Some items I found while combing the Celtics boxscores from Friday and Saturday night’s games:

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6 - PHOENIX SUNS 110 BOSTON CELTICS 103

* - For just the 5th time in the Garnett/Allen/Pierce era, the Celtics allowed 110+ points at home. They are 1-4 in those games.

* - The Celtics entered Friday with a 51-2 record since start of ‘07-’08 season when they scored 103 or more points at home. Counting Friday’s loss, Boston has the NBA’s 3rd best record when scoring 100+ points at home over the last 2+ seasons:

1.000 - San Antonio Spurs (38-0)

.955 - New Orleans Hornets (42-2)

.944 - Boston Celtics (51-3)

NBA home teams have won 77% of games when they score 100 or more points since the start of the 2007-2008 season.

* - Phoenix’ Jason Richardson went 6-7 from three point range on Friday, becoming the 3rd opposing player since 2005 to make 6 or more three-pointers with just 1 or fewer misses. The Celtics have lost all three of those games. The other two were Feb. 21, 2007, when Phoenix’s Leandro Barbosa made 6 of 7, and Dec. 17, 2005, then Chicago’s Chris Duhon went 6-7.

* - Phoenix shot 50.0% from the field and 54.2% from three on Friday. Since 1986, Boston is now 3-23 when an opponent shoots 50% or better from the field AND from three point range (with 10+ threes). They’ve given up 110+ points in 18 of those 26 games.

* - Rasheed Wallace was 0-6 on three-point attempts, just the 3rd time that he has gone 0-6 or worse in his career:
Friday - (0-6)
12/31/06 - (0-7)
2/24/06 - (0-8)

* - Boston mananged just 50% free throw shooting on Friday. When Celtics have shot 50% or worse from the free throw stripe at home, they’ve now lost 13 of 14 dating back to 12/26/93.

* - Of course, in order to shoot 52% for the game from the floor despite the poor showing (4-18) from behind the arc, the Celtics were very good at making their two-point shots (59.4%; 41-69). Only once since the ‘04 season have they shot better on two-pointers and lost at home: January 7, 2005, when they lost, 110-104 to Detroit despite shooting 62.1% (36-58) from two point range. One more note: On March 11, 2009, the Houston Rockets shot 70.8% (34-48) on 2’s, but lost to the Lakers, 102-86, the highest 2-pt shooting percentage by an NBA team in a home loss since the start of the ‘04 season.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7 - BOSTON CELTICS 86 NEW JERSEY NETS 76

* - Boston recorded 20 steals on Saturday, just the 4th time in the last 23 seasons (at least) that they’ve had 20+ thefts in a game. It’s the only such game in the NBA so far this season. There was one last season (Portland got 21 against Washington on January 24) and one the previous season (Boston got 20 against Denver). One other note: The 86 points is the fewest by a winning team with 20+ steals in a game in at least 23 seasons and the fewest by ANY team with 20+ steals since the Celtics scored just 82 points despite 20 steals on January 10, 1998 at Orlando.

* - Boston’s 10% three-point shooting on Saturday made them just 10-47 (21.3%) from three over the last three games. Since the start of the ‘04 season, they’ve had only two worse three-game stretches:

19.5% - March 26-30, 2007 (9-41)
21.1% - December 5-9, 2004 (7-33)
21.3% - November 4-7, 2009 (10-47)

* - Paul Pierce played 32 minutes Saturday but failed to grab a rebound, just the 3rd time in his career that he’s been shut out on the boards despite 32+ minutes. Once in ‘07, once in ‘08, and now once this season. And the C’s are 3-0 in those games.

MOST GAMES WITH 32+ MINUTES PLAYED AND ZERO REBOUNDS SINCE START OF ‘06-’07 SEASON (FORWARDS/CENTERS ONLY)

4 - Kyle Korver
3 - Paul Pierce
3 - Shane Battier
3 - Gerald Wallace

* - Rasheed Wallace went 0-4 from beyond the arc, following an 0-6 night on Friday. It’s the first time since November, 2003 that Wallace has been unable to make a three-pointer despite 4+ attempts in back-to-back games.

* - Ray Allen went 0-3 on three-pointers Saturday, making him 5-20 (25%) this season on zero days rest. Although it’s early in the season, it’s the 2nd lowest such percentage in the league (min. 10 attempts on 0 days rest):

23.1% - Manu Genobli, SA (3-13)
25.0% - Ray Allen, BOS (5-20)
26.3% - Rasheed Wallace, BOS (5-19)

With 1+ days rest, Allen is 7-15 (46.7%) and Wallace is 12-31 (38.7%). As a matter of fact, the Celtics team is shooting just 29.3% on threes on zero days rest (23rd in the league) and 46.9% with 1 or more days rest:

NBA TEAM 3-POINT SHOOTING - 1 OR MORE DAYS REST - 2009

48.9% - Phoenix Suns
46.9% - Boston Celtics
43.0% - Cleveland Cavaliers

One Comments for “Celtics Weekend Nuggets!”

1. Nakia Yglesias Says:
   December 29th, 2009 at 4:33 pm

   Merely want to say your article is astounding. The lucidity in your post is simply spectacular and i can take for granted you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission allow me to grab your rss feed to keep up to date with succeeding post. Thanks a million and please keep up the good work.

Leave a Reply