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5 days ago

Terrence Williams Arrested on Gun Charges, Following Domestic Dispute

Terrence Williams was on the verge of coming back to the Boston Celtics next season after being one of the few bright spots of the Celtics’ postseason. Now, that journey is just an afterthought. According to a report from the Kent Reporter, a newspaper in Williams’ home state of Washington, the point guard was arrested yesterday [...]

16
7 days ago

Kevin Garnett Will Avoid Foot Surgery

As we await Kevin Garnett’s decision about whether or not he will play a 7th season with the Boston Celtics, an important physical limitation has been avoided for the big man. After laboring through the last couple months of the season with a foot/ankle injury, which caused him to miss much of the regular season, [...]

9
8 days ago

Danny Ainge is Waiting on Talking Future with Kevin Garnett

Yesterday was a good day in Boston. We found out Doc Rivers would definitely be coming back as a head coach, the Bruins won in overtime, and the Sox had a big comeback as well. As the first big decision of the Celtics offseason came in though, a brighter light begins to shine down now [...]

15
9 days ago

Jeff Green’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Unless we’re discussing the eight or nine best players in the world, it’s impossible to separate a contract’s price from a player’s expectations, value, and overall performance. Jeff Green is the manifestation of this theory. In August he was guaranteed $36 million over four years, even though he didn’t play a single game during the [...]

20
10 days ago

Painful Reminders (Part I): The Celtics Drafted JaJuan Johnson Instead of Jimmy Butler

On June 23rd, 2011, Brian Robb and I stood around a high top bar table in Tommy Doyle’s in Kendall Square.  Before us lay one of the biggest mounds of buffalo chicken wings I had ever endeavor to make disappear.  These 25 cent flappers- one of the few indulgences afforded to the participants of our [...]

19
10 days ago

Chris Wilcox: 2012-13 Final Grade

There are a number of contextually-appropriate ways to craft this post. One would be to forgo words entirely, and represent Chris Wilcox’s entire season with a series of videos. That would involve one part of this: For every eight parts of this: Note the headline on that second clip. Someone was so amused/enraged by Wilcox’s [...]

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Game 56: Celtics (29-26) @ Trail Blazers (25-30) Open Thread

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2012/0622/bos_g_pavlovic_sy_576.jpgBoston at Portland
9:00 P.M. ET
Rose Garden

CSNNE

Offensive Efficiency:
Boston: 100.5 points/100 possessions (21st)
Portland:
101.8 points/100 possessions (16th)

Defensive Efficiency:
Boston: 99.6 points allowed/100 possessions (5th)
Portland:
 105.6 points allowed/100 possessions (25th)

Probable Trail Blazers Starters:
Damian Lillard (PG), Wesley Matthews (SG), Nicolas Batum (SF), LaMarcus Aldridge (PF), and J.J. Hickson (C)

View From The Opposing Bench: The Portland Roundball Society

Thumbnail: For the second time this season, the Celtics get to see old friend, Sasha Pavlovic. However, that is obviously not the major storyline for this contest. It is rather, how will the Celtics respond after drubbing the Suns? Jeff Green started on Friday for Kevin Garnett, and he took advantage of his expanded role. In fact, he has done so during almost all of February. He has scored at least eight points in each of his last 14 games. Doctors did not expect Green to be fully recovered until the second half of the 2012-13 season, so it is possible that he is finally playing up to his expectations now that he is healthy.

With the Celtics adding bench players on the fly, they will actually be facing the worst scoring bench in the league. The Trail Blazers’ 16.6 bench points per game are by far the lowest by an NBA team this season. Their weak bench combined with their youthful starting lineup has led to seven consecutive losses, the league’s longest current losing streak. The Trail Blazers will look to avoid their first eight-game losing streak since 2006. Rookie sensation Damian Lillard, who has scored double-digit points in all but four of the games that he has played this season, will hope to stop the losing skid. The Trail Blazers will also have to contain the Celtics’ outside shooters, who even without Garnett gave Boston its best road shooting percentage of the season on Friday.

Heading into Sunday, Paul Pierce has made exactly 100 three-pointers. He is now the only player to hit the century mark in made three-pointers in each of the last 13 seasons. At age 35, the Truth might not be able to get to the hoop as easily as he used to, but his shooting is still benefitting the Celtics very much. His 1,778 career three-pointers made are the franchise’s most by a large margin. In addition, he is on pace to once again crack the top 10 three-pointers made by a Celtic in a single season. Although the Celtics were successful with Pierce only taking five shots on Friday, they will need some more attempts from him in the upcoming games.

Prediction: Pierce, who is only 11 free throws made from passing Charles Barkley for 11th on the all-time list, performs well and inches closer to Barkley in the victory, giving Portland’s its eighth straight loss.

Celtics 97, Trail Blazers 92

For more Celtics coverage and pertinent statistics, follow Celtics Hub and Stats Adam Lowenstein on Twitter: @CelticsHub and @StatsAdam

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