© 2108 Jordan Long Sports-Scoop.com | Sports with Attitude!   The Boston Celtics are at the All-Star break, resuming the season on Friday against the Detroit Pistons.  The team is in decent shape to make the playoffs and  a run at the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference.  Boston sits at 40-19 and is only 2 games behind Toronto at 41-16. In the 1st half of the season Boston wasn’t the best scoring team with 103.1 points per game, 25th in the NBA.  This is a surprising number since they have some of the top scoring talent in Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Al Horford.  Irving leads the team with 24.7 points per game. The reason that the Celtics are one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference is their defense.  Opponents are having a tough time scoring against them.  Boston’s defense forces opposing teams into difficult shot opportunities limiting teams from scoring.  And, with only 99.6 points allowed per game, the team is 2nd in the NBA.  Only San Antonio gives up l

© 2108 Jordan Long Sports-Scoop.com | Sports with Attitude! The Boston Celtics retired Paul Pierce’s number on Sunday.  Pierce played 15 NBA seasons with the Celtics from 1998 to 2013.  In his time with the Celtics he established himself as one of the best players in the NBA and in Boston Celtics’ history.  He averaged 21.8 points, 3.9 assists and 6.0 rebounds per game.  With Pierce, Boston went to the playoffs 10 times and won the NBA Championship in 2008.  Pierce was deserving of this highest honor since most of his career was spent with the Celtics. Another member of the 2008 NBA Championship team who may have his number retired is Kevin Garnett.  Garnett spent 6 years of his 15-year NBA career with the Celtics.  In those years he was one of their top defenders averaging 8.3 rebounds, 1 block, and 1.2 steals per game.  His presence took pressure away from Pierce on defense. Offensively Garnett played down low near the basket allowing him to gather offensive rebounds for eas