Upcoming Milestones for the Boston Celtics

Rich Levine of Comcast Sports Net New England posted the following article today regarding some milestones for the Boston Celtics that we might possibly see in the near future. Milestones are always great in terms of setting goals and making history, so we have a few things to keep in mind as we cheer on the men in green and white this season:

Games Played:

* Kevin Garnett is only five games away from 1,200 for his career, a milestone reached by only 23 players in NBA history — most recently Shaquille O’Neal, who reached 1,200 games (and pounds) with the Celtics last season.

* If KG can play in 59 of 66 games this season, he’ll pass Paul Silas for 20th all-time. (Then again, if Garnett plays 59 of 66, he’ll have the mobility of Michael Sweetney come playoff time.)

* With 36 more games Paul Pierce will join Garnett, Ray Allen and Danny Ainge in the NBA’s 1,000 game club (One of the coolest clubs around, except when Reggie Miller’s in town). By the time Pierce reaches 1K, he’ll have also passed Kevin McHale (971) for third on the Celtics all-time listm behind Robert Parish (1106) and John Havlicek (1270).

* Jermaine O’Neal needs 14 more games for a cool 900. (He hopes to reach the milestone by sometime in 2013.)
More after the jump...



Points:

* With 382 points, Pierce will pass Larry Bird (21,791) on the career-scoring list and become the Celtics second all-time leader behind Havlicek (26,395 points)

For comparison, Larry scored his 21,791 in 34,443 minutes over 897 games. Pierce (currently with 21,410 points) has already played 35,710 minutes over 964 games.

And how about this: Bird hit only 649 three-pointers in his career. Pierce has drained 1,578 and counting. Hopefully.

Rebounds

* Garnett needs 126 defensive rebounds for 10,000 in his career, and 244 to pass Robert Parish for second on the NBA’s all time list. Karl Malone is the current leader with a final count of 11,406 (unless that Shape-Ups comeback pans out)

* Garnett also needs only 31 total rebounds to pass Bob Petit (12,849) for 15th all-time. KG's the current active leader in rebounds, with 806 more than Tim Duncan, 2,606 more than Ben Wallace and 10,957 more than Brooke Lopez.

Assists

* Garnett needs 110 assists (he had 171 last year) to reach 5,000 for his career, and become only third player in NBA history to amass 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 5,000 assists.

The other two: Kareem and Karl Malone (Bird and Havlicek both qualified in points and assists but missed the trifecta by 1,026 and 1,993 rebounds, respectively.)

With his 5000th assist KG will also become the first player in NBA history to register 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 5,000 assists, 1,500 steals and 1,500 blocks

* Rajon Rondo needs 97 assists for 3,000, which will leave him only 12,807 short of John Stockton’s all-time record.

Foul shots

With 192 made free throws (he's averaged 446 a year for his career) Pierce will become the 17th player in NBA history to eclipse the 6,000 made free throw mark. The only other active player on the list is Kobe Bryant, who’s already at 7,026 (Although technically, 3,513 of those are now Vanessa’s).

Special Ray Allen section

These stats fit into two different categories but worked better side-by-side. Plus, they're not really "milestones" in the same sense of everything else above. You know what, I'm going to stop explaining and get on with it.

Something to watch: Ray Allen is currently a career-.399 shooter from three-point land, and .893 from the free throw line. Not that we'll think differently of his career either way, but how about if Ray can retire as a 90 percent foul shooter and 40 percent from three?

Right now, Mark Price and Steve Nash are the only two players in NBA history with a career FT% above .90, and (not coincidentally) they both were (and are) better than 40 percent from long range.

Ray would be No. 3 in the group. A fitting number for the Hall of Famer.