timvp
02-10-2008, 01:22 AM
Spurs ready for big test from Celtics
Reborn Boston team temporarily without Garnett
Jeff McDonald
Express-News Staff Writer
BOSTON — For Matt Bonner, pride of Concord, N.H., a trip to play a game in Boston was always good for a couple of things.
Dinner with family, a reunion with high school buddies, and a long list of ticket requests that was simple enough to fill.
That is, until Bonner joined the Spurs, the Celtics improved dramatically and ticket demand at TD Banknorth Garden began to outstrip supply.
"A lot of people are complaining they can't get tickets this year," Bonner said. "When I was with the Raptors, that wasn't much of a problem."
Of course, the joke is on the ticket-buying public, as well as the folks at ABC, which opted to pick up this afternoon's Spurs-Celtics tilt for national broadcast.
Kevin Garnett, the revolutionary 6-foot-11 forward behind the Celtics' revival, is expected to miss the highly ballyhooed matchup between last year's NBA champions and this year's NBA darlings.
It appears the Big Show will have to go on without its Big Ticket.
Garnett has missed the past six games with an abdominal strain. Boston coach Doc Rivers told reporters after Boston's two-point victory at Minnesota on Friday night that there is a "99.9 percent chance" Garnett will sit again against the Spurs.
That means there is a 0.1 percent chance ticket-holders for today's game will get the matchup they paid for. Certainly, ABC didn't pick up the game hoping to showcase Brian Scalabrine.
"KG out will hurt them obviously, because he's kind of what makes them roll," said Tim Duncan, who battled Garnett the Timberwolf for 10 seasons. "But they're still a very formidable team without him. They've still got two All-Stars."
That would be Paul Pierce, the lifelong Celtic, and Ray Allen, the former Seattle shooting star who represents the other piece of Boston's extreme makeover.
Before he was injured, Garnett was as advertised for the Celtics. Pierce leads the team in scoring at 20.1 points per game, and Allen is throwing in 18.3.
But Garnett, averaging 19.2 points and 9.9 rebounds, has been credited as the Pied Piper behind Boston's turnaround — from 24 victories last season to an NBA-best 38-9 this year.
Bonner, whose earliest hoop dreams came coated in parquet, says he renounced his Celtics fandom when he joined the NBA three seasons ago in Toronto. But he admits the little boy inside him did backflips the day Boston acquired Garnett.
"Like everybody else, I was like, 'Wow, those guys improved tremendously,'" Bonner said. "If they stay healthy, they're going to be tough to beat."
But the Celtics aren't entirely healthy right now. Like the Spurs, who have been playing without injured point guard Tony Parker for five games now, the Celtics have seen their Big Three reduced by a third.
Without Garnett, the Celtics have still been winning — just not very prettily. Boston is 4-2 in Garnett's absence, including an 88-86 victory at lowly Minnesota.
The Spurs roll into Boston on a four-game winning streak, fresh off a 99-93 victory against the moribund New York Knicks in which they had to overcome an 18-point deficit just to force overtime.
Still, the Spurs have been finding ways to close out games, a skill that had eluded them for much of January. Coach Gregg Popovich says his team, as per tradition, is becoming more zeroed in at the midway point of its annual rodeo road trip.
"(The trip) is usually a focus thing, where we become more adamant about what our goals are and where we want to be at the end of the year," Popovich said. "For us, it's more of a mental kick in the pants, where players realize it's money time."
It is also money time for Bonner, still charged with rounding up a suddenly hot ticket for friends and family.
Tonight, he will walk into the Garden, where he's seen dozens of games in his life. He will gaze skyward to the retired jerseys of players he used to idolize. And, yes, he might pinch himself as he walks out on the parquet floor.
If life is this good for a former Celtics fan, imagine how sweet it is for the current crop of green-bleeding faithful.
"There were some tough times in the '90s for the Celtics," Bonner said. "But they're back."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA021008.SpursAdv_0210.en.37cc0d6.html
Reborn Boston team temporarily without Garnett
Jeff McDonald
Express-News Staff Writer
BOSTON — For Matt Bonner, pride of Concord, N.H., a trip to play a game in Boston was always good for a couple of things.
Dinner with family, a reunion with high school buddies, and a long list of ticket requests that was simple enough to fill.
That is, until Bonner joined the Spurs, the Celtics improved dramatically and ticket demand at TD Banknorth Garden began to outstrip supply.
"A lot of people are complaining they can't get tickets this year," Bonner said. "When I was with the Raptors, that wasn't much of a problem."
Of course, the joke is on the ticket-buying public, as well as the folks at ABC, which opted to pick up this afternoon's Spurs-Celtics tilt for national broadcast.
Kevin Garnett, the revolutionary 6-foot-11 forward behind the Celtics' revival, is expected to miss the highly ballyhooed matchup between last year's NBA champions and this year's NBA darlings.
It appears the Big Show will have to go on without its Big Ticket.
Garnett has missed the past six games with an abdominal strain. Boston coach Doc Rivers told reporters after Boston's two-point victory at Minnesota on Friday night that there is a "99.9 percent chance" Garnett will sit again against the Spurs.
That means there is a 0.1 percent chance ticket-holders for today's game will get the matchup they paid for. Certainly, ABC didn't pick up the game hoping to showcase Brian Scalabrine.
"KG out will hurt them obviously, because he's kind of what makes them roll," said Tim Duncan, who battled Garnett the Timberwolf for 10 seasons. "But they're still a very formidable team without him. They've still got two All-Stars."
That would be Paul Pierce, the lifelong Celtic, and Ray Allen, the former Seattle shooting star who represents the other piece of Boston's extreme makeover.
Before he was injured, Garnett was as advertised for the Celtics. Pierce leads the team in scoring at 20.1 points per game, and Allen is throwing in 18.3.
But Garnett, averaging 19.2 points and 9.9 rebounds, has been credited as the Pied Piper behind Boston's turnaround — from 24 victories last season to an NBA-best 38-9 this year.
Bonner, whose earliest hoop dreams came coated in parquet, says he renounced his Celtics fandom when he joined the NBA three seasons ago in Toronto. But he admits the little boy inside him did backflips the day Boston acquired Garnett.
"Like everybody else, I was like, 'Wow, those guys improved tremendously,'" Bonner said. "If they stay healthy, they're going to be tough to beat."
But the Celtics aren't entirely healthy right now. Like the Spurs, who have been playing without injured point guard Tony Parker for five games now, the Celtics have seen their Big Three reduced by a third.
Without Garnett, the Celtics have still been winning — just not very prettily. Boston is 4-2 in Garnett's absence, including an 88-86 victory at lowly Minnesota.
The Spurs roll into Boston on a four-game winning streak, fresh off a 99-93 victory against the moribund New York Knicks in which they had to overcome an 18-point deficit just to force overtime.
Still, the Spurs have been finding ways to close out games, a skill that had eluded them for much of January. Coach Gregg Popovich says his team, as per tradition, is becoming more zeroed in at the midway point of its annual rodeo road trip.
"(The trip) is usually a focus thing, where we become more adamant about what our goals are and where we want to be at the end of the year," Popovich said. "For us, it's more of a mental kick in the pants, where players realize it's money time."
It is also money time for Bonner, still charged with rounding up a suddenly hot ticket for friends and family.
Tonight, he will walk into the Garden, where he's seen dozens of games in his life. He will gaze skyward to the retired jerseys of players he used to idolize. And, yes, he might pinch himself as he walks out on the parquet floor.
If life is this good for a former Celtics fan, imagine how sweet it is for the current crop of green-bleeding faithful.
"There were some tough times in the '90s for the Celtics," Bonner said. "But they're back."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA021008.SpursAdv_0210.en.37cc0d6.html