are things you can't control. You just pay attention to the things you can control and try to be ready every day. You have to get your rest when you can get it and get the treatments when you need it. You let the rest of it take care of itself."
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 13, 2008 9:37:14 GMT -5
origin.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_7955368Celtics show "bad" attitude By Benjamin Hochman The Denver Post Article Last Updated: 01/13/2008 02:48:33 AM MST Boston's Paul Pierce was showing his team pride after the Celtics polished off the Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Jan. 5. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images )Last weekend in Detroit, the "Bad Boys" were back, flaunting a victory in their opponent's face, even trash-talking with opposing fans. And the Pistons weren't pleased. It was the Boston Celtics, in fact, who were cocky and snarky after their road victory against the Pistons. They were "popping" their name on their jersey front, celebrating wildly, with the most emblematic moment reported by ESPN.com. Boston's "Big Game" James Posey — seriously, it's in his bio — sarcastically gave his regards to the nearby downtrodden Detroit fans, screaming, "Thanks for coming!" "Big Game" James had scored just three points in the big game. After the game, Detroit's Chauncey Billups told the media, "When we won, it was just another game for us. They kind of played it like it was the Super Bowl. It's just a regular game, man, with two good teams playing." Said Detroit's Amir Johnson: "They're acting like they won the title." So it seems, the Celtics-Pistons rivalry, bustling during the 1980s, has been resuscitated. And what's not to love? Two teams with enough banners to blanket Rhode Island are playing postseason basketball in January. "Any time you have two basketball cities going head-to-head, and they have rich basketball tradition, it's great for the game," said injured Denver guard Chucky Atkins, who has played for Boston and Detroit. And, for the first time in arguably a decade, the Eastern Conference can claim the two best teams in basketball. The East, which has trotted out recent conference champions such as Indiana, New Jersey and Cleveland, now has two thoroughbreds. Entering this weekend, Boston and Detroit were the only teams in the NBA with single-digit losses. They've played twice — Detroit winning in Boston, Boston winning in Detroit. They play once more in the regular season — March 5 in Boston — and it's hard to believe they won't play at least four more times in the summer. "The thing about Detroit that separates them from Boston right now is, they've been through wars together," Atkins said. "When it gets tough, they know they can rely on each other. Boston might have a good record, but they haven't really been in any wars with anyone yet. So that could be the story toward the end of the year." On Thursday, Nuggets assistant coach Adrian Dantley hopped into the DeLorean and went back to the future, comparing the possible 2008 Boston-Detroit playoffs with the Boston-Detroit playoffs of the 1980s. "That was the first time I was ever knocked out," the former Piston said, "diving for a loose ball." Back then, when Boston had its first "Big 3" and the only thing Isiah Thomas could botch was an inbound pass, the two teams spewed hatred in five playoff series during 1985-91. During the 1987 conference finals, for instance, Detroit "Bad Boy" Bill Laimbeer was ejected once and Boston's Robert Parish and Larry Bird were as well — each for fighting Laimbeer in different games. Now, the two teams could meet in the conference finals again. "I can see that being a good series," Dantley said. "And that rivalry happening again." TiVo time. March 5 is the night of the next Boston-Detroit game, and it's also the night Phoenix comes to Denver. On Monday, the Suns defeated Denver 137-115, and the Nuggets felt the Suns were running up the score, shooting 3-pointers late into the fourth quarter. Denver star Allen Iverson screamed an expletive at the Suns while he was leaving the court, while reminding the Suns the teams will meet again. Can't drink, can dunk. Remember when the Lakers refused to trade Andrew Bynum and you were like — who's Andrew Bynum? Well, the 20-year-old high school product averages 12.9 points and 10.0 rebounds entering this weekend, and he has been more aggressive this season, embracing the banging that comes with playing the low post in the Western Conference. On Wednesday, he played just 28 minutes in a blowout against New Orleans, scoring 17 points with nine rebounds and three blocked shots while playing against talented young center Tyson Chandler. Chicago shake-up. The Bulls were 9-17 when they named their interim coach — Jim Boylan. He promptly moved guard Ben Gordon, the team's top scorer, into a sixth-man role, in which Gordon used to flourish. They enter the weekend winning four of seven under Boylan.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 13, 2008 9:45:26 GMT -5
washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080113/SPORTS03/185181136/1005/SPORTSCeltics bested January 13, 2008 By John N. Mitchell - The Boston Celtics' beatdown tour of the NBA had to end sometime. Last night, the Washington Wizards handed the league's best team its second loss in three games. The Wizards held the Celtics to their lowest point total of the season in an 85-78 win at Verizon Center, limiting Boston to just 13 fourth-quarter points. Washington (19-16) ended Boston's 10-game road winning streak. The Cleveland Cavaliers handed the Celtics (30-5) their last road loss Nov. 27 in overtime. "We have been tested a lot this year and I think for the most part we've come through," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. "We've got good leadership, good character, good pros on the team. There were some character issues, but on a night like this you have to put everything in the pot. There were a whole slew of things going on tonight." The Wizards were 27-for-30 from the free throw line and outrebounded the Celtics 49-30. In a win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night, the Wizards made 22 of 24 free throws. Washington also downed the Celtics with their two best players — Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison — combining to shoot just 9-for-32, including going 0-for-9 from 3-point range. But most impressive was that the Wizards turned the tables on the Celtics late in the game, doing to them what they have done to the rest of the league this season: shutting them down with defense. In the fourth quarter, Washington held Boston to just 26.7 percent shooting. The Wizards came back from a 67-60 deficit early in the fourth, when it looked like the Celtics were going to close them out. Washington went ahead to stay with 1:51 to play, when Antonio Daniels (nine points) put the Wizards ahead 75-74 with a 3-pointer. And they rebuffed the Celtics' attempts to get back in the game by making eight out of their last nine free throws. DeShawn Stevenson scored nine of his team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter, including hitting all three free throws after Paul Pierce (15 points) fouled him on a 3-point attempt. That gave the Wizards a 78-74 lead. "In the fourth quarter we played defense. Our offense wasn't there and we knocked down free throws. We did what vets do," Stevenson said. "They're a good team and they bring the best out of you when you play them." Stevenson and his teammates were so concentrated on the game that they didn't hear the many fans rooting for the Celtics. "I have to be honest, I didn't even hear them, but somebody else said the same thing," Stevenson said. "But you know, we've got to turn our fans into believers. The only way we are going to do that is to win games. It's sad that it's like that, but we'll fight." While the hometown fans were at less than full volume, the Wizards' overall effort wasn't lacking at all. They won a slugfest, and they did it with many players making contributions. Jamison notched his 23rd double-double of the season, six more than Boston's Kevin Garnett. One night after he had a season-high 17 rebounds in Atlanta, Jamison had 16 rebounds to go with 10 points last night. Butler also had a double-double with 16 points and 19 rebounds. Third-year player Andray Blatche had a good game off the bench, finishing with nine points and seven rebounds. In a weird scheduling quirk, the Wizards play the Celtics again tomorrow in Boston. "It was a good, all-around effort. It shows maturity," Jamison said. "We had a good performance from everybody in this locker room. I am ready for Monday." Wizards report Last night at Verizon Center SEEN AND HEARD Wizards coach Eddie Jordan continues to be intrigued by Andray Blatche. The forward had 13 points, eight rebounds and tied a career high with five blocks against the Hawks on Friday night, prompting Wizards forward Antawn Jamison to declare that the "best all-around game" of Blatche's professional career. Jordan said the key to getting the most out of the team's youngest player is keeping him focused. "He was very alert and he did things correctly; he played hard," Jordan said. "That's Andray's hurdle, he's got to learn how to play hard on every play, every night. He has to learn that you have to be alert every possession. When he doesn't do that his skills don't come to the floor." BY THE NUMBERS 13 Fourth-quarter points for Boston, which led by five through three quarters.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 13, 2008 9:46:38 GMT -5
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/13/AR2008011300093_pf.htmlWizards down high-flying Celtics Reuters Sunday, January 13, 2008; 1:28 AM WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Washington Wizards handed the high-flying Boston Celtics their second loss in three games with an 85-78 home victory on Saturday. The Wizards overcame a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit and finished the game on a 15-4 run to improve to 19-16. The Celtics, who fell to 30-5, committed 21 turnovers in the loss while Washington overcame 20 of their own and were only 2-for-18 on three-pointers. "It is a hard game to explain and describe, other than to say it was very, very physical," Washington coach Eddie Jordan told reporters. "They are a very good team. They are an extremely good defensive team. All that being said, we forced 21 turnovers. We had only 13 assists but we out-rebounded them. We forced them to shoot 41 percent (from the field)." The Wizards out-rebounded Boston 49-30 and went 27-for-30 from the foul line in their biggest win since star Gilbert Arenas was lost with a knee injury. "I think guys realize now that just because Gilbert Arenas isn't here, the season's not over," said center Brendan Haywood. DeShawn Stevenson scored 19 points, Caron Butler had 16 and 10 rebounds and Antawn Jamison overcame a 4-for-15 shooting night with 10 points and 16 rebounds. Kevin Garnett led the Celtics with 19 points as Boston's 10-game road winning streak ended. *Richard Hamilton provided the late heroics as the Detroit Pistons pulled out a 103-100 overtime road win over the short-handed Charlotte Bobcats. Charlotte dressed only eight players because of injury. *Steve Nash scored 26 of his 35 points in the second half and Amare Stoudemire scored 31 points as the Phoenix Suns scored a 122-114 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, their 20th consecutive home win over the Bucks. Andrew Bogut had a career-high 29 points for Milwaukee. *Mehmet Okur scored 29 points and six Utah players reached double figures as the Jazz scored a 119-115 home victory over the Orlando Magic. *Manu Ginobili scored 22 points, Tony Parker had 21 and Gregg Popovich recorded his 600th regular-season victory as the San Antonio Spurs scored a 105-88 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Minnesota has lost 14 consecutive road games.
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