Celtics, 119-93 (final)
It can’t be this easy. And it probably won’t be.
But the Denver Nuggets came into tonight’s game as one of the top four or five teams in a (supposedly) superior Western Conference. At the very least they’re a solid playoff team. Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, and Marcus Camby will make it so.
But the Celtics treated the Nuggets like a glorified high school team in the first half tonight at the Garden. The final score is not indicative: It wasn’t nearly that close.
Chalk it up to the Celtics being at home or the Nuggets having played last night, but even so the game was out of reach in the first quarter. It what was probably the first measuring stick-game for this Celtics squad, Boston’s barometer was through the roof.
Each of the Big Three scored over 20 points for the Celtics. Kevin Garnett had 23 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists. Paul Pierce had 26 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals.
Ray Allen and Garnett were replaced by Rajon Rondo and Glen Davis with 9:11 left in the game. The Celtics were up 105-73 at that point. Think of it as Doc Rivers electing to kick the field goal.
By the time the fourth quarter wound down, Celtics fans had nothing better to do than chant “Scalabrine!” for the suddenly popular Celtics forward. Even Glen “Big Baby” Davis saw some action.
Celtics fans walked out happy to a chorus of “Ship me up to Boston”, which seems to be the postgame victory song of choice this year.
We’ll have postgame reaction from both locker rooms in a bit.
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