3 Men and a Baby!
18-2 - we march on
Davis helps Boston to 90-78 win By HOWARD ULMAN, AP Sports Writer
47 minutes ago
BOSTON - Big Baby was the big man for the Boston Celtics.
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Rookie Glen Davis made his first start since taking his power game and cute name to the NBA from LSU and led Boston to a 90-78 win over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night that kept the Celtics unbeaten at home.
The young-looking 289-pound center had 16 points and nine rebounds, and made all 10 of his free throws as Boston improved to an NBA-best 18-2.
He started in place of Kendrick Perkins, who hurt his right big toe in a bizarre incident at home. Part of Perkins' bed fell on his foot Monday night when he tried to fix it after it tilted to one side, he said.
But Davis was on the bench when the fourth quarter started and the Celtics clamped down on defense, outscoring the Kings 22-14 in the final period.
Paul Pierce led Boston with 26 points, Ray Allen had 15 and Kevin Garnett added 11. Sacramento, playing its fourth straight game without their injured leading scorer, Kevin Martin, got 16 points each from Ron Artest and Beno Udrih and 14 from Mike Miller.
For the first time this season, the Celtics' starting five was different.
And that was a huge difference from last season when they used 26 different starting combinations and went 24-58 and didn't get their 18th win until they had lost 43.
Newcomers Garnett and Allen are the biggest reasons for that. But Davis has made an impact off the bench before getting his first start since being drafted in the second round.
Boston was leading by just two points before he finished the third quarter with two free throws that made it 68-64. The Celtics then pulled away, starting the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run that put them ahead 77-66 when they called a time out with 5:10 left.
Their biggest lead was 87-70 on two free throws by Pierce.
The Celtics improved to 11-0 at home, one win short of their franchise record set in 1984-85. Their best full-season home record is 40-1 in 1985-86 when they won the last of their 16 championships.
Sacramento dropped to 0-9 on the road.
The Celtics were rested after their longest stretch without a game, three days, since they won in Chicago on Saturday night. But the Kings stayed closer than most of their opponents for much of the game before they pulled away for their 15th double-figure win of the season.
Sacramento led 45-44 at halftime after Boston squandered a 31-19 lead in the second quarter. Only outstanding free throw shooting kept it close as the Celtics made all 14 shots from the line. They were way off target from long distance, making just 2 of 15 attempts from 3-point range.
Garnett, limited to 14 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, started the second half and helped Boston take a 56-53 lead by scoring the last three points in a 12-6 run.
