FrontRowSportsReport.com: Sports Blog

The Boston Celtics are bringing in veteran point guard Sam Cassell to help guide their team to the NBA Championship. Cassell passed his physical and is expected to join the team in Boston when the Celtics play the Chicago Bulls.

Cassell, who is 38, was averaging 12.8 points this season for the Los Angeles Clippers. Cassell had been looking to leave the Clippers for some time and expressed interest in helping the Celtics make a run with their big three. Cassell would initially back-up starting point guard Rajon Rondo with the possibility of playing some off-guard.

Cassell’s former teammate on the Clippers, Corey Maggette, understood his need to goto a contender.  “This is Sam’s 15th season in the NBA and it is about business,” Maggette said. “He put himself in position where he can go to a team that can win a championship. Boston is one of the elite teams in the league.”

Seems as though the once unbeatable Boston Celtics are looking a bit more vulnerable after their trip through the NBA Western Conference. The Celtics are now 0-3 on their 5 game road trip after losing last night to the Phoenix Suns 85-77.

The Suns, who got their first win with Shaquille O’Neal, were led by Amare Stoudemire who put in a game high 28 points. Shaq only had 4 points but controlled the defensive boards grabbing a game high 14 total rebounds. After the game Shaq continued his humble approach and praised Stoudemire. “Amare Stoudemire is the best big man in the game right now - period, bar none,” O’Neal said. “I didn’t know he was that good. But talking to him and watching him play, he’s the best big man in the game at 25, and I mean that. I’m not just saying that to pump him up.”

Stoudemire probably benefited the most from the Shaq trade as having the big man at center lets Amare move to his natural power forward spot. Commenting about the position move he said after the game: “It’s helped me a lot, it’s just allowed me to play basketball. I don’t have to battle so much with the big guys and get in foul trouble, things like that. Tonight was a great step for us.”

The Celtics, who never led last night, were led my Kevin Garnett and his 19 points.? “This West is no joke,” Garnett said. “I said it before the trip that it’s going to be a test, and that’s what it’s become.” The Celtics only put up 30 minutes in the first half, their lowest total this year.

Last night saw the return, finally, of Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett to the lineup. Garnett who has been out since January 25th with a strained stomach muscle played only 21 minutes in the Celtics loss to the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets beat the Celtics, in Denver, 124-118 - this was the Celtics first loss to a Western Conference team this season.

The Nuggets were led by Carmelo Anthony who scored a game high 29 points and Allen Iverson who scored 28 points. However, Iverson did not bask in the big win for long, he felt that beat the top team puts added pressure on the Nuggets. “Winning this game puts a lot of pressure on us, because if you can beat a team like this, then you can beat all the other teams,” Iverson said after the game. “We have enough talent to scare some people, but we just have to bring it night in and night out.” Settle down A.I. you did beat the Celtics but they were not at 100%.

The Celtics were led my Paul Pierce who put up 24 points and Rajon Rondo who added 22 points. Garnett finished last nights game with 4 points and 8 rebounds - not typical Garnett numbers but I am sure he was happy with it. “It was good to get back,” Garnett said after the game.? “It felt good.” Celtics coach Doc Rivers was a little harder on the Garnett saying his return was “Not very Good. But you have to expect that when he sits out that long. He was rusty.”

Garnett has averaged 19.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game this season.

Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett is looking to return to the Celtics’ lineup this Tuesday. Garnett missed the Celtics last nine games, as well as the All-Star game, with a abdominal strain.

Garnett told the Boston Globe that based on how he felt in recent workouts he is going to target Tuesday’s game against the Denver Nuggets for his return. “I’m trying to play Tuesday,” Garnett said. “It’s been miserable. To be honest, miserable. But I’m in a good place mentally. I’m dealing with it.”

Garnett told the Globe that he will know more after Monday’s practice. Depending how he feels at that practice, Garnett could play limited minutes even though Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Garnett would only return when he is at 100%.

Without Garnett the Celtics were 7-2. Garnett is averaging 19.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.

Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett officially withdrew from the NBA All-Star Game yesterday, his replacement will be Detroit Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace. Garnett has missed 7 straight games due to a abdominal strain and will not play again until after the All-Star break.

Celtics and Eastern All-Star team coach Doc Rivers had hoped that Celtics shooting guard Ray Allen would have been Garnett’s replacement. “He should be anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t Ray they use,” Doc Rivers said. “It would be nice to have Ray on. I would take Ray.”Even without Garnett the Celtics were able to beat the San Antonio Spurs yesterday 98-90, without Garnett the Celtics are 5-2. Garnett is averaging 19.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.

Wallace will join Pistons teammates Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton at the NBA All-Star game being held in New Orleans. Wallace is averaging 12.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season.

Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett, who missed his 7th game in a row today, might miss a couple more games and may sit for the NBA All-Star game. Celtics coach, and East All-Star coach, Doc Rivers is very doubtful Garnett will play the games leading up to the All-Star game and will probably sit that game as well. Garnett is still recovering from straining his stomach muscle a couple weeks back. Garnett was the leading vote getter for the February 17th All-Star Game taking place in New Orleans.

Without Garnett the Celtics have gone 4-2 and still have the best record in the NBA.

How bad is it when you beat a team without 2 of your 3 star players? Just ask the Miami Heat who lost to the Boston Celtics last night 117-87 even though the Celtics were playing without Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. To make matter worse the 3rd star on that team, Paul Pierce, went scoreless for most of the first half and finished with only 7 points.

Allen is suffering from the flu and Garnett has a strained abdominal muscle - without them other Celtics players had to step up and did they ever. Leon Powe (who?) scored a career high 25 points, Rajon Rondo tied a career high with 23 points and Tony Allen put in 20 points. The Heat, who just snapped a 15 game losing streak, trailed for most of the game and were down by as much as 31 points at one point.

“One of the things that we talked about before the game is that no one before the game is that no one was going to be Ray Allen and no one is going to be Kevin Garnett,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “But all of them could do a little extra.”
If anything this is a testament to how good the Celtics really are - as we all know great teams find a way to win regardless of the adversary.  The real question is how bad are the Heat? God awful would be my guess

Last night the NBA released the names of those players who will be 2008 NBA All-Star starters. Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett led all vote-getters with 2,399,148 votes. Garnett will be making his 11th All-Star Game appearance, second amount active players - Shaquille O’Neal ranks first first 14. Next Thursday the coaches will select the reserves for each conference - the 2008 NBA All-Star game takes place in New Orleans on February 17th.

Here is the full list of 2008 NBA All-Star Game starters:

NBA Eastern Conference Starters: 

Jason Kidd
New Jersey Nets, Guard
9th All-Star appearance

Dwayne Wade
Miami Heat, Guard
4th All-Star appearance

Lebron James
Cleveland Cavaliers, Forward
4th All-Star appearance

Kevin Garnett
Boston Celtics, Forward
11th All-Star appearance

Dwight Howard
Orlando Magic, Center
2nd All-Star appearance

Western Conference Starters:

Kobe Bryant
Los Angeles Lakers, Guard
10th All-Star appearance

Allen Iverson
Denver Nuggets, Guard
9th All-Star appearance

Carmelo Anthony
Denver Nuggets, Forward
2nd All-Star appearance

Tim Duncan
San Antonio Spurs, Forward
10th All-Star appearance

Yao Ming
Houston Rockets, Center
6th All-Star appearance

The Boston Celtics lost only their 4th game of the season last night to of all teams the Charlotte Bobcats…to make it even worse it was in Boston. The Bobcats, who are 13-21 and a league worse 1-11 on the road, showed that the Celtics (29-4 overall) are beatable and might have issues on defense and depth. The Celtics were playing without Ray Allen, who sat with a pinched nerve in his neck, and Glen Davis who has been invaluable coming off the bench. Without those 2 players it seemed at times that the Celtics struggled to consistently put up points, especially later in the game. Boston hit just 42% of their shots and even though they started the game with a 35-24 lead they couldn’t keep it going.

Charlotte had contributions across the board from their players - Jason Richardson scored 34 points & had 9 rebounds, Gerald Wallace put up 15 points & 10 rebounds and Raymond Felton had 16 points & 8 assists.”I thought our offense was pretty effective and Jason Richardson just got hot and made some big shots,” Bobcats coach Sam Vincent said after the game. “The bottom line was that there was a better-focused effort of getting the ball to the rim, and getting to the bucket instead of settling for outside shots.”
The loss ended a 9 game winning streak for the Celtics and ruined their chance at setting the franchise record for fastest to 30 wins - a mark set by the 1959-60 Celtics who started their season 30-4. The Celtics were led by Kevin Garnett who had 24 points and Paul Pierce who had 13 points.

The Boston Celtics (29-3) and the Detroit Pistons (26-8) have the best and second best record in the NBA. Yup, that is right - the two top teams in the NBA play in the Eastern Conference, not the Western Conference. These top 2 teams played last night in what will probably be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals game.

The Celtics topped the Pistons 92 to 85 in game that showed that the Celtics can win with other players not named Garnett, Pierce or Allen. Rookie Glenn “Big Baby” Davis scored a career high 20 points after the Pistons focused their defense on the Big 3 and left Davis open much of the game. The Pistons led the Celtics 22-12 after the 1st quarter and held the lead for most of the game, however in the 4th the Celtics came together and outscored the Pistons 29-19. Davis, who came off the bench, led the Celtics with 20 points, Paul Pierce had 19, Kevin Garnett had 15 and Ray Allen had 9. The Pistons were led by Rip Hamilton’s 18 and Chauncey Billups who scored 17.

With the win last night in Detroit the Celtics extended their winning streak to 9 games.