This one was never close. The Celtics got off to a 9-2 start and never looked back. A 31-15 second quarter gave them a 56-33 lead at the half and virtually put this one in the books.
Here's a recap:
The good:
* Jared Sullinger had a nice bounce back game tonight. He finished with 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals in 31 minutes off the bench. He had his nose in every play and did not have to deal with anyone like Reggie Evans.
* The starters minutes were held to a minimum, which was crucial coming into this game knowing that this was the first night of a back-to-back. Kevin Garnett played 22 minutes, Paul Pierce played 27 minutes, and Brandon Bass only played 16 minutes.
* The defense was phenomenal tonight. Pick-and-roll defense and transition defense, two of the main areas of concern for the Celtics on defense, were solid tonight.
* In a game in which the guards needed to step up without their main man Rajon Rondo, they did just that. Jason Terry did a phenomenal job, scoring 17 points and playing tremendous defense, something Terry has done well this season. He did a great job of denying passes and helping his fellow defenders. The other two guards I pointed out that had to step up (Courtney Lee and Leandro Barbosa) had 10 and 9 points respectively. But Lee in particular did a nice job tonight.
* Courtney Lee did a little bit of everything tonight. He is still struggling with his three-point shooting -- he was 0-of-2 from beyond the arc tonight -- but he still managed to score 10 points. One thing I've noticed about Lee is that he is a very good rebounder for a shooting guard. He had 7 tonight. He also had 5 assists and 3 steals. He said after the game that he took coach Doc Rivers' soft comment to heart and wanted to prove Doc wrong. He did just that tonight.
* Jeff Green showed up tonight. He had a team-high 19 points and also had 4 steals. He drove to the hoop at will and took the open shot when he had it. He was 6-of-13 from the floor.
The bad:
* How about the Trail Blazers? They were flat out awful. They only had six field goals right before the half. From silly turnovers to poor communication on both ends of the floor, nothing was going right for Portland. One thing that struck me was the selfish play of LaMarcus Aldridge. His stat line looks nice with 23 points and 8 rebounds. However, he took a team-high 16 points, and whenever he touched the ball, he shot it. He never thought twice to pass it. The only two times he passed the ball, he turned the ball over. That really stood out to me.
There's no rest for the weary. The Celtics will once again play in Milwaukee on the second night of a back-to-back against the Bucks. Tip off is at 8:30 p.m.
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