CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Celtics Pull Out Second Preseason Win Over Cavs

A few thoughts on the Celtics 90-86 win over the Cavs.

The starters look to be picking up right where they left off in the finals last season. They played between 19 and 23 minutes tonight. Perk returned tonight and had 5 rebounds and 4 fouls in 21 minutes of play. Rondo looked very solid with 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Tommy made a very bold statement that he feels that Rondo will be a Hall of Famer for his career.

On the whole, the bench didn't look all that good tonight. Miles still looks a bit rusty. O'Bryant showed flashes, but seemed to struggle more coming off the bench. He finished with 2 points 1 rebound, and 1 block in 17 minutes, well below his numbers as a starter.

Leon Powe cemented his place on this team with his usual hustle and 17 points, 2 rebounds and a huge block at the end of the game to preserve the win. Leon deserves to be the first big off the bench and always makes good things happen when he is on the court.

The Celtics fell behind 81-74 early in the 4th, but the reserves showed some spunk and they chipped away at the Cavs lead to go ahead 85-84 on a Leon Powe hoop.

Pruitt seems to be making a spot for himself on the team as well. His play hasn't been exceptional, but he has played solid and consistently. Tony Allen had a nice game with 6 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.

It seemed like a race among the Celtics' bigs to get the most fouls ad Perk finished with 4, Leon had 5, Big Baby had 5 and O'Bryant had 3.

Giddens, Walker, Scal, and Sam didn't play tonight. I guess Doc is trying to alternate between Walker and Miles to give them more time on the court. Giddens will probably end up in the D-League. Scal doesn't belong on the court, period. And I am not sure what is up with Sam. He has been with the team for two games now and Doc hasn't played him. Maybe he is going to be moved to the coaching staff and then Doc won't have to cut anyone.

The Celtics and Cavs both shot 44%. The Cavs out rebounded the Celtics 46-33. Both teams need to work on free throw shooting as the Celtics shot 60% from the line and the Cavs were even worse at 57.5%. The Celtics are doing better with taking care of the ball as they had 16 turnovers to 20 for the Cavs. They still have improvement to make in that area as 16 is still way too many.

[Box Score]
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