You had the feeling this one was going to be over in a hurry. Seattle had lost five straight and nine of 10, was playing on the second night of a back-to-back, was finishing up an Eastern swing of seven games, and, well, is one of the worst teams in the NBA. The Celtics, meanwhile, had won nine straight, were unbeaten in March, had won 10 in a row at home, and had the best record in the league.
Not even Tim Donaghy could change this one.
The Celtics took control early, led by double digits for the final three quarters, allowed Doc Rivers to sit and watch - as opposed to actually coach - and drilled the overmatched SuperSonics, 111-82, before another de rigueur sellout at TD Banknorth Garden.
"We played well," understated Kevin Garnett, while Paul Pierce, sitting next to him at a table, cuffed around Garnett's bobblehead ("Get back on defense!"), which had been given to the first 5,000 in attendance.
Garnett and Ray Allen each had 18 points - in very limited minutes - as the Celtics rolled to their 10th straight victory, their longest winning streak since the halcyon days of 1986, when they rang up 14 straight in March and April. Pierce had all 14 of his points in a shot-from-guns first quarter as the Celtics again played superbly at both ends in manhandling a Seattle squad that looked every bit like the 16-win team it is.
"A nice, professional win," Rivers said. Prior to the game, his only remarks to the team were that this was a game the Celtics should win, so they might as well go out and win it.
The wiseguys in Vegas had the Celtics as 17 1/2-point favorites, which pretty much summed up the state of affairs for both franchises. But say this for Seattle - it had the temerity to actually lead the Celtics, by 4 points in the first quarter before it all went downhill.
Why is that noteworthy? Because it marked the first time in 11 days the Celtics had trailed in a game. In their previous four games, they had a wire-to-wire blowout of the hapless Grizzlies and were tied once by Detroit, once by Philadelphia, and twice by Chicago. When Seattle's Earl Watson opened the scoring with a jumper 72 seconds into the game, it marked the first time the Celtics had trailed since they were behind, 46-44, to the Hawks early in the third quarter March 2 in Boston.
Told about finally allowing an opponent to actually lead, Danny Ainge cracked by text message, "That is unacceptable."
