Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 12, 2009 7:32:43 GMT -5
www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1144645&format=text
Ray Allen, Celtics end slide
Guard’s season-best 36 carries day in Toronto
By Steve Bulpett | Monday, January 12, 2009 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics
Photo by AP
TORONTO - The long Celtics [team stats] Nation-al nightmare is over.
After losing four straight and seven of their last nine, the Celts and their following exhaled with a 94-88 victory over the Toronto Raptors yesterday.
Getting there wasn’t as easy as first appeared.
The C’s squandered most of a 20-point lead, watching as the hosts crawled back within four. But all was well that ended well, and the Celtics were able to list a triumph on their declaration card when they cleared U.S. Customs last night.
“It was a big win because we’re just trying to get back on track after the losing streak,” said Paul Pierce [stats], who played through a sore right knee that has him questionable for the rematch at the Garden tonight. “Now hopefully we can start another streak.”
Ray Allen wasn’t about to let this one slip away. He went for a season-high 36 points, scoring 14 of the Celts’ 19 in the last quarter. After making 6-of-30 treys in his previous four games, this was a welcome about-face.
“Ray is a shooter,” coach Doc Rivers said. “A lot of players have three and four games like Ray had and they go away for a month. Ray believed the next shot had to go in.”
Allen had a reason to believe yesterday. There was a great yin and yang to the Celtics’ shooting. Or an in and clang. He was brilliant, going 11-for-14 (8-of-10 on treys), while Kevin Garnett struggled to a 3-for-16 day, making one of his first 11. Glen Davis made one of his first 11, too. Then Davis missed his 12th. Outside of Allen, the Celts hit on just 21-of-64 (32.8 percent).
“I just played within what we were doing,” Allen said. “We were moving the ball. I’ve always said that when we move the ball, I’m the recipient of a lot of the shots because the ball does move around a couple of times. Penetration allows the ball to go to the open man. A lot of times when (Rajon) Rondo’s knifing into the paint, I get a lot of easy looks.”
There can be no question the Celtics had their alarm clocks set for the 12:30 tipoff. Playing without starting center Kendrick Perkins [stats] (his left shoulder is acting up again), they put up 32 points in the first quarter, holding Toronto to 37.5 percent shooting to take a 12-point lead.
Still, it was just four days earlier that the C’s had seemed fine when they scored 31 in the first against Houston. But they netted just 54 the rest of the way (and a mere 11 in the last quarter) to lose that one.
This time the Celts seemed immune to such a collapse. All they had to do was get the ball to Allen, who apparently wasn’t interested in missing. The shooting guard lived up to his title, making his first five attempts - all of them treys. Four came in a 16-0 run that took the Celtics from 12-6 down to a lead they would never relinquish.
With the C’s up 75-55 after three quarters, Garnett got in Davis’ face and delivered an “it ain’t over yet” speech at high volume. He shouldn’t have been right, but he was.
Jason Kapono scored nine points in the first six minutes to lead a Raptor run of 17-5. Beyond Allen’s two free throws at 9:35 and his 3-pointer at 7:30, the Celtics had no response - on either end - as Toronto scored on nine of its first 11 possessions in the frame.
A free throw by Davis, an Allen jumper and two freebies by Garnett stemmed the tide for a moment, but the Raptors responded with an 11-3 run to make it 88-83 with a minute and a half left. After a trade of failed possessions, Pierce stepped around a hard pick by Garnett and drained a 20-footer for a seven-point lead with 40 seconds to go.
“It was an open shot,” said the hobbled Pierce. “Kevin set the pick and I came off of it. I’m going to take the open shot regardless of how I feel. I’m on the court; I’m going to try to help my team win.”
But Pierce wasn’t happy that his shot was so important, saying, “We haven’t been playing well enough of late to let our guard down.”
Afterward, the Celts let their seriousness down a bit. While Garnett was speaking to reporters, Pierce and Allen began taking video with their phones.
“Please speak up, Mr. Garnett,” Pierce said.
“Get your (butt) out of here, Paul,” Garnett said. “You’re crazy.”
The postgame laughter had returned to the C’s dressing room after a dark week.
