While most NBA fans were out making final preparations for Thanksgiving dinner as well as traveling across the country to visit relatives and loved ones, here at RedsArmy.com, the GreenLight factory was still going strong. Well, that and I have no life clearly. At any rate, the Celtics had a Wednesday night date with the New Jersey Nets, and a bit of retribution was ready to be served.
The last time the Nets came into the Garden was last February and they were historically bad. It was one of many low points the Celtics had during the regular season, dropping an ugly game to the Nets. This time around however, the Celtics were able to string together a solid win while Rajon Rondo rested his strained hamstring. It was Shaquille O'Neal who was partying, err, I mean, playing like it was 1999. This game also unfortunately is when Delonte West broke his wrist on a hard fall after a good lay-up. Check out the clips below for the details.
Q1: The first quarter begins with Sahq strolling into the Garden, followed by Tommy Heinsohn telling us how hungry Kevin Garnett is for Thanksgiving by wanting to eat the Nets. Other highlights include:
- KG with the no-look, around the back pass to Shaq for two to get things going on offense
- Shaq 'doin work on Travis Outlaw in the post
- Excellent post defense by Shaq on Brook Lopez, then KG comes over as a helper and they force Lopez into a horrible shot
- KG grabbing a loud rebound off the missed Outlaw jumper
- Ray Allen's attempted alley-oop to Shaq gets tipped, but Shaq grabs it anyway and lays it in
- Shaq just dismissing Anthony Morrow on a high screen... ouch
- Nate Robinson and Shaq working the two-man game, leading to a pick-and-pop jumper for Nate
- Ray to Shaq for the jam
- KG rebounding the Morrow missed jumper
- Ray Ray nailing a three from the left wing
- Good defense by Ray breaking up the attempted Jordan Farmar to Lopez alley-oop
- Nate and Big Baby woirking the pick and roll, Davis for two
- KG's solid defense, forcing another turnover
- Another great defensive set, forcing a missed outside jumper
- Big Baby with some solid one-on-one post defense on Lopez, forcing him to shoot an air-balled jump hook
- Big Baby with the long range jumper from the right wing
- Ray driving baseline, getting pushed out of bounds, but gets called for stepping out
- Shaq giving encouraging advice to Semih Erden on the bench
Q2: The second quarter begins with Johan Petro tossing the ball right to Shaq. Other highlights include:
- Marquis Daniels being guarded by Devin Harris in the post, Quis kicks it out to Nate for the short jumper
- Quis again matched up with Harris in the post, this time he knocks down a quick turnaround jumper
- Nate passing to Shaq in mid-shot, Sahq lays it in for two and a foul
- Big Baby taking his 21st charge of the season, adding rookie big man Derrick Favors to the victim list
- Delonte firing a pass from mid-three-point-shot to Shaq in the post, who lays it in
- Delonte stealing Harris' money, then leading a beautiful fast break: West to Paul Pierce who touch-passes it to a cutting KG for the slam
- Ray driving baseline, kicking it out to KG for the left-elbow jumper
- Big Baby with a smooth spin move on Kris Humphries for the lefty lay-up
- Delonte using the Big Baby screen to take it to the basket for two
- KG, Pierce and Big Baby working the boards, outletting to Delonte who lays it in, then falls down hard on his right wrist, causing the injury
- Ray finding the cutting Pierce for two off the inbounds play that catches the Nets sleeping
Q3: The third quarter begins with some nice one-on-one defense by KG on Lopez, forcing him to travel and turn the ball over. Other highlights include:
- Excellent defense: first Shaq taps the ball away from a driving Morrow, then as Lopez picks it up, he drives to the hoop, dishes to Humpries who gets it blocked by KG's great recovery defense
- Marquis stripping Harris who attempted to drive baseline
- A great 22 seconds of team defense, forcing Outlaw to throw the ball away
- Pierce jumping in the passing lane and stealing the ball... then starts a fast break by passing it to Marquis who misses the lay-up but Ray is there to hustle back for the follow lay-in
- Pierce driving to the basket for two
- Ray blocking Morrow's jumper, the ball goes out to Harris who is forced to take a bomb, misses, and another 24 second shot-clock violation ensues
- KG rebounding the Morrow missed jumper, outletting to Pierce who takes it all the way for two
- Ray driving to the hoop, fidning the cutting Shaq for the mini-jumper for two
- KG with a hi-lo touch pass to Quis, who does his own touch pass to Shaq for the two-handed slam
- Another energetic defensive set, spearheaded by KG's hard shows on the screens... KG knocks it away, leading to a Ray Allen fast break, who gets fouled
- KG yet again with amazing defense, poking the ball away from Humpries who is beyond the 3-point arc... KG does the hand clap, then the C's get the ball
- Ray and KG working the pick-and-pop for the KG jumper
- Pierce drilling a three from the left-wing
- Yet another great team defensive set, highlighted by Quis forcing Farmar into a bad fall-away jumper that is missed
- Quis earning a Tommy Point by stealing the ball right back from NJ
- KG picking off Morrow's pass as if he had Gorilla Glue on his hands
- Ray knocking the ball away from Lopez from behind, then working a two-man break with Quis... On the give-and-go, Ray gets the lay-up
- A spectacular quarter-ending play: Pierce does his usual setting up at mid-court, then drives to the basket and does a turn-away, no-look bounce pass to Quis who is cutting on the baseline, and jams it home for two
Q4: The final quarter begins with a nice outside shot of Causeway St., followed by some solid one-on-one defense by Von Wafer on Morrow. Other highlights include:
- Marquis has a tough time helping Shaq off the floor
- Another great defensive set, highlighted by Big Baby's two handed stuff on Favors' attempt... Big Baby then outlets it to Ray who lobs it to Shaq for the loud alley-oop... Shaq then does the 40-yard dash down the court
- Quis finding Ray for the baseline three right in front of the NJ bench... Flo Allen loves it
- Yet another great defensive set, highlighted by Lopez being swallowed up by the Shaq/Big Baby monster down low
- Ray forcing Harris into a badly missed jumper
- Pierce taking it to Humpries for two
- Again, another great 24 seconds of defense, forcing a Morrow airball
- Pierce fidning Ray for another baseline three that barely touches the net... amazing that the Nets would all cave in on Pierce leaving Ray open for a bomb
- Pierce with the turnaround jumper on Harris
- Pierce in full fourth quarter mode, this time with the jumper over Humpries
- Pierce and Nate working the high pick-and-pop, Nate canning the three... Farmar tries to answer with his own three that he bricks badly... then Nate on the break finds a trailing KG for the game capping two handed slam
