The Three-Pointer: Celtics Win Ugly

There are two things you never apologize for in the NBA: Big-money contracts and wins of any kind.

If someone wants to give you the full mid-level exception you don’t ask twice and if you can pull out a road win on the second night of a back-to-back in front of a half-full arena somewhere on the Jersey Turnpike, you take it and don’t look back.

The Celtics didn’t play particularly well against New Jersey Saturday night. You could make the argument that they played better the night before in a loss to the Suns. Certainly the quality of basketball was much higher, if nothing else.

But the Celtics played well enough to win, especially in the fourth quarter, and they were able to pull out an 86-76 victory. After eight games the Celtics have the best record in the NBA and there’s no reason to apologize for that.

A little concern, though? Maybe.

“For us, it’s not all about the record,” Doc Rivers told the press after the game. “We want to get better.”

Rivers noted they will work on defensive rotations and movement on offense and anyone who watched the 48 minute horror-fest with the Nets would concur with both those sentiments. But apologize for the win? No way.

Here are three more things from Saturday night:

NOTHING’S MORE TIRING THAN BEING TIRED

You may have heard that the Celtics just finished off their eighth game in the last 12 days. You’ve probably heard this because it’s been mentioned by everyone connected with the team—players, broadcasters, the coach.

Fatigue is a real fact of life in the NBA and you saw it manifested in several ways against New Jersey. Shots were off, especially from long distance where the Celtics went 1-for-10. Rotations were slow, movement off the ball was basically non-existent.

All of that is very real, of course, but the Celtics are hardly unique in this situation. Everyone goes through a stretch like this at some point in the season (a fact Rivers did note Friday evening), and it’s not like they had only eight healthy players (like New Jersey).

So yes, they were tired. That’s not really an excuse for the way their play has slipped over the last three games, however. Rivers has said that he is looking forward to getting his team back to practice on Monday and Tuesday (he’s giving them Sunday off) and they clearly need the work.

THIS IS RASHEED’S GAME, GET USED TO IT

A funny thing happened to Rasheed Wallace in the last 24 hours. He went from the guy who was the perfect fit for the Celtics, what with his ability to stretch the defense with his 3-point shooting ability, to a guy who seems to take an awful lot of 3-pointers for a big man.

Wallace missed all six of his 3-point attempts against Phoenix and he missed four more against the Nets Saturday. Wallace has taken 75 shots so far this season and 50 of them have been from beyond the arc.

OK, so his shot distribution has been a little excessive, but he took 44 percent of his shots from 3-point range last season and at this point in his career this is basically who he is on offense.

Unlike Friday night’s game, he did take it upon himself to go inside and he scored an important basket when the Celtics were making their game-winning run. He also played solid defense and came up with a number of key plays on that end down the stretch.

All of that is part of the unique package that is Rasheed Wallace and it’s not likely to change anytime soon, so everyone better get used to it.

THE ROLLER COASTER RIDE OF KEVIN GARNETT

These are the numbers for Kevin Garnett the last four games:

Philly: 1-for-7; three points, six rebounds, five turnovers.

Minnesota: 6-for-13, 12 points, 11 rebounds.

Phoenix: 13-for-20, 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists.

New Jersey: 3-for-13, nine points, 13 rebounds.

Against the Timberwolves he got torched by Oleksiy Pecherov, of all people, and he also came up with the key defensive play of the game. Garnett destroyed the Suns and couldn’t buy a hoop against the Nets.

It’s fairly clear that Garnett continues to be a work in progress as he comes back from his knee surgery, but here’s the key thing for the Celtics: That’s OK.

He doesn’t have to be the KG of 2007-08, when he was one of the top contenders for the MVP, for the Celtics to win games. And, unlike last season, the Celtics might not fall apart if he were to miss a chunk of time this winter. They are obviously better with him but they are not as dependent on him as they have been.

That’s all for the good, and it’s worth noting that Garnett’s greatest contribution is as a help defender, which is a skill that doesn’t tend to generate a lot of numbers in the boxscore. Indeed, that may have contributed to Pecherov going off like he did from the outside.

The definitive word on KG’s comeback is that there is no definitive word and there probably won’t be until at least 2010. What’s encouraging though for the Celtics is that they are good enough to wait, and any contributions are, of course, welcome.