Pierce, Celtics Knock Off Nets at Garden

October 11, 2009
Couper Moorhead
NBA.com

BOSTON -- After a pair of quiet preseason performances typical of most NBA veterans, Paul Pierce once again looked like Paul Pierce Sunday afternoon, scoring 25 points as the Boston Celtics beat the New Jersey Nets, 100-93, at TD Garden.

Pierce's preseason started slowly, as he attempted just six shots in scoring eight points against the Houston Rockets last Wednesday. Against the New York Knicks on Friday, he ratcheted the offense up a notch with 12 attempts, but the shooting touch had yet to report for duty (9 points). Still, they were never performances worth discussing -- the same can be said for Ray Allen's Sunday (6 points on 4 attempts) -- because it was only a matter of time before Pierce starting doing Pierce things.

And Sunday, those things showed up in a tidy box score line of 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 7-of-8 from the line in 29 minutes, with Pierce topping things off with an 11-point third quarter.

"Paul was really aggressive to begin with. I thought he took his time in the second half," Kevin Garnett said. "I thought the ball movement was perfect -- guys took their shots, and that started with [Paul] being aggressive."

On defense, things weren't as smooth, mostly because the Celtics faced something they had yet to see in preseason: a center.

Chuck Hayes, David Lee, Brook Lopez. All good players in their own rights, but the first two are power forwards masquerading as pivots. Lopez was the first true blue center to suit up against Boston and the early results showed that there are a few screws to tighten on the interior of Boston's defense.

"Defensively, for the most part, effort was there, energy was there, talking was there," Garnett said. "[The Nets], give them credit too, they played well. Got to the line a lot. All in all I thought we played decent. But it's still preseason we're still trying to get better every day."

Lopez finessed his way to 13 first-half points, doing much of his damage at the free-throw line (7-of-8 in the half) while maintaining a strong interior presence that helped the Nets to 16 points in the paint (38 in the game). And with Devin Harris sitting, Lopez was without the set-up work of his starting point guard, working instead out of simple dumps into the post with added defensive attention.

His night was blemished after he picked up his fifth foul less than three minutes into the second half, but Lopez would return to close out the game with 21 points and 8 rebounds, solidifying an impressive performance for a second-year player.

"I like Lopez," Kendrick Perkins said. "He's got some nice moves."

Making his first appearance for the Nets was another second-year player, Courtney Lee, who was acquired in the Vince Carter trade during the offseason. Lee looked rusty in scoring 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, but still played 28 minutes after sitting out the Nets' first two preseason games with a sore left foot.

Garnett (12 points, 6 boards) also took another step in his return from injury, playing a fluid 21 minutes in a higher gear than he had yet to show.

"I thought I got up and down," Garnett said. "As far as being aggressive, this is probably the most aggressive I've been since I've come back and played."

As for the game? The Celtic starters were under Doc Rivers' orders to only run one play in the first half -- a "good exercise" he called it -- and thanks to Lopez, the Nets were within one at the break. But following Pierce's big third, the Celtics' much-improved second unit (against New Jersey starters) pulled away in the fourth for the victory. And it's that second unit that, other than Garnett, might end up being the biggest story to come out of Boston this preseason.

"To tell you the truth, I think our second unit was a lot more impressive than we were," Pierce said. "They were the ones that pushed the lead out and they're looking like they're gelling well together."