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Kevin Garnett Archives January 2008
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Kevin Garnett Archives
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January 2008
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KEVIN GARNETT WATCHES AS CELTICS EASILY BEAT HEAT
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January 30, 2008
- The Celtics played without Kevin Garnett (strained abdominal muscle) and Ray Allen (flu), and the third member of their star triumvirate, Paul Pierce, was scoreless for most of the first half and finished with only seven points. Didn't matter. Boston led by 17 after one quarter, 31 in the second
before settling for a 22-point edge at intermission, and when Dwyane Wade checked out for good with 4:41 left in the third quarter the Celtics were up 88-53.
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"One of the things that we talked about before the game is that no one before the game is that no one was going to be Ray Allen and no one is going to be Kevin Garnett,'' Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "But all of them could do a little extra.'' They were listening. These numbers - 51-36 - told the story.
That was Boston's edge in shooting percentage and rebounding. Former Heat guard Eddie House added 20 points for the Celtics, who improved to 35-8.
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With Garnett and Ray Allen out, it seemed like Miami rated a chance of matching its season-high two-game winning streak. That was the thinking before Miami - which started this seven-game homestand with a 30-point loss to the Chicago Bulls and ended it with a similar dismal effort - missed almost every shot it took in the first 12 minutes.
Boston raced out to a 31-14 lead, closing the first quarter on an 17-3 run after Miami shot 3-for-23 - 13 percent - in the period. Take Jason Williams' 2-for-3 showing away, and the rest of the Heat shot a robust 5 percent in the first, 1-for-20.
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"They, in the first quarter, overwhelmed us with their quickness and their intensity and their play,'' Riley said. "It was right from the get-go.'' And Rondo must have heard Rivers' plea for someone to step up in place of the missing starters. He finished the first with 13 points, 3.7 more than his season per-game average. "We got off to a great
start,'' Rondo said. The Celtics' finish wasn't bad, either. Boston used a 16-2 run in the second quarter to take a 54-25 lead, meaning this game was decided before Pierce scored a single point. - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT SITS OUT AGAINST MAGIC AND CELTICS LOSE
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January 28, 2008
- Orlando recorded its second home win this season over Boston, which played for the first time without Garnett, who has an abdominal strain. "Obviously Kevin is the heart and soul of what we do,'' Celtics guard Ray Allen said. "So it was tough not seeing him out there.'' January has been by
far Boston's worst stretch - five of its eight losses have come this month. But the Celtics, at 34-8, are still by far the league's best. The Magic lead the Southeast Division at 28-18, but not by much. "Because they didn't have Kevin Garnett and we hit a miracle shot at the end, it was enough
to win,'' Van Gundy said.
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Even Stan Van Gundy wasn't sure what Hedo Turkoglu was doing. An off-balance 3-pointer with time running out - when all the Magic needed to break a 93-all tie against the Kevin Garnett-less Boston Celtics was a two? "I think he wanted to set it up so he could hit a miracle and make his final bid
for the All-Star game,'' the Magic coach joked. "If we win by seven, no drama. It doesn't make as good of a case.''
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Turkoglu is having the best season of his career, but he's a long-shot for the Feb. 17 game in New Orleans. He tried a few tough shots down the stretch, as Orlando let go of a double-digit lead, but made the one that counted for a 96-93 win. "I didn't really want to settle on a jumper,'' Turkoglu said. "I just tried to go to the hole and
take a foul, but they had good defense and forced me to take a tough shot. I'm just glad it was right there today.''
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Dwight Howard had 18 points and 16 rebounds for Orlando, and Rashard Lewis scored 15 points. Orlando blew a 16-point, second-half lead with a lousy fourth quarter. The Celtics trailed 75-65 to open the period, then held Orlando scoreless nearly four minutes, and without a field goal for more than five. But the Celtics slipped into their
own fourth-quarter drought over 2:47 and the Magic pulled ahead by eight on two buckets from Lewis, one a 3-pointer, and an authoritative dunk from Howard. - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT LITERALLY STEALS THE GAME AWAY
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January 27, 2008
- The players at the end of the Boston bench kept looking over their shoulders to the tunnel to see if Kevin Garnett was coming back out of the locker room. They didn't need to worry. "I wasn't going to do anything that would to jeopardize my future,'' Garnett said after his last-second
steal helped the Boston Celtics beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 87-86 on Friday night. "But my philosophy has always been that if I can play, if I can run, if I can move, if I can blink, if I can wake up in the morning, I'm going to play.''
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In his first regular-season game against his former team, Garnett poked the ball away from Sebastian Telfair in the final seconds to preserve the victory. The leading vote-getter for next month's All-Star Game, Garnett finished with 10 points and 16 rebounds despite leaving the game for
four minutes late in the fourth quarter because of an abdominal strain. "It felt like I got sniped from the rafters or something, you know,'' Garnett said. "I just had a sharp pain come from my stomach and I just wanted the doctors to look at it. They looked at it and said I was fine, so
I came back out.''
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The doctor said Garnett could go back in, but the trainer said no, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said, holding one thumb up and one thumb down. Eventually, Garnett begged his way back onto the court. When he did, the Timberwolves had an 86-81 lead with 1:51 left and the ball. They did not score again. "We were lucky to win,'' Rivers
said. "It didn't look like it was going to happen.'' Kendrick Perkins scored on a putback with 16.6 seconds left, finishing with 21 points to help Boston beat a team stocked with a handful of players sent to Minnesota in last summer's trade for Garnett. Paul Pierce had 19 points and eight assists to help the Celtics bounce back
after Wednesday's loss to Toronto -- just their seventh loss in the first 40 games this season.
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"I've been in the league long enough to know that players who come back are going to be attacking,'' Rivers told his players. "They want to show the fans, they want to show the coach and the GM what a mistake they made, and they want to show you, too.'' But Garnett beat his former team, which acquired five players and two draft picks
last summer to send him to Boston and help the Celtics turn what had been one of the worst teams in the NBA last year into this year's best. As good as the Celtics have been with Garnett, that's how bad Minnesota has been without him. Adding Antoine Walker to the five other ex-Celtics, the Timberwolves won just five of their first 39
games to fall to the bottom of the NBA standings. - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT CAN'T PUSH PAST THE CLAWING RAPTORS
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January 24, 2008
- Kevin Garnett scored 26 for Boston, which had won three in a row and hadn't lost to an Atlantic Division rival in 10 tries this season. Paul Pierce had 19 points and nine assists, and Ray Allen also scored 19 for Boston, which still holds an 11-game lead over second-place
Toronto in the division. "It was really important to beat them - so we could see if we could,'' Calderon said. "We knew how to play them after already playing them three times.''
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Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers looked at the boxscore and shook his head at the shooting percentages Toronto had just compiled. "Fifty-eight percent (from the floor); 71 percent from the 3; 100 percent from the foul line. At least the foul line wasn't guarded,'' Rivers said after
the Raptors made 15 of 21 3-pointers to beat Boston 114-112 on Wednesday night. "Half the guys in our league couldn't shoot 15-for-21 if they were in a gym by themselves,'' he said. "It was almost like we didn't believe they would shoot another one.''
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Jose Calderon converted a go-ahead, three-point play with 10.5 seconds left and finished with 24 points and 13 assists. Chris Bosh and Anthony Parker scored 23 points apiece and Andrea Bargnani had 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Raptors. Carlos Delfino was 5-for-5 from 3-point range. Calderon was 4-of-6,
but the key basket was a traditional three-point play after he took the inbounds pass and circled around the lane to drive for a layup over Pierce.
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"We knew they wouldn't leave Chris,'' Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said. "So I changed the play I drew up, and Jose was able to turn the corner.'' Calderon drew the foul and sank the free throw, giving the Celtics the ball with 10.5 seconds left. They went for the win, working the ball around to Eddie House for a 3-point attempt
from the right side. He missed, and Allen got the rebound to the right of the lane near the baseline; he triple-pumped, getting off a clean shot but a high-arcing one that bounced off the rim and out. Toronto (23-19) won for the sixth time in eight games, improving to 1-3 against Boston (33-7). It was just the fifth time this
season the Celtics had allowed more than 100 points in a game. - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT TAKES THE LEAD AFTER PIERCE IS EJECTED
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January 23, 2008
- Kevin Garnett had 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists to help them recover and beat the Knicks 109-93 Monday. Celtics players lost their focus in the third quarter,when leading scorer Paul Pierce was ejected along with New York's Quentin Richardson after both picked
up two technical fouls for jawing with each other during the period. Kendrick Perkins also picked up a technical during the quarter.
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"It wasn't just Paul. It was five of us. All of us running our mouths instead of playing basketball,'' Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "You don't need to run your mouth. I wasn't happy with that. "We deserved the techs. We deserved the ejections. We deserved everything we got
and we're very lucky to win the game. We're playing a team that's playing terrific, you get caught up in that (junk) and you lose the game.''
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Perkins scored 22 of his career-high 24 points in the first half for Boston (33-6), which has won three straight following the only rough patch in its season, a stretch of three losses in four games. Ray Allen added 17 points and Rajon Rondo had 14 in his return to the lineup after missing two games with a sore lower back.
"Guys are playing with a lot of passion, lot of emotion, this is a big game for them,'' Garnett said. "They've been playing together. You have to expect the emotions to be high.'' With the victory, Rivers clinched the right to coach the Eastern Conference in next month's All-Star game.
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It was the first meeting since the Celtics crushed the Knicks 104-59 on national television Nov. 29 in Boston, New York's third-worst loss and its second-worst scoring performance of the shot-clock era. It was also the biggest victory in the history of the Celtics-Knicks rivalry. Speaking of New York and Boston rivalries,
Plaxico Burress, R.W. McQuarters, Aaron Ross and Steve Smith sat courtside, a day after helping the Giants win the NFC championship and a spot in the Super Bowl with Sunday's 23-20 overtime victory in Green Bay. - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT MAKES IT LOOK EASY DESTROYING THE 76ERS
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January 19, 2008
- Kevin Garnett had 11 points, eight assists and six rebounds in Boston's second consecutive victory since their only losing streak of the season: a two-game skid - and three losses in four games - that has been the only blip for the best team in the league. "We played
with a lot more passion, especially in the third quarter, the fourth quarter,'' Pierce said. "We said at halftime, this team's not going anywhere. They play everybody tough, regardless of their record.''
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The Philadelphia 76ers ran with Celtics for one half. Then Boston ran right by them. Paul Pierce scored 14 of his 22 points in the third quarter to help the Celtics take the lead, and Ray Allen scored 10 of his 23 in the fourth when they pulled away from Philadelphia to
win 116-89 on Friday night. "The first half, they made everything,'' Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "They got to every loose ball, they got to every rebound. They basically outworked us for one half.
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"I told them at halftime, 'If we can get some stops, we can put numbers on the board.''' That they did, scoring five of the last six points in the third quarter and five of the first six in the fourth, getting a jumper and a 3-pointer from Allen early in the final period to take an 83-74 lead. Eddie House, James
Posey and House again hit 3-pointers late in the fourth for Boston to finish off a 17-2 run that turned a 90-85 game into a 107-87 blowout with 2:12 left. Boston also scored the last nine points of the game, with House hitting another 3 in the final minute.
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"We had 85 points with five minutes left. We ended up with 89,'' Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "So that shows a lot about their defense.'' House, starting in place of injured Rajon Rondo, had 11 points in the fourth. Leon Powe reached season highs with 10 points, six rebounds and a shade under 15 minutes. "We played
better defense, we started moving the ball and guys were aggressive,'' Garnett said. "Leon came in here with some big minutes; Paul played huge, played so huge he didn't have to play the fourth; Ray played huge for us. Once we got the ball moving, guys were being aggressive, we were making 3s. It was over.'' - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT HIT WITH BACK-TO-BACK LOSSES VS. WIZARDS
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January 17, 2008
- Ray Allen impressed teammate Paul Pierce with his shooting. For Allen, satisfying himself proved to be a tougher task. Allen scored a season-high 35 points, Kevin Garnett had 26 and the Boston Celtics rebounded from their first consecutive losses of the season
with a 100-90 win over Portland on Wednesday night. Allen, who scored 26 points in the second half on 9-of-13 shooting, wasn't about to get caught up in the excitement of his scoring.
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"Every time I leave here I feel like I've left something out there on the table,'' he said. "I feel that way right now. There were some shots I should have knocked down.'' The 12-year veteran had Pierce enjoying his work, though. "It was great to watch. When you've
got a hot player like that who's done it so many times throughout his NBA career, you just try to ride the hot hand,'' Pierce said "We just tried to get him the ball as much as we could. He made plays off the ball, on the ball and finished it with the shot.''
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The Atlantic Division-leading Celtics, who had lost three of their last four games and two straight at home, also got 12 points from Pierce and 10 from Eddie House. Boston had lost its last two games, both to Washington. Brandon Roy led the Northwest division-leading Trail Blazers with 22 points.
Travis Outlaw and Jarrett Jack each had 17. Portland, which lost for just the third time in 21 games overall, fell to just 6-12 on the road. The surprising Trail Blazers may have come into the game hoping to compete with Boston instead of working like they have so far this season.
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"I don't think we believed we could beat them,'' Roy said. "We've been playing to win lately, but tonight I think we just came in to give them a good game. The next time we play them we have to believe that we can actually beat them.'' Allen scored 12 points, including eight straight in the third quarter,
helping the Celtics take a 74-69 lead after three. Portland tied it at 56 before Kendrick Perkins' free throw moved the Celtics ahead for good. House followed with a 3 from the right corner before Allen took over, scoring off drives to the basket three times and hitting a pair of free throws to give Boston
68-63 lead. - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT HIT WITH BACK-TO-BACK LOSSES VS. WIZARDS
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January 15, 2008
- On the ensuing possession, Kevin Garnett failed on a 3-pointer, but Paul Pierce was fouled on the rebound and sank both free throws to regain the lead for Boston at 83-82. Butler then responded with a high-arcing lay-up as he beat Pierce off the dribble
with 19.6 seconds remaining.
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Garnett failed on another chance to regain the lead for Boston when his turnaround jumper clanked off the back rim. Butler got the rebound and hit a pair of free throws for an 86-83 lead with 8.3 seconds remaining. After calling a 20-second timeout, the Celtics
inbounded to Allen whose 3-pointer fell way short before DeShawn Stevenson clinched the game with two free throws.
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Garnett led the Celtics with 23 points while Pierce added 18. "We didn't stop playing, we just didn't hit our shots,'' Garnett said. "We need to fix things before Portland.'' The Celtics struggled to a 37-35 halftime lead while shooting 43 percent. Stevenson led Washington with 11 while
shooting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, despite the Wizards shooting 35 percent overall.
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Caron Butler scored 21 and Washington beat Boston 88-83 on Monday night for the Wizards' second victory over the Celtics in three days. "Our eyes are on winning a championship,'' Butler said. "Hopefully we get Gilbert back by March and when he comes back we will be even more dangerous.'' - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT FEELS THE EFFECTS OF WINNING TOO EASILY
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January 13, 2008
- Kevin Garnett, who led the Celtics with 19 points, said his team was feeling the effects of winning too easily early in the season. Boston had been outscoring opponents by 12.1 points entering the game. "We spoiled ourselves a little bit,'' Garnett said.
The momentum had swung Washington's way when Antonio Daniels made a 3-pointer with 1:51 remaining to give the Wizards a 75-74 lead.
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Then Haywood forced the Celtics' 18th turnover at the other end by taking the ball away from Garnett. Stevenson took advantage by drawing a foul while attempting a 3-pointer as the shot clock was about to expire -- and making all three free throws to give
Washington a four-point lead.
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The Celtics committed six first-quarter turnovers, and the Wizards shot 32 percent in the period. To make it worse for Washington, many in the sellout crowd rooted for the visiting team by chanting, "Let's Go Celtics.'' One thing is for certain, the crowd will be much tougher on
Monday. And the Celtics will be ready. "I thought we could have executed a little better. We rushed a lot of shots. We didn't have the click that we usually have,'' Garnett said. "We'll make an adjustment come Monday.''
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"It's going to be a big game,'' Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson said. "We were talking back and forth, so they're going to be ready.'' The victory broke a pattern for the Wizards, who had been beating the bottom teams and losing to the top ones. Washington hadn't defeated a team with a
winning record since Dec. 1, a byproduct of the knee injury that has sidelined point guard Gilbert Arenas for much of the season. - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT DOMINATES BUT RESERVES COME UP BIG
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January 12, 2008
- Kevin Garnett had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Paul Pierce added 18 points and Ray Allen scored 16 as Boston (30-4) matched the 1959-60 champion Celtics for the best start in franchise history. The Boston Celtics' big three all had big nights against the
New Jersey Nets. In the end, it was the Celtics' reserves that came up big in the fourth quarter in Boston's 86-77 win, the 30th of the season for the NBA's top team.
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"We got down on the road and our starters needed some rest,'' Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "The bench was able to dig it out and get us the win. They were huge for us. Every game, we try to get our big guys rest because its a long season and were trying
to give the bench more confidence.''
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Boston scored 13 consecutive points without Garnett or Pierce on the floor to take a 76-70 lead with 6:12 remaining. The Celtics went ahead for good at 71-70 on a fastbreak layup by Glen Davis with 7:55 left. Following a Nets turnover on their possession, Eddie House had another
fastbreak basket and Allen followed with a 3-pointer to close out the run.
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"The defense started the offense and we did a good job all around,'' Davis said. "Our bench brought up the tempo in the fourth quarter and pumped up the energy. It was really big. Some nights, the big players are real factors and other nights, we have to step it up. That's what
the bench is for. We were able to get the lead with the other guys not on the floor. We stepped up at the right time.'' - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT COULDN'T HANDLE RICHARDSON & WARRIORS
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January 10, 2008
- Kevin Garnett led Boston with 24 points and eight rebounds. Paul Pierce scored 13 points on just 4-for-14 shooting. "We aren't going to win every game of the season,'' Pierce said. "We have to expect everybody's best, and it was one of Charlotte's
best games.'' Boston hit just 42 percent of its shots. "It was our execution,'' Rivers said. "It was our defensive execution. But listen, guys, we scored 83 points, too, you know. We have a better offensive team.''
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Boston never moved closer than seven points in the final 5 minutes. The Celtics looked like they were in for another easy night at home when they opened a 35-24 edge midway into the second half, but the Bobcats responded by scoring the next 14 points en
route to a 45-41 halftime edge.
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Hardly anyone except for maybe Charlotte's Jason Richardson could have seen this coming. The Boston Celtics were rolling at home and the Bobcats were miserable on the road. Richardson had 34 points and nine rebounds, Gerald Wallace had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and the
Bobcats stunned the Celtics 95-83 for just their fourth loss of the season on Wednesday night.
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"I'm not surprised because we're a pretty good team,'' Richardson said. "It just doesn't show in our record.'' And it really didn't when they played on the road. The Bobcats, who entered with an Eastern Conference-worst 1-11 road mark, also got 16 points and eight assists
from Raymond Felton. But it was Richardson, who went 14-for-22 from the floor, that hurt the Celtics most. "Jason Richardson was fantastic, just tremendous,'' Boston coach Doc Rivers said. - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT WASN'T THE LEADING SCORER FOR FIRST TIME
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January 7, 2008
- For the first time this season, the Celtics' leading scorer wasn't Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce or Ray Allen. "They were stopping me and stepping up against Ray and Garnett,'' Pierce said. "And, that left 'Baby' open.'' Rookie Glen Davis scored a
career-high 20 points, giving the Celtics' Big Three a huge lift in a 92-85 win over Detroit on Saturday night in a marquee game that lived up to its billing.
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Stuckey, Davis and everybody else on the court on this night in January got a sense of what the Eastern Conference finals in June might be like. "It feels real good to contribute in a big game like this,'' Davis said. "But we can't get too excited.
This isn't the last time we're going to see this team.''
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Boston topped Detroit (26-8) after overcoming a 12-point deficit and foul trouble. Garnett was called for his second foul at the 7:34 mark of the first quarter, which helped Detroit go on a 17-0 run take a 20-10 lead. He returned early in the second quarter and helped
Boston pull within two points at halftime. When Garnett was in the game, Boston outscored Detroit by 23. When the superstar was on the bench, the Pistons outscored the Celtics by 16.
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The Pistons clung to a three-point lead after three quarters. Then the Celtics took control with a 10-2 run -- with five points from Davis -- to take a 79-74 lead. Detroit's comeback hopes were hurt by uncharacteristic misses at the free throw line by Billups and Richard
Hamilton, who combine to make nearly 90 percent from the line. With a chance to tie the game with 33 seconds left, Billups' 3-point attempt was an airball. - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT SCORES 23 POINTS TO PROPELL CELTICS WIN
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January 5, 2008
- Tony Allen scored 15 in the second quarter to help Boston take the lead for good, Paul Pierce scored 23 with 10 rebounds and Kevin Garnett also had 23 to give the Celtics their eighth straight win. James Posey had nine points and 10
rebounds while also busting open the lip of Memphis' Rudy Gay, who made just one of his first eight shots but finished with 21 points. Ray Allen went 0-for-9 from the floor, but sank a pair of free throws with 9.3 seconds left to avoid
his first scoreless appearance in a decade. The crowd cheered its approval, and Rivers had to ask one of his players why the seemingly meaningless foul shots were met with applause.
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"I know I've always been a scorer but, ultimately, (the key is) to do what I need to do to let this team win,'' Allen said. "It's a relief that I don't have to stress out sitting on the bench worrying about not scoring, because we have a
bunch of guys that can carry the load.'' The Pistons (26-7) have the second-best record in the NBA, trailing only Boston (28-3), and they handed the Celtics their last loss with an 87-85 victory at the new Garden. Detroit won its 11th straight,
101-85 over Toronto on Friday night.
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"Everybody knew we're playing Detroit on Saturday night, but we had to take care of Memphis,'' Pierce said. "We're preparing for something bigger than the regular season. It's got to be every night.'' Juan Carlos Navarro scored 20 for Memphis, and Mike Miller
had 16. The Grizzlies scored nine straight points to come within five points, 91-86, with 1:25 left, but never got closer than four points. "I thought the whole game was a missed opportunity,'' coach Marc Iavaroni said. "I thought we were in perfect position to
come in here and have a shot at it, and I think we did until we made some miscues. And that's the way they've won this year.''
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The Celtics trailed for most of the first quarter and into the second before taking the lead for good when Tony Allen scored all but two of Boston's 15 points in a seven-minute span; he assisted on the other basket. Allen hit a reverse layup to cut Memphis' lead to
one point, then made a 3-pointer to give the Celtics a 39-37 lead with 4:48 left in the half. Posey hit a pair of free throws to give Boston a four-point lead and after Darko Milicic made a layup, Allen hit another jumper to give him 15 points in the quarter. - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT WAS SOLID DOWN THE STRETCH VS. ROCKETS
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January 3, 2008
- Two different Boston centers fouled out trying to guard Yao Ming before the biggest Celtics big man of all took on the job himself. For Kevin Garnett, it was just another way to be indispensable down the stretch. "It was superstar
on superstar,'' Celtics forward James Posey said. "He accepts those challenges, and we jumped on his back and he carried us to a win.''
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Garnett scored 11 of his 26 points in the last 7 minutes, grabbing a steal with 2 minutes left and blocking a shot with just seconds remaining on Wednesday night to help the Boston Celtics beat the Houston Rockets 97-93 and earn their
seventh consecutive victory. Paul Pierce scored 19 points and assisted on four key baskets down the stretch as the Celtics improved to 27-3 to match the best 30-game start in the shot-clock era. Five other teams have lost just three of
their first 30 games, including the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls who finished the season with an NBA-record 72 wins.
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"He definitely made him uncomfortable on defense, and on offense he stretched him,'' Ray Allen said. "Kevin made a lot of big shots down the stretch. ... You catch a little fire and he knocks down some shots for us. That was the difference.''
"When you play against the best in the league, you can't go in with low gas, you've got to have a lot of high octane,'' Garnett said. "I fed off this building, these fans are the spark plug and I just plugged in and didn't even think what I was doing.''
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Wells hit a pair of free throws, then Garnett hit one of two before stealing an entry pass to Yao. Pierce set up Garnett at the other end for a jumper that gave Boston a 94-89 lead, then did it again with a backward bounce pass to clinch the game with 22.2
seconds left. Pierce jumped on Garnett's back in celebration. - NBA.com
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KEVIN GARNETT IS SLICED IN THE EYE BY ANDREW BYNUM
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January 1, 2008
- Paul Pierce scored 33 points and Kevin Garnett had 22 points, 12 rebounds and six assists Sunday night to lead the Boston Celtics to a 110-91 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Boston took the lead in the first quarter
and never relinquished it. Each time the Lakers threatened, the Celtics would pull away again. Kobe Bryant scored 22 for Los Angeles, going just 6-of-25 from the floor. Lamar Odom had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
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The victory in the final of two meetings between the teams this season ran Boston's NBA-best record to 26-3 and extended its winning streak to six straight. It also ended a four-game winning streak by the Lakers, who still have
won 10 of their last 13. The Celtics prevented Lakers coach Phil Jackson from moving ahead of Boston Hall of Fame coach Red Auerbach on the career wins ladder. Jackson remained tied with Auerbach for seventh on the all-time list
with 938 victories. Ray Allen added 19 points for Boston and Tony Allen, filling in for Rajon Rondo, had 16.
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