Things Are Not Going Well When This Goon Drops 29 Points In Your Eyeball

I'm really excited for the Celtics' regular season to begin, this preseason seems like it will never end. What's that? There are only eight games left now before the playoffs? Oh. Like an old person with dementia, it's hard to remember what month it is when you watch these pointless games. Tonight, Boston lost 110-100 to Minnesota at the Target Center as Paul Pierce (personal reasons) and Kevin Garnett (left ankle) sat out.

Showing how much fake life this entailed, Nikola Pekovic bullied his way inside to a game-high 29 points and five rebounds for Minnesota (27-46, 18-19 home). Andrei Kirilenko added 17 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals, Derrick Williams had 11 points and three blocks while Ricky Rubio dished out 10 assists as only he can. Dante Cunningham went wild off the bench with 19 points, five rebounds and two blocks plus Northeastern's J.J. Barea tossed in 11 points with seven assists.

Boston (38-36, 13-25) actually hung around for much longer than we could have expected thanks to Avery Bradley (19 points), Brandon Bass (13 points, 6 rebounds) and Jeff Green (10 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists). The bench was great: Terrence Williams (14 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) had his best game as a Celtic, Jason Terry scored 14 points and Jordan Crawford put up 11 points, six rebounds and five assists.

After five games in seven days, the shorthanded Celts limp home to face another miserable team-the Pistons (25-50, 4th in Central Division) on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., CSN) at TD Garden. It has the potential to be one of the real horrorshow games of the season which is saying something given how the last few weeks have unfolded for the Celtics.

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Poor Big Al, he'll never be on a good team

You have to feel bad for former Celtics teenager Al Jefferson. He's had a nice NBA career but unfortunately he has bounced around from bad team (Minnesota Timberwolves) to now rebuilding team (Utah Jazz) and it appears like barring a trade or something drastic, he'll never be on a contender which is a shame.

The Boston Celtics finished their emotional West Coast trip 3-1 with a 107-102 win last night at EnergySolutions Arena over the Jazz.

Jefferson had a game-high 28 points and 19 rebounds with two blocks but it wasn't enough as Utah (32-29) missed its closer-Deron Williams-who is now rotting away (like everything else) in Newark, N.J.

New guy Devin Harris (19 points) was good but he's no Deron Williams. Andrei Kirilenko sporting his latest unique brand of a Eurotrash hairstyle added 18 points while Paul Millsap had 17 points.

The Jazz have great fans but you have to wonder if former coach Jerry Sloan is even watching this mess anymore or is he driving around aimlessly on a tractor somewhere in the sticks?

All five Celtics (43-15) starters scored in double figures led by Ray Allen (25 points). With Tommy Heinsohn sitting in the CSNE studios and Bill Walton riding his spaceship back in San Diego, Allen's BFF Donnie Marshall was left to fill in on play by play duties. I can't remember hearing a pro announcer getting more excited over a regular season game than Marshall was after Allen hit a clutch 3-pointer, "sniper!" It was pathetic and hilarious at the same time.

Paul Pierce had 21 points and seven rebounds, Kevin Garnett notched 16 points and 14 rebounds while Rajon Rondo put up 18 points and 11 assists. Oh and Nenad Krstic had 11 points and five rebounds.

Boston was up 30-21 after one quarter but Utah whittled it to 56-53 at halftime. The Celts held off the Jazz in the third quarter (23-22) and in the fourth (28-27) thanks to Allen's big shots.

One thing is clear which I never thought I'd say in a million years: the Celts desperately need Shaq in the lineup. With Perk gone, there is a huge void inside that can be taken advantage of by any decent post player.

Boston shot 47.6% to Utah's 44.9%. The Celtics made six more 3-pointers (7-1) but the Jazz hit nine more free throws (31-22) in the tightly called contest. Boston had one more rebound (42-41) and six more assists (22-16). The Cs made four more steals (9-5) but the Jazz had 12 more points in the paint (54-42) thanks to Jefferson and Millsap.

Some help is on the way as Troy Murphy has reportedly signed with Boston after getting bought out by the Golden State Warriors. He should provide size, rebounding and offense off the bench.

The Celtics return home (seems like they've been gone for months) tomorrow night when they host the Phoenix Suns. A team that they normally abuse but that they lost to in Phoenix a few weeks back in that weird KG punching Channing Frye in the balls game.

John Stockton and his short shorts must be rolling over in his grave

More so than any other professional sport, the NBA is prone to having teams basically no-show on the second end of back-to-back games or at the finish of a long road trip.

This was definitely the case last night as the anticipated battle between Deron Williams (5 points, 6 assists, 4 fouls) and Rajon Rondo (4 points, 12 assists, 5 rebounds) never materialized and consequently neither did the game really as Boston rolled over Utah 110-86 at the TD Garden.

The sad part about it is the Jazz (27-16) are a very good team but the Celtics (33-9) will only get one more shot at them in the regular season. Unfortunate.

Boston won its fifth in a row thanks to some balanced scoring. Kevin Garnett had a game-high 21 points and Paul Pierce scored 20. Glen Davis (15 points, 7 rebounds) and Semih Erden (career-high 14 points, 7 rebounds) were great off the bench and Ray Allen scored 11 points.

The only bad news for the Cs was that Shaquille O'Neal got hurt in the first quarter (hip) and didn't return. He's expected to miss the next few games.

Overall, Boston's bench was spectacular, scoring what has to be a season-high with 52 points and giving the starters plenty of rest. Marquis Daniels and Nate Robinson scored eight points apiece and Von Wafer had seven points.

For Utah, Earl Watson (12 points) was their high-scorer so that's pretty much all you need to know about the game. Williams was in foul trouble immediately with three in the first half and as a result, his team basically laid down and died without him.

Andrei Kirilenko (sporting a new Eurotrash 'do, no more flat top) had 11 points and Paul Millsap added 11 points. Babyface Gordon Heyward-who should have stayed at Butler-scored 11 off the bench.

Boston led 30-19 after one quarter and 59-41 at halftime. The Celts won each quarter: closing it out in the third (26-22) and the fourth (25-23).

For the game, the Cs shot 55.2% to 40.0% for the Jazz. Boston had five more 3-pointers (9-4) and made one more free throw (27-26). Rebounds were even at 34 but thanks to Rondo, Boston had 12 more assists (31-19). The Celts also made nine more steals (15-6) while Utah had one more block (6-5). The Jazz had five more turnovers (21-16), fast break points were even (17-17) and Boston had 12 more points in the paint (44-32).

The Celts travel to Washington DC tonight to take on the Wizards. With rookie point guard John Wall, Washington is decent at home. Still even in a back-to-back, this is a game Boston should always win.

Never Trust a Mormon

I'll give credit where credit's due: in front of a rabid crowd at EnergySolutions Arena, the Utah Jazz enjoy one of the biggest home court advantages in the NBA.

Using that, along with some terrible calls by the ghost of Dick Bavetta and a possibly huge injury, the Jazz beat the Celtics last night, 90-85 in a game that normally neutral C's announcer Mike Gorman quickly added at the completion, "the Celtics got hosed tonight."

Boston (44-12) lost the heart and soul of its team, Kevin Garnett, in the second quarter when he landed after an attempted alley-oop and starting hopping around, favoring his right leg. He went to the bench immediately and then hobbled to the locker room as Celtics fans around the country held their collective breaths.

The first word was that it's a right knee strain and he'll miss the next three games of the West Coast trip. I don't want to speculate about the severity of the injury but needless to say, if he is out for a significant period of time, it completely changes the complexion of the Eastern Conference and NBA as a whole. Yeah, he's that important.

The Jazz (32-23) got off to a very slow start, as they trailed 22-13 after the first quarter. They closed it to 39-38 C's at the break.

One of the easiest, most cliche, ignorant things to say about any sport is a critical comment of an official. They're human, they make mistakes, etc. However, last night was a complete joke.

With KG out, Boston still racked up 30 fouls to Utah's 18. The Jazz only took two more free throws (24-for-31) than the Celts (19-for-29) but the damage was clear as Boston defenders could never figure out what was a foul and what wasn't. I'm all for giving jobs to the elderly but I think it's time for Dick Bavetta to be put out to pasture. I mean really.

Boston valiantly played well without KG in the third (27-22) but predictably, it all came crashing down in the fourth (30-19) as the Jazz made all the big shots and their white bread crowd went about as crazy as a bunch of boring, white people can get.

This was all done without Carlos Boozer, so it was nonetheless an impressive win for Utah and perennially overlooked coach Jerry Sloan.

Mehmet Okur led the Jazz with 19 points and six rebounds. Deron Williams (18 points, 10 assists) made a clutch jumper to put the Jazz up four late. Ronnie Brewer added 16 points and four steals.

Everybody's favorite Russian baller Andrei Kirilenko had 13 points off the bench while Paul Millsap (or as I like to call him, Ryan Gomes on a good team) notched eight points and 10 boards.

Paul Pierce paced the C's with 20 points and nine rebounds but his shot wasn't falling like usual at the end. Rajon Rondo got in early foul trouble but still managed 15 points and seven assists. Kendrick Perkins had a nice game with 12 points, 11 boards and three blocks. Ray Allen added 12 points and Leon Powe was great off the bench (9 points, 9 rebounds).

With two days off between games, Boston has some time to refocus as they try to figure out how they'll do this without KG at least for the next week.

Not making a move at the trade deadline (other than dumping dead weight Patrick O'Bryant and Sam Cassell) is looking like a bad decision. The C's are running out of healthy bodies. Tony Allen might be out for the rest of the year after thumb surgery so rookies Bill Walker and J.R. Giddens will have to play some minutes.

They go to Phoenix on Sunday, which just found that Amare Stoudemire will be out for up to eight weeks after eye surgery.