CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Celtics Rally Behind Pierce to Beat the Bucks

November 26, 2006

It started out like another blowout and another lackluster performance by the Celtics. But a funny thing happened on the way to the Bucks victory... The Celtics found some heart... and some defense. The green team rallied from as many as 16 down to take control in the third quarter and never look back. It started with the Celtics finally putting out some effort on defense, which got the rest of their game going.

Apparently the league expected it to be the other way around because when I went to the NBA.com box score this morning, I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. They had the Bucks beating the Celtics 111-98 instead of the other way around. The whole box score is messed up with Pierce having 28 points instead of his 34. Very bizarre. I thought maybe I had been dreaming about the win until I went to the Yahoo box score and all was well again. The Celtics really did beat the Bucks 111-98.

Pierce led the team all the way around in the come from behind win. He scored 34 points on 9 of 15 shooting to go with 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals. His 5 turnovers came mostly in the first half. Wally chipped in with 21 points. Telfair had another solid game with 12 points and 8 assists.

Our bigs supplied defense in the center during the run and had solid games. In spite of playing in pain, Perk had 5 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks and played good defense on Bogut to help key the second half run. Gomes contributed 15 points and 8 rebounds. Al came alive in the 4th period with 10 points and 6 rebounds. Doc once again played Scal who did get 4 rebounds, but I can't help but think that his minutes would be much better used by playing Powe who is a much better player.

The win was a team effort and shows what this team is capable of when they dig in and play team and individual defense. It was our defense that keyed the rally. When we commit to playing defense, good things happen on both ends of the court. It was a much needed win on the road. It was the second of back to back games and we hadn't had success in Milwaukee since 1995 and so it was really an unexpected win.

We now off until Wednesday with time for the team to get in some practices and for Perk's foot, Wally's glute muscle and West's foot to heal. This should be a good thing, but it makes me uneasy because the last time we had off from Saturday until Wednesday we got beat by Charlotte and NY in blow outs. Hopefully this won't be the case this time as we face the Nets on Wednesday and will need to play well to beat them.

[Box Score]
[Recap]
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