HE'S THE MOTHERFATHER TRUTH!!!
Paul Pierce is The Truth.
That's probably all I should write for this post and leave it at that.
Of course, if you've ever read any of my other posts, you'd know that this is pretty much impossible for me to do.
So, here we go...
Paul Pierce was a Beast with a capital "Effing". I am compelled to talk about The Captain's performance without going into details of the game itself. He was THAT good. The stats speak for themselves: Pierce had 25 points already in the bank by halftime. He scored 17 points in the third quarter alone, going 6-6 from Threeland. He had 32 points by the end of the third. He ended the game with 40 points on 13 for 16 shooting, and added 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 1 block(!). For those people talking about age and declining abilities, shooting percentages, or whatever negative spin that's been hurled at The Truth this year (and over the past two years), this was The Captain's foam-hand-sized middle finger to all the haters.
Now, getting into the heart of the game itself:
Cleveland came into the Boston Garden with even more of a foul fragrance than the Celtics even after their failure of a road trip through Texas and Chicago, in which the C's finished 0-3. The Cavs are a dreadfully awfully terrible 5-22 on the season, though to be fair, sparkplug and youthful team-leader Kyrie Irving was sidelined for 11 of those games.
Still, the reality was that the Cavs were 1-9 in December. The Celtics helped to even that loss-column figure by handing them their 10th defeat in 11 games.
This, of course, would come only after the C's survived yet another comeback scare from an eager opponent that wouldn't just roll over because they faced a deficit.
In spite of the heroics of P2 and sidekick of the night Rajon Rondo, who continued in attack mode with 20 points, 8 assists, 4 boards, 2 steals and a block(!), and despite the fact that the Celtics held an 18-point advantage in the middle of the third before allowing Pierce to take a breather, the Boston bench allowed an Irving-led Cleveland run of 17-0 that extended into the 4th quarter and essentially put the game back into contention.
Eventually, the Truth won out (sorry...TOO easy) and the Cavs were sent packing their sad-sacks for another City as the Celtics stopped their skid at 3 while increasing their home winning streak to 4.
Not that it would have made the difference for the win, but Anderson Varejao was out for Cleveland with a bruised knee and probably helped the C's as they managed to stay even with the Cavs in total rebounds with 35 apiece.
Jason Terry started and had a respectable 15 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal. Kevin Garnett was subtly substantial with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 1 steal. Oh yeah...I almost forgot...center Jason Collins started over Brandon Bass this game and his most significant stat of the night was fouling out in just 23 minutes of play.
Next up, a Milwaukee Bucks team that has beaten the C's in two-out-of-three games so far this year.
Box Score &
Tale Of The Tape
THE BUZZ:
Boston Celtics vs. Milwaukee Bucks
Friday, December 21st, 2012
7:30 p.m.
@ The Boston Garden in Boston
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. 
