With Kevin Garnett in foul trouble and sitting on the bench at the TD BankNorth Garden for large periods of time the Boston Celtics knew they had to lean on others if they were to beat the New Jersey Nets for their 7^th win of the year.

And a lot of guys chipped in as the Celtics overcame some first half sluggishness and beat the Nets 91-69 to remain the only unbeaten team in the NBA. Garnett only played 30 minutes but produced a team high 16 points, captain Paul Pierce contributed 15 points, Ray Allen had 14, Rajon Rondo and Tony Allen had 13 a piece and Kendrick Perkins put up 10 as a half dozen Celtics were in double figures. It was the teams second win over New Jersey since Saturday night and was the second time this week the Green won both ends of a back-to-back.

The 7-0 start is the franchises best in 35 years. The best start ever by a Boston team was in 1957-58 when they started 14-0 behind some guys named Russell and Cousy.

The Celtics really looked off their game in the first half trailing at times by 7 points before they started to find their mojo near the half and went to the locker room with a 36-34 lead. Garnett equated it to a bar fight after the game.

Garnett and Perkins led Boston with 8 boards each while Ray Allen had 6 assists and 4 steals.

The Nets were paced by Richard Jefferson who had 21 points, Jason Kidd put in 19 points, 7 assists and 9 rebounds and Sean Williams, a rookie from Boston College, had 14 points in his return to the Hub.

The Celtics were without Eddie House and the Nets played without Vince Carter. Both players have ankle injuries.

The Celtics host Dwayne Wade, Shaq and the Heat Friday night at the TD BankNorth Garden.

Freshman sensation Maya Moore led three Huskies in double figures with 31 points as the UConn women easily defeated the Holy Cross Crusaders 91-36 at Gampel Pavilion.

Moore scored 22 of her 31 points in the 1st half while adding 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks. She was 14 of 16 from the floor. The remarkable part about her stats is that her 31 points came in just 19 minutes of action. Tina Charles had 13 points while Renee Montgomery rounded out the Huskies in double figures with 11 points. She also added a game-high 8 assists. Laura Aloisi was the only Holy Cross player in double figures with 10 points. Bethany O’Dell chipped in with 7 points for the Crusaders.

This was another game that was pretty much over when the ball went up into the air. The Huskies started the game off with a 11-2 run that ended on a Moore layup. After Aloisi hit a 3-pointer for the Crusaders, Moore scored the next 8 points in the game to push the lead up to 19-5. After that, the Huskies continued to pull away as they took a 47-20 lead into the locker room at the half.

More of the same for the Huskies in the second half. After scoring the last four points of the first half, the Huskies started out the second half with seven straight points to increase their lead to 34 points. Moore scored her 30th and 31st points of the night at the 11:48 mark and that was the last of her playing time as head coach Geno Auriemma took her out of the game, 3 points shy of Charles freshman scoring record of 34 points in a game. After Moore left the game, the Huskies would only put up 12 more points but at this point it didn’t matter as all of the bench came in to see some playing time.

Moore is the real deal and tonight she showed it once again. A lot of her points came on the fast break as she simply out ran the Holy Cross players down the floor and her teammates rewarded her for that. There was one play in the second half where Moore got burned on defense only to recover to block the shot. Folks, it’s going to be a fun four years but forgot the future, the present is now.

UConn next returns to action next Thursday on Thanksgiving evening as they take on #7 Stanford in the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tipoff will be 8:30 PM and you can catch all the action on CPTV.

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Eric Wedge of the Cleveland Indians and Bob Melvin of the Arizona Diamondbacks were named AL & NL Manager of the Year respectively by the BBWAA.

Wedge helped the Tribe to a 96-66 record, tying them with the Red Sox for the best in MLB, along with taking first place in the AL Central. Melvin led the D’backs to a NL-leading 90 wins and first place in the NL West.

Wedge finished with 116 points, easily outdistancing the Angels’ Mike Scioscia who had 62 points. Former Yankees skipper Joe Torre finished a close 3rd with 61 points and the Red Sox skipper Terry Francona finished 4th with 13 points.

Melvin led the way with 119 points while Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel finished 2nd with 76 points. National League champion Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle finished 3rd with 58 points. Cubs leader Lou Pinella was 4th with 25 points. Bud Black of the Giants and Manny Acta of the Nationals got 4 points and Ned Yost of the Brewers got two points.

Well deserved honors to both of them.

The NFL in its infinite wisdom has decided to reinstate Miami Dolphins running back Ricky “Panama Red” Williams after serving an 18 month suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. 

Evidently Rasta Ricky met with Raj, they rolled a few, passed the pipe and drank the bong water then decided it’d be really cool if Ricky came back.

According to his agent Williams is flying to South Florida to meet with the Dolphins.  It is reported that Williams, who played last season in the Canadian Football League where supposedly the ganja is better, is in shape and ready to play for the Dolphins or any other team that will have him.  He doesn’t care where he plays as long as the pot pipeline is good. 

In other news the Colts Dwight Freeney, who played at Bloomfield HS in Bloomfield CT, was placed on the IR after injuring his foot last Sunday in San Diego.  Freeney is done for the season. 

Three University of Montana football players were arrested on charges felony burglary and robbery for their role in a break-in at house near the school. Greg Coleman, Mike Shelton and Jeremy Pate were placed in handcuffs after they got back from their game against Idaho State. They along with two others were being held on a $200,000 bond. They went before the judge on Monday and have been suspended from football activities. Coleman also faces a misdemeanor drug charge because a subsequent search found the maryjane in his room.

JoePa isn’t ready for retirement anytime soon. After all he is only 80-years old.

Virginia Tech’s Victor Harris had his apartment shot up early Sunday morning. Right now the police have not made any arrests. This is a scary situation for the Virginia Tech as they are still overcoming what happened back in late April when a gunmen opened fire on campus killing 32 people and injuring many.

Kansas Jayhawks fans aren’t exactly happy right now about the ticket situation for this Saturday’s big matchup against Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium. Some fans waited in line for hours only to get tickets in the second level.

“People in the back of the line were calling friends that were up near the front and just walking up to the front of the line and giving them their IDs,” said junior Zach Getz. “I waited three and a half hours, and I am in row 37 of the upper deck. I’ve never sat more than 15 rows from the field for a KU home game.”

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach was hit with the biggest fine in Big 12 history after his rant against the officials in Tech’s loss to Texas on Saturday. He was fined $10,000, which was double of any previous fine.

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Japanese fans will get to see their native sons, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima pitch live in person next season as the Boston Red Sox and Oakland A’s will open up the season in Japan at the Tokyo Dome.

The two teams will open up the regular season on March 25th and 26th. The Oakland A’s will be the home team for both games. Both teams will also play exhibition games against Japanese teams on March 23rd and 24th. They will travel back to the United States after the games and finish up with games on April 1st and 2nd in Oakland.

The announcement comes after months of negotiations between the two teams.

“Opening our regular season in Japan for the third time is another example of Major League Baseball’s commitment to continue the global growth of the game,” commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the rest of Red Sox Nation reacts to this as we will probably have to be up at 5 AM to watch the games on those days.

Well Tuesday didn’t go as planned for Red Sox Nation as Josh Beckett didn’t get the AL Cy Young. There are some out there that say Beckett got robbed, C.C. Sabathia didn’t deserve it. Well if the voting was based on the regular season and the postseason, then yes Beckett would have won it. But the voting was based on the regular season performance and obviously the voters felt that Sabathia deserved the award. I have no problems at all with the outcome of the vote. I really don’t. While I would have liked to see Beckett win, in the end he helped us win the only thing that should matter, the World Series trophy.

Curt Schilling lays out his new strength and conditioning plan in today’s first link. So while you’re waiting for the AL & NL Manager of the Year results at 2 PM, check out what Schill has to say as well as what the Boston area media is writing about on this Wednesday morning.

Road map for ‘08 laid [38 Pitches]

Nothing new on Lowell [Boston Herald]

Voters take us inside the ballot balks [Boston Globe]

Second Best [Pro Jo]

Better year for Beckett [Boston Herald]

These days, it’s a contact sport [Boston Globe]

Sox, Trophy Visit D.C. [Hartford Courant]

For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Providence Journal, and Hartford Courant websites.

The parents of Anthony P. Alvino, the driver of the car who hit Carlee Wines on January 20th of this year, were arrested on Tuesday by New York State Police. Anthony C. Alvino and Donna Alvino were arrested on the following charges: felony charge of tampering with physical evidence and misdemeanor counts of third-degree hindering prosecution, fourth-degree tampering with a witness and fifth-degree conspiracy.

The Alvino’s told the two passengers in the car with Alvino and his girlfriend, Michelle Hall, not to speak to anyone about striking Wines with the car. The mother also stated that she knew a mechanic would could fix the damage and remove any signs of an accident.

Alvino is still awaiting his sentence on January 23rd, 2008 after pleading no contest to charges of misconduct with a motor vehicle and evading responsibility.

Carlee Wines Memorial

The New England Patriots aren’t the only Boston sports team rolling over opponents in an unbeaten season. The Boston Celtics have gotten into the act as well as they improved to 6-0 by beating the Indiana Pacers in an ugly 101-86 at Conseco Fieldhouse in the front end of a back-to-back that caps with a visit to Boston tomorrow night by the New Jersey Nets.

The Green were led with double-doubles by captain Paul Pierce who had 31 points (14/14 on free throws) and 11 boards and the early season MVP candidate Kevin Garnett who added 18 points and 11 rebounds. Ray Allen also added 17 points despite an off night from the field where he went 6 for 18.

The Pacers attack was led by Danny Granger who pumped in 24 points, Jamaal Tinsley contributed 14 and Jermaine O’Neal added 10 points.

The game was tight early as the Celtics had a two point lead after the 1^st quarter but they were able to add on in the second and get to a 52-43 halftime lead. In the second half the Celtics got the lead as high as 16 but the Pacers would come back to cut it to 8 in the 4^th quarter before the Celtics built it back up for the 15 point win.

Brian Scalabrini and James Posey returned to the line up for Boston, who lost Eddie House with a sprained ankle during the game.

With the loss the Pacers drop to 3-4 under first year coach and former Boston bench leader Jim O’Brien.

Vince Carter is expected to miss the game in Boston tomorrow. Carter hurt his ankle on Saturday during the Nets loss to the Celts.

Kevin Garnett was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for last week. He averaged 23 points, 15 rebounds and 6 assists.

The Celtics lead Toronto and New Jersey by 2.5 games in the Atlantic Division and have the largest win differential in the NBA at 16.3 points.

Here is a look at the three faces of Yooooouuuuukkkkk. There is the full goatee, pornstache, and a clean shaven Youk.

Youkilis Shaves Beard For Charity [MLB.com]