Celtics steal a win from Nets

Surrounded by 3 of his teamates, Shaq takes a looong
rest on the floor after being fouled hard by Kris
Humphries.  

On Wednesday the 24, the day before Thanksgiving, the Celtics played the New Jersey Nets at the Garden. Both teams were coming off wins against the Hawks. However, their records are very different. Going into the game, the Celtics were 10-4, while the Nets marched in to the Garden with a 5-9 record. Rajon Rondo was a game time decision, but unfortunately could not play. Before the game, everyone was nervous. Would it be a trap game (a trap game is a game after a very important win)? We were especially nervous after the first quarter...

Both teams came out very cold. Shaq got it going with a layup, and then they scored again. Then, for practically the entire quarter, the teams traded buckets. But not many shots dropped, and the teams went into the second quarter with the Celtics leading 18-17. Then the Nets took over. They started draining shots from everywhere in the field as they dominated the Celtics with 29 points in the quarter. As for the Celtics, they struggled. Continueing over from the first half, they couln't make a shot. They only scored 20 points that quarter. But, something happened in the second quarter that made it even worse. Not only did the team scored a season-low in points during the first half, with only 39.   But, the C’s also had watched Delonte West, the ever important guard they just got back after a 10-game suspension, suffer a brutal injury to his wrist after going down hard on a fast break. Reports after the game say it was a compound wrist fracture, and Delonte West will be out for at least 3 months. Will have an update on him later.
As we sat at halftime of tonight’s game in the TD Garden, there was plenty to sulk about from the Boston Celtics’ perspective. For a third straight game in which the Celtics played an inferior opponent, they came out of the gates with little execution. They couldn’t locate any inkling of the perfect basketball they played against Atlanta Monday night. If West's injury and the poor first half performance not enough to set a team into some form of panic mode, there may not be anything that could.
And so the C’s went into halftime trailing 46-39 to a team which entered the game with a 5-9 record. But the last thing Boston did in the locker room was panic. Instead, they regrouped.


Shaq slams it home!

Veteran leadership came through in the end and the Celtics headed into the second half with new life, led by Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq was unstoppable in the paint and single handedly kept the Celtics in the game until the rest of the team joined him. His teammates began to help him out midway through the third quarter, and by the time the fourth period came around, this game had turned into a nail biter.

 Neither team could pull away over the first half of the final period, and that means New Jersey completely missed its chance. Newsflash for the Nets: Never let a championship caliber team hang around in the fourth quarter if you’ve got a chance to put them away.

The Celtics’ amazing defense continued throughout the final quarter and it wound up heating their offense at the other end during the biggest stretch of the game. Boston held New Jersey without a field goal from the 5:08 mark to the 1:46 mark, and during that stretch the C’s put the game away.

Paul Pierce got things started with a driving jumper in the paint, and Ray Allen followed that up with a 3-pointer from directly in front of New Jersey’s bench less than a minute later. Pierce wasn’t done with his work, though, as he canned two more jumpers in a row to put the Celtics up 82-73, their largest lead of the game to that point, as the 2:04 mark. The first shot was a turnaround, fade away jumper from his sweet spot at the extended elbow. It was nearly indefensible. The second basket, which came after O'Neal notched his first double-double of the season with a rebound at the other end, came off of a pullup jumper from the top of the key that everyone knew was going in from the second it left his fingertips.

That quick spurt, which totaled an 9-1 run over that span of 3:22, put the game away and sent Boston into Thanksgiving with something to be happy about despite the devastating injury West suffered earlier in the night.

Game Notes

Only four Nets players recorded an assist.
Boston scored 39 points in the first half, and New Jersey scored 37 in the second half.
Shaquille O'Neal scored a game-high 25 points and tied for the game high in rebounds with 11.
Shaq also shot 9-of-10 from the floor while taking a game-high 13 free throw attempts.
New Jersey grabbed 34 defensive rebounds, which was one more than Boston's total rebounding number of 33.
Ray Allen tied with Jordan Farmar for the game high with seven assists.
Kevin Garnett and Allen tied for the game-high with three steals apiece.
The Celtics grabbed 11 steals to the Nets' two.
Farmar shot 1-of-6 from beyond the 3-point line.
The Celtics committed only 10 turnovers.
Boston recorded 25 assists, while New Jersey dished out only 15 total dimes.
Boston scored 44 points in the paint to New Jersey's 28.
The Celtics shot 7-of-8 from the floor in fast break attempts.

Box Score

TEAM-----1---2---3---4-----TOT
BOS------18--20--23--28-------89
NJN------17--29--17--20-------83

src- celtics.com