Celtics Beat Hawks Without Garnett

By KC Downey in Celtics, Featured, Top Story ⋅ March 28, 2009 at 10:56am ⋅ Post a comment

Kevin Garnett did not play Friday night against the Hawks, as he’s still experiencing soreness in his knee. The Celtics aren’t the same team without Kevin Garnett, but the way Glen Davis is playing in KG’s absence has some hoping KG will just sit out until he’s 100% healthy.

Davis finished with 19 points and career-high 12 rebounds to help lead the Celtics to a 99-93 on the road over the Hawks. The win proved that the Celtics can win without Kevin Garnett, but also reinforced that the Celtics could beat a quality team like Atlanta (42-31) on the road.

The Hawks were looking to take advantage of KG’s absence by going with their big lineup. Coach Mike Woodson moved Al Horford (6’10″) from center to power forward, and inserted Zaza Pachulia (6’11″) at center. Pachulia finished with seven points and two rebounds in 20 minutes. Pachulia also registered a -17 ranking, meaning for all the time he was on the floor, the Celtics outscored the Hawks by 17 points. Yikes…

With Garnett, Leon Powe, and Brian Scalabrine out, Big Baby and Mikki Moore saw increased minutes. Moore, a defensive liability in my eyes, has played decent while filling in. He finished with two points and 10 rebounds in his 31 minutes.

Ray Allen led the Celtics with a team-high 22 points and Paul Pierce added 21 points in the win. Rajon Rondo, who was a game-time decision, had totals of nine points and five assists in 26 minutes.

Stephon Marbury had possibly his best game as a Celtic, scoring 11 points on 4-5 shooting with two assists in 17 minutes of floor time.

The Celts are off Saturday and have an easy game against the Thunder on Sunday.