By Bruce Allen
Peter May and Steve Bulpett report on the Celtics 98-94 win in Atlanta over the Hawks last night. It was a much needed win for the Celtics, who did not want to lose to the 9-23 Hawks for the third time this season. A surprise contributor for Boston last night was Brian Scalabrine, who had a huge follow up bucket in the final minute of the game to help the Celtics to the win. Scalabrine played 28 minutes...easily his longest stint of the year for the Celtics. Mike Fine says that the Celtics need to learn how to play the full 48 minutes. Perhaps last night was a step in the right direction as the right plays were made as needed down the stretch. Michael Muldoon looks at the cruel and unusual punishment being handed out to Celtics fans these days.
Getting a win last night was huge for the Celtics, and Doc Rivers changed things up a little bit to get it. Playing Scalabrine major minutes, including down the stretch was one of them. Tommy Heinsohn loved seeing the redhead on the floor, as you might imagine, and at one point compared him to KC. Jones. Yup, that's right. It wasn't in style of play, however, it was from a quote from Red Auerbach, who once said of Jones something along the lines of: "I don't know what he's doing out there, but whenever he's on the floor, we have the lead." With Scalabrine in the lineup, Al Jefferson only saw 6 ? minutes on the night after starting the game.
Delonte West continues his charge towards becoming one of the better all around guards in the league. West had 15 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals on the night for the green. Ricky Davis was also strong with 21 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Paul Pierce led the scoring with 27 points, and added 6 assists on his own. When they're getting 17 assists from their three outside players, chances are that the Celtics are going to be in the game at the end. Mark Blount chipped in with 15 points.
Bulpett reports that Paul Pierce confirms that he said everything that was in the Lenny Megliola article yesterday, but wanted to make sure that it was known that he also said more than what was published. Pierce tells reporters that his first choice is to be with the Celtics for his whole career. He said as a businessman, he would be open to talking about a trade if the Celtics approached him with one. May's notebook has more on Pierce keeping his options open for the future. Bulpett's notebook looks at the little things that make Brian Scalabrine valuable to a team.
The Celtics are now off until Friday when they travel to Philadelphia to take on Allen Iverson, Chris Webber and the rest of the 76ers. |
