Celts Spoil Big Al's Return to Beantown

The Boston Celtics won their 5th straight game, and finished off this homestand with a bang, dominating the Jazz for 48 minutes. The final score was 110-86.

Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce led the scoring charge with 21 and 20 points respectively. Glen Davis netted 15 points and grabbed seven boards off the bench, while Rajon Rondo added four points, five rebounds, and 12 assists.

Semih Erden turned the best performance of his young career, filling in for Shaquille O'Neal who injured his right knee running into the first row during the 1st quarter. Getting the nod from Doc Rivers, the Turkish Terror scored 14 points on 5-5 shooting from the field, reeled in seven boards, and recorded three steals.    

For Utah, ex-Celtic Al Jefferson was the worst of the worst. Big Al connected on just one of his 11 attempts for seven points. Earl Watson scored a team-high 12 points, while Andrei Kirilenko, Paul Millsap, and Gordon Hayward chipped in 11 apiece.

Pierce scored 13 of Boston's 30 1st quarter points. In total, the C's scored 59 1st half points on 59% shooting from the field. Utah managed just 41 points and trailed by 18 at the break.

Boston added another 26 points in the third frame to increase their advantage to 22 heading into the final frame. A unit of Nate Robinson, Von Wafer, Marquis Daniels, Luke Harangody, and Semih Erden closed out the contest with a 25 point effort.

With the win, Boston improves to 33-9, while the Jazz fall to 27-16. The C's will board a plane tonight and head out Washington for a 7:30 PM ET matchup with the Wizards tomorrow night.
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Stephen Bailey designed Beantown Banter, writes the majority of the pieces for the site, and controls the social networking among other things. Bailey is currently a freshman at Syracuse University majoring in Sport Management. He is a diehard Celtics and Red Sox fan, but also actively follows the Bruins and Patriots. Additionally, he serves as a contributing writer at Celtics Life. Earlier in 2010, Bailey interned in the Sports Department of the New Haven Register, interviewed multiple athletes, including ex-Celtic Ryan Gomes, and worked as part of a team to get the section done every weeknight. He covers both Swimming & Diving and Women's Tennis for The Daily Orange, SU's school paper. In his free time, Bailey enjoys playing pickup basketball, beating his floormates in NBA 2K11, and sporcling for hours on end. Although he is unsure exactly what he wants to do for a career, it has always been his dream to cover the Celts and Sox.