News 2/1

[FLCeltsFan]

www.star-telegram.com/287/v-print/story/446700.html

Mavs have their shots, but Celtics get victory



By JAN HUBBARD
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
BOSTON -- On a night when one All-Star dream was shattered, another faded away quietly.
Mavericks coach Avery Johnson was unhappy about the first, but nonchalant about the second.

Voting by Western Conference coaches was released Thursday and Josh Howard was denied a place on the All-Star team. That did not please Johnson, who called it "disappointing."

When the Mavericks dropped a 96-90 decision to the Celtics a few hours later, it also ended Johnson's chances of coaching in the All-Star Game. The best the Mavericks can do now is have the same record as New Orleans on Sunday, which is the cutoff date, so the Hornets' Byron Scott will be the Western Conference coach in the All-Star Game.

Johnson was more concerned about the lost opportunity against the Celtics, who were playing without the injured Kevin Garnett.

The Mavericks trailed by as many as 10 points in the third quarter, but rode the hot shooting of Dirk Nowitzki to lead by as many as five in the fourth quarter.

But down the stretch, the Celtics made all the key plays and Johnson felt Boston also got a little help from the officials. With 3:02 remaining, Paul Pierce drove to the basket and Devean George set himself to take the charge.

The call went against George, however, and Johnson was so upset that it looked for a moment as if he might get a technical. He did not, but Pierce made both free throws to give the Celtics the lead at 90-88.

"We thought we were in position to get a great charge," Johnson said. "We didn't get it."

Nowitzki, who led Dallas with 31 points (including 17 in the third quarter), made two free throws with 58.4 seconds left. On Boston's next possession after a miss, Nowitzki went up for the rebound, but had it stolen by 6-foot-1 Rajon Rondo, who had 12 rebounds.

Rondo quickly put it back up for a score and Boston led 92-90. The Mavericks did not score again.

"I had the rebound in my hand and it was a tie game," Nowitzki said. "Rondo came out of nowhere and he snuck it up to the basket before I could react."

Garnett missed his third consecutive game with an abdominal strain. The Mavswere without Devin Harris (injured ankle) and Jerry Stackhouse (strained hamstring).

The Mavs shot 44.3 percent from the field and the Celtics outscored Dallas inside 44-20.

Although it was a loss for the Mavericks, the game was terrific entertainment. Dallas played with a small lineup most of the ngame and down the stretch, reserves Trenton Hassell and George were on the floor with Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Howard, who had 13 points in the first quarter but finished the game with 19.

Celtics legend Bill Russell sat at courtside and the enthusiasm was reminiscent of the crowds that used to sell out Boston Garden and cheer without any prompting from bellowing announcers or piped-in crowd noise.

The Mavericks had their chances in the last minute. Nowitzki missed a driving layup, but George got the rebound with 17.7 seconds left. Terry got off a running 10-footer high off the glass, but it also bounced away. James Posey made four free throws in the last minute.

"It was a fun game," Nowitzki said. "Obviously it's a great atmosphere. It's great to have Boston back on the basketball map. It's a fun city and a fun atmosphere to play in. To go back and forth like that at the end, it was definitely great. Unfortunately, we fell a little short."

CELTICS 96, MAVERICKS 90

[FLCeltsFan]

www.nba.com/celtics/news/blog/grande013108-tnt.html

From the Booth
By Sean Grande
Special to Celtics.com
January 31, 2008

He ended up wearing the hat on the air that very same night, which believe me, was not the plan.

You always remember the first time you saw certain things; things you just knew were going to have a place of semi-permanence in your world. Maybe the first time you saw Tiger Woods. Maybe the time you saw Michael Jackson at Motown 25, or a 21-year old Eddie Murphy steal an episode of SNL by blowing the doors off a 12:55 a.m. sketch. Sometimes your eyes and ears just know special when they see it and hear it.

The first time I saw Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith together on Inside The NBA, going through the highlites, I knew it would become the center of the league. It just had that feel, you knew it instantly. Sometimes something magical just clicks immediately, without explanation. Take for example, I don't know, a team constructed almost from scratch over the summer that wins 29 of its first 32 games, matching the best start in NBA history (see below).

TNT nailed it; the studio, the production of the game broadcasts and the personalities of the talent mixed perfectly with what the post-Jordan NBA was going to be.

I felt no shame during my three years in Minnesota about slipping references to the show into Timberwolves' telecasts. Because when they played those clips later that night on Inside, it brought the team I was working for, and the show I was working on, closer to that center, if just for a couple of seconds.

It was with that thought process, as TNT and Inside the NBA were live inside TD Banknorth Garden before Game 6 of the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals, that I grabbed Kenny "The Jet" Smith as a guest on our pre-game show, The Celtics Tonight, to talk about the series and the impact of Inside, then still its in post-infancy, toddler stage.


You know you're team has arrived when TNT is carrying your game on its Thursday night double-dip of NBA action.
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty
When it was over, I gave him a hat. Not just any hat, but a fishing hat. A fishing hat with the logo of our then-flagship radio station. Kenny's Gone Fishin' Photoshop segment, picturing him in full aquatic gear with the key players of a team that had just been eliminated from the postseason, had become a metaphoric staple of the show. The gift was both a tribute to the show and its impact, and also an attempt at a cheap plug on national television.

Of course, I hadn't anticipated him wearing it on the show three hours later, sending the Celtics off on their summer fishing trip, after dropping Game 6, and the series, on their home floor.

Seemed like a good idea at the time, though.

There are countless ways in which the world has changed for everyone connected to the Boston Celtics over the last six months. The winning streaks, the magazine covers, the talk show calls when they dare lose two straight, one winter removed from doing that nine times in a row. But tonight at the Garden, they step into another very big part of that world.

The center of NBA culture has been personified in different ways over the years. It's had a different stamp and a different feel for each generation. In the 60's, it was ABC, Chris Schenkel and Keith Jackson, beaming images of Elgin Baylor and Willis Reed from municipal auditoriums; games with the ABC Sports logo hanging over glorified card tables at courtside.

In the 70's and 80's, CBS was there throughout the NBA's explosion, from tape-delaying the NBA Finals through the Celtic-Laker fortnights that defined a basketball generation. If you're old enough, you can close your eyes and hear the theme music, bringing you back to a Sunday afternoon that almost invariably featured the Celtics battling Dr. J, Magic or Dominique.

The Michael Jordan era went hand-in-hand with the NBA on NBC: Rock fights, and real fights between the Knicks and Heat; the rise of Shaq, the fall of Detroit's Bad Boys and Michael's jumper over Bryon Russel in Salt Lake, the lasting image of the decade soundtracked by Bob Costas and Marv Albert.

Times change, culture changes, media changes. It's a 600-channel, internet, Y2K world. There is no shortage of ways to gather information of the NBA. We're a click of the mouse from Rajon Rondo's high-school stats, Lindsay Lohan's rap sheet and the instant written transcript of the latest Mitt Romney/John McCain slap fight.

Which always reminds me of one of my favorite on-air lines; "for those of you who want a written transcript of tonight's broadcast...learn to write faster."

I don't know, that's just funny to me.

But by definition, there still has to be a center of that world. A clearinghouse. An epicenter. And in today's NBA, it's the TNT Thursday night doubleheader.

It's what Monday Night Football used to be, what Sunday Night Football wants to be, and what Hockey Night in Canada still is.

It's the center of NBA culture, and the Celtics are once again a part of it.

One year ago tonight, the Celtics lost their 13th consecutive game. And they did it, while the crowd chanted "MVP" at an opponent. A Laker, no less: Kobe Bryant. The significance was that one year ago, Kobe and the Lakers were a part of that NBA TNT culture, and the Celtics were light years away.

Tonight, it's the Celtics back on the league's center stage, top hat and tails, with the league's brightest light shining on the team with its best record.

And that's a hat this franchise is very happy to wear again.

FOR THE GEEK SIDE OF YOUR BRAIN...Here's a final look at the extraordinary start of this year's Celtics, and maybe some perspective on where it ranked in the 62-year history of the NBA. In those 62 years, there have been 1,178 team seasons in history. Only four, out of the 1,178, have ever started 29-3. Here's how those four rank in terms of scoring differential.

Best Records Through 32 Games by Scoring Differential Season Team Record Diff.
1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers 29-3 +13.28
2007-08 Boston Celtics 29-3 +12.97
1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers 29-3 +12.22
1995-96 Chicago Bulls 29-3 +11.63



That said, compare the average points per game scored in an NBA game in 1972 as opposed to 2008, and you can make a very good statistical case that this years Celtics team had, for what its worth, the best 32-game start in NBA history.

I have no idea how Mercury Morris feels about it.

** Five losses in the subsequent eleven games of course, and the C's have fallen back in the pack of best teams ever. For the record, here's what happened to the other three...

Best Records Before Fourth Loss of a Season Season Team Record
1995-96 Chicago Bulls 41-3
1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers 39-3
1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers 37-3
2007-08 Boston Celtics 29-3
1969-70 New York Knickerbockers 27-3
1990-91 Portland Trail Blazers 27-3



** With New Orleans winning streak ending on January 30, everyone else in the NBA has lost 13 games before the Celtics lose their 9th. By how much are the Celtics lapping the field to this point? The 8th loss, in Orlando on January 27th, came a full 22 days after the Pistons became the next-to-last team to lose their 8th (at the hands of the Celtics no less).

Last Team To Lose Their... Loss Team Date
7th game San Antonio Spurs December 19 (C's 7th Loss January 23 - 35 days)
8th game Detroit Pistons January 5 (C's 8th Loss January 27 - 22 days)
9th game Detroit Pistons January 9
10th game Detroit Pistons January 13
11th game Detroit Pistons January 18
12th game Detroit Pistons January 19
13th game New Orleans Hornets January 30



** And if that doesn't convince you how far ahead of the pack the Celtics still remain at this point, there remains this...

Fewest Losses by More Than 5 Points This Season (Through January 30) Team > 5-Point Losses
Boston Celtics 2
Dallas Mavericks 8
San Antonio Spurs 9
Phoenix Suns 9
Detroit Pistons 10
Los Angeles Lakers 10
New Orleans Hornets 11
Orlanmdo Magic 11



** Under the heading of resiliency, the 30-point win in Miami January 29th, following that 8th Celtics loss of the year, pushed the Celtics record to 7-1 following losses, with an obscene +17.25 scoring differential.

[FLCeltsFan]

www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080201/SPORTS11/746768815/-1/XML07

New 'Big Three' includes Rondo
By JIMMY GOLEN The Associated Press
BOSTON – Point guard Rajon Rondo had a season-high 12 rebounds, following one of them with a putback layup with 42 seconds left to give the Celtics the lead, and Boston held on to beat the Dallas Mavericks 96-90 on Thursday night.

Playing without Kevin Garnett for the third straight game, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen scored 26 points apiece to help the Celtics remain unbeaten against the Western Conference. And they did it against one of the West's best teams while overcoming 31 points and 11 rebounds from Dirk Nowitzki.

Nowitzki, who along with Pierce was picked as an All-Star reserve about an hour before the game, made a pair of free throws with 58 seconds left to tie it at 90. The Celtics got the ball to Pierce, but his shot went around the rim and out.

Along came the 6-foot-1 Rondo under the basket to grab the rebound and put in a reverse layup. A miss and an offensive rebound gave the Mavericks the ball out of bounds with 17 seconds left, but Jason Terry's runner was altered to avoid a blocked shot and James Posey came down with the rebound.

Posey hit two foul shots, then tipped the ball away from Terry at halfcourt in the closing seconds to ice it.

The nationally televised game between two of the NBA's top teams drew the usual collection of celebrities at courtside, including Red Sox players Jonathan Papelbon and Coco Crisp. Celtics Hall of Famer Bill Russell got a big cheer when he took his seat near the Mavericks bench.

No players from the New England Patriots this time, though: They're down in Arizona preparing for Sunday's Super Bowl against the New York Giants.

The Celtics had lost two of their last four and five of their last 11 since opening the season 29-3 to earn Doc Rivers the honor of coaching the Eastern Conference at the Feb. 17 All-Star game in New Orleans. Dallas' loss deprived Mavericks coach Avery Johnson of the chance to coach the West, which instead went to the Hornets' Byron Scott.

Pierce and Nowitzki will meet again at the All-Star game, but both seemed more disappointed that their teammates – Allen and Josh Howard – didn't make the list.

The two snubbed players seemed to come out with extra motivation. Allen scored 15 in the first quarter, and Howard had 13 – each more than half his team's points.

But in the second half, Pierce and Nowitzki showed why they were selected. Nowitzki scored 17 in the third quarter and Pierce had 13 as the teams settled into a back-and-forth game befitting a matchup of two of the league's best.

The Celtics scored eight straight points to take a 58-48 lead with 7:16 left in the third quarter, but the Mavericks erased it with 11 points in a row. Nowitzki fed Terry for a jumper, then hit one of his own; Terry stole the ball on a bad pass by Pierce, and Devean George hit a 3-pointer before Nowitzki made a pair of baskets to give Dallas a 59-58 lead.

In the last 4:10 of the third, there were six lead changes, with Boston taking a 71-70 lead on two free throws by Pierce in with 5.3 seconds left.

Notes



• Howard finished with 19 points.

• Rondo had 14 points and four assists. His career high for rebounds is 14.

• Brian Scalabrine, starting in place of Garnett, did not score.

• Nowitzki and Terry had six assists apiece.

[FLCeltsFan]

www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080201/SPORTS/802010324

Duca: Without KG, Celts show true mettle
By Rob Duca
February 01, 2008 6:00 AM
BOSTON — You figured it couldn't possibly be the measuring stick game that people expected. Not with Kevin Garnett absent from the proceedings.

Then again, maybe it just was. Maybe last night's scintillating 96-90 win over the Dallas Mavericks told us more about the Celtics than if Garnett was in the lineup. Maybe it further validated the point that this team is for real, and not solely because of KG's passionate presence.

Garnett wasn't even in the building, yet the Celtics posted what could arguably be labeled their most impressive victory of the season.

"Any game we win without Kevin is important for us," coach Doc Rivers said. "It's part of our growth process.

"But this was really nice. Dallas is still the team that we have to catch in our minds."

The Celtics beat the mighty Mavericks with Rajon Rondo collecting 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, including the game-winning basket. They won with Leon Powe scoring 10 points, in the process collecting a couple of monster rebounds and put-backs in the final minutes. They prevailed with James Posey adding 13, and tacking on two defensive plays at the end.

Yes, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen each scored 26. But basically, the Celtics won because of their bench.

Rivers was asked afterward what he has learned about his backups through the past three games, none of which have seen Garnett in uniform.

"That they're tough," he said. "They might not be that talented, but when you put them together they're pretty talented. And they're mentally tough."

Last night was one of the games that has been circled on the calendar for some time. The Celtics have compiled the NBA's best record this season thanks in part to a more than friendly schedule. They'd barely been tested against the West, and when they had, the games had come mainly against the conference's weaker teams.

But the Mavs were at the TD Banknorth Garden last night, and this would be no picnic. They came in at 31-13 — although without Jerry Stackhouse and Devin Harris in the lineup — and figured to give the Celtics all they could handle.

It was even suggested to Rivers that last night could be a prelude to the NBA finals.

"I hope you're right. I'm all for it," he said. "That means we're there and they're there. I think both teams would take that right now."

Of course, it couldn't be any kind of finals appetizer with Garnett sidelined for the third straight game with an abdominal strain, and everyone knew it.

"You always want to be fully staffed when you play against the top teams. Unfortunately, we aren't," Pierce said before the game. "But injuries are a part of it, and the Mavericks are missing some important players on their roster. So you've just got to go out on the court, and other guys have to step up."

Others have done that remarkably well over the past week, when the Celtics were also without Ray Allen for last Tuesday's game at Miami. Powe stepped up and went for a double-double (25 points, 11 boards) against the Heat and also contributed respectable numbers of 9 and 9 against the Magic. Rondo picked up 15 against the Magic and, with Allen out, poured in 23 against the Heat. Tony Allen also had 20 in the Miami rout, as did Eddie House.

The Celtics didn't win both road games, losing a heart-breaker at the buzzer in Orlando, but they convinced those who remain doubters that this team is about more than its three stars.

Allen was back last night, and he took the court barely more than one hour after learning he was not selected as an All-Star reserve (Pierce made it). Do you think the diss bothered him?

He poured in 15 points in the first quarter on 6-for-7 from the field, helping the Celtics build a 28-20 cushion after one. The Celtics shot only 43 percent in the first half, but Powe pitched in with five and James Posey added six to send the teams into intermission deadlocked at 44-44.

They were tied even though Pierce was struggling, scoring only four in the first half. "I was going to tell him at halftime that they messed up the all-star voting and that Ray was voted in and he got left off, so maybe he'd get mad," Rivers joked.

Whatever the reason, Pierce got hot in the second half, scoring 22. His 3-pointer with 5:39 left gave the Celtics an 85-84 edge, and his two free throws with 3:02 on the clock made it 90-88. On the previous two possessions, Powe had rebounded misses and drawn fouls, converting three of four from the line.

The entire second half was a classic back-and-forth affair, and the game's biggest play came with 42 seconds left when Rondo swooped in to steal a rebound from Dirk Nowitzki off a Pierce miss, and in one, swift motion scored on a reverse layup for a 92-90 advantage. The Celtics never trailed after that.

"Rajon's play in the last three games has been the best stretch of his career," Rivers said.

With the win, the Celtics improved to 13-0 against the West this season, a fact that caught even Doc by surprise. But none of the previous 12 triumphs came against an opponent close to the Mavericks' talent level.

With Garnett, last night would have been a quality win. Without him, it qualified as something special.

[FLCeltsFan]

www.rallytown.com/node/1709

Is Rajon Rondo The Next Isiah Thomas?
Submitted by RallyTown on Fri, 02/01/2008 - 10:47.Rajon Rondo can make NBA players look slow and goofy. Like he did in last night's closing minutes against Dirk Nowitizki and the Mavericks. Sure Nowitizki is 7 feet tall, but he moves well and is amazingly coordinated for a player his size. So for a 6 foot 1 point guard to score on him in the paint is a big deal. Rondo's game looks reminiscent of Isiah Thomas.

Thomas could also score against bigger players in the paint. Thomas was a great athlete. Able to dunk in rebounds (though he rarely did this) and take players off the dribble at will. He had great foot speed and was fearless. A great player that is actually overlooked. Is there another player in the NBA that is close to Isiah Thomas? I say Rajon Rondo.

Rondo is only 21. He is about the same size Thomas was when he entered the league. He has the same athletic ability. He can dunk in a rebound if he times it right. He can get in the paint whenever he wants. He is fearless in attacking bigger players and he can make big plays. An example? 12 Boards in last nights Celtics game

The only thing separating these guys right now is a consistent jump shot. Isiah had a nasty pull up jumper and later had respectable three point range. Which made covering him from 23 feet and out impossible. Will Rondo develop that type of range? It may take a few years but right now he just keeps getting better and better. Will it be enough this year for the Celtics to win a title? We'll see. But this guy is good right now.

A 6 foot guard that can grab 12 boards in an NBA game and have the foot speed to cover Alan Iverson and is only 21 years old. Gotta love it.