Pierce records triple-double in Celtics’ victory over Hawks

Pierce is the soul of Celtics since Rondo’s injury

Paul Pierce posted a good triple-doubles for a Celtics’s win, Jeff Green scored 27 points and Jason Terry had 24 units. But it was the inspired play of Randolph, the former Duke Blue Devil the Celtics brought over from China earlier this month, that was a real weapon to the 118-107 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night at TD Garden. Hawks are a good team in assists but C’S managed to top them.

Just missing his first  NBA double-double, Randolph, , tied his career high with 13 rebounds, scored nine points and registered two blocked  shots. He did all that in just under 22 minutes off the Boston bench. It’s was the Factor X to add a real value for the team.

“That’s what he is and that’s what he does; and he understands who he is and he does it,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said of the 6-10 Randolph.

“I just thought he did a lot of good things; really happy for him.”

After the game, as Pierce came out for post-game interviews, Randolph got dressed and left. It wasn’t clear if he didn’t want to talk, if he thought no one wanted to talk to him — or if he wanted to hurry off and watch Duke play Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament.

At one point in the game, Randolph had one-third of his team’s rebounds, his nine compared to the team’s 27.

“He did a lot of dirty work,” said Pierce, who had 18 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds in his 10th career triple-double, his third this season. “He went in there and stuck his nose in there in the middle. He got some offensive rebounds (five), some put-back layups. He was in the right position pretty much all night.”

The win moved Boston, winners of two straight after a five-game losing streak, to within 1 1/2 games of the Hawks for the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference playoff seeding.

While the Celtics have been suffering with injuries for weeks, the Hawks were also missing guard Devin Harris (third straight game, foot) and guard John Jenkins suffered a mild concussion on a Pierce pick in the first half and didn’t return.”

Offensive production to top Hawks

The Celtics went 11 for 23 from 3-point range in the night, hitting six 3-pointers in the second act. Their 118 points matched a season high and their 66 in the first half were the most in a half this season.

Mike Scott led the Hawks, who went 2-2 on a four-game road trip with a career-high 19 points off the bench. Josh Smith had 18 points, but he was just 7 for 23 from the floor, 0 for 6 in the second half after scoring 16 points in the first half. Jeff Teague had 17 points and seven dimes.

“We thought we had a chance to go 3-1 but it didn’t work out tonight,” said Teague.

The Celtics won the season series, 3-1.

The Hawks used an 8-0 run to take a six-point lead 3:12 into the second quarter, but the Celtics scored 32 points in the final 8:29 of the half to lead by 10 at the break. It started with an 8-0 run over just 53 seconds, Terry starting it with back-to-back 3-pointers. He went 4 for 5 on 3-pointers in his 16-point half.

 

Mavs are still alive

Big man Dirk Nowitzki,  dropped eight of his season-high 33 units in extra time to lift his team Dallas Mavericks to an important 109-102 win Tuesday against  all-star Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers at the American Airlines Center in Texas. The Mavericks (35-36) have won three straight and nine of their last 12 to pull within one game of the Los Angeles Lakers for the eighth seed in the West.

Mavs are looking for a playoff ticket . Do you think Mavs can top Lakers for it ? Mavs want to destroy Lakers for the last seed.

Paul also scored a season-high 33 points, but turned the ball over seven times as Los Angeles (48-23) began a stretch of four games in five nights with a tough loss. The Clippers still need one more win to match the franchise’s single-season record and one more road victory to clinch a winning road record for the first time in team history.

THE FIGURE: The Mavericks had just their second win in overtime (2-8) this season and only their second win (2-13) against one of the top five teams in the Western Conference (San Antonio, Denver, Oklahoma City, Memphis and the Clippers). What a tremendous performance to believe in post season ! Hopes and hard work . I say

RED HOT : Paul, who was questionable with a bad sore left knee, was 12-for-15 (3-for-5 3-pointers) with six rebounds, five assists and two steals. He scored the Clippers’ last 10 points of regulation and gave them a short 99-97 lead to begin the overtime.

GOOD BASKETBALL TIP: Dallas  dangerous guard O.J. Mayo offered the extra session with a beautiful baseline drive and left-handed layup with less than a second remaining. Today, OJ Mayo scored less and his team is able to win crucial games.  Also, I love watching  veteran Mike James playing. His basketball science is extremely useful for postseason believing  Mavs.

NOTABLE: On a baseline jumper with 8:52 left in the first period, Nowitzki passed Patrick Ewing (24,815) for 17th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Next on the list is the  laker Jerry West (25,192). …  The Mavericks are 17-2 at home when leading at halftime (50-48). … The Clippers fell to 37-3 when leading after the first quarter (27-22). … There were 14 ties and 14 lead changes.

Dirk is the first european as active player in that list.

TOP 25 NBA / ABA leaders/pts_career

Rank	Player	PTS
1.	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar*	38387
2.	Karl Malone*	36928
3.	Michael Jordan*	32292
4.	Wilt Chamberlain*	31419
5.	Kobe Bryant	31354
6.	Julius Erving*	30026
7.	Moses Malone*	29580
8.	Shaquille O’Neal	28596
9.	Dan Issel*	27482
10.	Elvin Hayes*	27313
11.	Hakeem Olajuwon*	26946
12.	Oscar Robertson*	26710
13.	Dominique Wilkins*	26668
14.	George Gervin*	26595
15.	John Havlicek*	26395
16.	Alex English*	25613
17.	Reggie Miller*	25279
	Rick Barry*	25279
19.	Kevin Garnett	25237
20.	Jerry West*	25192
21.	Artis Gilmore*	24941
22.	Dirk Nowitzki	24845
23.	Patrick Ewing*	24815
24.	Allen Iverson	24368
25.	Paul Pierce	23880

from basketball reference

Dwyane Wade scored his second best performance

On This Date: March 14 2009:

Picture from basketball-reference.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See his shoot selection during this game !

Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat scored 50 points in a 30T 140-129 win over the Utah Jazz. What a tremendous performance for the best all time scorer Miami Player with 16274 units. No Hall of Famers have played for this franchise ! But Wade can make the history of the franchise as he has two rings one without LeBron and one with Bosh and LeBron ! What a great career for him. I love watching Wade running the floor. Wade has played 655 games in regular season and have scored at least 20 points in 475 games ! What an exceptional capacity to produce double doubles effort night after night.

LeBron James joins Michael Jordan with a 18th win in a row

LeBron And Michael, Together for the best

James during a current 18-0 run is shooting 60.2 % from the floor, while Jordan during his 18-0 run with Bulls netted 50.9 % from the floor ?

So who is the best in shooting skills ?

With the hot Miami Heat topping at ease the Pacers on showcase night, LeBron James matched the longest win streak ever (18) by a team Michael Jordan was on, the 1995-96 Bulls. Here’s at look at each star’s performance during his respective team’s streak.

For lovers of Chicago’s hegemony, Bulls were pretty unbeaten during the 1995-1996 season.

During what a lot Chicago fans call the “perfect season,” Michael Jordan and the Bulls cruised to an NBA record 72 wins during the regular season, a stretch that have seen an exciting 18-game win streak. Weel, do you know the name of the team which decided to stop Bull’s streak ? Do you want a clue ? This team played on Pepsi Center at home …

Jordan and James by figures during their 18 win streak.

	Jordan	James
W-L	18-0	18-0
PPG	31.2	27.2
RPG	6.8	7.7
APG	3.8	7.4
FG pct.	50.9	60.2
High pts.	48	40
— ESPN Stats & Information

From Elias:

The Heat posted a 18-game win streak into yesterday’s game against the Pacers. A key figure emerges to emphase LeBron James.

LeBron with the new Heat win, has now the longest win streak by a reigning MVP in NBA history.

Longest Win Streak By Reigning MVP – NBA History

2012-13 LeBron James 18

1995-96 David Robinson 17

2006-07 Steve Nash 17

1990-91 Magic Johnson 16

2006-07 Steve Nash 16

That list breaks the house down, does not break it ?

A long road to be the best …

The streak ties the seventh longest in NBA history, and is the league’s best since the Celtic’s Big Four, Pierce, Garnett, Allen, Rondo won 19 straight in November and December 2008.

Well, it’s not a King James winning streak. It’s a Miami Heat winning streak. Chemistry is the key. Yeah, in that game LeBron James was in pain , but he was able to make teammates better. LeBron James had only 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting Sunday. James was primarily being guarded by famished Paul George against whom he went 2-for-5 with two turnovers.

The 13 points were his fewest since February 6, 2011 when he had 12 against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Can we see the end of that impressive streak ?

With the Miami Heat setting a new franchise record for consecutive wins at 15 with their March 4 victory at Minnesota, and extending it to 18 with a March 10 victory vs Pacers . What a tremendous hegemony to top every team !

Sources to achieve this article :

nba.com, ESPN.COM, Sport illustrated, daily time, hoopdatas, basketballreference, and passion for sure !