On this day in Boston Celtics history, the team has typically had St. Patrick’s Day off more often than not over the last decade, which is probably fitting given the ties of the team to Boston’s Irish-American community.
But they’ve also had three impressive wins on that day since the start of the “Big Three” era of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, two of which belong to the iterations of the Celtics with that trio on the roster. The most recent such win, in 2017 against the Brooklyn Nets, saw a young Celtics roster emerging from a rebuild secure a tight game with a huge game from forward Jae Crowder.
The Marquette product scored 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go with 12 rebounds to lead all scorers 9 of his total coming in the final frame alone. Crowder led Boston to a 98 5 win despite point guard Isaiah Thomas resting for knee soreness, the Georgian stepping up in his absence.
(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Boston also beat the New York Knicks on that day seven years earlier, winning 109-97 with an excellent effort from Paul Pierce (29 points) and help from Garnett (22 points).
It was the most points the duo had combined for that season, both having missed considerable time in the second half of the season to injury.
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“There were a lot of toos out there,” Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni said at the time (via the Associated Press).
“They were too big, too quick, too good, and the road trip a little too long”.
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Boston also defeated the San Antonio Spurs 93-91 on this day in 2008 with a balanced outing from Pierce (22 points and 8 boards), KG (21 points and 8 rebounds), and point guard Rajon Rondo (20 points and 6 assists).
Reserve guard Sam Cassell added 17 points and 5 boards off the bench in the come-from-behind win against the then-defending champions.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
“The Spurs, they’re a well-oiled machine. We knew they were going to come in fired up,” said Garnett at the time (via ESPN).
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“They lost some games as of late and any champion is going to come out with its haymakers.”
The picture…
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Author : Celtics Wire
Publish date : 2023-03-17 08:00:19
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