A good old fashioned romp: C’s 122, Wolves 104

Posted by Brian Robb on Dec 20, 2009 49002 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F12%2F20%2Fa-good-old-fashioned-romp-cs-122-wolves-104%2FA+good+old+fashioned+romp%3A+C%27s+122%2C+Wolves+1042009-12-21+02%3A36%3A39Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D4900

A few bullets to hold everyone over here until Brendan Jackson’s full recap in a bit. First things first though, if you missed this game check out the early favorite for play of the year. This combined effort from Eddie and TA put the exclamation point on what may have been the best half of basketball the C’s have played all year.

So many places we can go to with this one. Rondo cutting up the Minnesota defense with an impressive array of passes all over the floor. Pierce with a perfect shooting night from behind the arc (6/6). The Celtics getting out and outrunning a team that likes to run. Just overall team unselfishness in the 1st half.

I’m going to start somewhere else though….and that’s with the always controversial Tony Allen. TA has taken a lot of flack from Celtics fans these past 2 years, from myself included and deservedly so. I had been one of TA’s last defenders, but even I had to jump ship last year when his injuries, inconsistentcy and lack of common sense on the court proved to be too much.

Fast forward to tonight though and well it’s time to give credit where credit is due. Let’s take a look at TA’s line from tonight:

Bench		Min	FG	3Pt	FT	+/-	Off	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	BS	BA	PF	Pts
T. Allen		24:30	5-8	0-0	5-7	+16	0	6	3	0	1	1	0	4	15

It wasn’t a perfect performance, but it was about as close to one as you were going to get from the former Oklahoma State star. The numbers that stick out most there to me is the +16 and 0 turnovers. Tony only helped this team tonight with his aggressiveness and this development is becoming more of a trend rather than just a flash in the pan since his return.

His performance tonight brought back memories of TA pre ACL tear 3 years ago, when he was routinely shredding poor Western Conference defenses as the C’s best offensive player once Paul Pierce went down for the year with an injury. Efforts like this is probably what Danny Ainge had in mind when he hoped Tony could replace James Posey’s production last year.

TA’s energy and athleticism was apparent all over the floor tonight and he finally appears to have fully regained his confidence on the floor. Of course there were hiccups tonight with a couple ugly missed jumpers, an out of control drive, and 4 fouls….but that’s part of the package. The key is the good from TA has to outweigh the bad. And as he has become comfortable since his return, that has been the case.

It looks to me that Zach Lowe had his TA’s “Do’s and Donts” list sent express to Mr. Allen overnight. And if this keeps up, all us C’s fans should be eternally grateful.

Some leftover bullets:

-I asked for a bounceback game from the slumping Paul Pierce in my preview and The Truth delivers with 29 points including 6/6 from downtown. The guy appears to be running on cruise control this year, in a good way, knowing when to pick his spots. Tonight was one of them.

-As I mentioned before, the offense was a thing of beauty in the 1st half with 66 points, including 10 from Mr. Rondo. Minnesota is not a good defensive team but the C’s set a season high for fast break points tonight and did what ever they wanted to on the offensive end before the game was in doubt.

-Nice job by Perk holding his own on the boards tonight against Love and Big Al.

-Is it just me or did it look like Johnny Flynn was wearing a winter hat tonight with that black headband? He got into a nice little groove in the 2nd half to help make things semi-interesting and force Doc to bring his starters back in for a couple minutes.

-Re: the lethargic effort in the end of the 3rd quarter and beginning of the 4th….I’m not that concerned. We know that the 5 man bench unit can’t create its own offense and they got complacent in a 30 point game. It’s December in the NBA, it happens. I’m just glad Doc didn’t let it get any closer than he did.

-A couple other negatives from tonight: Eddie House still can’t find his rhythm 1/6 from the field, and Perk somehow managed to have 6 turnovers tonight, looking like the Perk of a couple years ago. I’m really just nitpicking here though.

That’s it for me, much more from Brendan on the way tonight/tomorrow morning.