The Celtics allowed the Jazz to shoot 53.2% from the floor which cost them the game. The Celtics themselves shot 50% from the floor but it just wasn’t enough. Paul Pierce conitnued his fine play this year with 30 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Wally Szczerbiak had a decent game with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Rookie Rajon Rondo provided an energy boost off of the bench with 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Center Kendrick Perkins scored 10 points, grabbed 4 rebounds & blocked 4 shots. Delonte West chipped in with 10 points. Ryan Gomes had a good game with 11 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists.

The Celtics need to play better defense because they’re wasting good offensive efforts. The Celtics have fallen to 1-4 on the season.

Delonte West only scored 7 points, but 2 of them were on the final shot of the game leading the Celtics to a 110-108 victory. Paul Pierce had a great game with 35 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists. Wally Szczerbiak matched Pierce with 35 points and he also snatched 5 rebounds. Ryan Gomes got a triple-double with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

This was a huge win for the Celtics.

Power Forward Al Jefferson woke up not feeling good yesterday morning and was rushed to a hospital where he had emergency surgery to remove his appendix and will miss 2-6 weeks. Ryan Gomes should get extended playing time until Jefferson returns.

The Celtics will only ask their centers to rebound and play good defense. They probably will get that from this bunch of centers. Look for Kendrick Perkins to be the starter for Boston. Perkins hasn’t played much in his career, only averaging 13.9 minutes per game in 138 games. Perkins is an active rebounder & defender that played well the second half of last season and the Celtics expect that to continue. Perkins has averaged 3.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 block per game over his short career.

Theo Ratliff was added in a trade with the Trailblazers on draft day. Ratliff is a great defensive center and a good rebounder. Hopefully he can teach Perkins a few tricks when he gets healthy. Ratliff has averaged 8.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game over his career.

Michael Olowokandi is hanging on in Boston by a thread. The Candy Man has the skills to be a good center, he just doesn’t have the heart for it. Olowokandi has averaged 8.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game over his career. Olowokandi is nearing the end of his career unless he changes his ways and get tough.

The Celtics best player is easily Paul Pierce, who is the leader of the Celtics both on and off of the floor. Pierce had probably his best season ever last year averaging 26.8 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. Pierce can play anywhere on the floor because he’s a good shooter that has three point range and he’s a good passer for a small forward. For his career, Pierce has averaged 23.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Look for Pierce, who is the main option on the Celtics offense, to post numbers similar to what he had last season and maybe even better numbers.

Gerald Green will be Pierce’s back-up. Green won’t get that much playing time because Pierce rarely leaves the floor. Green averaged 5.2 points & 1.3 rebounds per game as a rookie last year.

Brian Scalabrine is a decent player that can also play power forward in a pinch. Scalabrine has averaged 3.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game over his career.

The Celtics shot 52.9% from the floor as a team and out-rebounded the Wizards 43-28…..but still lost the game! The Celtics didn’t play much defense as the Wizards shot 52.4% from the field and Gilbert Arenas lit them up for 44 points! Wally Szczerbiak was a scoring machine as he poured in 33 points. Point guard Sebastian Telfair had a good offensive game, scoring 24 points, grabbing 4 rebounds and dishing out 6 assists. Paul Pierce had his usual solid game, scoring 23 points, snatching 12 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists. Al Jefferson scored 10 points and got 7 rebounds.

The Celtics are going to split the time at power forward between two very promising youngsters. Ryan Gomes had a good rookie season. Gomes only played 22.5 minutes per game but produced 7.6 points & 4.9 rebounds per game. Gomes is a power player that hangs around the paint and has hit 48.7% of his shots.

Al Jefferson is a monster in the paint that just needs to refine his game a little. The Celtics have only played him an average of 16.2 minutes per game in his first two seasons. Jefferson still has averaged 7.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 0.8 blocked shots per contest.

If Jefferson & Gomes get all of the time at power forward, they could post huge numbers between them for the Celtics.

The Celtics hung with the Pistons for three quarters, then the Pistons turned it on in the 4th quarter and out-scored the Celtics 28-18 in the 4th quarter. Paul Pierce had another solid game scoring 22 points, grabbing 8 rebounds and dishing out 4 assists. Wally Szczerbiak added 18 points. Al Jefferson had a good game scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

The Celtics didn’t show up in the first half as the Hornets built a 54-41 halftime lead that was too much to overcome. Paul Pierce had a monster game, scoring 29 points and grabbing 19 rebounds. Wally Szczerbiak also had a decent game scoring 21 points and snatching 5 rebounds. The other three starters on the Celtics (Delonte West, Sebastian Telfair and Kendrick Perkins) only scored 9 points between them! This was a bad effort by the Celtics, and they will need to play better from the start of the game because it’s hard to play from behind in the NBA.