Last night, Phil Jackson tried to pass his all-time coaching wins list, but it did not happen in the game against the Celtics. Phil Jackson stayed tied with Auerbach, seventh in the NBA history with 938 career wins.
The Celtics finished their Western road trip with a win over the Lakers 110-91. Boston enhanced to a best NBA-record 26-3. They have won eight straight games on the road. Boston is currently 12-2 away from TD Banknorth Garden and is 8-0 against the Western Conference.
Boston's scorers were Paul Pierce with 33 points, Kevin Garnett with 22 points and 12 board, and Ray Allen with 19 points. For the Lakers; Kobe Bryant scored 22 points but he was 0 for 6 on 3-pointers and was only 6 of 25 from the floor.
In the opening quarter Boston swooped on the Lakers, bounding the LA team to 38.1 percent field goal shooting (8-21). None of the starters for Boston scored fewer than 5 points in the quarter. Moreover, there was some premature petulance by both squads with technicals. Lakers Bryant and Ariza got the punishment, and Garnett and Kendrick for Boston.
While Boston led 45-36 the game turned more physical; Garnett was slash on top of the right eye. A mad Garnett with blood flowing down his face showed the cut to the refs and retired to the locker room. During that time the Celtics went scoreless for 4 minutes until Eddie House's jumper put Boston ahead, 47-38.
The rest of the game was a continue battle but the Lakers' deficiency was the key success for an aggressive Boston defense. The Celtics with 10:49 left in the last quarter, was leading, 86-66. With 9:36 left to play, Bynum fouled out and a 3-pointer by House pressed Boston up, 93-68. With that happing some of the deceptions' Lakers fans started to leave the Staple Center. Boston was already claiming the victory 110-91 in the scoreboard.
Celtics' Coach Rivers was delighted his team as it was the fourth win in five nights. "I think the atmosphere played in our favor. The key for us early was getting off to good start. We talked about that before the game. There is no way we could have played from behind tonight, playing a fourth game in five nights. Going out, getting the quick start and getting that lead was big for us," he said.
