For KG, Beating The Timberwolves Will Always Be Extra Sweet

A week after his scuffle with Brooklyn's Kris Humphries and a two-game suspension by the NBA, Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo was back on the TD Garden parquet where he belonged tonight. As expected, it was like he hadn't missed a beat as he put up 17 points and 11 assists in Boston's (10-8, 6-4 home) 104-94 win vs. Minnesota (8-9, 4-6 away).

The Timberwolves were playing the second night of a back-to-back on the road but they looked good in the first half as they took a 51-47 lead into halftime. Predictably, they fell apart in the second half and the much more rested Celtics took advantage of their tired legs. Oh by the way, the C's have won 11 straight against the Timberwolves (10 in a row since KG got here).

Kevin Garnett had 18 points and 10 rebounds against his former team. Paul Pierce scored 18, Jason Terry added 17 points and five rebounds while Brandon Bass put up 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Jeff Green scored eight off the bench and Jared Sullinger had a statistically pleasing seven points and seven rebounds.

Kevin Love paced the Timberwolves with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Nikola Pekovic added 14 points and nine rebounds, Josh Howard scored 12 and Luke Ridnour had 11 points and five assists. Alexey Shved notched 11 points off the bench and former Northeastern star J.J. Barea tallied 10.

Boston shot better from the field (52.6%-44%), they made four more free throws (18-14), grabbed four more rebounds (45-41), dished out five more assists (24-19) and blocked three more shots (6-3).

Earlier in the day, rookie swingman Kris Joseph was recalled from the Red Claws. He even got in during garbage time against Minnesota and hoisted up a shot that missed.

In a weird scheduling quirk, the Celtics play a home-and-home with the Sixers (10-8, 3rd in Atlantic Division) this weekend. Boston travels to Philadelphia on Friday (7:00 p.m., CSN) then hosts the Sixers on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., CSN). As we all know, Philly is a bad matchup for Boston therefore they usually play them very tough. In their first meeting this season-back on November 9-Philadelphia won 106-100 at the Garden.

This weekend is when Boston could use some extra contributions from its supposedly deep bench. They can't rely on Garnett, Pierce and Terry to give them huge minutes in either contest so it's up to the young guys-Green, Sullinger, Courtney Lee, Leandro Barbosa-to make it happen when they need a rest.

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Sorry Kevin Love, Kevin Garnett Still Runs Minnesota

The Celtics are 14-5 since the All-Star break and in sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division for the first time this season. Rajon Rondo recorded 10+ assists for the 12th straight game (a team record).

Those are the three most notable highlights from Boston's (29-22, 11-14 away) 100-79 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves (25-28, 13-13 home) this evening at the Target Center.

Ray Allen missed his fifth game in a row but the Celtics still managed to win their fourth straight and sixth out of their last seven games.

Since this was in his former home, it was only right that Kevin Garnett (24 points, 10 rebounds) was the best player on either team. I'm not sure what he did over the All-Star break but he appears to have found an anti-aging formula since he's playing some great basketball, it's the best he's looked in years.

Paul Pierce added 21 points, Rondo notched 17 assists, six rebounds and three steals (with two turnovers), Avery Bradley scored 17 and Brandon Bass had 12 points. Keyon Dooling (8 points, 3 assists) and Greg Stiemsma (8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks) are the two bench players that are taking the most advantage of their increased minutes.

Minnesota is Kevin Love's (22 points, 11 rebounds) team and although he's been playing out of his mind this season, especially lately, suggestions that he could win an MVP award are absurd since the Timberwolves are under .500 and unlikely to make the playoffs.

Without Ricky Rubio (lost to an ACL tear), Love doesn't have enough help. Luke Ridnour had 15 points and eight assists. Rookie Derrick Williams put up 14 points and seven rebounds. No other Timberwolf scored in double figures.

This was one that Minnesota really needed to keep their fading playoff hopes alive but the funny thing is that the Celtics basically never gave them a chance. Boston was up 31-20 after one quarter and 56-45 at halftime. The Green took a 79-67 lead into the fourth and although the Timberwolves cut it to 10, the C's never were truly threatened.

Boston had one of its best defensive performances as they shot 14.2% better than Minnesota (48.9%-34.7%). Nearly doubling up the Timberwolves in assists (29-15) helped the Celts overcome 13 more made free throws (21-8). The Celtics had four more steals (9-5) while the Timberwolves committed a whopping 11 more turnovers (20-9). That helped Boston lead 16-3 in points off turnovers plus they had 10 more points in the paint (46-36).

This next week is arguably the toughest of the season for the Celtics in terms of opponents: they face Miami, San Antonio, Chicago and Indiana over seven days. April looks very tough as Boston starts out with seven playoff teams in a row. The good news is that their back-to-back couldn't be any easier: at Raptors, at Nets and at Bobcats.

The Heat come to TD Garden on Sunday afternoon and if it feels like they haven't played the Celtics in months, it's true. Their only meeting was the second game of the season, a 115-107 win by the Heat in Miami. Boston needs to prove they can beat a team the caliber of the Heat on a consistent basis. I'm excited since I'm going and it's my first Celtics game of the season. I haven't seen them play the Heat since Miami signed LeBron James and Chris Bosh so it should be a fun atmosphere (3:30 game on ABC, national audience).

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The Celtics will play 1.5 quarters, still win and you'll pretend to enjoy it

Each game brings new obstacles and challenges for a Boston Celtics team that is coasting like only they can until the NBA playoffs start in a few weeks.

You would think that a miserable Minnesota Timberwolves squad, without its only star (Kevin Love), would be easy pickings especially when you're up 25 (38-13 in the second quarter) but I guess you haven't seen the Boston Celtics the last few seasons.

Rajon Rondo sat out with a sprained pinkie and Delonte West (8 points, 5 assists) made his first start since his return to Boston as the Celtics (51-21) held on for an 85-82 win at the Target Center over Minnesota (17-57).

After a great first quarter (32-13), the Celts decided to play chicken with the broken down train known as the Timberwolves. Amazingly, even Minnesota can comeback when Boston appears that disinterested and more importantly, great looks stop falling.

The Timberwolves actually tied it in the fourth and led by one in the fourth before their group of stiffs start playing like well stiffs.

Paul Pierce rescued Boston with a team-high 23 points and seven rebounds. Kevin Garnett had 13 points, 13 rebounds and five assists in his trip back to 'Sota. Nenad Krstic (6 rebounds) and Ray Allen notched 11 points while Jeff Green (9 points) and Glen Davis (8 points, 6 rebounds) were sparks off the bench.

Michael Beasley had a game-high 28 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves which sounds impressive until you see that he was 11-for-28 from the field. Darko Milicic (15 points, 9 rebounds) actually looked good, words I never thought I'd think or say in my life. Your favorite emo point guard Luke Ridnour had 10 points and eight assists while Anthony Tolliver put up 16 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks off the bench.

With ten games left in the regular season, the win put Boston within two games of the Chicago Bulls. Both are in action tonight as the Celtics visit the Pacers while Chicago hosts the Sixers. Needless to say, the Cs need a win in the tough road back-to-back and some help from Philadelphia would be a pleasant surprise.

Von Wafer helps Celtics win an actual game

If you ever thought that Von Wafer - the last man on the Boston Celtics' bench - would ever do anything that would help them win a regular season game, you're either related to him or you're a lunatic.

However, that was the story last night as Wafter brought energy off the bench and his 10 points and six rebounds were crucial as the Celts (26-7) stole a game from the Minnesota Timberwolves (9-26), 96-93 at the TD Garden.

Led by rebounding machine Kevin Love (12 points, 24 rebounds - a Garden record), the Timberwolves were in control for most of the contest but some fourth quarter heroics by Paul Pierce (23 points), Ray Allen (20 points) and Glen Davis (17 points) allowed Boston to escape with the win.

Rajon Rondo was back to his old tricks with six points and 16 assists. He actually had the two biggest baskets for the Cs as well: a floater and a jumper in the last few minutes.

Minnesota got 19 points from Michael Beasley, 15 points from Martell Webster off the bench, 14 from Darko Milicic and 13 from Luke Ridnour.

The Timberwolves led 25-17 after one quarter and 47-43 at halftime. Boston inched closer with a decent third quarter (27-26) then won it in the fourth (26-20).

For the game, the Celts shot 45.1% to Minnesota's 41.7%. Thanks to Love's prowess, the Timberwolves had 15 more rebounds (45-30) but it was the same story in the assist department thanks to Rondo (22-16). Boston also had five more blocks (7-2) since Jermaine O'Neal had four (he's still good defensively), five less turnovers (15-10) and 12 more points in the paint (38-26).

Wednesday night is one of the marquee games of the NBA regular season even though I'm sure it won't get much hype. It pits the Western Conference's best team: the San Antonio Spurs against the East's best - Boston - at the TD Garden. It's hard to get excited about a regular season game but these teams only meet once or twice a season and they always seem to be great games.

Dan Gadzuric, doing it for all his bitches at Governor's Academy

Doc Rivers came to his senses and sat the Big 3 and Kendrick Perkins last night as the Celtics closed out the 2009-2010 regular season with a summer-league scrimmage against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Bucks (46-36) still had something to play for, seeding, so it was understandable that they won it 106-95 at the TD Garden. Boston will play the Miami Heat in the first round while Milwaukee gets the Atlanta Hawks.

Luke Ridnour and Jerry Stackhouse led Milwaukee with 17 points, Ersan Ilyasova scored 14, Dan Gadzuric notched 14 points and nine rebounds and John Salmons had 12 points.

Rajon Rondo, no idea why he played, led the Celts (50-32) with 21 points, 15 assists and six rebounds. Marquis Daniels was the only other starter in double figures with 13 points. Shelden Williams and Nate Robinson both scored 12 points off the bench.

Great trivia: Boston's starting five last night was Rondo, Daniels, Glen Davis, Rasheed Wallace and Michael Finley. Stump your friends and family with that doozy.

Celtics-Heat Game 1 is on Saturday night at the Garden. Saturday is going to be a great day for Boston sports fans: the weather is supposed to be crappy but the Bruins play the Sabres at 1 (in Game 2), the Sox host the Rays and then the Celts-Heat start it up.