The Boston Celtics announced today that they had paired their training camp roster down to 15 players when they waived forward Darius Miles.

“Darius was a model citizen during his time here in Boston. He showed that he still has a lot of basketball left in him,” said Celtics Executive Director of Basketball Operations/General Manger Danny Ainge.

Miles was facing a 10 game suspension at the start of the season for failing a drug test at an unknown time. Miles will still have to serve his suspension if he signs with another NBA club.

He was also coming off of microfracture surgery on his knee. Plus he was the only member of the Celtics without a guaranteed contract.

He played in 6 preseason games for the Green and average 1.8 points and 1.3 rebounds.

The 17 time and defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics and Comcast SportsNet New England released their television schedule for the 2008-09 season. For all CSN/New England games it starts half hour prior to tip-off with the pre-game show, followed by the game action and a half hour post-game wrap up.

For the 28th season CSN/New England will once again have Mike Gorman calling the play-by-play and he will be joined for all Celtics home games by the legendary Tommy Heinsohn. For the Celtics road games former UConn standout and NBA player Donny Marshall will be along side Gorman providing the analysis. Greg Dickerson will provide sideline reports for all Celtics games, home and away.  In all CSN/New England will carry 78 Celtics games, 38 at the TD BankNorth Garden and 40 on the road.  All games will be available in HD.

Gary Tanguay will once again be the studio host for the pre and post game shows and he will be joined by Marshall for home games and Heinsohn for road games.

Heinsohn who is entering his 28^th season broadcasting Celtics basketball after a successful career as a Celtics player and coach has decided because of family health issues to not travel for the away games.

I’m not sure what y’all are doing this afternoon but if you’re in the Hartford, CT area between 12:30-2:30 PM, why not stop over at the State Capitol Building to check out the Boston Celtics World Championship Trophy.

Former UConn Husky Ray Allen, Rajon Rando and Tony Allen will be on hand along with some executives from the Celtics will be there along with the trophy. The viewing will take place in in the first floor rotunda of the State Capitol Building , located at 210 Capitol Avenue in Hartford, CT.

“Connecticut is home to some of the most passionate and knowledgeable basketball fans in the entire country and anytime we have the opportunity to show our appreciation to one of our favorite teams we will,” Governor Jodi Rell said in a press release. “September 18 will be Boston Celtics Day in Connecticut, not only to congratulate the team, but to recognize the thousands of Celtics fans across the state who want to celebrate with the team, get an up close look at a piece of NBA history and join other fans in generating excitement as the Celtics prepare to defend their title.”

And if you happen to go and want to send us some pictures, we’d be more than happy to post them up here with full credit going to you.

Two big defensive plays and one put back in the last 23.2 seconds gave the Boston Celtics an 87-86 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves at the sold out TD BankNorth Garden on Friday night.

With the T-Wolves leading 86-85 Minnesota rookie Corey Brewer couldn’t inbound the ball and got called for a five-second violation turning the ball over. Celtics center Kendrick Perkins than tapped in a put back of a missed Ray Allen shot and the Green had the lead with 16.6 seconds remaining.

When Minnesota inbounded the ball after a timeout Rajon Rondo and Perkins double teamed Al Jefferson in front of the Minnesota bench nearly trapping him, Jefferson then air mailed a pass to Sebastian Telfair who had to leap to knock the ball down but ended up getting picked by Kevin Garnett who passed to Rondo as the time expired on the game clock sealing a win for Boston.

The Celtics were led by Perkins who had 21 points, Paul Pierce had 19 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, Ray Allen had 12 points and Garnett playing against his former team for the first time had 10 points and 19 boards as the Green improved to 34-7.

The Timberwolves, who dropped to 7-35, were led by Telfair who had 18 points and 6 assists, Jefferson who had 15 points and 5 boards, Ryan Gomes who had 13 points and Rashad McCants who had 12 points and 7 rebounds.

Minnesota sports five former Celtics on their roster, four or which came in the Garnett deal. Returning to Garden for the first time as visitors were Telfair, Jefferson, Gomes and Gerald Green. Antoine Walker also now makes his home in the land of 10,000 lakes.

Boston returns to action Sunday when they play the Magic in Orlando at 1 p.m.

Eddie House and Ray Allen eached missed shots on the Boston Celtics final possession as the Celtics dropped a 114-112 decision to the Toronto Raptors at the sold out TD BankNorth Garden on Wednesday night.

Jose Calderon hit an old fashioned three point play with 13 seconds left to give the Raptors a late 114-112 lead and they made it stand up with a little help as House missed a three and Allen couldn’t put back the rebound at the horn as the Celtics dropped to 33-7 on the season and it was the Green’s first loss in the division all year.

The Celtics were led by Kevin Garnett who had 26 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Boston had four other players in double figures as Ray Allen had 19 points 6 boards and 4 assists, Paul Pierce had 19 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists, Tony Allen had 15 points and Rajon Rondo chipped in with 14 points.

The Raptors tore it up from beyond the arc hitting on 71% of their 3’s and they were perfect at the line going 19 of 19. Toronto was led by Calderon who had 24 points and 13 assists, Chris Bosh had 23 points and 7 rebounds, Anthony Parker had 23 points, the magician Andre Bargnani had 20 points, 7 boards and 7 assists and Carlos Delfino had 15 points, all on 3’s for the visitors.

The Celtics get back on the floor Friday night when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves (aka Boston Celtics West) at the Garden at 7:30 PM.

Despite the ejection of Paul Pierce in the third quarter, the Boston Celtics easily dispatched of the New York Knicks 109-93 in a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day matinée special at Madison Square Garden on Monday afternoon. This was the third straight win for the C’s after losing two in-a-row.

Pierce, who scored 10 points, was ejected late in the third quarter when he and Quentin Richardson began jawing each with each other. Both were assessed double-technicals and ejected from the game. At that point, the Celtics were up 17 points. They eventually went up by 19 points but the Pierce ejection left them distracted as the Knicks cut the lead to 7 in the fourth quarter.

Kevin Garnett made sure the Knicks would get no closer as he led the charge for the Celtics as they extended their lead in the fourth quarter.

The last two times these teams faced off, the Celtics embarrassed the Knicks 104-59 on TNT in front of national television audience.

Kendrick Perkins led the Green with a career-high 24 points, 22 of those came in the first half. KG had a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds and had 7 assists as well. Ray Allen chipped in with 17 points and Rajon Rando returned to the starting lineup with 14 points. Rando had missed the previous two games with a lower back injury.

Zach Randolph paced the Knicks with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Jamal Crawford added 22 points while Eddy Curry had 19 points, including 13 from the charity stripe. Nate Robinson came off the bench and gave the Knicks 15 points as well in a losing effort.

Four members of the NFC Champion New York Giants, Plaxico Burress, Steve Smith, R.W. McQuarters and Aaron Ross were on hand to watch the Boston-NY rivalry. They will face off in another Boston-NY rivalry on February 3rd when they will face the AFC Champion New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

The win for the Celtics was their 33rd of the season and their 33-6 record is tops in the NBA. The Celtics return home on Wednesday night to the friendly confines of the T.D. BankNorth Garden to take on the Toronto Raptors. KG’s former team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, comes to Beantown on Friday night.

The Boston Celtics halted their first two-game losing streak of the season as they cooled off the red hot Portland Trail Blazers 100-90 Wednesday night at the TD BankNorth Garden.

Celtics guard Ray Allen got back into a groove with his best game in a while as he dropped 35 points on Portland. The Celtics also got 26 points and 7 boards from Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce added 12 points and 8 rebounds and Eddie House, who started for an injured Rajon Rondo was the fourth Green teamer in double figures with 10 points as Boston improved to 31-6.

The Trailer Blazers, who sport the NBA’s youngest team, came in red hot with just one loss in their last 14 games. They were led by Brandon Roy’s 22 points, Jarrett Jack and Travis Outlaw each had 17 points and LaMarcus Aldridge chipped in 16 points as Portland dropped to 23-15.

Boston’s Leon Poe missed tonight’s game as his girlfriend, Lloren Cook gave birth to a baby boy earlier today.

The Celtics host the 76ers on Friday at the Garden.

The Boston Celtics got back to their winning ways on the road tonight with a 86-77 win over the poor-shooting New Jersey Nets in front of 19,990 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ Friday night.

The Green were led by the “Three Amigo’s” as Kevin Garnett had a double double with 20 points and 11 rebounds, Paul Pierce had 18 points and Ray Allen had 16 in the teams 30th win against 4 losses. The 30-4 record matches the 1959-60 Boston Celtics championship team for the best start in franchise history.

It wasn’t all good news for the Celtics as point guard Rajon Rondo left the game in the 3rd quarter with a back injury after being run out of bounds under the basket. His status is unknown for Boston’s game tomorrow night in Washington against the Wizards.

The Nets (18-18) got 17 points from Richard Jefferson, 16 from Vince Carter, 14 points and 16 rebounds from UConn product Josh Boone and Jason Kidd just missed a triple double with 11 points, 13 boards and 9 assists.

The free throws really killed New Jersey tonight they were pitiful as they were 9 of 24 from the line. They also struggled from the field in the fourth quarter as they made only 3 of 19 shots as they only managed 9 points in the final stanza.

The Celtics have not lost a division game this season.

Glenn “Big Baby” Davis came up large scoring 16 points in the fourth quarter alone on 6 for 6 from the field and 4 of 5 from the line as he took over the final two and half minutes as the Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons 92-85 Saturday night in the Palace at Auburn Hills in Detroit.

Davis, who had 20 points in all, got 7 of those 16 points in the final two minutes as he helped Boston end Detroit’s 11-game win streak while Boston won it’s 9th in a row since a home loss to these very Pistons. Davis was one of four Celtics in double figures as Paul Pierce had 19 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists, Kevin Garnett put up 15 and Tony Allen had 10.

Detroit was led by former UConn star Richard Hamilton who had 18 points and 8 assists, Chauncey Billups had 17 points and 8 assists and Rasheed Wallace chipped in 16 points and 8 rebounds.

For the first time since 1981, two NBA teams entered a game on January 5 with a combined 54 wins. They were also the first two teams since 2000, to face each other with each riding at least an eight-game winning streak.

The Celtics improved to 29-3 and are off until Wednesday when they host the Charlotte Bobcats.

The Boston Celtics returned home after a successful 4-game sweep of their western road trip and held off the Houston Rockets 97-93 to win their 7^th consecutive game in front of 16,894 at the TD BankNorth Garden.

The Celtics who early on led by 20 points needed a defensive stop, some free throw shooting and some heads up passing in the final minute or so to seal the win over Houston (15-17).

The Green who are now 27-3, that’s right Celtics fans they are 27 and 3, were led by the usual suspects. Kevin Garnett had 26 points, 9 boards and 3 blocks, Paul Pierce put up 19 points, 6 boards and 7 assists, and Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo each pumped in 13 points with Rondo, who returned after missing Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury, adding 9 assists.

The Rockets were paced by Bonzi Wells who had 25 points and 9 rebounds off the bench, Yao Ming who had 19 points and 13 boards and Rafer Alston added 18 points.

If you haven’t watched this team on TV yet you really need to when you get a chance. They are a lot of fun to watch and to give you an idea how long it’s been since I’ve said that I’d go with about 20 years. In fact the NBA and the Celtics haven’t been relevant for me in about 12 or 15 years. I came back this year after they traded for my all-time favorite player in Ray Allen and superstar Kevin Garnett. A combination of having been away from the NBA and the Celtics for so long plus the fact he played for Minnesota I never really knew how good Garnett is. If you still don’t know you owe it to yourself to catch a game. They are that good.

Your next chance is Friday night when the Celtics host Rudy Gay and the Memphis Grizzlies at the TD BankNorth Garden, game time is 7:30.