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Rapid Reaction: Celtics 101, Wolves 97

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Rapid reaction after the Boston Celtics defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 101-97 on Monday night at TD Garden:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Jared Sullinger scored a team-high 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds and 5 assists over 35 minutes, while Avery Bradley added 19 points on 9-of-17 shooting in 32 minutes as the Celtics edged the Timberwolves at the finish line. Kevin Love scored a game-high 27 points, but on 9-of-26 shooting with 14 rebounds. Three of Minnesota's five players in double figures came off the bench with Dante Cunningham (12), (Northeastern's own!) Jose Juan Barea (10), and Alexey Shved (10).

TURNING POINT
In a game that featured 10 lead changes and seven ties (and with neither side ever leading by double digits), Minnesota and Boston found themselves tied at 92 with under three minutes to play. Sullinger drilled a straightaway 3-pointer with 2:22 to play and Boston's defense nearly made it stand up. Nikola Pekovic made a layup with 1:06 to play as the Timberwolves got within a point, but Sullinger and Jordan Crawford provided the free throws that helped Boston hang on.

CLEANING THE GLASS
Minnesota won the battle on the glass but only by a 51-50 margin. The Timberwolves did generate 19 offensive rebounds leading to 23 second-chance points, but Boston parlayed 14 offensive rebounds into 27 second-chance points.

LOOSE BALLS
The Celtics went 11 deep early in the game with foul trouble forcing Brad Stevens to lean on all five of his bigs. MarShon Brooks and Keith Bogans were healthy DNPs. ... Brandon Bass spent nearly the entire game in foul trouble, picking up his fifth personal just 2 ½ into the third quarter. ... Kris Humphries played 21 minutes in his place and was a team-best plus-14 while chipping in eight points and seven rebounds. ... Boston shot 44.2 percent from the field; the Timberwolves were at 37.8 percent. ... The Timberwolves committed just seven turnovers (leading to six points); Boston had 13 turnovers for 15 points.

WHAT IT MEANS
Boston (12-14) has now won two straight and 8 of their last 12 overall. The Celtics have two more games on this five-game homestand with visits from the Detroit Pistons (Wednesday) and Washington Wizards (Saturday). Boston travels to Indiana on Sunday, but then will enjoy a five-day holiday break after playing 29 games over the first 53 days of the season.
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CSNE

A. SHORRD BLAKLEY



Sullinger, Celtics tame Timberwolves, 101-97
 

BOSTON — It was a month to the day when the Minnesota Timberwolves had their way with the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics are certainly a better team now, and proved as much in making all the clutch plays when needed to escape with a 101-97 win.

Boston (12-14) continues to show that their collective parts are more than capable of playing with the superstar-led teams like the Timberwolves and their best player Kevin Love.

However, the Celtics are starting to develop a Love-like talent of their own in Jared Sullinger, who had a team-high 24 points along with snatching every important rebound before finishing with a team-best of 11.

Still, Love had a strong game for Minnesota (12-13) with 27 points and 14 rebounds.

After the Celtics lost 106-88 at Minnesota on Nov. 16, the Celtics were clearly in payback-mode on Monday.

And while Sullinger certainly was dominant down the stretch, this was yet another night in which Boston's collective efforts proved to be the difference.

Avery Bradley had 19 points, nine of which came in the third quarter when the Celtics went from six-down with seven-plus minutes to play, to seven-up (70-63) at the 2:32 mark of the third following a Bradley lay-up.

Scoring wasn't the only area that catapulted the Celtics to victory.

They also got key plays defensively, like Jeff Green coming from behind to block Nikola Pekovic's point-blank dunk in the game's closing seconds that eventually led to a pair of Boston free throws.

As the went on, it was clearly turning into one of those down-to-the-wire kind of games, the kind that Boston would have easily lost a month ago.

But this is a different time and in many ways, a different kind of Celtics team.

And if there's any doubt, the end result on Monday - a Boston win - validates their growth as a team this season.

112288

First time this season I felt it made a difference, but MAN THE REFS WERE AWFUL TONIGHT.

These refs are so pathetic it isn't funny anymore. They were the same way for the Knicks game but the Knicks were so bad even the refs couldn't help them out of a 40-point deficit.



KJ

Hi,
It was a good, solid win. What's even more important - Celtics managed to get ahead in the 4th quarter and keep the lead till the end.
The only negative part of the game was that ATL and BKN won   

AK

steve3344 wrote:Saw around half a dozen awful calls but if it had made a difference we would have lost.

Kind of a false equivalency Steve....that is like saying, the roads in Boston must have not been that bad on Sunday since you didnt have a crash.

Cowens Old School, Just wanted to add my voice to Bob's in appreciation for the game on thread commentary. I couldn't watch the game, either, but thanks to you, I caught the flavor. Hawk

anytime guys, was exciting good game to watch, Hump played some good defense on Love, and Sully took over the 4th, this kid is holding his own as a 5, once we get a real 7 footer, Iverson possibly? his post D and overall D has to be better than KO's....Sully will really flourish, also has an in between game too, surprisingly good handle on some elephant drives.

I like Hump, if we don't move him I wouldn't mind resigning him to a lesser deal.

cowens,

I was thinking the same about Humphries. Boston could retain him on a smaller contract. He certainly fits on this team.




KJ