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Big Baby's 16 points, nine rebounds help lead Celtics to victory

BOSTON (AP) - Big Baby was the big man for the Boston Celtics.

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.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 10:16 PM to Celtics | Permalink | Comments 0

Lucic goal leads Bruins past Atlanta

ATLANTA (AP) - Milan Lucic scored the go-ahead goal off a rebound with 3:47 remaining and Alex Auld won his third straight start for Boston, leading the Bruins to a 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday night.

Mark Recchi scored twice in his first game with the Thrashers, and Ilya Kovalchuk added his NHL-leading 24th goal as the Thrashers overcame an early 2-0 deficit.

But Lucic scored his second career goal with pure hustle in a 3-3 game. After getting taken down at center ice by Bobby Holik, leading to a delayed penalty against the Thrashers, Lucic got up and headed for the Atlanta net.

Johan Hedberg knocked down Phil Kessel's shot with the blocker, but lost sight of the puck as it fell in the crease. Lucic, at the side of the net, knocked it in the corner before the Thrashers defense could react.

Marc Savard added an open-net goal with 3.5 seconds left.

Auld, acquired from Phoenix last week after Tim Thomas was injured, stopped 23 shots to improve to 3-0 with the Bruins.

Petteri Nokelainen's goal late in the first period put Boston ahead, and Peter Schaefer's deflection 6 minutes into the second extended the lead.

Recchi, a 19-year veteran acquired off waivers from Pittsburgh over the weekend, brought the Thrashers back with goals 1:01 apart.

On an Atlanta power play, Marian Hossa sped into the Boston zone along the boards before sending a pass to Recchi breaking free down the middle. He ripped a shot just inside the post for his third goal of the season and 511th of his career.

No. 512 wasn't long in coming. Eric Perrin fired a shot toward the Bruins' net that appeared to be going wide, but Recchi, hustling in ahead of Glen Murray, stuck out his stick with his one arm and redirected the puck over Auld's glove.

The Thrashers claimed the lead after a series of Boston penalties gave them a two-man advantage for nearly 3 minutes.

Mark Stuart received a major penalty and a game misconduct for a knee-on-knee hit that sent Kovalchuk sprawling to the ice. In rapid succession, Andrew Alberts was sent off for high-sticking and Dennis Wideman picked up a slashing penalty.

After hobbling off the ice and going to the tunnel for a brief check, Kovalchuk returned to score the go-ahead goal with a 5-on-3 advantage. He gave the puck up from the left point, swooped over to the right side for a return pass from Hossa, and one-timed a blistering shot that was past Auld before he had a chance to react.

But Murray tied it at 3 late in the wild period. He took a pass in the slot and appeared to catch Hedberg by surprise, flipping a shot over the goalie's glove with 1:07 left in the second.

Notes: Boston broke a six-game losing streak against the Thrashers. ... Hossa stretched his point streak to seven straight games with two assists. ... Boston D Andrew Ference returned after missing 12 games with a knee sprain. But Marco Sturm, the team's second-leading scorer, was scratched after getting struck in the eye with a puck in Monday night's win at Buffalo.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 10:08 PM to Bruins | Permalink | Comments 0

Conway signs with URI

Ben Conway has decided to become a Ram next year.

The Tiverton High product, who is the reigning R.I. Interscholastic League golf champion as well as the state Public Links champion, is one of three players who has signed a national letter of intent to play golf for the University of Rhode Island, beginning in September of next year.

Taylor Fontaine, of Shrewsbury, Mass., and Kevin Josephson of Berlin, Ct., also have signed national letters, Tom Drennan, the URI golf coach announced today.

"We are delighted to have these three outstanding young men join the URI golf program," said Drennan. "All three are outstanding students and exceptional golfers. I'm excited to have them join our family."

Conway has rapidly developed into one of the top young players in the state. He has excelled both at the interscholastic level as well as in R.I. Golf Association competition. He helped his Tiverton team win the state title in his junior year and he also won the U.S. Challenge Cup championship.

Fontaine comes to URI after a fine prep career at St. John's H.S. The runner-up for the 2006 Massachusetts Junior Player of the Year award, he captured individual honors at the 2007 New England Junior Amateur Championship. He also was top medalist at the Junior World Qualifier and made the match play round at the United States Junior Amateur. He posted three consecutive second-place finishes (2004-06) at the Massachusetts Junior Amateur Championship, while finishing third in 2007.

Josephson is a two-time Hartford Courant All-State honoree, in 2005 and 2006. This past summer, he captured the Computer Merchants Cup tournament at Wintonbury Hills in Bloomfield, Conn., finishing with a two-day total of 148 (70-72). As a junior at Berlin H.S., Josephson finished second overall in the CIAC Division II State Championship, leading his squad to a second-place finish. He was an 18-time medalist in his prep career.

Posted by Paul Kenyon  at 5:28 PM to Paul Kenyon on Golf | Permalink | Comments 0

Download today's sports cover

Today's Sports cover begins our countdown to Sunday's rematch with the New York Jets.

Click here to download the file in pdf format.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments 0

Celtics just warming up?

That's what Philadelphia Inquirer columnist David Aldridge wonders today as he profiles the 17-2 NBA leaders. Aldridige says that although Paul Pierce had no idea the season would start like this, "no one in green believes the Celtics have even scratched the surface of their potential."

Click here to read the column.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 8:20 AM to Celtics | Permalink | Comments 0