You'd be hard-pressed to draw up a more irrelevant game in the 2011-12 NBA regular season that what transpired this evening at TD Garden. It was seats for soldiers night which felt like a cruel joke. Hopefully nobody paid full price for this preseason style matchup.
The Toronto Raptors visited the Boston Celtics with both teams coming in riding five-game losing streaks. Boston (5-8) played its customary frontrunner role as they won 96-73 in a game that was only memorable since Rajon Rondo (21 points) suffered what could have been a gruesome injury late in the third quarter.
In the playoffs last spring against the Miami Heat when Rondo dislocated his elbow yet somehow (hello needles!) came back in the same game, I dubbed him Gumby. His limbs and bones don't act like you or I. So when Linas Kleiza of all people hit him with a flagrant foul, causing Rondo to land awkwardly with all his weight on his wrist, you had to think it was broken.
After staying down on the parquet for a long time, Rondo got up slowly and retreated to the locker room with the medical staff. It was later announced as a "sore wrist" which was a laughable impression of a Patriots injury report. Apparently, Rondo is day-to-day which is promising news since without him, this ill-fated season turns downright meaningless.
The Raptors (4-11) basically lost before the game started since their best player-Andrea Bargnani-was a last-minute scratch with a calf injury. This contest was so dull, it made me daydream about such paradoxes like why does Toronto even have an NBA team? The Grizzlies moved out of Vancouver years ago so why are the Raptors still in Canada? It makes zero sense, Canadians could care less about basketball.
Kevin Garnett had 15 points and seven rebounds for the Celtics while Brandon Bass (13 points, 9 rebounds) and Mickael Pietrus (12 points) had big outputs off the bench. This one was never in doubt so it was nice to see Bass play more minutes (31) than any of the starters.
Paul Pierce had eight points and seven assists, Jermaine O'Neal added eight points and seven rebounds but Ray Allen (6 points) continued to fall into a shooting slump.
UMass-Amherst product Gary Forbes led the Raptors with 18 points, off the bench no less. I think he's the only Minuteman currently in the NBA besides greybeard Marcus Camby. DeMar DeRozan (11 points) was the only other Toronto player in double figures.
I predict that Boston will go on a fraudulent winning-streak since they are about to embark on what undoubtedly is their easiest three-game stretch of the season: vs. Phoenix on Friday and at Washington on Sunday.
Right now, the Celtics are beating up on the bums of the NBA and once they meet a playoff contender, they fold. It's just that easy to explain.
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