12/1/08: Celtics v. Magic

Thanks to my obsessive refreshing of Ticketmaster, Ben and I were able to grab some cheap seats to see the defending champs take on the Orlando Magic last night at the garden. Psyched! A few random thoughts from last night:

• J.J. Redick started the game, thanks to a host of injured Orlando players. A shooting clinic it was not, however, as Jonathan Clay managed only six points despite playing 31 minutes. The crowd was pretty excited by his appearance, though, but not nearly as excited as they were for..
• SCAL-A-BRI-NE. Alright. Yes. It's funny that he's goofy looking and terrible, and when the blinding all-orange AT&T ad comes on while he's playing, he looks even goofier. But he's BAD. Stop the chants, people. Doc doesn't know you're kidding and actually puts him in. Just stop.
• Nine technicals in the game! The Celtics now lead for most technicals in the league, thanks in large part to Perk's nine on the season. I had two favorites on the night:
• Sam Cassell drew a technical and was ejected (to massive cheers) in the 2nd quarter for arguing a technical that was called on Perk. And no, he was not playing at the time.
• Rashard Lewis got a technical and was stewing, perhaps thinking about starting a conversation with the ref. Hedo Turkoglu noted that this would be a bad decision, and ambled over to Lewis to talk him down, rub his back, maybe make him a warm cup of milk, but Rashard would have none of that and shoved Turkoglu down. Which leads me to this..
• Orlando looked like a pile of garbage. Clearly evident from the score (107-88), and the shooting %s (54%-42%), but this looked like a dysfunctional team. Dwight Howard looked annoyed that he's not still playing with the Olympic team/impatient for the dunk contest. Obviously this was not the usual Orlando starting lineup, but they just looked off for much of the game.
  
• Kind of a lackluster night for Leon.. 12 mins, a couple rebounds, a couple points, and three fouls. Note to Leon: work on your damn free throws! I'm sure RayRay can help you obsessively practice this shot until your arms fall off...

A great night for Pierce, Rondo, Allen, Garnett, House, and the row in front of us that won free bowls of clam chowder from Legal. Jerks. I'm hungry now, after looking at pictures of clam chowder, so I'm out.