Boston ends two game losing streak with rout of Sacramento

The Boston Celtics bounced back from their season high two game losing streak in impressive fashion on Sunday as they thrashed the Sacramento Kings by 45 points at Arco Arena.  The Celtics blew open a 6 point first quarter lead as they dominated Sacramento from wire to wire en route to a 108-63 victory.

Kevin Garnett led all scorers with 21 points and 11 rebounds in just 23 minutes of play as the Celtics emptied their bench as the lead started to grow.  Ray Allen added 19 points for the defending NBA champs and Eddie House contributed 15 points off the bench.  So complete was the Celtics dominance on both ends of the floor that Sacramento was fortunate to even have one player in double figures—John Salmons led the Kings with a paltry 11 points followed by Jason Thompson with 9 and two other Kings with 7 a piece.

Paul Pierce said after the game that it just didn’t *look* like the Celtics were making a statement:

"That's our statement. We feel like the last couple of games we haven't been living up to what we've been doing most of the year. We wanted to get back to that and establish our defense. I thought we did that."

The Celtics held Sacramento to just 28% shooting, with the Kings making only 19 field goals for the game.  It was also the sixth largest margin of victory in Celtics history, and the largest in 38 years since Boston defeated the Baltimore Bullets 153-107 in 1970.  Pierce assured reporters that the Celtics never panicked despite the back to back losses:

"It wasn't like we're a team that's going to panic. We just tried to regroup. We just executed back on the court and just did some of the things we've been doing all year long, trying to get a win and play better basketball."

One person who claimed to not be impressed with the final score was Celtics coach Doc Rivers:

"I don't even actually know the margin. I never look at that honestly. I don't look at that. I don't even know the score to be honest. I know we won and that's all that counts for us."

While Boston appears to have recovered from their rare back to back losses, the Kings continue in freefall.  They’ve lost six straight and 16 of their L18.  They’ll have a good opportunity to post a win as the LA Clippers come to town on Tuesday night, but they’ll be back on the road Friday and Saturday with games at Detroit and Indiana.  With a 2-13 mark away from Arco Arena, that doesn’t bode well for Sacramento. 

Boston faces another tough road challenge on Tuesday as they travel to beautiful Portland, Oregon to play the talented young Blazers at The Rose Garden Arena.  They’ll return home on Friday for what should be little more than a glorified scrimmage against the 6-23 Washington Wizards before playing the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.