Celtics Posts Seventh Win over Rockets

The Boston Celtics claimed the seven consecutive victories for a nine victory percentage.

The Celtics defeated the Houston Rockets with a 97-93 triumph on Jan. 3 with the splendid play of three major Celtics players at the home ground. The Celtics, claiming 15 victories (1 defeat) only at its home ground, celebrated the 27th triumphs in total (3 defeats), marking the victory percentage of 0.900.

The Celtics recorded the highest victory percentage of 30 matches (27-3) that only five teams have ever made including the Chicago Bulls (72-10) during the 1995-6 season.

Celtics’s three major players showed splendid performances.

Kevin Garnett led the game, scoring 26 points with nine rebounds and Paul Pierce added 19 points with seven assists and six rebounds. Ray Allen garnered 13 points.

The Rockets was seriously affected without Tracy McGrady who was out for a fourth game in a row for a sore left knee. Though Yao Ming had 19 points and 13 rebounds and Bonzi Wells contributed 25 points and nine rebounds, the Rockets lost two games in a row.

Three minutes and 55 seconds before the game ended, Celtics guard Rajon Rondo (13 points) shot a lay-up to lead by 89-87 and Garnett’s impeccable shoots led to the victory.

The Celtics was trailing the Rockets in the rebounds by 34-41, but it triumphed with higher success rates in the two-point shoots by more than 10 percent.

The Detroit Pistons defeated the Washington Wizards by 106-93. The Pistons (25-7) with the 10th victory followed the Celtics in the victory percentage of 0.781. The Wizard’s (15-15) is 0.5.

The Pistons won an easy victory with 11 three-point shoots (the success rate of 50 percent) and a close leading in the rebounds. It also displayed stable team power with seven players having two digit scores.

The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Atlanta Hawks with a 98-94 win with an outstanding performance of LeBron James who scored 36 points, five rebounds and four assists.

hic@donga.com