After the Phoenix Suns handed them their first loss of the regular season, the Boston Celtics made sure they weren’t going to fall into any bad habits against the New Jersey Nets Saturday night.  Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo led in scoring with 16 apiece as the C’s went on to win 86-76, leaving the Nets defeated at 0-7.

Even though New Jersey couldn’t hold on in the end, they definitely gave Boston a run for their money. “We expect that short-handed guys are going to come out and play hard. We didn’t take them for granted, they just played hard and executed,” Pierce said. “We’re playing a team that’s desperate. They haven’t won. They’ve got everything against them.”

Center Brook Lopez posted a game high 23 points with seven rebounds. The young seven-footer was glad to see his team fight to the end with one of the leagues premier teams. “We were right there,” said Lopez. “We all showed we can be competitive.”

The Celtics have a couple days to relax and build their strength back up before hosting the Utah Jazz this Wednesday at 7:30 PM. Boston Celtics tickets are available right here with us at AceTicket.com!

Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen all took the night off yesterday for the Celtics preseason contest against the New Jersey Nets, giving others the opportunity to step up and showcase how deep their bench can really go.  The Celtics Big Three-less featured four players in double figures and a late game comeback to win 91-88.

Rajon Rhondo was key to Boston’s victory with 18 points and 9 rebounds while dishing out 13 assists.  Before the game he decided that it was his time to test his endurance, playing over 40 minutes total.  “I wanted to play it out,” he said. “I was playing to win. It’s still a game. You don’t put on the uniform to lose. People might not take as seriously, I wanted to win regardless.”

Rasheed Wallace came up big with 20 points and 9 rebounds.  Glen Davis and Eddie House also contributed with 18 and 14 respectively. The Celtics will next take on the Toronto Raptors tonight at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.

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The New Jersey Nets may be changing locations sooner than expected since Russian multi-billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov just bought out 80% of the franchise. NBA commissioner David Stern has widely opened arms out to Prokhorov with the belief that the new deal will benefit the league on an international level.  Standing at 6′6, the richest man in Russia was also a stand-out ball player back in the day.

Many owners and players are excited for the NBA’s new international addition.  Russia has a proud basketball history and currently serve as top contenders in the Euroleague.  Despite the country’s success that includes their recent Euro Championship run in 2007, the only Russian player in the NBA right now is Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko.

Highly outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is another opinion that is thrilled with the Nets new beginnings.  “I love it. I think he will bring fresh ideas and viewpoints, and hopefully this will be the start of a trend toward international investors,” Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “Plus, I took Russian in high school, so it will give me a chance to refresh.”

The Nets franchise began as members of the ABA in 1967.  After going back and forth between New Jersey and New York they landed in East Rutherford, NJ in 1981.  After 30 years in the Izod Center, the organization will find their new home in New York.

Multiple sources are reporting that Glen “Big Baby” Davis is heading to the New Jersey Nets. Kenyon Dooling, Yi Jianlian, Eduardo Najera, and the 2010 first round pick are among the possible assets the Celtics may be after. Two drafts ago, Danny Ainge expressed serious interest in Yi before opting to trade the pick. As the C’s may also be looking to deal Gabe Pruitt, the deal may be expanded to include more teams and more players.

Stephon Marbury (in the midst of his 24/7 webcast, StarburyTV) may have an offer to rejoin the Boston Celtics according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. Rumors of a deal that may potentially bring Bruce Bowen to Boston are circulating as well.  Stay tuned for more updates and more 2009-2010 Boston Celtics news!

Rajon Rondo scored 31 points with nine rebounds and five assists to help the Boston Celtics hold on to win against the New Jersey Nets 106-104 last night in Boston.  Eddie House and Ray Allen chipped in with 15 and 12 points, hitting five of nine shots together from beyond the arc.  The win helped the C’s keep their one-game advantage for second place over the Orlando Magic.

Last year head coach Doc Rivers was able to rest the big 3 in the last weeks of the regular season.  With four games left to play this time around the starters will be apart of the action. “The more important thing is just building on something going into the playoffs,” said Celtics captain Paul Pierce.  We’ve won five in a row, but we want to be playing well.”

Vince Carter led the Nets in scoring with 33 points while pulling down 12 boards.  New Jersey had previously been eliminated from the playoffs when the Pistons beat the Knicks last Wednesday.  “To fall short is just disappointing,” said Carter. “I think people were picking us to be last in the league - in the East, period.  We showed otherwise.

The Celtics will next be heading down to Detroit to match up against the Pistons tomorrow night at 8:00 pm.  Boston Celtics tickets are still available here at Aceticket.com!

Paul Pierce netted 31 points, including the go-ahead shot with 20.9 seconds left for the C’s to win over the New Jersey Nets last night 115-111.  After notching the win the Boston Celtics joined the Cleveland Cavaliers as the only teams to already have a spot for the upcoming post-season.  Cleveland has the top rank in the East so far, and Boston is just one game behind.

Rajon Rondo had a key night for the C’s with 20 points, five assists, and five rebounds.  Kendrick Perkins scored 17 points with 13 rebounds, while Ray Allen totaled for 16 points.  Despite Vince Carters 34 point performance, the Nets were not able to beat out the Celtics in the end.  Devin Harris also contributed for the Nets, adding 25 points and 11 assists.

The Nets fought all the way to the last few seconds when Carter missed his last field goal attempt, leading to two made free throws by Allen. “They got what they wanted,” said Carter speaking of the Celtics execution down the stretch. “Paul shot the ball unbelievable.  Great teams do that.  We are trying to develop that same mentality and I think we learned a lot tonight.”

The Celtics will host the Cavaliers tomorrow night and fight for the #1 spot in the East.  This battle may serve as a preview for what is to come in this years playoffs.

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Three of Devin Harris’s 39 points came in the final seconds after hitting a 47 footer to pull the Nets ahead by 2 points in last nights thriller against the Philadelphia 76ers.  Keyon Dooling and Vince Carter chipped in with 16 and 10 points as the Nets gave Philly their fourth straight loss.  Andre Iguodala led the 76ers with 21 points and 9 rebounds, despite the luck belonging to Harris this time around.

Harris described the excitement saying “after the review, everyone was jumping up and down, going crazy.”  The spectacular shot came after bobbling the ball while running into Philadelphia’s Iguodala, who remains bitter about the play.  “I thought a lot was going on for 1.8 seconds,” Iguodala said. “I thought for sure it wasn’t good and I still don’t think it was good.”

He will have to get over the shot sooner or later as the 76ers travel to Washington to play the Wizards tomorrow.  New Jersey will host the Chicago Bulls at home next.

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The last time the Celtics and Nets met, the Celtics made it look easy in a 118-86 rout. Saturday night’s game was no different, with the C’s nearly doubling up on New Jersey in the first half. The Celtics benefited from Rajon Rondo’s near triple double (9 rebounds, 14 assists, and 8 points, along with 2 steals),  solid play off the bench from Leon Powe and Eddie House, and Ray Allen’s 25 point effort.

“It was a great start,” C’s coach Doc Rivers told the AP. “It’s one of the things we talked about. If you get off to a good start, it gives you a chance to play well the whole game. I thought the whole team was running well.”

The Celtics will host the Phoenix Suns at home tonight at the Garden. Keep your eyes on Shaquille O’Neal’s Twitter feed in case he any enlightening post-game comments.

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As the New Jersey Nets clear cap space (getting rid of Richard Jefferson’s contract in the trade for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons) the rumors and speculation of Lebron James in New York get louder. Lebron, a frequent visitor to NY, and lists it as his favorite city.

“My favorite borough? Brooklyn, said James. “Brooklyn is definitely a great place here in New York City, and some of my best friends are from Brooklyn, so I stick up for them.”

Among those friends is hip-hop icon Jay-Z, a close friend of James’ and partial owner of the Nets. Jay-Z helped orchestrate the 2010 relocation of the nets to Brooklyn; the first pro team that will play in the borough since the Dodgers in 1957.

James can opt out of his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Summer of 2010, and would become an unrestricted free agent. The future Brooklyn Nets would still need to move Zach Randolph, and either Eddy Curry, Jared Jeffries, or Jamal Crawford to free up enough cap space to pay Lebron a max contract.

The Knicks would also be in a position to offer max money to Lebron, although they would not be ready until 2011.

The 2008 NBA trade deadline is over and has left some teams feeling confident about making a run into the playoffs, and left others wondering how long it will take the potential talent they traded for to actually turn into the superstars they were hoping they might become.

Sorry Timberwolves fans, but that’s just never going to happen for you.

Unlike years past, the league saw some big names relocate from struggling franchises onto playoff contending teams which is not only great for those organization’s playoff hopes, but its great for the NBA as well. Maybe for one month now we can forget about how overpaid Isaiah Thomas and the Knicks are and focus on the fact that there is actually a race going on in the West this year for the top spot in the playoffs, and the best team is the league, the Celtics, are coming out of the East. Who would have thought?

A huge winner in this years’ trade deadline has to be the L.A. Lakers. Landing Pau Gasol makes them instantly a Western Conference finalist contender. The Lakers have gone 8-1 since they acquired the big man, and that is without a healthy C Andrew Bynum. Pretty much all they had to do to get Gasol was give up Kwame Brown, yea remember him, first pick in the 2001 draft (HA!). That may go down as the worst first pick in the history of the NBA draft, but regardless, dishing him out to Memphis was brilliant because his contract expires at the end of the year anyway.

Another huge trade that was really unexpected, and at this point no one knows how it will pan out for either team, was the Shaquille O’Neal trade to the Phoenix Suns. Shaq is averaging career lows in points and rebounds, hasn’t been completely healthy for two years, and is going to be 36-years old in a few weeks. The Suns gave up former all-star power forward Shawn Marion and a talented point-guard in Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat in exchange for O’Neal. The former league MVP leaves the team with the worst record in the NBA to join the Suns who have the 2nd best record in the West. If neither team makes out in the deal, the person who did was Shaq.

Ben Wallace has found a new place to call home… again. The defensive specialist joins Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers after he was dealt from the Chicago Bulls for four players in total including Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden. The Cavs also traded for Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Joe Smith so the team chemistry may be off for a few weeks, but hopefully they begin to click before the playoffs. The moves they made are definitely an upgrade, but you may not see the results this season.

The biggest name to move right before the deadline may have been future hall of fame point guard Jason Kidd. Kidd was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in an eight player deal that left the New Jersey Nets hurting…even more then they had already been, but with $3 million dollars more in their pockets. The deal also left the Mavs excited for the second half of the season to get underway with Kidd running the show. Mavericks GM Mark Cuban finally got something he wanted, if he couldn’t buy the Cubs, well at least he could buy Jason Kidd… like Jay-Z really needs the money!

Some other moves that were made that wouldn’t be considered blockbuster deals, but are definitely worth mentioning include the San Antonio Spurs landing PF/C Kurt Thomas from the Seattle Supersonics. It’s not a flashy name, but a good move for the Spurs who needed some more size to compete with Shaq and Gasol who they will now be seeing more often playing in the West.

Mike Bibby was traded to the Atlanta Hawks which is an upgrade at point guard from Tyronne Lue who is now with the Sacramento Kings, and the move shows that Atlanta still has signs of life in them and wants to try and sneak in the eight and final spot for the Eastern Conference playoffs. They will need to play better basketball on the road where they are currently at a pathetic 6-19, but Bibby’s leadership could help turn that around.

So when all is said and done with, who were the biggest winner and loser after this year’s trading deadline?

Biggest Loser: The Minnesota Timberwolves – They traded away Gerald Green whom they had just traded for in the off-season when they gave away Kevin Garnett to the Celtics. It seems like this team has been rebuilding for ten years now, and its not going to stop anytime soon.

Biggest Winner: The Los Angeles Lakers – Pau Gasol is going to take a little pressure off of Kobe Bryant, help their team defense, and be the spark to drive the Lakers to the top spot in the Pacific Division. They didn’t give up hardly anything, and they became instant contenders with his addition.

The final two months of the NBA season are going to be filled with lots of action so make sure to contact Ace Ticket if you want to be there and a part of it all!