Celtics Survive Second Half Swarm by Hornets

By MikeBBonner in Celtics, Featured, Top Story ⋅ November 2, 2009 at 6:01am ⋅ Post a comment

Paul Pierce (Courtesy of Winslow Townson/Associated Press)

In what was becoming a terrible Sunday for Boston sports fans (the Bruins 1-0 loss to the Rangers, Yankees now up 3-1 in the World Series), the Celtics managed to salvage a game against the Hornets as well as the weekend. Boston’s performance was nothing flashy but adjustments down the stretch allowed the Celtics pulled out a 97-87 win against the Hornets.

After Paul Pierce scored 20 of his game-high 27, in the first half, the C’s took a nine-point lead into the locker room. With a little over five minutes remaining in the third, the lead ballooned to 12 and it looked like the Celtics were well on their way to another blowout victory in the Garden.

Hornets point guard Chris Paul had different ideas. In the final five minutes of the quarter, the fourth year pro scored 12 of his 22 points, slicing the Celtics’ lead to three. Paul nearly tied the game with a three-quarter-court shot, but he released the shot just after the third quarter buzzer sounded.

New Orleans carried that momentum into the fourth quarter. Peja Stojakovic led the charge as Pierce didn’t have an answer for him defensively, especially from long range. The New Orleans shooting guard shot 6-of-10 from deep, helping the Hornets to shoot 46 percent (13-of-28) from deep.

Stojakovic scored 11 straight points to open the quarter and with four minutes left in the game the Celtics lead stood at three.

From that point on, the Celtics clamped down on defense.

New Orleans managed to hit one field goal the final four minutes. On the other side of the ball, the Celtics’ stars stepped up. Pierce scored five points during the same four minutes after just hitting just two free throws the entire third quarter.

Kevin Garnett made his presence felt in a not so typical KG fashion. In the final four minutes Garnett, dished three dimes to seal the Celts fourth victory of the season. Garnett finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.

The Celtics are off Monday but play back-to-back road games Tuesday and Wednesday in Philadelphia and Minnesota respectively.

Game Notes

Fat Lady Sings: 1:17 in the 4th, Paul Pierce drains a 3-pointer to increase the Celtics’ cushion to nine.
Hero: Paul Pierce – Yes, the Celtics captain scored 20 of his 27 in the first half but he also had five in the final four minutes. He was also very efficient shooting 10-of-14 from the field and 3-of-5 from deep.
Zero: David West – One of the best power fowards in the league mustered 10 points and two rebounds in over 30 minutes of play.
Big Number: 56 – It was the number of points in the paint for the C’s, 30 more than the Hornets.
Stat To Know: RajonRondo finished the game with 10 assists continuing his streak of 10 or more dimes in every game played thus far. Also during the game, CSNNE’s Greg Dickerson said after talking to people within the Celtics organization, he felt an extension would get done by Monday between the team and Rondo.

Tags: Boston Celtics, Chris Paul, Kevin Garnett, New Orleans Hornets, Paul Pierce

Discussion

One comment for “Celtics Survive Second Half Swarm by Hornets”

Despite Pierce’s inability to stop Peja, I’m a bit in awe of the level of his play this year. I don’t think he’s ever been better all around, and there’s a power and speed in his driving to the hoop that simply wasn’t there before. I think he’s taken a few lessons from LeBron when heading for the hoop to slam one in. He seems able to make the critical shots when called for, plays team basketball, and is no slouch on the boards as well. Keep it up!

When this team is in focus, they’re unstoppable. With the magnificent bench they now have, plus the level of defense they can play, it’s hard to see them losing more than a handful of games if they stay healthy.

Posted by Ken | November 2, 2009, 4:25 pm