Just Like Magic, The Celtics Are Back!

But let’s not jump the gun. However, we were down 5 players, so hopefully this could be the start of something good..
Any updates on the injuries?

a freakin’ win !! thats how you win !!

Lololol

missed the game. did Bradley look as good as people are saying? was the Bass/Baby matchup as lopsided as the stats say?

GO CELTICS wow sasha surprised me howard………… no promblem when we work like a team

Tp for doc rivers playing the bench and rookies. Oops, he didn’t have any choice. Oh well, tp anyway.

Awesome, awesome win. Was expecting the worst, and got the best. Let’s string a few of these together.

What a shock and huge praise fo these guys tonight. Hats off to everyone. Honestly, I think they are in huge trouble with all these injuries and that the road ahead could be ugly. Looks to me like some of these injuries are going to be longer than expected – surprise – and Danny is going to have to get some oldies. I will celebrate this tonight and am happy for the team.

trade them while you can

Don’t stick a fork in them yet…too many proud guys on this team. They won’t go down without a fight. Bring that energy every night!

- Rondo is not hurt badly at all, and should return soon. He was able to slap Bass’ hand using his injured hand, hard, TWICE, at the end of the first half.

- Avery Bradely has been greatly underrated around here, till now. He is, truly, a WORLD-CLASS DEFENDER, and that’s a huge asset for this team. He also hustles constantly, and his energy is infectious… all of which makes him an even more important asset. And his offense is starting to catch on too. Kid has a great future, hopefully with the Celtics.

- Pavlovic has also been underrated on these pages, for no good reason. The guy hustles, and is a pretty damn good bench player.

- Howard gave up pretty easily in this game. Just plain gave up. Are we sure we want this guy wearing green? I’m not.

Our guys seem to be finding their mojo, finally. The energy, the hustle, the DEFENSE…. all shaping up. This was a great blowout win, and I give a lot (tho certainly not all) of the credit to Avery’s infectious energy and amazing defensive prowess.

And not worry about the future of the team.

:)

Well? Are the rest ready to start believing again?

it has been awhile. I’ve missed you.

Who you calling old?

Avery was just un-real. Every Magic possession took forever to get up court – the shot clock was routinely down to 10s and they’d still be outside the 3 pt line.

I really loved that Jermaine stuck up for Bradley after Howard smacked Avery down.

Doc did a great job of using both JO & The Steamer’s fouls to just keep physical on Howard all night.

Pierce and Garnett looked like … Pierce and Garnett!!!

Smooge’s defense also kicked up a notch – clearly he was inspired by Bradley’s style of pressure to keep it up. Doesn’t have quite the same quickness of feet and hands as Bradley to get the same TO results, but just making the effort to pressure on his man and keep that shot clock churning was great and kept the pressure constant.

And Sasha – wow, I had almost forgot how athletic he is. That dude can sky. He needs to be more aggressive more often.

Tonight is a PERFECT reminder of what the Celtics are capable of.

The C’s were severly shorthanded tonight and playing on the second night of a back to back. They had yet to bet a good team this season and Orlando definitely qualifies as such. Add to that Orlando was well rested and it seemed all the circumstances were against the Celtics tonight.

How did the Celtics win this game? Well to start with the energy level was fantastic. Sure Orlando played terribly but a big part of that was the relentess energy especially on the defensive end from the Celtics.

Hopefully no one will overreact to this one victory and make it more than what it is. As Mike Gorman pointed out during the broadcast, teams often can overcome injuries in the short term as other players step up to the challenge. Of course no one believes the available players tonight is the best Celtics lineup that could sustain this level of play BUT they proved a great point…

The litanny of excuses given to rationalize the poor play of Boston this season really aren’t valid. To watch a depleted and fatigued group come out tonight and dominate the playoff bound Magic after watching a healthier and more rested group struggle on many games this season is proof positive…

The Celtics are more than talented enough to contend this season and hopefully tonight will serve as the start of playing that way.

Was exactly what we needed and I’m glad to say I was completely wrong about the outcome of this game!

Bradley was just on NBATV and said he told Doc before the game that he was going to pressure Jameer full court the entire game….the entire game…and meant it.

He wanted to bring up the team’s energy.

Player of the game, IMO.

to Howard…..key moment as well. Set a tone that he wasn’t going to trash the Cs.

that the Magic will never win a title; could Boston intrigue him?

Really showed what the C’s can do – I’ve felt like they’re much deeper than given credit for, and the bench could do more than Doc has allowed them to. I’d like to think they could play (nearly) this well every night, if given the chance. If you think about it, Daniels used to start in IN and I think Pavlovic and Dooling have both started some in the past, too. Bass and Pietrus could start on a lot of teams. This should be solid depth. Lets hope this is the beginning of a trend.

On a related note, anyone else had the idea to start Pavlovic or Daniels and let Ray come off the bench and just shoot 3’s for 20 minutes per game? Both those guys are bigger, stronger better jumpers and quicker than Ray at this point and I think the added athleticism would allow for some better matchups.

-Avery Bradley is a dynamo/force/complete stopper on defense. I love him and his play. Love his constant energy.

-Pavlovic has crazy athleticism and its good to know he can ball like that.

-Great game from Marquis Daniels passing the ball and getting steals, great game for Bass, great game for Paul and KG

-Loved seeing Jajuan hit that fade away and posterize von wafer

I love this! lets keep it up guys we are back!

and 11 rebounds-glad we won but still can’t hate baby

aggressive from the first second to the last second with no letups. the first and only game they played properly all year. the kid, ie bradley really set the tone and was the leader. paul really got his shots thru the early 3rd period and began to coast which i don’t like to see ( the coasting and sloppy passes ). jo did the right thing for the team taking on howard and that showed me a lot. it’s a start and the way for this team to do anything right this season tough. hockey player mentality and hustle. i love ray but he would not have played the nasty d that sash showed. this was red auerbach nasty. and bradley pushed the ball and penetrated. nasty.

I don’t know who those imposters were!

They were on all the loose balls played suffocating defense and guys stepped up. They were aggressive and confident. JO guaded Howard well. This is the most confident I’ve ever seen Avery Bradley. He can be an impact player.

Marquis finally found a rhythm. Even Sasha Pavolvic was making plays. It was a full team effort, great win.

WHAT A GAME..FINALLY SOME HEART AND CONFIDENCE..MAKE NO MISTAKE THIS WAS THE BOSTON CELTICS PLAYING TONIGHT!!..WHAT A GAME INDEED!!

I don’t know why y’all kept pounding on Sasha, but I knew all along that he’s capable of playing like this. You guys must have missed his Cleveland days.

Why didnt Pietrius play?Whats his problem?

See this is the KG we need…not taking 10 outside jumpers that dont go in. Get down low, post up, play D, be the defensive anchor. Stop making bad passes.

KG is now worth more as a 12 ppg score rather than trying to get 20. Is this win fools gold??? We shall see. If we win on thurs at Orlando, that might be enough to stave off the trade talk for now.

They were efficient and just looked more in sync with each other on offense. And they were absolutely smothering on defense. Sasha and Avery especially wowed me tonight and showed me what Danny and Doc always saw in them. Also, how awesome was it to see that toughness from KG and Jermaine again?!

I thought working at a retirement home was fun. Go Green and learn from your elders!

I wasn’t going to. Honestly I figured it’d be a blow out. Just not in favor of the C’s.

Trade Pierce? Hahahahahahahahahaha! Yeah right.

Bradley, boy was I wrong about him. I knew he could defend, but this was an All-NBA 1st team performance. Dude belongs. One way or another, he needs to get minutes.

Nice showing by KG. I still think he’s close to done, but maybe with enough rest we can get him to give one last all-in effort in the playoffs.

I am just going to enjoy the win, more than anything. At least it shows they can still do it on occasion. Let’s hope Danny just let’s them ride it out.

Remember, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!

But it definitely proved that when the Boston Celtics are on their game and playing the defense we are used to seeing the past couple of years, we can beat ANYONE. This is one of the best defensive games I’ve seen them play since the Perk trade. I haven’t seen them play that tough team defense when everyone has each other back and are talking constantly. Seeing Bradley out there really reminded me of a young Rondo on defense when he used to be that little pest who just seemed like hed do anything for you, just to get that ball. I’m talking about stuf like the steal on Jason Williams and just out hustling him to get the ball and then throwing it up for the layup. I understand Rondo obviously cant be putting 110% into defense anymore because he has so much more pressure on him now on the offense side of the ball but I really hope Doc sees this game and realizes what Avery did for this ball club and starts reducing Rajon’s minutes so maybe he has more energy to go 110% on defense. Because honestly folks if we ever do want to win a championship we need to go back to our 2008 team and realize it was our defense because we are not a scoring team

Man, Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant can see it. Stan Van Gundy even commented after the game on it. Why cant some of our own fans see it. Boston is a legit contender. Sheesh.

Second of a back to back, against a winning team, great defense, efficient offense….now if this was played on the road….all weaknesses were debunked. At least for one game.

Want to see the same result versus the Bulls and Heat!