Finally some actual basketball! No more speculating based on rumors- tonight is the first time we see this team in action since they were eliminated by the Orlando Magic in May.
Thoughts after watching the 1st half:
- KG looked like KG. In eight 1st quarter minutes he drained two 18 footers, played great defense including two steals, and had three rebounds. He would have had an ally-oop from Rondo but was fouled. His feet and hands are very active. No complaints or concerns.
- Sheed still has it. He was all over the place on defense. He had three blocks and a steal and definitely made his presence felt in the paint. He drained a three pointer and a long two on the offensive end as well.
- Rondo looked a little sloppy on both ends of the ball. He had a few turnovers and let Aaron Brooks burn him on more than one occasion.
- Perkins and Davis are more mobile then they were last year. They're both still big enough to be presences down low, but at the same time they are quicker. Perkins played good defense down low early on.
- Daniels airballed his first three pointer attempt, but looked solid after that. He even played the pg position for a bit and held it down just fine.
- Pierce and Ray were smooth out there as usual. Nothing to report on that front.
- Welcome Shelden WIlliams! Put back dunk off a JR Giddens ft. miss.
- Tommy Point Count: Eddie House, 1. Lester Hudson 1. Both plays were them diving for the ball.
- Unintentional comedy: Brian Scalabrine covering Chase Budinger. Twins?
Thoughts after watching the 2nd half:
- The starters as a whole unit came out kind of flat in the 3rd quarter. They gave up a ten point 1st half lead within the first six minutes of the 3rd quarter.
- Garnett looked strong again in the 2nd half. He was never limping or showed any signs of fatigue. He had a great pass to Ray Allen cutting to the hoop as well.
- Rondo never seemed right all game. Brooks absolutely got the better of him for most of the time they were on eachother. Wouldn't say it's anything to worry about though after one pre-season game.
- Impressive performance by Marquis Daniels tonight. He saw the floor very well, and found the open man. Him and House were very capable at the guard positions tonight.
- Lester Hudson was very active on the court tonight, and he will need to be if he wants to make any sort of impression on Doc. That being said, he had a costly turnover with under two minutes to go in the 4th trying to dribble through two defenders and he had a +/- of -11, which was the worst on the team.
- That wasn't Whale Wars they were playing on CSN, that was Michael Sweetney on the floor. He actually looked pretty good on offense, for what it's worth. Understandably so, he was slow on defense.
- JR Giddens didn't show much at all tonight.
- Oh, and not sure if this is really news, but Rasheed Wallace picked up a technical foul.
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Celtics couldn't pull off this win tonight, but you really can't look too much into that. None of the Big 3 played more than 17 minutes tonight and therefore there wasn't much of a flow to the game. When Michael Sweetney is your leading scorer with ten points, you get an idea of what type of game it was. The bottom line is that Kevin Garnett looked very good out there and the Celtics would have won this game if it was the regular season. The more playing time these guys get together the better the results will be.