The Clover Report: Week Eighteen
It was a busy week for the Boston Celtics to say the least. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. The Celtics had games, a signing, and a ceremony to honor a legend so let’s recap it all. The first game was last week on the road against the Washington Wizards. Before the game, the Celtics finally used their player exception that they got from the Gordon Hayward injury. The man they used it on was Greg Monroe, who was released by the Phoenix Suns the week before. I was a big fan of the signing because Monroe is an old school big that can get rebounds and points in the low posts.
As for the game itself, Monroe made his debut and got 5 points and 6 rebounds off of the bench. It was a back and forth game that went into overtime between the two rivals. But it was the Celtics that pulled the game out 110—104. Kyrie Irving led the way with 28 points and Jaylen Brown followed up with 18. It was a very impressive road win for Boston. Next up, the Celtics traveled home to take on the Indiana Pacers. Surprisingly, the Celtics got off to a terrible start as the Pacers outscored them 30-16 in the first quarter. The Celtics were able to mount a comeback but fell short as the Pacers won 97—91. Victor Oladipo dropped 35 points while Irving scored 21. The bench struggled mightily in this game for Boston as it was a disappointing loss.
Next up, it was one of the biggest games of the years. Not only were the Celtics hosting the rival Cleveland Cavaliers, but they were retiring Paul Pierce’s number after the game. In a summary of the entire event, let’s just say one aspect was awesome and the other was not. The new look Cavs crushed the Celtics 121—99 as they won going away. LeBron James had a near triple double as he finished with 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 10 assists. It was the first time all year that the Celtics appeared to be overmatched and it was especially surprising in this game, considering the Cavs debuted 4 new players to the team. If the Cavs are truly rejuvenated from the trades they made, the Celtics path to the Finals just got a lot harder. In the final game of the week, the Celtics hosted the Los Angeles Clippers. It was a shootout but the Clippers pulled away to win 129—119. DeAndre Jordan played out of his mind as he finished with a career high 30 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Clippers to victory.
So it was quite the busy week for the Celtics to say the least. But without a doubt, the highlight of the week was Paul Pierce getting his number 34 retired. The video above shows Pierce’s speech to the city of Boston and boy it is emotional. I feel like he could have wrapped his speech up a little faster but that still doesn’t take away from the event itself. Paul Pierce is a top 5 Celtic of all-time and the importance of his legacy was shown on Sunday. #ThankYouPaul
Written By: Steve Santoro (SVS_1993)
