Celtics vs Kings - 105-119: A Tale of 2 Half's

Well, those looking for a return of the run game, weren't disappointed with this first half. The uptempo started right off the tip, with Paul Pierce going in for a quick score and we didn't slow down much after that.

At the 7:37 mark in the 1st, it was 15-6. At 2:44 in the 1st it was 29-14. Raef LaFrantz drew Chris Webber and was straight out beating him up and down the court. In fact, at the the latter time mark, the Kings called timeout after CWebb missed a dunk on an alley-oop delivery from Bibby. At the end of 1, it was 36-18.

Everyone got into the fray, everyone played unselfish and everyone hustled.

In the 2nd quarter, the Kings got back into the game, although the C's played with them. At the 10:26 mark, the C's held an 18-1 lead in fast break points. It seemed that everytime the Kings made a run, the C's did something to quell it. Unselfish play and nice passing were the calling cards of the first half.

To give those who couldn't see the game a great example of how it went, late in the 2nd quarter Raef got a rebound, outletted it to Payton near the mid-court, he took one dribble (mostly to turn his body so he could see the court) and then threw an alley-oop to Ricky Davis. In case you're counting, that's 1 dribble to cover the entire court and score. If you're a coach, there's not too many ways you can diagram that one better.

The C's ended the half with 26 fast break points. Speaking of ending the half, let's give some respect to Ricky Davis, who on a late break made everyone watching think he wasn't going to get the ball off in time, but instead not only surprised us all, but gave us the highlight of the game with a thunderous dunk with only .8 left on the clock. It was one of those dunks he surprised even himself with. I simply sat there with my mouth wide open going, "damn".

1st half notes of interest: Doug Christie's consequtive FT shooting streak came to an end. Greg Ostertag taught young Al Jefferson a "veteran" move, when he leaped for a ball going out of bounds and threw it off the rookie to retain possesion for the Kings.

End of the Half: 63 -56.

The Celtics led the Kings in rebounding in the first half 28-16.

That'll be the last of the good news I deliver for this game. To put it simply, everything that the C's did right and well in the first half, they didn't do in the second half. By the end of the 3rd quarter, I needed a bench shot of Doc Rivers to be reminded that this team wasn't still being coached by Jim O'Brien.

We stopped running, We stopped passing, We stopped playing defense, We started trying to play one on one ball.

Peja opened the half with 2 quick 3's and it went all Sacramento's way from there. At the 7:36 point in the 3rd, Sacto took the lead 71-69 and never looked back, not that the C's were any threat to come back.

The Kings buried us with deep shooting that only rivaled our 60%+ of the first half. Too bad, unlike Sacto of the 1st half, we didn't come close to hanging with them. It was 93-80 at the end of the 3rd and by early in the 4th quarter, Kendrick Perkins was seeing court time. By all accounts, Doc knew this one was over. Since everyone's accountable, I just have to ask, because I asked this question many times when OB was coaching: What the hell was said at half time? Because whatever it was don't say it again!

Former Celtic Darius Songalia hurt the C's plenty (14, 7) Bibby (15pts-10asst), CWebb (18pts 10 rbs) and Brad Miller (22pts 10rbs), all passed well and hit the shot's they were supposed to.

Arco's a tough place to play in, given that only 2 teams from the East have won there in the last 3 seasons (Indy and Milwaukee) and tonight they had thier 235th consecutive sell-out, the longest current streak in the NBA. It's perhaps the best home court advantage in the NBA.

However, let's not forgive the travesty that was the Celtics in the second half. Not one damn guy showed any heart out there. Not one guy consistently moved without the ball, went to the boards hard, played defense hard or passed the rock well. I'm completely digusted at the fact that our team could look so good and so bad in a single game.

Sorry to be negative folks, but our team simply stunk up the joint in the second half and Sacto's hot play didn't help the matter any. Then again, if someone bothered to guard some of those shooters, maybe they would have missed a few shots.

Player of the Game: Raef Lafrantz

I've gotta give it to someone and since the had 15 and 14, he'll have to do. Over the last 4 games, he's been very consistant and put in a lot of hard work, so why not.