Yes, it's early Sunday morning instead of Saturday. My apologies. Before we get into what was easily the world's most fulfilling night of basketball in a decade or so...
Al gets a 5 yr/$65 Million contract.
Good idea, Terriblewolves. He was your leading everything in the preseason (18 pts, 13 rebs per game), he's top 5 in young talent, and he's easily your best player by leaps and bounds. You even paid him more than what he wanted. I love unselfish players more than anything.
Now, game time. First, we are treated to NBA's KIA Shootaround with Stu, Stephen Awful, and Bill Walton. Until I see Legler or Tom Tolbert, I will assume they are missing/fired/deceased. Why does TNT get Barkley and Kenny? Life is unfair.
Anyways, top story. Apparently, while I was busy at work, news leaked about "Agent Zero" Gilbert Arenas having a blog in which he made the following comments:
"Back in the day when Iwould daydream Ithought that if I could score 100 points against any team it would be the Boston Celtics. Now, I knew it would never happen, but if I could do one thing in the NBA it would be to score 100 against Boston. So anyway, since everybody is
back on the Boston bandwagon it brought back old memories. So listen here. On November 2nd, we're going to go into that building, we're opening up Boston. Right now I'm telling the Boston fans: You guys are going to lose. It's not going to be a victory for Boston. You might as well just cheer for me, because Boston isn't winning in Boston for the season opener. I'm sorry. "
I have to say that I respected Gilbert until 7:35 eastern time on Friday night. He's funny, he hates Marc Ecko, and he plays fairly good basketball. Hey, the Wiz made the playoffs last year. Too bad he didn't play. Long story short, the last time he made a prediction, he guaranteed that he was going to score 50 on the Lakers and Britney Bryant. He ended up with 16, I think.
This, friends, is what we call foreshadowing.
They then ask players around the league what they think of the Celtics this year. Wade and Britney both say they are a force. Amare says, "I think nothing." Shaq says, "Who cares"?
Above: Shaq and the Heat prepare to start the season without their best player.
We get an opening montage of Boston's history set to U2's "Pride (In The Name Of Love)." I defy anyone reading this to tell me another band whose music was created more for the sole purpose of sports montages in the history of the world.
"Just remember. It's the name on the front of the jersey that matters, not the back." - K.G.
They renamed the court "Red Auerbach Court." Beyond classy and necessary.
1st quarter highlights/notes:
- Starters: Garnett, Allen, Pierce, Kendrick, and Double R.
- Wizards: Arenas, Butler, Haywood, Jamison, and Stevenson.
- Posey is serving his one game suspension for his reckless driving charge. My guess is he tried to hit The Big Ridiculous Comment sometime before he came to Beantown. I have nothing against this whatsoever.
- Perks has really readable moves inside tonight, which is not something you want to see with your starting center. Haywood blocked him slightly harder than usual.
- Paul went coast-to-coast, even pulling out a behind the back Brooks on Butler, and finished at the other end. He looks re-energized and happy, and rightfully so.
- Scalabrine and Tony Allen come in earlier than expected. Tony is one of the better lesser-known defensive players in the league, but with the knee brace and still recovering, putting him on Gilbert seems ridiculous.
- Celts go on a 9-2 run to finish out the quarter, 7 of which come from Ray Allen.
- 21-18, Celtics.
2nd quarter highlights/notes:
- Boston starts with Paul, Scalabrine, Tony, Eddie House, and Scot Pollard.
Scot Pollard, you are a quality back-up Center, but for the love of all that is good in the world, Vo-Tech kids were laughing at your entire head last year. Stick with the Johnny Damon rip-off you're sporting now.
- Arenas is getting a lot of backdoor passes on Tony. He loves the backdoor. (Avoiding joke.)
- Paul Pierce is killing your life right now. He has 12 (5-7) after a 3 pointer.
- They bring up the 18-game losing streak last year. Most awful time of sports in my life.
- Arenas with his third air ball of the night. 41-26, Celtics. You're not winning, are you?
- Jeff Van Gundy is slowly becoming my favorite color commentator: "What's a blog? Isn't he supposed to be out practicing or something? I don't understand players these days."
They end up finishing the half up with a 58-36 lead over the Wiz. Paul has 19, and Washington has 11 turnovers and has gone 0 for 10 from beyond the arc. That's a joke.
It would be ridiculous to go over the entire 2nd half because it only got better and more unbelieveably good. The bench (sans Gabe and Brandon Wallace) gets playing time, including Big Baby and Leon Powe, mass scoring continues, and the Gilbert guarantee goes unanswered. Boston gets the win 103-83. Opening night win for the C's.
Final rundown:
- Paul: 28 pts, 4 assts.
- Garnett: 22 pts, 20 rebs. Opening-night double double.
- Ray: 17 pts.
- Double R: 15 pts. That is quality for someone catching as much slack as he is right now.
- 18 for 27 from the line. Not bad, but not great, either.
- I really hope that the second line-up gets the opportunity to play more often. The C's are being described as having the worst 4 through 12 in the entire league, and I am looking to see them prove the critics wrong.
- Defense: bigger than Shaq's bed. Our biggest problem from last year is suddenly our most talked-about strength of the night by everyone.
Next game: today at 2:30 vs Toronto. This game is slightly large in importance. The Raptors are the tops in the division and are the returning power from last year. Statement game.
Atlantic Division as of 11/4 morning:
- Toronto (2-0)
- Boston (1-0)
- New Jersey (2-1)
- Philadelphia (1-2; the Bulls should be embarassed.)
- New York (0-1)
Limited review next time. Let's go, Celts.
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