Preseason Games 5 & 6: Keeping Enemies Close, Wins...A Little More Distant

See? That wasn't so bad! Going down to Brooklyn to face the Nets and our old teammates (well, teammate, anyway...Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry had the night off.) played out like any other game. Sure, there was good old #34, the Truth himself, giving the game what it needs for the opposition, but it was like he'd been wearing his New York whites all along. Even seeing him greet his old teammates Avery Bradley, Jeff Green, Brandon Bass and the others didn't make a...didn't make a...hold on....eyes tearing up...

Damn allergies!!!

Seriously, it was VERY strange watching the Captain come back and throw up one of his preseason special "getting the team involved" games against the MIG's (Men In Green), but nothing, I'm certain, compared to what it's going to be like when the other ex-patriots...er, ex-Celticots Garnett and Terry make their appearance at the Garden on January 26th.

As for the actual game, the C's were able to keep the game close and even had the chance to tie at the buzzer, though Courtney Lee missed a difficult acrobatic shot to let Brooklyn off the hook. Lee had a good game and showed flashes of regaining his offense as the C's high scorer. Kris Humphries showed up against his former team as well, and Jeff Green continued to right the ship from a slow start to the preseason.

What more can be said about this game that won't result in more tears allergies?

Actually, I'll let the truth be spoken by The Truth...

Brooklyn Nets

Box Score

Tale of the Tape

The Toronto game was another close one with the chance to win it at the end that didn't quite take. MarShon Brooks played well for the C's and looked more like the potential keeper many believed he could be with more experience and coaching. Green stayed on track and Kelly Olynyk, Vitor Faverani continue to make me excited about watching this team play together this season.

Toronto Raptors

Box Score

Tale of the Tape


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Who Got Next?

Boston Celtics vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
Sunday, October 20, 2013

6:00 PM

Wolves Huff And Puff, But C's Blow Them Down: 104-94

Last night, a pack of hungry wolves came to the door of a house, looking to find some easy prey after a satisfying hunt in Philadelphia on the previous night. Unfortunately for them, the house that they came to visit was the Boston Garden, and the door they chose to knock on was answered by Kevin Garnett and his axmen Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Jason Terry and company.

 

Though they huffed and they puffed (mostly in the second quarter), the T-Wolves were ultimately blown away by a better-by-the-game green team that put up 57 second-half points and shot a toasty-warm 55% (52.6 for the game) while doing it.

 

Oh, sure, they made the game interesting in the first half, even carrying a four-point lead into halftime thanks in no small part to the efforts of Wolves All-Star and double-double machine Kevin Love (19 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists), but there was just far too much KG (18 points on 8-13 shooting, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal), Truth (18 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist), Jet (17 points, 5 rebounds and 2 dimes), and Rajon Rondo, who returned from his “exile to Mexico” and picked up where he left off with 17 points and 11 assists (can’t you just smell another streak coming?)

At one point, it appeared as though the Celtics might have a real dogfight on their hands (get it? Wolves/Dogs? No? Okay…!) with the tandem of Love and Nikola “Everyone-Calls-Me-‘Non’” Pekovic (14 points, 9 boards, 2 steals) attacking the C’s defense from all angles, but once the Celtics were able to settle down and with Garnett tying on a cape and doing his best Superman impression, the game ended pretty much the way the events of Superman 2 played out: Trio of super-villains (one of them apparently played by Pekovic) comes to town and terrorizes the locals, even gaining the upper-hand on Superman. But, after Supes settles down (literally…with Lois Lane!), he and the fair citizens of Metropolis shut ‘em down and send ‘em packing.

Speaking of settling down -- Brandon Bass, who started the night off by struggling to find his shot, really made an impressive turnaround, coming back in the second half to turn in one of his best all-around games of the season, scoring 12 points, grabbing 8 boards, swatting 3 shots, snatching 2 steals and registering 1 assist. Bench counterpart Jared Sullenger also wowed with 7 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 assist in only 18 minutes.

Getting back to the star of the game and a sentiment expressed that sat in my gut like two stale donuts… Say what you want about KG loving to play his old team and really rising to the occasion each time the Celtics face the Timberwolves, but the fact is that The Big Ticket has been seriously holding it down for the C’s since the first jump ball of this early season. At 36 years of age, he’s averaging 15.7 points per game -- that’s not even four points lower than his career average of 19.3 ppg – and 7.5 rebounds per game -- 3 fewer than his career average of 10.6, so it’s not just Minny coming to town…this guy has been stellar, period.

As for the rest of the stats: Other Timberwolves did different things, but who cares? They weren’t the ones watching Gino on the Jumbotron. You wanna know? Check the box score!

Tale Of The Tape

THE BUZZ: 

Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Friday, December 7th, 2012
7:00 pm
@ Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia