Home, sweet home

By Gary Dzen

November 23, 2007

1 minute to read

On the Friday of a holiday weekend and with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in town, the home arena was raucous for Boston’s 107-94 win.

The players noticed.

“It felt like a playoff atmosphere,” said Kevin Garnett of this season’s loudest crowd since Opening Night. “This building has lots of energy to begin with. It was fun.”

“It was definitely what I expected,” said Ray Allen of his first Celtics-Lakers game. “I could see it in the people’s faces in the building. They were very rabid about this game and the history that follows the two franchises. It was great for me to be a part of it.

The Celtics are now 7-0 at home, 10-1 overall. On the day Garnett was introduced as a Celtic, Allen spoke of making the Garden a place opponents feared coming into.

So far, so good.

“It’s important for us to take care of business at home,” said Paul Piece. “We know how tough it is to win on the road. We’re looking down the road, eventually getting homecourt advantage is going to be important for us.”