Welcome Kurly!: Celtics 99, Clippers 92

Posted by Brendan Jackson on Feb 27, 2011 1707242 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2011%2F02%2F27%2Fwelcome-kurly-celtics-99-clippers-92%2FWelcome+Kurly%21%3A+Celtics+99%2C+Clippers+922011-02-27+06%3A25%3A38Brendan+Jacksonhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D17072

ESPN Box Score • ClipperBlog • Clips Nation

The post-Perkins era, or should I say the Nenad Krstic era, has begun with a W.  Sloppy, ugly, and painful to watch at times,  but a “W” nonetheless.  There were a lot of examples of things one would normally think to witness while watching a Celtics v. Clippers game.  There was some strong defensive play late by the Celtics.  There were some really disorganized strings of turnover-to-turnover possessions.  And one huge, thunderous Blake Griffin throw down.  These were to be expected.  Not everything tonight, however, could have been easily predicted.

Let’s start with the newbies.  How many of you thought Nenad Krstic would be the newbie worth noting tonight?  I expected Krstic to come in, play slow, and hit a couple of long jumpers that made me think, “hey, maybe it’ll be nice to have a center with a little range.”  Instead, he came out really aggressive–almost as if he wanted to prove to the Celtics that he could fill in some of what Perkins brought to this team.  He snagged 6 rebounds (all offensive) but more importantly, he got a hand on a ton of up-for-grab balls and hedged on the pick and roll really well.

Jeff Green, on the other hand, started really slow and looked a little rough in the early going.  It’s tough when your first significant play as a Celtics is getting embarassingly dunked on in transition.  Still, he showed flashes of the ability Danny Ainge thinks will be essential to a title run.

The last thing you expected to see?  Randy Foye scoring 32 points.  Seriously, he’s not that good.

That’s it for right now.  Much more to come tomorrow with a ton of talk on how Krstic may not be as bad as we thought.