Pre-game notes:
Tony Allen not playing today- foot is still hurting from last game and didn't look good in practice yesterday.
Doc Rivers not sure on how he's going to run the minutes today.
Doc will sit the starters for one of the two back to back preseason games at some point in the preseason. Older players most likely to sit one of the two games- so maybe add Sheed to that list?
Doc jokingly said he was going to get kicked out of the game today because of all the other sporting events that are on television... can you blame him? Go Sox!
1st half thoughts:
KG looks very good early on. He was active right off the bat, stealing the ball, scoring, and grabbing rebounds all within the first couple of minutes. Looks fine getting up and down the court as well but still seems hesitant to score in the paint. In his defense, he is shooting 5/6 right now from outside.
Marquis Daniels looked good out there in the first half. Great steal and finish on the other end and ran the offense well from the point. I love the Daniels-House combo so far. It seems to be working out well for them.
It was good to see Pierce creating shots and hitting them as we are so used to seeing him do. He is the point leader at the half with 14.
Perkins looked solid while he was in there but he did pick up three fouls in the process
Rondo is definitely running the floor hard today and showing his speed out there, but he still isn't doing much offensively. Also, he has turned the ball over a few times. Still waiting to see something out of Rondo this pre-season.
It is great to see Yi Jianlian at the Garden... in another team's jersey.
2nd half thoughts:
Paul Pierce played the whole 3rd quarter and continued to hit his shots. He kept the offense in check, scoring 11 in that period.
I think we got our first Rajon Rondo sighting in the third quarter. He made a nice drive to the hoop on one occasion and threw down a nasty jam from Pierce on another.
Lester Hudson was impressive playing with the second unit in the 4th quarter. He didn't try to do too much out there and even hit a three pointer to spark a mini Celtics scoring run. He still has a lot to learn though.
The Celtics put out a lineup of Hudson, House, Daniels, Davis, and Sheed for an extended period of time in the fourth quarter. Pretty small lineup and this was the lineup that pulled away from the Nets.
Daniels knows how to finish around the basket, doing so on more than one occasion this game including a nice drive in the fourth quarter.
Nets made game a lot closer than it needed to be in the fourth quarter, but the Celtics held on for the 100-93 win.
Check back in a bit for post-game article.