Boston Loses In New York Minute: Celtics Continue Skid Against Knicks -- 86-89

On the bright side, Paul Pierce's case of the fumbly-mumblies won't be following him to Houston for All-Star Weekend. At least not on the court, anyway.

On a night in which he learned that he would not make the All-Star Game for the first time in five consecutive years and only the second time in the past twelve, Paul Pierce started the game with that familiar chunk of rock on his shoulder, carrying the Celtics against the Knicks with 19 first quarter points. Unfortunately, he would only score three more points, ending the game with 22 and two critical kick-aways in the final minutes during which the Celtics were desperately trying to score a basket to tie what had once been a 10-point Knick lead.

Of course, it's a team game and Pierce -- who almost ALWAYS shows up large for anything related to the Knicks -- did more help than harm for his band-members but it just wasn't enough against a controversy-free Carmelo Anthony, who scored 28 points on 11-28 shooting to go along with 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Even another triple-double (his 4th of the season) from a never-say-die Rajon Rondo (23 points on 10-19 shooting, 11 assists, 10 boards and 3 steals) couldn't seal the deal in a nail-biter, mainly because no other Celtic could crack double figures. Kevin Garnett, struggled on offense with only 8 points but managed to pull down a gritty 12 rebounds with 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. Other than that? Get the team a Waaaah!-mbulance (thanks Modern Family!).

Amar'e Stoudemire (who missed the Cheerio-Mysterio game) dropped 15 easy points along with 9 boards and 2 blocks on the Celtics, and teammates Jason (Ben Gay, son?) Kidd scored 12 and the fresh-from-his-knee-surgery-debut Iman Shumpert gave the Knicks 10 to end any Green hopes of a second straight win over NYC and first win in four games.

The C's now slump to the end of January toting a 6-6 record for the month with Atlanta, Miami and Sacramento on the horizon to either throw us over the edge, or signal another resurgence.

Am I counting the Celtics out? Hardly. The effort they gave tonight was hampered primarily by their inability to find any open banks willing to let the Celtics use their credit to purchase even a small handful of baskets (though they shot better than the Knicks for the whole of the game, finishing at 40.8% to New York's 38.6%).

If the Celtics continue to fight and play just a little bit more team-oriented basketball (some of the best sequences for the Celtics came with the hard swing of the ball from corner-to-corner), the shots should start dropping and Geno will come off of life-support and find himself dancing at the Garden once again.

It's coming, C's fans. As Boston's own Mark Wahlberg once told us as he lounged with his own team, The Funky Bunch -- back before he was an A-List HollyCeleb -- and rocked the moniker "Marky-Mark"...

 

Though I have NO idea why a kid from Boston's sporting a Spurs jersey.

Still...

Tale Of The Tape

Box Score

Celtics Tame Bobcats For 6th Straight Win: 100-89

 

Or, we could call this post "Rondo's Tricks Guide Celtics To Six."

Either way, the Bobcats offered only a few playful scratches and not much bite as the Celtics -- led by El Maestro Rajon Rondo with his third triple-double of the season (17 points on 8-11 shooting, 12 assists, 10 boards and only two turnovers) -- ran their winning streak to six with the New Orleans Pelicans Hornets waiting with in the wings for a Wednesday meeting in the Garden.

Celtics starter Kevin Garnett was an uncharacteristic 2-11 for seven points but managed to have an almost respectable game with 10 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block while Paul Pierce, though 6-16 shooting the basketball, still led all players with 19 points, along with 6 assists, 4 rebounds, a block and a steal.

The second story of the night, however, was Avery Bradley rediscovering his stroke, hitting for 16 points on 6-10 shooting with 4 of 7 coming from deep in Threeland. He looked comfortable and confident, which made the team from Charlotte very uncomfortable and something a few notches below self assured.

Jeff Green was effective and explosive once again, scoring 11 with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. Rookie sensation Jared Sullinger was hampered by the refs' rookie whistles, but still was able to score 8 on perfect 4-4 shooting and pull down 5 rebounds in 22 foul-plagued minutes.

KG had a chippy moment with Gerald Henderson in the second quarter in which Henderson "went for the ball," only to find out that he was confused and it was, in fact, actually Garnett's head. Flagrant foul 1...some finger pointing and glaring, but nothing to spill a beer on.

The Celtics out-rebounded their opponents 34- 42 and now look to extend their win streak to seven against The Brow.

Tale Of The Tape

Box Score