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October 11, 2008
Celtics Beat Cavs: Providence-ial Ending
The Celtics staved off the Cavaliers once again.
A thrilling, final seconds victory ended with a fortuitous no call at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island was fittingly preceded by a pre-game Celtic dunkathon to please the crowd coming in.... and going out.
The Celtics and Cavaliers picked up right where they left off - with another tightly contested game ending in a Celtic victory. Except that this time, LeBron did all of his damage in the first half, scoring 15 points in 13 minutes, mostly with unstoppable bursts to the basket.
The three Celtic stars played in part of the first quarter only and played well enough. The Celts biggest lead of the night was 4 points at 17-13.
Doc...
"I thought they (the fans) got their money's worth. That's good. Great crowd. It was nice."
Boston's big three weren't initially scheduled to play.
"I really hadn't planned on playing Kevin (Garnett) and those guys at all tonight, but I just thought honestly because we're right here down the road, that the fans needed to see them a little bit. And they got a chance to..."
After that, the Boston "minute men" played to impress the boss. Every ball player wants more playing time, no matter what they tell you. There are a number of players on this team fighting for minutes.
Tony Allen, Patrick O'Bryant, Eddie House, and Bill Walker all made strong cases for themselves last night. Even J.R. Giddens played well.
House played solid at both ends of the court. Bill Walker played with confidence, leading the team in rebounding with 6, while scoring 10 points in 21 minutes, including some put backs with contact, in traffic.
Logging 41:34 minutes, Tony Allen led the way with 25 points, attacking the basket for 6 of 7 shooting and 13-16 from the foul line.
When asked about it, he responded...
I just want to keep it simple. You know...K-I-S-S...Keep it simple (stupid). Don't try to do too much.
Afterwards, when asked if he considers this a chance for a break out year. He gave the 'correct' answer...
I'm just trying to fit in to the team's game plan. It's not about me. I want to just get better for the play-offs.
He also made time to laud Patrick O'Bryant...
He's got game. I like what he brings.
Patrick had another strong game with some solid defensive play and a nice array of shotmaking going 4 for 5 for 12 points. He may not be a force in the middle, but he is definitely an obstacle....a lanky, seven foot tall obstacle, a he made a number of shots miss by his being there.
Leon Powe, Brian Scalabrine, Glen Davis and Gabe Pruitt gave inconsistent performances, in spite of Leon making the winning free throws. Doc lauded Brian's defense, but his timing was off offensively all night.
Glen Davis played well at times, but fouled out. Doc said that he was trying to do too much. Doc's comment on Gabe was that he "has to be more aggressive". There were a few times that the shot clock was at 8 seconds before Gabe got the ball up, stopped dribbling around and threw the first pass of the set.
The usual pre-game lay-up line broke into a dunk contest. I'm not sure who got the crowd going but....they roared (okay murmured loudly) with excitement with every dunk that topped the previous ones and many of the Cs got in the act.
Next up are the Houston Rockets in Manchester, N.H. tonight
Posted by Tom on October 11, 2008 1:30 AM
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