http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/b...icleid=1072519
By Steve Bulpett
Sunday, February 10, 2008
The Celtics will try to add to their winning streak over the Spurs this afternoon. They will seek to continue their dominance of Tim Duncan.
A quick look back shows that the streak currently stands at . . . let’s see . . . one.
But after suffering losses in the previous 18 games against San Antonio, the Celts will take it. They had grown weary of the biannual stories about how the franchise hadn’t beaten the Spurs since Jan. 8, 1997 - when Duncan was playing for Wake Forest and the Celtics were playing for Duncan.
“It was like, oh, here comes San Antonio again and we have to talk about the streak and how we’d never beaten Duncan,” said Paul Pierce, who was around for 15 of the losses. “We knew we had to get that monkey off our back, and we were just trying to sneak out one win so we could end that. So it was definitely good to get that out of the way. Now we can work on other more positive records.”
The Celtics needed the karma of a St. Patrick’s Day in San Antonio to beat the Spurs last year. Pierce went for 30 points as the C’s won, 91-85.
“Yeah, that was great,” said Pierce. “We put all that streak stuff behind us last year.”
So today the Celtics will take the parquet feeling pretty good, having won four of six games without Kevin Garnett . . . and armed with a one-game streak over the Spurs.
“I guess it’s important that we finally beat them, but I didn’t pay too much attention to it,” said Doc Rivers. “But now that it’s over at least we don’t have to go into the game talking about it.”
Asked if the holdovers on his team could take a good feeling into the matchup, the coach said, “Yeah, but, , it’s still going to be a tough game. This is when they have their push every year. They go on a long trip because of the rodeo and they make their push.”
After losing the first two games of their nine-city journey so the cowboys can hang at their home gym, the Spurs have won four straight.
Rivers knows this. He is well versed in Spurs history, having played there two years and worked the team’s games as a color commentator for two more.
He repeatedly holds San Antonio up as an example for the Celts to follow. When trying to get a former C’s squad to act calmly in the face of a cheap shot, he showed video of Manu Ginobili getting hammered and simply walking to the free throw line.
“This is a team that we’re trying to catch,” he said. “They’re the champs, and they’re the best team in the NBA over the last five years. Everything they do is right - the coaching, the players - it’s just a model organization.”
But right now the Celtics have the best record in the NBA - seven games ahead of San Antonio in the loss column.
“We feel like we can win against anybody with whoever we put on the court,” Pierce said. “That’s just the way we’re feeling. I think we’re finding ways to win, finding different guys to step up.”
After watching Leon Powe beat Minnesota on a last-second putback Friday, Pierce has evidence to back his point.
respectRivers knows this. He is well versed in Spurs history, having played there two years and worked the team’s games as a color commentator for two more.
He repeatedly holds San Antonio up as an example for the Celts to follow. When trying to get a former C’s squad to act calmly in the face of a cheap shot, he showed video of Manu Ginobili getting hammered and simply walking to the free throw line.
What a stupid article. So the Celtics beat the Spurs one time and that makes up somehow for 17 other losses? I don't get it. The Celtics window is going to be very brief with this collection of players. The so-called "Big Three" of Boston is long in the tooth, unlike the Spurs Big Three that was together the first time back in 2002 (with the addition of Ginobili) and on balance is still younger than the Celtics core today.
Danny Ainge finally did a good job of assembling a roster before he got fired.
Really the C's, their fans and media needed to let go of this story years ago.
So they didn't win the lottery. It wasn't their birthright to win every draft lottery or hoard the league's top talent. How about the mismanagement of their FO? What about the franchsie instability? Coaching changes? Bad talent decisions?
All these things that stand in the way of fielding a compe ive team are convieniently forgotten about.
I can feel the excitement build up with this coming game against the C's. I feel we can win this one. Im looking forward to udoka/bruce defending pierce and allen-this would be fun. Go spurs go..
Gee unlike what happened last year with certain Sun's eggheads. Manu would have just hit the shots.
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