NBA Round-Up: 3 January, 2011 - (Part II)
Boston Celtics 96 - Minnesota Timberwolves 93
The Boston Celtics cruised to a 96-93 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night at the TD Garden in Boston.
Paul Pierce finally found his rhythm on the night. He hit five three-pointers on his way to 23 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Pierce also helped
lead the way defensively for Boston. The Celtics captain scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half. Ray Allen contributed 20 points. While Rajon Rondo did not seem bothered by any ankle issues. Rondo dished out 16 assists, and hit two crucial shots down
the stretch for Boston, who won their 26th game of the season.
"I was really proud of how well our guys played. We have to pay our dues to learn how to win ball games, and this young team is going to. We're going to make sure we put
ourselves in position as we go forward to win those ballgames," Minnesota head coach Kurt Rambis said after the game.
Michael Beasley led the Wolves with 19 points. It was another great performance from Kelvin Love, as he scored 12 points and grabbed an eye-catching 24 boards in the losing
effort. Martell Webster scored 15 points, Darko Milicic had 14, and Luke Ridnour scored 13 for the Timberwolves, who lost their 26th game of the season.
Minnesota had 14 rebounds over the entire opening quarter, which helped them open up an early eight-point lead. The Timerwolves played the first quarter well, taking a
25-17 lead into the second. In the second quarter, Boston went on the attack in an attempt to trim the deficit. However, Minnesota maintained a 47-43 at half time.
In the third, the Wolves got it going offensively, and used that to slowly build up a 73-70 lead at the end of the quarter. Facing
a one-point deficit with just 10 seconds remaining in the final buzzer, Minnesota inbounded the ball to a wide-open Luke Ridnour, who cut to the basket. The Wolves' point guard however, took one too many steps on his way to the basket and was whistled for
traveling with eight seconds remaining, turning the ball over to Boston.
New Orleans Hornets 84 - Philadelphia 76ers 77
The New Orleans Hornets defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 84-77 on Monday night at the New Orleans Arena.David
West scored a game-high 17 points for the Hornets, who won their 21st game of the season. Chris Paul contributed 15 points, five assists and three rebounds in the New Orleans' third consecutive victory.
David West said after the game, "We're not going to let one guy guard another guy straight up. We're totally committed to just playing team defence. We know that ultimately,
if we guard, we're going to have a chance to win games. If we can make them fight and work extra hard for every single possession, we're going to find ourselves in good shape."
Elton Brand did all he could and led the Sixers with team-high 14 points. In addition, he pulled down 10 rebounds for Philadelphia, who lost their 21st game of the season.
Andres Nocioni had 13 points, while Jrue Holiday and Marreese Speights each had 12 points for the 76ers, who wrapped up their eight-game road trip 3-5.
Both teams started sluggishly but the Sixers caught fire later on, and held a 26-23 lead at the end of the opening quarter. The
Hornets went on a 17-0 run bridging the second and third quarter. New Orleans went from trailing 40-31 with over three minutes left in the first half, to leading 48-40 with more than 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter, after a Marco Belinelli jumper.
The Hornets continued to up their tempo in the third quarter and established a 68-58 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. Chris
Paul and David West led the rest of the way, to lead their side to another superb home victory against the Sixers.
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