C’s Depth Too Much For LeBron, Cavs

Posted by Adam Hart October 28, 2009 at 8:04 am

On a night in which the Los Angeles Lakers received their NBA Championship rings, the Boston Celtics were recipients of their own prize — the return of Kevin Garnett.

In his first non-exhibition action since going down for good with a knee injury last season, Garnett provided sound defensive presence and hit a big shot down the stretch for Boston in its season opener on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Big Ticket, as he is known, scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, battling Cleveland’s newly acquired Shaquille O’Neal down low.

The win was not an easy one for the Celtics. One of the best home teams in the 2008-2009 season, the Cavaliers jumped out to a quick 11-point lead to start the game.

“We never really panicked,” head coach Doc Rivers said of an early 13-2 deficit that was slowly erased before halftime. “We just kind of chipped away at it. We talked about it in that stretch during that timeout that we wanted to have the lead by halftime.”

It was Boston’s depth which proved too much for LeBron James and the Cavs, as the Celtics bench outscored Cleveland’s 26-10. New additions Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels paced Boston’s second team with 12 and 7 points, respectively.

“We’re going against some of the five greatest guys to play this game, right now every day in practice,” Wallace said. “That just makes us better.”

“I liked what happened tonight because everyone contributed — I thought as much of a team win as you can get,” Rivers said. “The second unit saved the game for us.”

Boston’s bench systematically cut into Cleveland’s lead, finally evening the score at a few points in the second quarter. And it was captain Paul Pierce who broke through to give Boston its first lead of the game — 39-38 on a long jump shot — with 4:54 remaining in the first half. After jostling for the lead, the Celtics never turned back after the halftime break.

Pierce led Boston’s balanced attack with 23 points and 11 rebounds. He did the little things down the stretch to close out the 95-89 win.

The Celtics captain scored eight points in the final 1:02, making four free throws to put the icing on the cake.

“It’s great, psychologically, to go in here and get a win. Now we know next time we come in here we’ve done it and we’re capable of doing it again,” Pierce said.

While pleased to win on the road against one of the game’s best players, Pierce cautioned anyone from getting too excited about a victory this early in the season.

“It was a good Day One, but you’ve got to expect Cleveland’s going to be a better team down the road, come February, March, but also we’re going to be better,” Pierce said.

The Celtics open at home Wednesday night against the Charlotte Bobcats.