The Boston Celtics hit their free throws down the stretch to hold on for an 89-84 win over the Charlotte Bobcats in front of 19,177 at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, NC. The win for the Celtics was their 8th straight and 9th in their last 10 games.

Charlotte tied the game up at 77 with a layup by Gerald Wallace. A Paul Pierce jumper and Kendrick Perkins pushed the lead to 4 points before a D.J. Augustin trey cut the lead back to 1. The Bobcats would get no closer than 1 down the stretch though as the Celtics would hit all but one of their free throws to seal the win for Doc Rivers.

Pierce paced the Celtics (16-2) with 15 points. Perkins added 15 points and 12 rebounds while former UConn Husky great Ray Allen also had 15 points. Tony Allen came off the bench for the Green to score 11 points with Kevin Garnett and Eddie House both chipping in with 10 points. Rajon Rondo only had 4 points but ended up with a game-high 9 assists.

The Bobcats (5-11) were paced by Wallace’s 23 points and 8 rebounds. In just his second game back from injury, Jason Richardson put in 22 points and had 6 rebounds while Augustin had 13 points and 5 assists. Raymond Felton had a tough night from the floor (2-of-15) but finished with 6 assists. Former UConn Husky Emeka Okafor had 9 points and 7 rebounds.

The Celtics trailed by 5 points at the end of the first quarter but outscored the Bobcats by 7 to take a  2-point lead at 45-43 at half. Boston pushed the lead to 6 points during the 3rd quarter but had to settle for a 4-point lead heading into the 4th quarter.

The Celtics return home for a Monday night matchup with the Southeast Division leading Orlando Magic and their big man Dwight Howard. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM.

In the latest issue of GQ Magazine, the Boston Celtics have been honored as one of The Athletes, Actors and Newsmakers Who Blew Our Mind in ’08.

Celtics great Jo-Jo White wrote the accompanying text for the article:

“It had been twenty-two years since we last reached that pinnacle. Twenty-two long, long years between NBA Championships … So when we got Ray Allen to pair with Paul Pierce in the off-season, you thought, Well, that’s good. He’s always been a heck of a shooter. But when we got Garnett on top of Paul and Ray? You knew something special could happen. But it had to happen because of defense. The truth of the matter is that the Celtics always won because of defense. You don’t get seventeen championships by accident. “As for beating the Lakers in the finals? That’s sweet. That’s always sweet. But really, this was for Red Auerbach … There was a beauty to it ending on our home court with Red looking down on us. And he got the last laugh. He always did.”

Others who were honored include Senator Ted Kennedy, President-elect Barack Obama and Michael Phelps among others.

On the night after Thanksgiving it appeared that the Philadelphia 76ers were still digesting their turkey dinners as they were absolutely blown out the TD Banknorth Garden by the reigning NBA Champion Boston Celtics, 102-78.

It was Ray Allen’s night as the former UConn Husky had 13 points in the third quarter including 11 in a row for the Green as he just buried three trey’s and one 2 point field goal in the matter of a five possessions.  It was also the Celtics stifling defense that led to this post holiday bashing of the boys from Philly.

Boston took a 46-28 halftime lead into the locker rooms before turning Allen free on the Sixers in the 3rd quarter as they outscored Philadelphia 27-19 in the quarter.  Doc Rivers rested the starters for most of the fourth quarter as they pulled away on the front end of yet another home/road back-to-back.

Boston (15-2), who if it’s possible is playing better than they did last season, was led by Allen who had a game high 23 points, Kevin Garnett added 16 points and Tony Allen and Leon Powe chipped in with 10 points each off the bench.

Philadelphia (7-9) was paced by Elton Brand who had 18 points and Louis Williams who had 15 points off the bench.

Game Notes:

• Fomer UConn All-America Donyell Marshall didn’t dress for the Sixers.
• The Celtics wore their third uniform tonight for the first time this season.  It’s the same one they’ve worn the last few years it’s green with mostly black trim and says “Boston” on the chest.
• The Celtics hit the road tomorrow night for a game in Charlotte at 7 p.m.

The Boston Celtics tipped off a full Thanksgiving weekend of sports by hosting the Golden State Warriors and for a while it didn’t look like this was going to be a fun start to the long holiday weekend.  But they were able to rally and regain control and take down the Warriors 119-111 at TD Banknorth Garden on Wednesday night.

After jumping out to 35-28 lead after a high scoring first quarter the Celtics built the lead to 40-30 early in the second and then the wheels came off as the Warriors went on a 28-8 run and took a 67-54 lead at the half as the Green went cold making only five shots in the quarter.  The performance or maybe lack there of drew the ire of head coach Doc Rivers who took it out on the officials and got a technical late in the half.

But the home team put it together back in the third quarter led by Rajon Rondo who made 6 of 9 shots in the quarter and was 4 for 4 at the line as the Celtics took a 86-83 lead into the final 12 minutes.  It was the final quarter where Golden State kind of fell apart as the Celtics played a solid quarter and locked up the win.

Boston (14-2) was led by Ray Allen who had 25 points, Rondo had 22 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and two steals and was definitely the player of the game for the Green.  Kevin Garnett had a double-double with 21 points and 13 points and Paul Pierce asdded 21 points as well.

Golden State (5-10) dropped it’s fourth straight game and was paced by Corey Maggette who had a game high 32 points, Stephen Jackson had 30 points and Jamal Crawford, who made his Warriors debut added 18 in the loss.

The Celtics host the 76ers Friday night at the Garden at 7:30 p.m.

Helen Heinsohn, the wife of former Boston Celtics player and coach and current broadcaster Tommy Heinsohn passed away Monday after a six year battle with brain and lung cancer.

Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com calls her one of the first ladies of the Celtics.  In his blog post he wrote:

Helen Heinsohn was one of the first ladies of the Boston Celtics.

Her presence was always felt in and around the team, including the media dining area where she would spend time with her more famous husband.

But truth be told, Helen was just as popular as she socialized before, during and after games, all the while maintaining an strong front as she battled cancer.

She is surived by Tommy, two step sons and five grandchidren.  Her funeral mass will be Wednesday in Needham for friends and family.  In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Helen’s memory to the New England Baptist Hospital C/O Development Office 125 Parker Hill Avenue, Boston, MA 02120.

The Boston Celtics are now on a roll having won their fifth straight game, 3 of them on the road and two of those road wins came on the back end of a home and away back-to-back.  Today they took care of the Toronto Raptors 118-103 in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday afternoon.

The Green took a ten point half time lead, 59-49, behind Ray Allen’s 15 first half points and expanded it to 22 points after three quarters, 95-73, with yet another string third stanza outscoring the Canadian Dinosaurs 36-24 in the quarter.  Only a final quarter against the second unit got Toronto closer than what the final score should indicate.

Boston (13-2) was led by Allen with 21 points as all five starters and two bench guys were in double figures.  Kevin Garnett, Tony Allen and Rajon Rondo all added 15 points apiece in the rout.

Toronto (6-7) was led by Chris Bosh who had 24 points, Jose Calderon, Andre Bargnani and Candace’s big brother Anthony Parker all had 14 points each in the loss.

Boston is now off until Wednesday when they host the Golden State Warriors.

It was a tale of two halves on Friday night at the Target Center.  In the first half the Boston Celtics were every sluggish, there was no emotion, they shot poorly and if it wasn’t for Minnesota being such a poor team the Green would have been run out of Minneapolis in an ugly loss.  But what ever Celtics head coach Doc Rivers said to the club at halftime lit a fire under there collective ass and they ended up cruising to a 95-78 win over the Timberwolves.

The first half was in a word, pitiful.  The Celtics had a slow start and shot somewhere around 25% for the half.  Granted they were playing a home/road back-to-back and had a long flight but the team needed a wake up call and Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo gave them one in the third quarter.  Trailing 39-36 at the half Boston blew the doors off Minnesota outscoring them 35-10 in the quarter to build a 22 point lead heading into the final stanza and cruised to an easy win.

Boston (12-2) was led by Garnett who, was playing his first game in Minnesota since he got traded, had 18 points, 4 rebounds, a steal and a block. Tony Allen had 14 points off the bench, Rondo had 13 points, 7 boards, 5 asists and 3 steals and Leon Powe snatched a double-double off the bench with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Minnesota (2-9) was paced by former Celtics Al Jefferson who had a game high 23 points and Sebastian Telfair who chipped in 13 points in the loss.

The Celtics will stay overnight in Minnesota then fly on Saturday to Toronto where they play the Raptors Sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m.

What has happened to the Detroit Pistons?  They traded away Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson and they are not the same team that’s for sure, I’m not even sure they’re a better team.  Even though they had won four of the last five coming into Thursday night’s matchup they look really disjointed and lackluster at times and it translated into a 98-80 pasting by the Boston Celtics at the TD Banknorth Garden.

After a first quarter that saw the clubs tied at 21-21 after the first 12 minutes, the Celtics pulled away in the second quarter jumping out to a 49-40 lead at the half.  The third quarter saw the Green pull away even further taking a 20 point lead, 77-57 into the final quarter.

It was an all round team effort for Boston (11-2) in the win as five players scored in double figures led by Rajon Rondo’s 18 points.  Kevin Garnett, who returned from a one game suspension, had 15 points, Tony Allen had 13, Ray Allen had 12 and Eddie House chipped in with 11 points while Kendrick Perkins had 10 rebounds.

Detroit (8-4) was led by Iverson who had 16 points, Rasheed Wallace had 13 points and Richard Hamilton added 12 in the loss for the passionless Pistons.

Boston is back at it Friday night as Kevin Garnett gets to play in Minnesota for the first time since his trade to Boston prior to last season.  When the Celtics played in Minny last year Garnett was injured and missed the game.  He was introduced to the crowd to a raucous ovation by the Timberwolves fans.  It will be intersting to see what type of reaction KG gets tomorrow night.

The Boston Celtics came into Milwaukee for a show down with the Bucks on Saturday night as a fatigued team having played 6 games in the last 8 days dating back to last week.  But even as fatigued as they were they came away with a 102-97 win in overtime over the Bucks at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

In a game that was close late, Milwaukee’s Luke Ridnour hit a runner with 1.4 seconds left in regulation to send the game to OT.  In overtime, it wasn’t very stellar play on either side of the ball as the Celtics had 4 turnovers in extra period.

Kevin Garnett also picked up his fifth and sixth fouls in the extra period fouling out the game.  This left the Celtics with Brian Scalabrine as their big man as Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis had fouled out in regulation.  Even with the lack of a true big man the Bucks couldn’t take advantage of the Celtics in the paint missing several shots in the extra period.

In overtime the game came down to free throws as Boston’s Ray Allen was 4/4 from the line in the final minute with the Bucks up 1, 97-96.  His two freebies put the Green up 98-97.  Then Milwaukee’s Richard Jefferson missed a shot and Allen was fouled as he grabbed the rebound.  He made both for a 3point lead with 10.4 to play.

Dan Gadzuric missed a shot in the paint with 5 seconds left and Paul Pierce was fouled on the rebound sending him to the line with 3.6 left.  Pierce hit both FT’s for a 102-97 lead and the game.

Boston (9-2) was led by Pierce who has 28 points and was 14 of 15 from the line, Allen had 27 points and Garnett added 15 before fouling out.

Milwaukee (5-6) put five players in double figures as Andrew Bogut had 20 points, Ridnour had 19 points and Jefferson, Ramon Sessions and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute all had 14 a piece.

Prior to the trip to Milwaukee, the Celtics sent J.R. Giddens to the D-League.  Milwaukee was without Michael Redd and Charlie Villanueva for the game and lost Charlie Bell to an injury during the game.

The Celtics are idle until Tuesday when they face the New York Knicks at the Garden.

Paul Pierce is en fuego.  Somebody call the fire department because this guy is scorching everybody.  Tonight the Boston Celtics captain had 34 points and led yet another comeback as the Green took down the previously unbeaten Atlanta Hawks 103-102 at the TD Banknorth Garden on Wednesday night. 

After yet another slow start that saw the Celtics yield 31 first quarter points to the young, upstart Hawks and fall behind by 16 points with 6 minutes left in the first half Boston decided enough was enough.  In the final six minutes of the half the C’s went on a 23-7 run to send the game to the intermission tied at 51-51.

The second half was a see-saw affair that saw the team’s pretty much trade baskets and small leads.  There were 20 lead changes in the game, most in the final two quarters as Atlanta led by no more than 3 and Boston by no more than 4 and that was with less than 2 minutes to play.

After the Hawks (6-1) came back from being down 99-95 to take a 102-101 lead the Celtics put the ball in Piece’s hands and as the clock ticked down the games final seconds Pierce hit a turning fade away jumper just inside the three point line over Al Horford to give Boston (8-1) a 103-102 lead with 0.05 left on the clock.  After an Atlanta timeout they tried to inbound the ball for a last chance attempt but some good pressure by Kevin Garnett on the inbounder resulted in a not so stellar pass that got away as the horn sounded.

In addition to Pierce who had 34 points, Kevin Garnett had a double-double with 25 points and 12 boards and Ray Allen chipped in 17 points, 15 of which came in the first half. 

Atlanta put 5 players in double figures as Joe Johnson had 28 points, Mike Bibby put up 16, Marvin Williams and Flip Murray each had 14 and Maurice Evans added 13 points in the loss.

The Celtics come back to the home court Friday night against newly acquired Chauncy Billups and the Denver Nuggets.