Celtics with Almost a 4th Quarter Collapse, but Ray Allen's Eight Triples Cripple the Raps

Celtics 94, Raps 88

Good effort. Going into the game, the Raps were the hot team and the Celtics not so hot. The Raps offense had been on fire, averaging 100 points/game in their last five. The Celtics on the other hand have been losers of four in a row. There were a few lineup changes today, Jose Calderon was back in the Raps starting five. For the C's, Kendrick Perkins was out and Brian Scalabrine started in his place.

Raps started off the first well, Jamario Moon hit a three to put the Raps up 12-6. And then.....Jesus came out on Sunday. Jesus Shuttlesworth AKA Ray Allen started to drop some treys on the Raps. The Celtics hit back to back threes to tie it back up at 12. Ray Allen went 5/5 in the first quarter from three point land. The Raps only shot 37%. 32-20 after 1.

The Celtics got up 42-24 on the Raps until Bargnani hit a three and then Anthony Parker hit another triple to get with 10. Things got a little physical as Joey Graham and Brian Scalabrine knocked heads. It was pretty cool, the ACC just erupted with a "JOEY, JOEY, JOEY" chant. As the crowd got excited, the Raps went on a run to get it down to 42-34. And then to top it off, Joey Graham dunked on Brian Scalabrine to get within six as the Raps went on a 10-0 run. But the Celtics went back on a run as Rajon Rondo had a ridiculous dunk on Will Solomon. Celtics were up 54-41 at halftime.

The third quarter was all Celtics as Ray Allen continued to hit threes. Boston outscored the Raps 21-14 in the 3rd, leading the Raps by 18, 73-55. In the fourth quarter, the Celtics went cold. They started off 0/7 until Ray Allen hit a shot to end the Raps 11-2 run. Joey Graham hit a basket to cut the Celtics lead down from 20 to 10 points. The Raps got hot in the fourth, going 6/8 and then Joey Graham had a block on Rajon Rondo that lead to a Chris Bosh dunk. The Raps continued to make a push when Andrea Bargnani hit a three with 1:30 left in the game to get within five. Kapono hit a late three to get it to 92-88 but the Celtics managed to maintain their lead. Final, C's won 94-88.

Key Notes:
Raps shot 28 for 74, 37% for the game
Ray Allen had 8 of the Celtics' 10 threes, he finished with 36 points
Rajon Rondo and KG both had double doubles
The Killer B's: Andrea Bargnani had 17 pts & 9 rebounds, Bosh had 15 pts & 11 boards

For a Celtics perspective, check out RedsArmy

The Raps are at Boston on Monday.


Photo credit: (Photo by Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images)