Block Party

The Charlotte Bobcats scored a franchise-low 59 points Wednesday night and lost to the Celtics by 33 points. Charlotte saw only one player barely scrape into double figures in scoring (Gerald Wallace finished with 10 points) and as a team the Bobcats shot just 31.1 percent from the field - when they actually managed to get their shots over the rim.

The tenacious inside tandem of Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Garnett tallied seven blocked shots on Wednesday, while teaming up for back-to-back rejections of the then helpless Raymond Felton early in the first quarter. Felton confidently drove along the right baseline, put a shot up, only to watch as Perkins swatted it back towards the right sideline. In his defense, Felton recovered nicely, and stuck his down and headed right back for the paint. With Perkins caught off balance outside, Garnett stepped in and shot back another Felton attempt at the rim.

Felton was the first victim of the Perkins-Garnett rejection special, which will be a common dish offered on the Celtics' menu this season. Garnett finished the night with three blocked shots, while Perk totaled four. More importantly for Perk was how he used his defense and not his words to silence an antagonistic Tyson Chandler. The new Charlotte center was in Perk's face early and often on Wednesday night, bumping and prodding and uttering a few choice words in Perk's ear. Before finally receiving a technical foul with 3:53 to go in the third period, Chandler was the sole beneficiary of Perkins' fourth blocked shot, and finished the evening with zero points, zero blocks and six rebounds.

Garnett acknowledged the pride the Celtics take in shutting their opponents down during the post game press conference:

"Shutting people down," the Celtics forward said of what is more satisfying, offensive or defensive dominance. "(That’s) because we work so hard in practice. Man, ya’ll have no idea what our drills are like. The majority of our practices are schemes - how we’re gonna defend, things night in and night out for all kinds of teams."