Celtics-Warriors Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
Posted Mar 14 2012 2:14AM

Rajon Rondo will to wait until later in this road trip for the Boston Celtics to face Monta Ellis.

The Golden State Warriors will play their first home game since trading away Ellis when they meet Rondo and the Celtics on Wednesday night.

Golden State (18-21) made a major move Tuesday by trading Ellis, forward Ekpe Udoh and center Kwame Brown to Milwaukee for center Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson, who will eventually begin his second stint with the club.

"It was emotionally draining for us," coach Mark Jackson said. "These were three guys we were attached to. It's a business and we talked about it. It's hard to see guys in this business go other places. This hurts."

The Warriors put aside the surprising five-player trade Tuesday night to cruise to their third straight win, 115-89 at Sacramento. Six Golden State players scored in double figures, as David Lee, Nate Robinson and Brandon Rush all had 17.

Ellis averaged team highs of 21.9 points and 6.0 assists for Golden State this season.

"Monta was our leading scorer, the heart and soul of our team," Lee said. "It was tough to see him go. This is business and there is no way to sugar coat this. That's the way it goes down in this league."

Ellis has been a handful for Rondo and the Celtics (22-19) in the past, averaging 27.4 points in five career starts against them.

Boston won't get a look at Ellis until March 22 in Milwaukee on its season-high eight-game trip. Rondo had success against another high-scoring guard Monday when he helped limit Chris Paul to 14 points and 3-of-12 shooting in a 94-85 win over the Clippers.

The hard-fought victory featured two technicals for each team as the Celtics closed the game on a 20-7 run to salvage a split of two games in Los Angeles after Sunday's loss to the Lakers.

"Once we settled into this game, we were more physical and pushed back, made it uncomfortable for them," forward Paul Pierce said. "We have to do it on a more consistent basis. We have to come out and throw the first punch. ... You could feel it in the atmosphere. It was a chippy game from the start."

Pierce scored 25 points, Kevin Garnett added 21 and Ray Allen had 15 before he hurt his ankle late in the contest. Allen appeared to be okay after the game.

"I was running and I hit a wet spot and I slipped and my ankle turned over," Allen told the Celtics' official Twitter account.

The Celtics ended a six-game road losing streak to the Warriors with a season-high 35 assists - 15 by Rondo - in a 115-93 rout Feb. 22, 2011. Garnett and Pierce combined for 47 points in that contest and Rondo had 19.

Golden State is unsure when Stephen Curry will play again after he did not suit up Tuesday. His bothersome right ankle injury continues to be a problem, and he played 10 scoreless minutes Sunday against the Clippers before leaving the game for good with ankle problems.

"I'm fed up with it. I'm not able to produce," Curry said. "I have to let it heal. What that means I don't know yet."

Garnett leads Celtics past Warriors 105-104

By JOSH DUBOW
Posted Mar 15 2012 2:11AM

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) After a lackluster start to the lockout-shortened season, the Boston Celtics are finally figuring out how to win on nights they are far from their best.

Kevin Garnett scored 12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, including a tiebreaking jumper with 5.1 seconds left that led the Celtics to a 105-103 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.

"It was not a perfect game. Some nights we make it look difficult, some nights we make it look easy," Garnett said. "I said in the second half the team that actually played defense was going to have a chance to win the game or at least open it up. I thought in the second half we had a better defensive presence. We started getting stops."

Brandon Bass added a season-high 22 points, Paul Pierce and Mickael Pietrus each chipped in 15 and Rajon Rondo dished out 14 assists for the Celtics, who have won eight out of 10 following a five-game losing streak.

This win came despite 18 turnovers and a 52.6 percent shooting night for the Warriors. But the Celtics came up with just enough plays down the stretch for the win.

"It's good for the team, it's good for our confidence," forward Paul Pierce said. "It shows we can win when we don't play well. We played defense when it mattered. That's what was most important."

Rookie Klay Thompson led the Warriors with a season-high 26 points, David Lee added 22 and Nate Robinson had 20 points and 11 assists. But it wasn't enough as Golden State had its three-game winning streak snapped.

Bass made two free throws and a dunk to put the Celtics up 103-97 with 1:58 to play, but the short-handed Warriors wouldn't go down easily. Two free throws by Lee and a basket by Robinson after Bass' turnover cut the deficit to two points.

Then, after Pierce missed a jumper with 38 seconds left, Robinson used a nifty hesitation move to get down the lane for a tying layup with 30 seconds to play.

But Garnett answered with a long jumper off a pass from Pierce in the pick-and-roll to help the Celtics improve to 2-1 on their eight-game road trip.

"Simple play. Kept it very simple," Garnett said. "Paul had the one-on-one, they cut it off, he came to me and I hit it."

Robinson missed a 3-point attempt in the closing seconds as the Warriors went for the win because they were short-handed a day after dealing Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown to Milwaukee for Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson.

"Going for all the marbles," coach Mark Jackson said. "I thought it'd be asking a heck of a lot to try to go into overtime with all the minutes that the guys have played. We were rolling the dice."

Bogut and Jackson aren't scheduled to join the team until Thursday. Bogut is out with a broken left ankle and might not play again this season.

Point guard Stephen Curry is also out with a nagging sprained right ankle and will be held out until it is 100 percent healed. Curry, who turned 24 Wednesday, will see doctors Thursday.

"I could not be more satisfied with the energy, the effort, the commitment from my guys," Jackson said. "Now, we're not jumping up and down, but we certainly are not discouraged by what took place tonight. This is the type of performance to build on."

Golden State managed to beat Sacramento 115-89 on Tuesday night in their most lopsided win of the season despite missing so many key players. The Warriors got off to another strong start against the Celtics.

They shot 56 percent in the first half and got 46 points from the trip of Thompson (17), Dorell Wright (15) and Lee (14) to take a 60-55 lead at the half on Lee's putback with 4.6 seconds left.

"We've just got to be that much more unselfish," Thompson said. "We did that well tonight, and we've just got to play that much harder on the defensive end. We can't give up easy buckets, because we don't have Monta there to bail us out and score 40 a game."

Notes: Celtics F Chris Wilcox will undergo surgery for an enlarged aorta March 29 and will miss the rest of the season, dealing another blow to Boston's frontcourt depth. ... Lee needed six stitches above his right eye in the first half, but was able to finish the game. ... Warriors C Andris Biedrins missed two free throws in the second quarter and is 1 for 9 from the line this season.

Notebook: Celtics 105, Warriors 103

Posted Thursday March 15, 2012 2:13AM

By Geoff Lepper, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Kevin Garnett scored 24 points, including a go-ahead jumper with 6.6 seconds remaining that proved the difference as the Boston Celtics beat the Golden State Warriors 105-103 Wednesday. Garnett knocked down an open 20-footer from the left side after Paul Pierce drew two Warriors to him and kicked the ball out to the perimeter, giving the Celtics their eighth win in the last 10 games.

Brandon Bass had a season-high 22 points for Boston, including six in the final 3:21, and added a team-high nine rebounds.

Warriors rookie guard Klay Thompson put up a career-high 26 points to lead all scorers, but Golden State's winning streak was stopped at three straight.

Nate Robinson, filling in for injured point guard Stephen Curry, had 20 points, 11 assists and five rebounds, but missed on a 3-pointer with 3.3 seconds left as Golden State went for the victory. David Lee contributed 22 points and eight boards.

QUOTABLE: "Simple play. Kept it very simple. Paul had the one-on-one, they cut it off, he came to me and I hit it. We call it, 'Madison Square Garden.'"
-- Kevin Garnett, on his game-winning shot

THE STAT: Boston has been one of the league's worst rebounding teams this year, but the Celtics outboarded the Warriors 37-33, including 10 on the offensive end, an area of particular weakness. Rookie Greg Stiemsma collected five offensive rebounds to help Boston outscore Golden State 16-10 in terms of second-chance points.

TURNING POINT: Having dealt Monta Ellis -- the NBA's ninth-leading scorer at 21.9 points per game -- to Milwaukee on Tuesday, the Warriors knew they would have to win through collective defensive effort. But the Celtics shredded them in the fourth quarter, going 10-for-15 in the period. Garnett was 5-for-5 from the floor in the fourth, and had 12 points in the fourth.

QUOTABLE II: "Kevin was Kevin. He's been unbelievable this run. Since he's been at the 5, he's been absolutely sensational for us."
-- Celtics coach Doc Rivers

HOT: Former Warriors swingman Mickael Pietrus came out swinging against his original NBA team, going 5-for-6 on 3-pointers and dishing out three assists.

QUOTABLE III: "I thought our bench won the game for us. Pietrus, clearly we just need to tell him we're playing Golden State every night."
-- Doc Rivers

NOT: The Warriors shot 52.6 percent from the floor for the night as a whole, but they were done in by their 2-for-13 performance behind the 3-point arc in the second half.

ROOKIE WATCH: With Ellis gone, Thompson has inherited the shooting guard spot, and looks in no hurry to let it go. Coming off a 6-for-19 performance Tuesday in Sacramento, Thompson was a force all over the floor Wednesday, although his four assists were offset by four turnovers.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Warriors general manager Larry Riley said before the game that Curry wouldn't play again until his oft-injured right ankle is "100 percent." That could mean big minutes for Robinson, who went 10-for-14 Wednesday on 2-point shots, consistently slicing through a porous Boston defense en route to his first game with at least 20 points and 10 assists since Feb. 11, 2009.

BAD MOVE: The Warriors had 3-point shooters such as Thompson (44.3 percent) and Brandon Rush (47.1 percent) spreading the floor on their final possession, as coach Mark Jackson felt his short-handed club didn't have the energy for overtime after playing four times in five nights. But Robinson -- who had missed his each of previous four 3-pointers on the night -- took the inbounds pass and hoisted away, pulling his trey well short.

NOTABLE: Lee left the game with 9:31 remaining in the second quarter after Stiemsma opened a large gash over Lee's right eyebrow. Lee hit both free throws before adjourning to the locker room. He received six stitches to close the cut, and returned with 2:46 left in the period. . . . Stiemsma set a career high with eight rebounds. . . . This is only the Celtics' second win in their last eight visits to Oracle Arena.

UP NEXT: For the Warriors, Friday vs. Milwaukee, Saturday @ Utah, Monday vs. Minnesota. For the Celtics, Friday @ Sacramento, Saturday @ Denver, Monday @ Atlanta.

• Celtics: O'Neal, Wilcox
• Warriors: Bogut, Jackson

• Celtics: Pierce
• Warriors: --

• Lead Changes: 13
• Times Tied: 14

• Arena: ORACLE Arena, Oakland, CA
• Officials: #19 James Capers, #6 Tony Brown, #66 Haywoode Workman
• Attendance: 19596
• Duration: 2:12