The Celtics signed Stephon Marbury to provide some firepower off the bench, but on Sunday they needed so much more. With Rajon Rondo joining Kevin Garnett in street clothes thanks to a sprained right ankle suffered in Friday's win over the Cavs, Marbury started his first game of the year ... with disastrous results.
Doc Rivers admitted before Sunday's game that Marbury "only knows about three plays," and it showed: he finished with just four points and zero assists in 20 minutes. The team as a whole finished with just 10 assists, which helps put the fact they shot just 39.5 percent for the day in context.
The Celtics were slow out the gate, scoring just 15 points in the first and 33 for the half -- their lowest-scoring first quarter and first half of the season -- before entering halftime down by 18. The Celtics outscored the Magic in the second half and cut the deficit to three with less than a minute and a half left, but the Magic put the game on ice once it turned into a free-throw contest.
The Celtics learned before the game that Glen Davis would not be suspended after the NBA rescinded a flagrant-2 assessed in Friday's game, but in hindsight they probably regret the decision: Davis started in place of Garnett on Sunday but left midway through the third quarter with a sprained ankle. He didn't return, and it's not clear how much time he'll miss.
It's not clear when Rondo will return, either, but the Celtics are obviously in a tough spot without him. (Update: Rondo could miss 7-10 days.) As for Garnett, Rivers confirmed before the game that he'll miss at least one more week. The Celtics play in Miami on Wednesday and at home against Memphis on Friday, but it's at least possible that Garnett will return for Sunday's game in Milwaukee.
The Magic relied on well-rounded attack: four starters cracked double-digits, led by Dwight Howard, who scored 18 with 15 boards and five blocks. Orlando also got a lot of production out of their bench: three players had a plus/minus of at least +10, and the bench as a whole combined for 25 points.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-08-2009 @ 5:48PM
frank said...
Boston will NOT peat this year
even "IF" they go to the finals
which is very unlikely;
Tom T. is creating a monster in his own
mind to stop the demise of his own creation
which was good as long as is lasted.
Ce'fini for what it was called a great "D"
but in translation it was a bunch of thugs
intimidating their rivals; NO more, most of
the decent teams in the NBA finally got their
number and they are firing back , the same.
Ainge should looking (2010) for another Tom T.plus
another bunch of thugs because his time
is becoming past tense and one thing
is for sure Boston wil not peat this
year, bank on it and I "ll bet the
last cent I own to proved it.
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3-08-2009 @ 7:21PM
Mr.G said...
If the league rescinded Big Baby's flagrant 2 from Friday night,I would like to know exactly what constitutes a flagrant 2 foul in the first place.Do you need some sort of a weapon, or do you have to stomp the guy after you've horse collared him and threw him to the floor?
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3-08-2009 @ 8:04PM
cantstopdrinkin said...
Ha frank and how do you think they wont at least reach the Finals? Im not a celtics fan whatsoever and actually am i big Lebron fan (although my team is the Hornets and my favorite player to watch is CP3) so of course would love the Cavs to beat the them out in the playoffs but i dunno if thats gonna happen. The Celtics just beat the Cavs WITHOUT KG so your comment about them not even going to the Finals makes NO SENSE. I understand the statement they wont repeat because someone out of the West can surely beat them in the Finals but who in the East is gonna stop them from makin it there? The Cavs are the best bet and like i just said they couldnt even beat them without KG. Give some facts about who you think will beat them and other reasons why you said what you did to build some credability in your statement . The only way they dont make the Finals for sure is if they are still injury plagued in the playoffs , but the same can be said for any contender....
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3-08-2009 @ 10:17PM
Silver Wolf said...
cantstopdrinkin -- the home team has won the last 15 games between the Cavs and Boston. Cleveland has a 2 game lead in home court advantage and with the last game between them in Cleveland, it looks like Cavs will be the #1 seed.
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3-09-2009 @ 12:38AM
yamobthere07 said...
Magic will win East this year ,even without Jameer Nelson. With him they win it all. Watch and remember.
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3-09-2009 @ 3:43AM
cantstopdrinkin said...
Yes silver wolf i know that. And i definetly see where your coming from because I too think that whoever has homecourt will have a definate advantage but if any team could break that trend it would be the Celtics. You just cant count out a team that has 3 superstars. I personally dont really like them because they kinda sold out to get together and its almsot not even fair. You gotta think if they win this year and maybe next Lebron might see thats a sure way to win some rings and talk Bosh into taking less along with him and be able to bring in a third superstar or btoh sign on a team that already has one but lower their pay just enough to all fit. I know it might sound crazy but it really might happen.
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3-09-2009 @ 9:30AM
obamaizadope said...
marbury is a disaster, cut him before he really does some damage..
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3-09-2009 @ 3:13PM
caninescreed said...
Well, the Celtics looked awful for most of that game. Don't know how they even managed to get within 3 points. They are really getting short on players. I guess the good thing is that the new guys and young players will get the playing time they need and hopefully they will be fitting in nicely by playoff time. I really don't see how they can pull out a #1 seed. It is too close and they will be scrapping for every win until players start coming back. I really think Doc should start resting poor Peirce. He is playing too many minutes too often and he looked tired at the end of that game. I mean loss of focus tired. Besides, after watching the Cavs/Celtics game on Friday, who needs homecourt advantage? Can officiating be any more one-sided? If the Celtics can overcome the officials doing everything they could to keep the Cavs in that game, then they can win in Cleveland. Can't get worse than that game. Even the live blog on the Cleveland website had Cavs fans commenting that "the refs are helping us" Yup, they were right about that one.
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3-10-2009 @ 2:17AM
NachoD said...
Celtics suck. Even at full strength they were no match for the Lakers in both regular season games this year. It's nice to see Kevin Garnett getting flustered by Josh Powell instead of Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol or Lamar Odom.
Looks like the Starbury experiment is going to be a huge failure. You'd think he would have been studying the Celtics playbook while he was off all that time instead of hanging out at Staples Center watching real basketball while trying to look important on his cell phone.
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3-09-2009 @ 7:30PM
Nora said...
Excuse me? Lakers beat Celtics by how many at the Garden with KG out in the deciding minutes on a questionable to say the least call. Look at the score and the box score talk about an embellishment. When it counted last year the Celtics beat the Lakers by 39 in a deciding game that is what I call being over matched, not a 1 point win in the regular season. Can the Lakers beat the Celtics in the playoffs? That is yet to be seen.
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